11 Plus Exams Forum

Anyone out there used one? Just wondering if there are any that are any good. Thanks.

Edited to add:
Perhaps I should clarify for anyone who hasn't gone through this particular hoop:

You book a test - that could easily be 3 and a half months ahead. You look for a cancellation (repeatedly, as they are as rare as hens' teeth, and also tend to be weeks ahead). You find one and book it. Something comes up - you re-schedule. You keep looking for earlier dates. And because you are a half-wit, you have failed to read down the page to the text which says: 'You can re-schedule up to 6 times. Then you will have to cancel and start again.' You only discover your error on the penultimate re-scheduling, when it says 'You have one opportunity left to change your test.' (There's no handy countdown when you change). This means that after that, not only will you lose the £60 fee, but you will once again be starting with a test date 15 weeks ahead.)

If you make repeated attempts to check the dsa website, you get challenged by a Captcha code - and if you continue at that point, the codes get more difficult to decipher. So I'm wondering how any commercial system can deal with that?

No idea because DD did it all herself. She had to cancel through injury but as far as I know didn't cancel any others. Why not just book it and then take it rather than keep on cancelling? (Sorry if that is a daft question!)

We are after an earlier test. Don't want to wait 3 months. Clarification: test date changed repeatedly to creep it forward.

We used one for DS1 - driving-test-cancellations-for-all.co.uk Not hugely expensive (under £20), and the emails and text alerts for cancellations came through pretty regularly - around once a week, although it's obviously the luck of the draw.

When we accepted a date, the confirmation email from the DVLA came through very promptly, so the systems work seamlessly together.

There was a slight IT glitch when I came to de-register him after he passed, but my email was answered very promptly and sweetly.

I was a bit cynical at first, but it worked and it's a lot less trouble than the DVLA site, so I would definitely use it again.

That's really helpful, Sally-Anne. Once I've got a 'take it after' date from the instructor, I think I'll be registering!

DD managed to move hers forward by a couple of weeks at fairly short notice, again she did it herself but I think she just kept checking for dates. Her boyfriend got one fairly quickly too, but I guess it depends on the area. Beware of some of the commercial sites though. The first time DD booked her theory test she made the mistake of not using the correct DVLA site and wasted quite some time waiting for a slot that was never going to happen. I think she got her money back but wasted a month. It has taught her a valuable lesson as I think there are similar rogue websites for passports, visas etc - she just clicked on the one at the top of the Google search.

Hence my request for advice from you lovely people!

(Having spent a lot of time on the website, my experience is that the few cancellations that come through only offer you a couple of weeks' saving.)

Thanks for all the tips on this - useful as we have this rite of passage coming up for DD2. We were aware of these sites from DD1's endeavours a couple of years ago but didn't use one, though were considering it as her first couple of test attempts were unsuccessful and we were spending a lot of time online looking for cancellations. Then we found there were a lot of slots available on a Friday 13th (can't think why) so she tempted fate and got it - 3rd time lucky!

13th is always a good date to go for. I got married on the 13th, it was amazing how easy it was to organise. Everyone was available!!!

My mum works for DVLA and says that continuing to ring and being persistent will yield a good cancellation if you are in a hurry for your test.
Sadly as with other government depts the number of staff answering phone calls has been reduced, but they are still there...if you hang on the phone listening to annoying music for a while you can book the cancellations yourself.
Another thing to consider is asking for bookings in a driving test centre which is not so busy. I know some of the Birmingham centres are ridiculously busy...but if you don't mind an hour's drive somewhere else in the Midlands you could get a far quicker test.