Had accident during driving test and now instructor wants me to pay for damages

some drivers do charge 10pds for the first lesson. However, my instructor told me to pay 40pds for two hours.that was my first lesson.gave him the money, and by accident as I was starting his car, i broke the car key little bit where you handle to start the car. so he's saying to me to pay 80pds extra. what advice would you give to me plz?

"I had only taken five lessons prior to taking the road test." 5 lessons !!! Certainly suggests you were not quite ready for it if you misjudged and hit a wall. As a UK driving instructor my insurance would have covered this as I have Comprehensive cover. If I had only third party cover then all of my pupils would have been asked to sign an agreement that if they caused damage to the vehicle (eg. hitting a wall) then they accept the fact they have caused the damage and as such will pay repair costs. Did you sign anything to this effect? Were you made aware of the insurance cover prior to commencement of lessons? If not I doubt whether your instructor has a leg to stand on, but not sure if US law would stand the same as in the UK. Probably not with the culture to sue anyone for anything.

I would assume the laws are pretty much the same as those in the UK but you will have to make sure that they are though. When you're having driving lessons in your instructor's car, the vehicle is already insured for the learner and instructor and covers third party as well along with any damages to the car itself. An instructor will have comprehensive car insurance on the vehicle he's teaching you to drive in.

However many instructors will not want to claim through their insurance policy although it is already covered because they will lose their no claims discount and their premiums will go up at renewal. Therefore they will try to make the learner pay for any damages to their car. You should clearly refuse any attempt on his behalf to make you pay for the accident as you're paying for driving lessons which includes insurance cover. Irrespective of how many driving lessons you've had, if the instructor was willing to let you take his car for the driving test (or for lessons), it's his responsibility to get the car repaired.

And if he did not purchase adequate insurance, then that's his fault in the first place. A learner will make mistakes and may bump the car and that's a risk that instructors have to take and this is included in the prices for driving lessons.

As a UK driving instructor, I have a contract all my students/parents have to sign and it states any damage during a test is to be paid for by the student. The reason for this is because in a practical driving test in the UK, the instructor is not in the car to take avasive action. Also it is the only time the a student will be driving totally independently as if they were a full license holder. The examiner cannot always intervene in time and they are not responsible for that car, the student is. Sorry but it's no different to renting a car and having a road collision