Driving here
Driving in Ireland and the UK: your licence, automatic cars, and where to learn
Three questions everyone asks in the first month: can I use my licence, do I have to learn in a manual, and who will teach me. The answers, with the official page for each so you can check it yourself.
Your licence
Can you drive on the licence you have?
It depends on the country that issued it, and the list changes. Do not take anyone's word for it, ours included: the official page tells you in a minute whether yours can be exchanged or whether you start with the theory test.
Links checked 20 September 2026.
Automatic or manual
The gearbox question
Most trucks and buses you will drive for work are automatic now. Most cars people learn in here are still manual, and a test passed in an automatic gives a licence for automatics only. Whether that matters depends on what you will drive: for a lot of people it does not, and learning in an automatic is quicker.
If you have never driven a manual, say so before your first lesson and ask for an instructor with an automatic car. They exist in every county; the list below is a start.
Professional drivers: the truck and bus tests, the Driver CPC card and the tachograph card are separate from the car licence. Ask us before you book anything; the order you do them in saves money.
Practise first, free
The rules of the road, before the theory test
Our practice tests are free: confirm your email once and they are all open. Driving on the left, the signs, the speed limits, the drink limit for professional drivers, and the drivers' hours rules that catch more people out than anything else.
People we work with
Instructors who teach in automatic cars
We are building this list now. If you need an instructor this week, WhatsApp us with your county and we will point you at one.
Are you an instructor, tutor, school or translator who wants to be on this list? Tell us here.
For candidates
Stuck on any of this?
Send your county and what licence you hold. We answer the driving questions every day and there is no charge.