JulieGA

I also failed my CA test in Hollywood. I was shocked as I have been driving for over 20 years in the UK. The tester said I slightly cut a corner on a left turn which is possible I guess. When I reviewed the test sheet though I was marked down for deceleration but apparently my speed, lane changes etc. were fine. It seems a little over the top to me and does not make me that confident of passing next time round! Now I am left unable to drive without a companion until my husband can be available for me to take another test. This just seems crazy given that any tourist can pick up a rental car and drive off but my UK license is not good enough now that I am resident! You mentioned a temporary license. I have not heard of that. Can you tell me about how you got that?

Bob

Plenty of folks have said they did the theory and then got it when showing UK license. No idea if you'll be able to get it after failing a road test though.

tilz

Yes when you do the theory test you get given a paper licence (valid for 90 days I think it was) provided you show your UK licence as Bob says.

So you should have it already? worth going in to ask them for it as I guess the thing is you could do your test as many times as you can in that 90 days under that temp licence. Or at least thats my understanding

MoshiMoshi

Yup. When I passed my theory test (in Santa Monica, last year) I was given a 90-day full license, plus a 1-year learners' permit.

The temporary license isn't very impressive-looking -- it's a printout about half the size of an A4 sheet.

How annoying if you didn't get one. The DMV can be pretty random, but I'd expect the Hollywood DMV to know the rules; they must process plenty of international applicants.

Lord_GG_Byron

That's why I'm forever grateful that I got my license in North Carolina. Technically failed my driving test due because of a blocked intersection hiccup, but the guy passed me anyway because " I seemed to know what I was doing" according to him.

JulieGA

Just want to say thanks to you guys for letting me know about the temporary license. I went down to the DMV today and they gave me one! Valid for 2 months, even although I had already failed one test! So now I can go and retake the test and even if I fail again (which I won't!) I can still drive home! I guess they don't call it LA LA Land for nothing! Apparently its discretionary. They don't tell you about it or offer it to you when you pass the written you need to know about it and ask! I will be passing on the word to others. Right now I am off to the supermarket - in my car. YEAH!!!

tilz

Great news :-)

Xebedee

I failed my driving test in England 4 times (or was it 5?).
Blew right thru a red light on one of them.....

Took the test in California and passed first time.
That's including doing a corner at 25mph!

No hill start, parallel park, three point turn or reversing 'round a corner!
How the hell can you fail?
Running yourself over?

Malibu Jen

I just failed my test in Santa Monica for the second time! Both times i seem to have got really nasty examiners! I have been driving in the UK for seven years and never had an accident, and i also passed first time over there

The first test i think i probably deserved to fail, as i'd not made any effort to research common mistakes and just tried to pass driving as i always have. I entered an intersection with the full intention of yielding to the pedestrian on the crosswalk, but the examiner yelled at me to stop, and wrote that i almost collided with a pedestrian. He was SO dramatic about it and he got me really wound up. But i treated it as a practice test and assumed that i would now know what to expect for next time.

As a result of that, i spent all the time since practicing and reading the handbook, making sure i was prepared. And i got a female examiner this time, who failed me for an unnecessary stop! I stopped for a brief second at an intersection because it looked like another car was about to pull out in front of me. She classed this as a dangerous maneuver. I got no other faults

She said ''it's clear that you know how to drive''. I argued that during my previous test an unnecessary stop had only been marked down as a minor fault. Even on the DMV made videos on YouTube they mention that an unnecessary stop is only a minor fault.

So i have one chance left to pass and i feel really angry about the way this has gone so far. They really don't seem to be very fair about the test over here.... I agree that it should be a lot simpler over here as there's no maneuvers etc.

MoshiMoshi

Sorry, Malibu Jen, that sucks! I took my test in Santa Monica, too. I think it's a slightly annoying neighbourhood to take the test in, by local standards, because there are *shockhorror* pedestrians and cyclists and fiddly little streets.

Have you taken any driving lessons here? I had my British license for ages, but taking a couple of lessons here helped me get some tips for the test, and generally made me confident about driving in LA (I originally learned to drive in backwoods Somerset). But it seems like you've probably just been unlucky with examiners. So many chronically grumpy people at the DMV...

Nutek

Sheesh... I must've been super lucky when I took mine ... We pulled out of the parking lot, turned right, drove down the street, took the first right... did that twice more and ended up back at the test center. i didnt do anything else at all. Total time in the car, MAYBE 10 mins probably closer to 5.

As for no comments... restistance failing...

"I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought."

"I pulled into a lay-by with smoke coming from under the hood. I realised the car was on fire so took my dog and smothered it with a blanket."

Sry Good luck on the retest.

Michael

Have you considered taking the test at some DMV that is in a very quiet suburb?

The following is a map of all the DMV offices in the LA area. Click on each DMV and then use google maps to determine which ones appear to be near quiet streets.

http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/fo/regions/la.htm

dlake02

OK. I won't. But HA !!!! REALLY ????

Right. Some advice on CA. SLOW DOWN !!!! Have you noticed how slow/sluggish they all drive ? They don't pull up to the line at lights, don't go away the minute it turns green, don't drive 5mph above the limit, don't check to see what's going on.

Having driven in a lot of places over the world, with the exception of Italy which is just pure dangerous (but FUN !!!!), Californians drive like the Louis Armstrong song:

"We have all the time in the world...."

The times I've wanted to fire my horn, flash my lights, shout "get a bl**dy move on - it's a road, not a car park !!!" Driving standards are TERRIBLE, but because it's all so damn slow, not dangerous. If they upped the speed and ran away from the lights, there'd be carnage (I'm used to driving in London and Brighton....)

So, re-take the test - if it's a 15mph zone, do 10. I've really had to moderate my driving style, and I don't like it that much - I much prefer driving in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands (but not Belgium - they are all nutters....) and the East Coast where they DO appear to know how to drive.

The object of the CA test is purely to make sure that if you do hit someone, you don't do them lasting damage

As others have said, they are looking to make sure that you are watching, so make it obvious you are looking, slow down and drive as if you are a 17 year old again with your Dad's car.

Once you've passed, THEN you can (as seen today) eat a bowl of oatmeal whilst checking your iPad at the lights when they had turned green 5 seconds ago.

Pombat

If it makes you feel any better, my husband and I both failed at the Flora Vista DMV - the same examiner on the same day!
We have both been driving for 20+years on 2 continents with no problems. We could not get an appointment to retake the tests for a couple of weeks, but were allowed to drive unaccompanied on our temporary CA licences with no problems. We retook the tests with a different examiner and passed with flying colours. The second examiner couldn't really understand why we had previously failed as we were clearly safe drivers. It really all comes down to the mood of the examiner on the day.
In hindsight we should probably have complained about the first examiner because the reasons she failed us were ridiculous, but at the time we just wanted to be done with it all.

dlake02

Oh NO !!! Not the Flora Vista DMV !!!!

We were both booked for test appointments there and my wife had to drive out of the line after waiting 1h30 beyond her test time, or else she'd have been late for work ! They were SO unhelpful and rude.

Neighbours said "never go there - go to Los Gatos." So we did, and both passed in under 10 mins first time. The examiner started chatting to my wife about kids and France.... Actually, I think they stopped for coffee !