Finding a female automatic driving instructor in the UK: what the DVSA data shows

Two trends meet in one search. More learners, and especially more women, are taking their test in an automatic. And women are a minority of the people qualifying as driving instructors. If you want automatic lessons with a female instructor, you are looking for the overlap of the two, and nobody publishes how big that overlap is.

What the data shows

Automatic demand has more than tripled

DVSA publishes automatic test numbers by gender (table DRT122E) and all car tests by gender (table DRT121B):

Shares are our calculation from the two tables. In 2025/26, women took 60% of all automatic tests, and a woman taking a car test was about 1.9 times as likely as a man to take it in an automatic.

Women are a minority of new instructors

DVSA's register tables (INS0101 to INS0103) count 44,429 approved driving instructors (ADIs) in Great Britain in March 2026, but they don't split instructors by gender or by the type of car they teach in. So there is no official count of female ADIs, or of ADIs who teach in automatics. Figures you see quoted online are estimates, and we haven't found a primary source for one.

What DVSA does publish is the gender of people taking the ADI qualifying tests (DRT511B and DRT521D). In 2025/26:

• Women took 8,314 of the 31,081 ADI Part 1 theory tests (27%).
• Women passed 974 of the 3,784 Part 3 tests that were passed (26%). A Part 3 pass is the last step before joining the register.

So roughly one in four of the people qualifying as instructors right now is a woman. In 2018/19 women accounted for 793 of 2,569 Part 3 passes (31%), so the share has not been rising (DVSA notes that Part 3 figures before December 2022 are less complete).

Why some learners want a female instructor

Plenty of women are happy to learn with any good instructor. Some specifically want a woman, for reasons that are their own business. They include:

Personal safety and comfort

A driving lesson means an hour or more alone in a car with an adult you may not know well. For someone who has faced harassment or intimidation, wanting a female instructor is a reasonable safety preference, not a judgement on male instructors as a group.

Teaching style

Some learners feel more at ease with a female instructor. That is a personal preference, and it varies from one instructor to the next more than between men and women.

Cultural and religious reasons

For some learners, being alone in a car with an unrelated man is not acceptable. For them a female instructor may be the only option.

A bad previous instructor

Learners who have been shouted at or made uncomfortable by an instructor may want a fresh start with someone different.

Why there are fewer to choose from

Fewer women qualify

Women made up about a quarter of Part 3 passes in 2025/26. At Part 3 they do better than men: women passed 30.4% of their Part 3 tests against 27.0% for men. They pass Part 1 (33.7% against 38.3%) and Part 2 (50.8% against 56.9%) at lower rates. The biggest difference is how many start: women took 27% of Part 1 tests.

Automatic instructors are only part of the register

An instructor needs an automatic car to teach automatic lessons, and an instructor with an automatic-only licence can only teach in an automatic (GOV.UK). DVSA doesn't publish how many ADIs teach in automatics. Automatic tests have gone from 11.1% to 29.5% of all car tests since 2018/19, and our post on why automatic lessons sell out looks at the supply side.

Put the two together and you are looking for a subset of a subset. Nobody publishes how big that subset is, or how long learners wait to get into it.

What learners can do

Start early

Start looking well before you want lessons to begin. If the instructors near you are full, you can join a waiting list rather than start from scratch later.

Search several ways at once

• Orbit's marketplace. Our female driving instructor and automatic driving instructor pages let you search by postcode, and the search filters by instructor gender and by manual or automatic (find instructors).
• DVSA's own finder. GOV.UK's find driving schools, lessons and instructors service lists ADIs who have chosen to be on it, so not every instructor appears.
• Local community groups. Asking directly can turn up instructors who don't rank well in search results.
• Word of mouth. Ask friends, family and colleagues who have learned recently.
• Search engines. Try "female automatic driving instructor" plus your town.

The instructor who can take you on may not be the first search result.

Widen your radius

Instead of searching only your town, look further out. An instructor based a few miles away may still cover your area, or you may be able to meet them somewhere between.

Be open about timing

If you can do lessons during the day, say so when you enquire. It widens the slots an instructor can offer you.

Ask to join a waiting list

If an instructor is full, ask to be added to their waiting list, and ask how it works: first come, first served, or matched to the slots you can do.

Consider a compromise

If you can't find a female automatic instructor near you:

• Learn in a manual with a female instructor. An automatic pass gives you a licence for automatic cars only ("category B auto"). A manual pass doesn't carry that restriction, so you can drive an automatic afterwards (GOV.UK).
• A male automatic instructor, with clear expectations. Talk about teaching style and what you need before the first lesson. Not an option if your preference is not negotiable, but some learners find it works.

None of these is as good as the right match, but they beat giving up.

Book when you find one

When you find a female automatic instructor who can take you on, don't wait. Confirm the booking and the terms, including cancellation and refund policies, before your first lesson.

For female instructors who teach in automatics

Say it clearly

"Female instructor, automatic lessons" on your booking page tells the learners searching for you that they've found you. A generic listing leaves them guessing whether you match what they need.

Keep a waiting list

Rather than turning learners away when you're full, keep a waiting list and give each enquirer a realistic idea of when you might have space.

Don't undercharge

You offer something learners are actively searching for. Price for your costs and your time, not to fill the diary fastest. Our lesson rate calculator can help.

Choose pupils who fit

When you are in demand you can choose pupils whose availability matches your diary.

Look after referrals

Ask pupils who were happy with your lessons to recommend you. Friends and family are an obvious place for a learner to ask.

Where Orbit fits

Orbit's marketplace lets learners filter by instructor gender and by manual or automatic, alongside their postcode. It won't create instructors who don't exist, but it cuts the time spent on listings that don't match.

For instructors, Orbit's booking page and diary include a waiting list: when a lesson is cancelled, the first person on your list is emailed about the free slot.