What makes up the cost
The price of a licence is not a single number but a sum of several items. Knowing which ones lets you judge where you can save.
Learn more – What makes up the cost
Guide
Is accompanied driving worth it?
BF17 is one of the few schemes where the statistics and gut feeling agree.
How it works
The training is identical to a normal class B licence: same theory classes, same special drives, same test. You can begin theory about six months before your seventeenth birthday and take the practical test at the earliest one month before it.
After passing you receive a test certificate rather than the card licence. You may drive with it until your eighteenth birthday – but only with a registered accompanying person in the car.
Who may accompany you
Every accompanying person is named on the certificate. They must:
- be at least 30 years old,
- have held class B continuously for at least five years,
- have no more than one point in the driver fitness register,
- be sober while accompanying you.
You can register several people – which is sensible, because otherwise the same person always has to be available.
Why it genuinely makes things safer
The decisive factor is not the year’s head start but the supervised driving practice. Novice drivers have their highest accident risk in the first months alone at the wheel. Getting through that window accompanied means collecting mileage without having to make every decision alone.
Studies of accompanied driving have consistently shown since the scheme was introduced that participants are subsequently involved in fewer accidents and commit fewer traffic offences than peers without BF17.
The accompanying person is not a second instructor
They do not intervene in the driving and bear no legal responsibility for how you drive. Their job is to stay calm and provide a second pair of eyes if needed. That is precisely where the effect comes from.
What to watch out for
- Driving without a registered accompanying person is not a minor matter: expect a fine, a penalty point and usually withdrawal of the licence plus a retraining course.
- The test certificate is valid in Germany only. For trips abroad you have to wait until you are 18.
- On your eighteenth birthday you exchange the certificate at the authority for the card licence.
- The two-year probationary period simply continues and does not start again.
Our conclusion
If you are approaching your seventeenth birthday and have someone who can accompany you, there is little against it and a lot for it. The timetable is more relaxed, the test comes earlier and you gather practice at the point where it helps most.
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For the timetable to work out, start about six months before your seventeenth birthday.