How much does the theory test cost?

There is no single answer, which is why this page exists. A car or motorcycle theory test costs £23. A lorry or bus candidate pays £37, because their test is billed as two separate parts. Someone sitting ADI Part 1 to become an instructor pays £81, the dearest of the four. Every figure below is the published fee, linked to its source.

Fees are the published gov.uk figures from gov.uk/driving-test-cost, checked by us on 2026-08-26. They are set by DVSA and can change; the link above is always current, this page is not.

What a retake costs

The same again, in full. There is no reduced rate for a second attempt and no discount for having passed one part already: a car candidate who fails pays another £23 to sit it again. A lorry or bus candidate who passes part 1a and fails part 1b rebooks only the part they failed, which is the one case where the split billing works in your favour.

You also cannot sit it again straight away. You have to leave at least three working days before the next attempt, and it is booked and paid for as a new test.

This matters more than it sounds, because failing is common. 44.8% of 2,924,430 car theory tests passed in April 2025 to March 2026, so more than half of tests taken end in a fail. That is a rate per test sat rather than per person: someone who fails twice and passes on the third go is three tests in that figure, and £23 × 3 out of pocket. DVSA table DRT111A, checked on 2026-08-26.

What the fee does and does not cover

The fee buys one sitting of both parts of the theory test on one day: the multiple choice section and the hazard perception section. You have to pass both on the same attempt. Passing one and failing the other means sitting both again, except for lorry and bus, where the two parts are separately booked and separately paid for.

The fee does not include the practical test, which is booked and paid for separately once you hold a theory pass certificate. It does not include any revision material: DVSA publishes the revision question bank and licenses it to publishers, and what you pay to practise with it is a separate decision from what you pay to sit the test.

It also only pays for a test you are able to sit. Arrive late, or without your photocard driving licence, and the test is cancelled with no refund. If your licence is from Northern Ireland, bring the paper counterpart as well as the photocard. A pass gives you a certificate number that lasts for two years, and if you have not passed your practical test by then, you sit the theory test again and pay for it again.

Changing or cancelling your test

Moving a theory test to another date or centre costs nothing as long as you give at least three full working days' notice, and cancelling with that much notice gets your money back. Monday to Saturday count as working days. Sundays and public holidays do not. Leave it later than that and moving the test means paying again, while cancelling means losing the fee.

There are exceptions. You can still get a refund for a short notice change or cancellation caused by illness or injury, a bereavement, an exam at school or college, or a stolen driving licence. You ask DVSA for it by email, and the GOV.UK pages on changing and cancelling a test explain what to send.

Booking it without paying more than the fee

In England, Scotland and Wales you book on GOV.UK, which charges the fee above and nothing on top. You need your UK driving licence number, an email address and a debit or credit card, and you must have lived in England, Wales or Scotland for at least 185 days in the last 12 months.

Other websites offer to book the test for you. Before paying one, compare its total with the figures on this page. Anything above the fee is going to whoever runs that site, not to DVSA.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's tests are run by its own Driver and Vehicle Agency, known as DVA, and you book through nidirect rather than GOV.UK. Most theory test fees match Great Britain: £23 for car and motorcycle, and £26 plus £11 for lorry and bus. The instructor theory test is the exception, at £64 against £81 in Great Britain. nidirect says that booking direct with DVA means paying the test fee only, with no booking or administration charge.

Northern Ireland fees from nidirect.gov.uk/articles/driving-test-fees, checked by us on 2026-10-08.

Everything written on this page is ours. It contains no questions from the DVSA revision question bank and no DVSA revision material of any kind: the fees are published gov.uk and nidirect figures, the pass rate is a published DVSA statistic and the booking rules are GOV.UK's, all linked above, and the words around them are our own.