Getting your driver’s license is a bit of a lengthy process, but it is pretty easy once you know all the steps. If you don’t plan to drive much, you can still (technically) hire a car using your Aussie license, but if you’re planning to stay here long term, it’s required to have a NY State license. This cheat sheet will help you go through the process easily.
Here’s the overview of the steps needed to get your license. Clicking on each section will provide more details.
- Get your learner’s permit
- Take a 5-hour driving course (and take some lessons, if you need them!)
- Drive Rite Academy Pros and Cons
- Book and do your practical road test
- Receive your license!
- Get your learner’s permit
Yes, even though you probably already have your license in Australia, you’ll need to be like Drake and start from the bottom, which means getting your learner’s permit 🤓. To get your permit, you need to pass an online test, which, thanks to COVID, you can now do from the comfort of your own home! First, I’d recommend reading the DMV manual (some rules are different from the rules in Oz, and the NYC and NY rules are slightly different, so it’s always good to make sure you’re familiar with everything.) Then, do a bunch of practise quizzes found in the manual—and also here and here. Once you feel confident, book your test on the DMV website. You will be required to have your webcam on during the test, I don’t know how closely people review the test footage before you are granted a pass, but I guess they ask you to put it on so they can see if you’re looking up the answers during the test so don’t be trying to look up answers during the test!
- Take a 5-hour driving course (and lessons if needed!)
Once you’ve passed and received your learner’s permit, you can start taking lessons and/or practicing driving. Since I didn’t have a car and didn’t want to jeopardize my marriage by getting my husband to teach me, I opted to get a few lessons from a driving school. I chose Drive Rite Academy but had mixed feelings about it, which I’ll list below. My main takeaway is that if you are taking lessons from a driving school, always book the same teacher. I ended up booking random teachers whenever I had the time to do a lesson, but I got a lot of conflicting advice from the teachers about the rules and how to do things, and some teachers were better than others. (Nelson at Drive Rite was very good, though). I think it’s worth getting some lessons or driving around a bit before you take your test to get familiar with driving on the other side of the road. Also, you need to learn how to pass the test, not necessarily how to drive, so having a driving instructor who knows what the examiner is looking for will help. You also need to do a 5-hour driving course, and you will need to show the certificate of completion at your practical driving test. At Drive Rite, the 5-hour course is $50 and is completed online. It’s like the presentation you had to sit through in high school about safe driving. Once you complete your 5-hour course, you can book your manual driving test (this certificate is valid for 1 year, so make sure you book your road test within the year, or you’ll need to do it again).
- Drive Rite Academy Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Convenient location (they have a few driving school locations and one was near my house so it was easy to get to lessons). | Driving lessons are expensive! They were $75 for 45 minutes, and the package I bought was $400 for 3 lessons, the 5-hour course, and a car for the test (Booking a car for the test is $125 stand-alone). Booking through the DMV, the test is only $10 for 2 attempts, so for the price of 1 lesson, you could book in 14 tests and keep trying ‘til you pass 😂. |
| Technically “easy” to book lessons online through their platform. | They have a package which includes a few lessons, the 5-hour course and car hire for the test, which I did though I also did a few more lessons before the driving test that I paid extra for (there was no discount buying the package, it’s just the sum of the different courses added up). Plus, if you don’t have a car, you don’t have a choice other than to go to a school to take lessons, though I would try and find a smaller driving school; Drive Rite seemed too impersonal and opportunistic. |
| They have a package which includes a few lessons, the 5-hour course and car hire for the test, which I did though I also did a few more lessons before the driving test that I paid extra for (there was no discount buying the package, it’s just the sum of the different courses added up). Plus if you don’t have a car, you don’t have a choice other than to go to a school to take lessons. Though I would try and find a smaller driving school, Drive Rite seemed too impersonal and opportunistic. | Renting the car for the road test through Drive Rite is $125, but it takes around 10 weeks to get a spot! If you book on the DMV website, you could get a test in the next week or two. Plus, booking through the DMV costs $10, which includes 2 attempts! If you choose to do it yourself, you will need a registered and insured car and a licensed driver to take you to and from the test. |
| In addition to the fact that the driving test took forever to book, you don’t get to pick the time, you just tell them which days you are available. So I had to take half a day off work to take my first test (spoiler alert I failed) and meet the chaperone at 1pm even though my test was at 3pm because they had to take a bunch of us there at the same time. |
- Book and do your practical road test
If you’re going through a driving school, they will book the test for you after you tell them you have your 5-hour course completion certificate. If you’re booking it yourself it’s super easy to do it on the DMV website. If you are using a friend’s car, you need to make sure you bring a licensed driver (to take you to and from the test) and the car registration to the test (I also brought the insurance papers but wasn’t asked to show them). Remember to bring your 5-hour course completion certificate to the test. Find the DMV driving site where you will do the test and go there to practice and get familiar with the area. You can also see if YouTube has any videos of the test site. The Red Hook test is on Bay St between Hicks and Henry St, so I just drove around there a few times to practice with my husband. What you’ll be asked to do is: a left turn, a right turn, a 3-point turn, a parallel park. The test only takes 10 -15 minutes, so don’t stress. You must rack up under 30 demerit points to pass the test (see scoring sheet). When you complete your test, you don’t get the results immediately; you’ll get a link to the website, and you can check your results at 6pm. You need to complete all the things listed to have a chance at passing.
You’ll be fine if you have been driving in Australia and are generally comfortable driving. Just practice a little bit and relax when doing the test. Remember, even if you know how to drive, you’ve probably picked up some bad habits. The examiner will be making sure you are extra cautious, so when you’re taking your test, stay calm, and when they ask you to do something, take a beat and make sure you check all your blindspots and mirrors slowly before executing the move – don’t rush into it! I made that mistake and failed the first time but passed the second time, so it wasn’t too bad! Relax, be very obvious when you’re checking your mirrors and blindspots, and you’ll have your license in no time!
AWNY | Australian Women in New York 