Upgrading to Manual Licence, (QLD) Should I Take Light-Rigid Lessons Instead?

[Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 13:16
Last edited 23/03/2017 - 15:56 by 1 other user

Hi Ozbargain, Question for anyone who has a light-rigid truck licence. Edit : QLD here.

I have been on my Automatic car licence for a while now. International who learnt driving here so I did not have a great support system (no friends with manual cars, too many paid lessons etc) so I just went with an automatic licence to save time and get me on the road.

I want to upgrade to a manual as that will make so many more cars available for me and it is also a good skill to have.

I am thinking, since I'm going to pay to take lessons again (still no friends with manual cars) should I just cough out a bit more to do a light-rigid truck licence? Based on the information I've got it might be $320 more in lesson fees compared to learning manual in a car? I'm wondering if I'm wrong here as I have no idea how long it will take for a driver on an auto licence to learn manual in a light-rigid.

If you think i'm crazy do let me know too. Basically I want to learn it for fun. I don't think I'll ever need to use it for my work, but it is an additionally skill and I'm willing to burn a bit more money for that. I probably wouldn't do it if I needed to burn A LOT of money though.

Thanks!

Automotive

Comments

  • tomsco on 23/03/2017 - 13:41

    I think just do it in the car - better to learn your way around a gear box in a smaller vehicle without having to worry about controlling a heavy vehicle as well.

    And when comparing costs - are you talking about the cost to get a LR licence. I know down here, they'll give you a cost, but that will be for a day course, so learn to drive it and do the test all in one go - not the same as getting multiple lessons over a couple of weeks.

    • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 18:25

      Yea I did research the costs. Its 600 for 4 hours + test. I don't mind paying that. I'm wondering how its like to jump from auto car to Light rigid and if 4 hours is doable.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 14:05

    what type of cars do you want that are manual only?

    • subywagon on 23/03/2017 - 16:10
      +2

      Fun ones.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 18:21
        +1

        This.

        But not in the conventional race car way. Looking at ex army 4x4s.

  • mskeggs on 23/03/2017 - 14:18

    If you have been driving for a while, it is pretty easy to learn manual.
    I would get the truck licence - you never know when you might be out of work unexpectedly and being able to pick up casual driving work is a great asset.

  • Euphemistic on 23/03/2017 - 14:51

    I regret not getting my loader ticket and truck licence when I had the opportunity to. Used to drive a loader occasionally in learner mode and never got around to driving the truck. Although, now a truck licence might only be handy if we wanted to hire a big motor home as I have no other need for it.

  • pjetson on 23/03/2017 - 15:30
    +2

    I think a Medium Rigid licence is much more useful than Light Rigid, and probably won't cost any more to obtain.

    Having said that, I think your path should be to learn to drive a manual car first.

  • Riczter on 23/03/2017 - 15:57
    +1

    I would learn to drive a manual car first. If you want a truck license, skip light and go right to medium.

    • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 17:10

      Agreed!

  • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2017 - 18:44
    +1

    Very good points about skipping light and right to medium. I'm seriously considering that now and it looks like in most cases the cost will only be a 100 more. I can imagine how much more useful it will be.

    I won't likely be buying a manual vehicle in awhile. Do you lose the skill without constant practice?

    • tomsco on 23/03/2017 - 19:42
      +1

      I went for my licence in a manual. Rarely drove, so I'm not the most confident, but went for my HRS licence and passed. I don't think I would have had the confidence if I had never driven manual before.

    • Euphemistic on 24/03/2017 - 07:58

      Sure, you get a bit out of practice if you haven't driven a manual for a while but it doesn't take long to get back to it. Same goes for switching cars though, if you haven't used it often 10-20min and you are used to the car and it's all good.

      I've even noticed when switching regularly driven cars sometimes it takes a moment or two to get your brain used to what you are driving again. While I had two manual cars for a while, if I drove the new one for a few days then switched the old one would feel a bit weird at first despite having driven it for years.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/03/2017 - 12:37

    Thanks everybody for your answers! gonna try to get my car-manual asap!

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