Tips For Driver's Ed Courses

Teens are often anxious to get on the road and need to find driver's ed courses to help them do this. California requires that specific steps be taken in order for teens to get a license and these are by age and educational requirements.

Most teens will want to obtain what is called a provisional permit as soon as possible, which is 15 ½ years old. This requires taking a driver's education course. These can be found in several formats but the most popular is the online course. These courses are broken into different modules that cover the various aspects of California law that relates to driving. These cover the basics like stop signs but also provide information about what to do in emergencies. Most people will find these kinds of courses easy to understand and use.

Students also need to show that they have completed this kind of course when they apply for an intermediate license at age 16 years. Some students will wait until age 17 ½ to apply for a provisional license without having to take driver's education courses but given the pricing on the courses, this won't make sense to most people. The other consideration is that having taken driver's education courses may provide some sort of discount on the car insurance.

Some teens may have completed this kind of training in another state. While it is not possible to use this kind of permit to show that the appropriate course has already been taken, there are a couple of things that people can do. One is to provide a DL 33 form, otherwise known as a "Secondary Schools Other Than California Schools" form, to be completed by the previous school. This can be obtained from the DMV at any office or by calling the DMV. The second option is to present a letter from the previous school stating that a course that is equivalent to the California requirements has been taken. This has to be on the school letterhead and signed by someone from the previous school. This can be presented when applying for a license or permit at the DMV.

There are certain things that students will want to look for when they are choosing a school. One is to find one that will send the certificate of completion out immediately when the course is over. The other issue is to look for a school that will send a replacement certificate out if the student looses the first one.