You learn on the road, not on a diagram

A K53 driving school working out of a yard in Bellville. Learner's theory, Code 8 manual and automatic, Code 10 — with pickups in Parow, Goodwood and Brackenfell.

Book a lesson

What a lesson here actually is

Ninety minutes, one learner, one car, and the same sheet the examiner will mark you on.

Marked the way the officer marks it

Every lesson ends with the K53 sheet filled in — observations, alley docking, three-point turn, each item scored. You see exactly where the points went and what to fix next time. The four steps are set out below.

The slot you book is the slot you get

One learner per car per slot, and we do not double-book. If your instructor cannot make it we phone you the night before and you keep that lesson for free. The lesson blocks are priced further down.

Dual controls, serviced every month

Seventeen cars, all with a second brake and clutch on the passenger side, all in for a service on the first Monday of the month. The four people who drive them are further down the page.

The test routes, driven properly

Bellville, Goodwood and Kuils River all mark a little differently. Your last three lessons are on the actual route for the centre you booked, at the time of day you booked it. Ask us which centre is quickest right now.

Charl Petersen, who opened the yard

I failed my own licence twice. The first time nobody had told me the examiner starts marking in the yard, before the car has moved. The second time I did everything right and then rushed the last turn because I was already relieved. So I know what it costs to be taught badly, and I know what a retest costs a household that is already stretched. Clutch started in 2009 with one Tazz and a paddock behind a panel shop. It is now seventeen cars and a proper yard off Voortrekker Road, with a marked alley, two ramps and a parking bay set out to the millimetre. We are not the cheapest school in the northern suburbs and I have stopped pretending otherwise. What we are is a school that will tell you on lesson three whether you are ready, instead of quietly selling you another twelve.

How it goes

Get the learner's first. We run the theory course on Saturday mornings and book your test at Bellville for you — R950, and you sit it with our own question papers already in your hand.
Come for an assessment drive. Ninety minutes with an instructor who writes down where you actually are. Nobody here sells you a block of lessons before that drive has happened.
Work through a block. Ten lessons if you have driven a bit, twenty-four if you are starting cold. Two lessons a week is the rhythm that sticks; one a fortnight is money thrown away.
Test day, in our car. We collect you, we run the yard once at the centre before your slot, and the car you drive for the officer is the same car you learned in.

9 400

Lessons given out of the Bellville yard since 2009.

78%

First-time Code 8 pass rate across the last two years.

17

Cars on the fleet — eleven manual, six automatic.

R0

Added on the day. The quote you get is the price you pay.

The four who teach

Nadia SolomonsCode 8 automatic · learner's theory

Runs the Saturday theory course and takes most of our automatic learners. She has been filling in K53 sheets for eleven years and can usually name your weak item by the end of lesson two.

Sipho MabasoCode 8 manual

Teaches manual, mostly to people who have never sat behind a wheel before. Endlessly patient about hill starts on Mike Pienaar Boulevard, which is where every one of his learners finds out what a clutch is.

Wilhelm de BruynCode 10 · heavy vehicle

Drove long-distance for eighteen years before he came to us, and now takes every Code 10 booking on the diary. He drills the pre-trip inspection so hard that the real test feels short.

Rushda EmeranCode 8 manual · anxious drivers

Works with learners who have failed before or who are frightened of traffic. She will stay in the yard for as long as it takes, and she has never once raised her voice in a car.

What it costs

Every price includes the car, the fuel and the instructor. Test booking fees go straight to the centre and we hand you the receipt.

Learner's theory

R950 for the course

Four Saturday-morning sessions
Our own question papers, yours to keep
Bellville test booked on your behalf
One free re-sit of the course

Ask about this

Code 8 Starter

R2 400 ten lessons

Ninety minutes a lesson
Manual or automatic
Pickup in Bellville, Parow or Goodwood
A marked K53 sheet after every drive

Ask about this

Code 8 Full

R5 900 twenty-four lessons

Everything in Starter
Test-route drives in the last three
Our car on test day
Payable in three instalments

Ask about this

Code 10

R7 800 twenty lessons

Eight-tonne truck, dual controls
Pre-trip inspection drilled every lesson
Brackenfell and Kuils River routes
Our truck on test day

Ask about this

Phone the yard and ask

021 948 3170. Weekdays seven to six, Saturdays until one. Ask for Charl or Nadia — one of us will tell you straight whether we can still get you tested before the December rush.

Phone the yard

What learners said afterwards

Failed twice with another school. Passed first time here, and Rushda had warned me the week before exactly which item I was going to lose points on.

Chantel Adonis · Parow

I paid for ten lessons and after seven Sipho said I was ready and refunded the other three. Nobody does that.

Thabo Ncube · Goodwood

The Code 10 pre-trip was drilled so hard that on the day I did the whole thing without having to think about it once.

Willem Fourie · Brackenfell

They fetched me from work for every single lesson, in the rain, and were never once late.

Zainab Ismail · Bellville

Book a lesson

Yard at 14 Frans Conradie Avenue, Bellville. Weekdays 07:00 to 18:00, Saturdays 07:00 to 13:00 — Saturday slots are theory and yard work only, no road time.