[aved]

Originally Posted by nandrive

Congratulations on getting your DL. The process seems so tedious and expensive that I feel it's very difficult to motivate non car lovers(better half, no offense, personal experience) to get the licence. I have got the licences from CA USA and NSW Australia, the process sounds similar, but I could pass all the tests in very first attempt and I felt they were so easy that I don't even remember exactly all the things I did.

On the contrary, my wife is now looking forward to her driving license. She has not driven in India. So it may be easy for her to obtain the DL here.

I have driven in Australia quite extensively for 3 years. Though I used IDP. I still remember those hook-turns in Melbourne CBD.

Sweden is quite stringent in approving the DL. Only 43% of test-takers were successful in obtaining the DL in 2019.

Originally Posted by Adam

First of all , thanks for the detailed write up and congratulation for getting your DL. I must say, the process of getting DL was kind of a tedious process. Waiting for your Tesla story.

Thanks, I will soon start my Tesla M3 ownership thread. I am still experimenting with the car and enjoying it.

Originally Posted by click

We desperately need these kind of driving tests in India. And they need to be retaken every ten years. We have such terrible practice. Driving should be a privilege for those who learn and not a right if you turn 18.

I completely agree. Now when I am in India, I have started using OLA and Uber rather than driving by myself to avoid the stress. It will require a systemic overhaul at all levels to improve the level of road safety

Originally Posted by acestormtrooper

@aved

Congratulations on getting your DL.

I must say this is such a good write up. Looks like there are no grey areas there. Just black and white in the entire process unlike India where there is "setting" and shady agents when you go to the RTO.

Also, I am totally impressed with the experience you had with the sales person a t the Tesla dealer. No nonsense, all clear, matched your expectations. Here as you know, for the old car they would increase the value and reduce some discounts or freebies on the new car. A total scam.

However, cant wait to hear more about your Tesla experience. Drive safe.

I hope you and your family are safe back there.

Thank you. The Swedish transport authority is following the Zero Vision (Zero fatalities due to road accidents) and has developed an overall integrated eco-system to implement it. For e.g. on Fridays people shift to public transport and taxi to enjoy the after-work. The law is very stringent on drunk driving. You can permanently lose your license for drunk driving.

It was a pleasure dealing with the Tesla salesperson. He accommodated quite a few of my requests including delivery on the auspicious day of Holi which was on Sunday .

Originally Posted by pratyaksh

Such elaborate practices and proper procedures make these countries what they are. In fact, you make the UAE's driving license process feel like a breeze. I remember people struggling to get licenses even in 3-4 trials after receiving a minimum of 40 odd classes.
They need you to remember tire depth for winter months. That is just brilliant! In contrast, I was in the Himalayas last year and there was a 4x2 Sumo on black ice with absolute zero tyre depth - Obviously the Indian Jugaad worked, with couple of bricks laid on the road behind the tyres, and people manually pushing it up the incline . Oh, by the way, when it did move up, they just simply forgot to remove those bricks from the road

One needs to master driving in winter conditions in Sweden. Otherwise, it is a significant risk to oneself as well as others. The laws are very stringent in terms of when to switch on the winter tires and the conditions of the tire itself.

Originally Posted by shancz

Enjoy your dream run man, good going.

Your experience reminded me about my own in Abu Dhabi(2015), especially the "I went blank for a moment" part.
I had failed the 90 degree parking test because I was too cautious, second guessed myself and ended up with the car's boot on the parking line as I had stopped short. Even worse was the mix of anger and desperation I saw on the examiner's face when he asked me to step out and see what had happened. He was the same guy who had praised me for scoring a 100% in the exams few weeks earlier and he had recognized me when I went for this test. That experience taught a more important life lesson. I made amends, re-appeared and completed the process.

They also followed the Swedish road systems, our learning slides had "SweRoads" inscribed and the seatbelt-rollover demo car was a Volvo C30 if anyone had any doubts
Process was similar to what you have mentioned but few of the hardcore tests aren't there and except for the external road training everything is in the driving school premises.

Deriving from your experience and mine I can say that the training is expensive but valuable.

Enjoy your ownership and drives, Good Luck

I completely agree about the learning and the experience. I am sure if we read through the legislations in India, it will match pretty much with any advanced country. However the difference is in the implementation of it on the ground.

Originally Posted by sidharthg

Holy Moly! That is intense mate! Big Congrats to you for A new car & the license.

I'm sure 99.9% folks here in India would flunk the test infinitely

Even in the current updated driving test in Delhi, more than half of the people don't make it, even though it is not even an iota of what Sweden has it. Gosh, we have some distance to go before road safety is even possible here.

Happy Driving and do post your ownership experience of Tesla!

Thank a lot, I know a few people here who could have bought a decent german car in the amount they have spent on obtaining the DL. I have started building the Tesla ownership thread and I hope it will be up in the next couple of weeks.

[n_ramesh99]

Congratulations Aved for your Swedish driving license and the new car

I remember my Swedish colleagues telling that in other european countries, young people save for their first car whereas in Sweden, they save for driving license!

I also remember some threads in this forum about Sweden driving license process - eg:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...xperience.html (The Swedish Driving License - My Experience)

[shancz]

Originally Posted by aved

I completely agree about the learning and the experience. I am sure if we read through the legislations in India, it will match pretty much with any advanced country. However the difference is in the implementation of it on the ground.

Agree and I had thought the same then about what can be done and here are some of my observations, in no particular order:

- Affordability : The costs involved in operating a driving school like that will render it beyond the reach for most of the candidates of our country.
- Logistics : The sheer number of candidates means that there will have to be at least one such center in every district of the country with smaller centers in smaller districts and hubs in the major districts.
- Diversities : Every center will be different from others due to variance in language, literacy, local/state issues etc.
- Resources : Issues in getting land, vehicles, staff, buildings etc.
- Dependencies : Matching increase in manpower and resources for the enforcing agencies.
- Monitoring : Keeping a check for abuse/corruption in this massive system of need.
- Investments.

Something on such a massive scale can only be done by the government/authorities in sync with the auto industry and more and has to be mandated. Some car manufacturers run their schools too but their impact is very limited.
The authorities will have to lead this which IMO is also their responsibility but also understand their issues and limitations.
It can start in some areas and slowly expand but at least the basic framework should exist.

The places mentioned, Sweden in your case and UAE in mine don't have this issue.
They are small and rich countries, high per capita income, have very less and generally law abiding populations, good policing, excellent infrastructure and sound processes. But if we just push in the numbers we have they too won't be able handle it. Just imagine how your long/frustrating/feasible your DL process will be if 100x more candidates start appearing.

For us the problem is two faceted : Driving Education and Enforcement.
How do we expect someone(let alone a 18 year old) to react when they have been taught to follow the rules and in real world they might be shouted at for doing so or see multiple people breaking the rules and no action being taken.
Like you said the rules are written well but on ground implementation is lacking so enforcement and education have to ramp up in parallel.


Maybe we will all learn to drive straight and in line after bouncing-off all the others around us or maybe the final solution rests with driverless cars, but for now we can follow the "avoid-people" timings and enjoy what the country has to offer and its awesome.

Happy Motoring


Will end with a heartfelt thanks to whoever has read this far and apologies for taking so much of your time.

[kits]

Nice to see a fellow team bhpian From Stockholm. Let's catch up once the pandemic is over.

I was lucky as I was able to convert my UK licence to Swedish driving license. It is tough to get the license in UK as well but not as much as Sweden. And Sweden is extremely beauratic, unjustifiably expensive and slow as compared to many other European countries.

I get their vision on road safety but expressway lanes are extremely narrow and speed limit unnecessarily low. Everyone speeds here by at least 10-15 kmph.

[aved]

Originally Posted by GT007

Wow truly inspiring, really liked the way you were totally honest with the salesperson about the test drive reason and so nice for him to arrange the drive for an hour that you and family fell in love with the car and bought it after such detailed finance discussions. Such a feel good car buying experience, an enthusiast's delight!

In India if we get even 10 percent of this experience when buying new car it would be unimaginable.

I always believe that it is better to be honest from the beginning even if it causes a little bit of heart burn . It helps me keep my life simple.

Originally Posted by n_ramesh99

Congratulations Aved for your Swedish driving license and the new car

I remember my Swedish colleagues telling that in other european countries, young people save for their first car whereas in Sweden, they save for driving license!

I also remember some threads in this forum about Sweden driving license process - eg:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...xperience.html (The Swedish Driving License - My Experience)

Yes, gifting a driving school package to someone who turned 18 is quite popular in Sweden.

Originally Posted by shancz

Agree and I had thought the same then about what can be done and here are some of my observations, in no particular order:

- Affordability : The costs involved in operating a driving school like that will render it beyond the reach for most of the candidates of our country.
- Logistics : The sheer number of candidates means that there will have to be at least one such center in every district of the country with smaller centers in smaller districts and hubs in the major districts.
- Diversities : Every center will be different from others due to variance in language, literacy, local/state issues etc.
- Resources : Issues in getting land, vehicles, staff, buildings etc.
- Dependencies : Matching increase in manpower and resources for the enforcing agencies.
- Monitoring : Keeping a check for abuse/corruption in this massive system of need.
- Investments.

Something on such a massive scale can only be done by the government/authorities in sync with the auto industry and more and has to be mandated. Some car manufacturers run their schools too but their impact is very limited.
The authorities will have to lead this which IMO is also their responsibility but also understand their issues and limitations.
It can start in some areas and slowly expand but at least the basic framework should exist.

The places mentioned, Sweden in your case and UAE in mine don't have this issue.
They are small and rich countries, high per capita income, have very less and generally law abiding populations, good policing, excellent infrastructure and sound processes. But if we just push in the numbers we have they too won't be able handle it. Just imagine how your long/frustrating/feasible your DL process will be if 100x more candidates start appearing.

For us the problem is two faceted : Driving Education and Enforcement.
How do we expect someone(let alone a 18 year old) to react when they have been taught to follow the rules and in real world they might be shouted at for doing so or see multiple people breaking the rules and no action being taken.
Like you said the rules are written well but on ground implementation is lacking so enforcement and education have to ramp up in parallel.


Maybe we will all learn to drive straight and in line after bouncing-off all the others around us or maybe the final solution rests with driverless cars, but for now we can follow the "avoid-people" timings and enjoy what the country has to offer and its awesome.

Happy Motoring


Will end with a heartfelt thanks to whoever has read this far and apologies for taking so much of your time.

I agree with your view. I believe that it will be a multi-decade effort in India to improve the situation. It also will require huge behavior change in the general population. There I believe educating our young citizens about road safety and regulations in school can kick start the change. I have seen this behavior change happening in my hometown Indore for the cleanliness drive over the last 6 years.

Originally Posted by kits

Nice to see a fellow team bhpian From Stockholm. Let's catch up once the pandemic is over.

I was lucky as I was able to convert my UK licence to Swedish driving license. It is tough to get the license in UK as well but not as much as Sweden. And Sweden is extremely beauratic, unjustifiably expensive and slow as compared to many other European countries.

I get their vision on road safety but expressway lanes are extremely narrow and speed limit unnecessarily low. Everyone speeds here by at least 10-15 kmph.

Looking forward to meeting up with you

[shancz]

Originally Posted by aved

I agree with your view. I believe that it will be a multi-decade effort in India to improve the situation. It also will require huge behavior change in the general population. There I believe educating our young citizens about road safety and regulations in school can kick start the change. I have seen this behavior change happening in my hometown Indore for the cleanliness drive over the last 6 years.

Agree, start young and its a multi decade effort.
The results of Indore are excellent. Will see it in person someday.

Meanwhile looking forward to a Tesla ownership review soon

Enjoy the drives.

[kkunal.shah]

Nice reading how other nations give importance to issuing a new licence, could relate this to the process in Dubai. While countries like Sweden can do this, India can not think of this due to its large size & state-federal structure. Also, car ownership is critical due to poor/inadequate public transport infrastructure.

[sandeepmohan]

Its amazing that your public transport system compensates you for delays. I guess most developed regions of Europe are like this.

I must say that the Swedish driving license system is pretty solid and in alignment to what is required for you to be driving on their roads. In comparison, New Zealand is rather lax. It is possible to convert a Indian drivers license and jump straight into full drivers license. Its a lot easier though. You walk into a Automobile Association office, fill out a form, get your eyes tested, sit the theory test which consists of 35 choice questions (33 to Pass) and then schedule your practical driving test. Both require preparation and practice but its nowhere near as strict as the system in Sweden. We are half the size of Sweden and with half the population, most of which is concentrated on 3 big cities that is Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. We do not have many motorways too. Mostly single lane highways with a speed no higher than 100Kmph. Rural roads are more than major highways.

What are you supposed to do for Eco Driving?

As for turning right on a country or rural road, are you to pull over to the left and wait if there is traffic behind you, or, do you just pull up to the center line and wait there and make the turn once its safe?

Well done on passing your driving test.

[aved]

Originally Posted by kkunal.shah

Nice reading how other nations give importance to issuing a new licence, could relate this to the process in Dubai. While countries like Sweden can do this, India can not think of this due to its large size & state-federal structure. Also, car ownership is critical due to poor/inadequate public transport infrastructure.

I agree, when I moved from Mumbai (where i was using public transport) to Bangalore, the first thing I had to do is purchase a car.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Its amazing that your public transport system compensates you for delays. I guess most developed regions of Europe are like this.

I must say that the Swedish driving license system is pretty solid and in alignment to what is required for you to be driving on their roads. In comparison, New Zealand is rather lax. It is possible to convert a Indian drivers license and jump straight into full drivers license. Its a lot easier though. You walk into a Automobile Association office, fill out a form, get your eyes tested, sit the theory test which consists of 35 choice questions (33 to Pass) and then schedule your practical driving test. Both require preparation and practice but its nowhere near as strict as the system in Sweden. We are half the size of Sweden and with half the population, most of which is concentrated on 3 big cities that is Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. We do not have many motorways too. Mostly single lane highways with a speed no higher than 100Kmph. Rural roads are more than major highways.

What are you supposed to do for Eco Driving?

As for turning right on a country or rural road, are you to pull over to the left and wait if there is traffic behind you, or, do you just pull up to the center line and wait there and make the turn once its safe?

Well done on passing your driving test.

Eco-driving is to drive in an environmentally friendly way. The theory part could be found here

https://korkortonline.se/en/theory/ecodriving/

But it is easier said than done. The Traffic authority invigilators keep a hawk-eye on your driving style during the test and if they identify any shortcoming then they will fail the candidate. Now more and more candidates are opting for tests on automatic cars. I also switched from manual to automatic during my second driving test.

With regards to your other question, both practices are prevalent and based on the traffic situation on the road you could choose either of the methods.

[alphamike_1612]

Hi Aved,

Congratulations on your licence.

Looking forward to the Tesla thread.

Do you have any link for an ebook for the theory part?

Even though we don't have to write such stringent tests here or any tests for that matter, we might be able to unlearn and re-learn many things.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by aved

When we reached, and I parked the car, he announced that I could hire a car and drive back to Stockholm if I wanted. It was his way of saying that I passed the test. I was on cloud seven. Finally, I will be able to drive again. I will be back on the road.

I received the license in two days at my home address. In Sweden, all new license holders are on two year probation period, and so am I. I have spent close to 25000 SEK on the entire process, which I think is money well spent.

Wow, this was a very stringent process indeed! I have heard in the past from friends in Germany that it takes a minimum of €1200/$1400 for a driving license (including the driving school lessons), but yours (SEK 25000) was closer to $3000! More expensive more stringent! Were you also required to drive down icy patches of road like the video you shared in the previous post?

Compared to this, my own DL experience in Michigan was meh.. just around $60 out of pocket, and a basic 30-minute driving test.

Congratulations on getting your DL, and on your ownership experience with the Kia Niro!

Originally Posted by aved

He also told me that he could offer me an interest rate of 0.25%.

And here I was, thinking that the 1.99% interest rate I got in the US for my Model 3 Dual Motor was so great! This is a shockingly low interest rate!

Originally Posted by aved

He also promised me to provide a taxi from his showroom to the Tesla delivery center, a good 70 KM ride costing roughly 800 SEK. It made the deal reasonable for me.

I too was offered a one-way rental car to get to the Tesla showroom which was a good 3 hours away from where I lived at the time (I live in metro Detroit area and the nearest Tesla store at the time was Cleveland, OH). There's a newer one about 30 mins away now though (Clarkston, Michigan).

Originally Posted by aved

I have started building the Tesla ownership thread and I hope it will be up in the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to see your review!! Here's mine in case you want to use it for reference!
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...or-review.html (Journeying into the electric future – My Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Review)


Hope you enjoy your new ride as much as I did!

[JoshMachine]

Wow, such a detailed perspective. Thanks for sharing

I recall my days spent in Stavanger (Norway) and Copenhagen about 3 years ago while on multiple work visits.
I have heard my colleagues undergo the same experience but they had only praise inspite of the effort they underwent.

Such is the sheer brilliance of the transport system in those countries that I secretly wished sometimes, what would it take to replicate that across India.

Back in those countries, I have a fond and vivid recollection of - the almost seamless transition between multiple transport systems (taxi, metro, bus etc.) + the almost accurate time-tables of various transport systems (one could adjust their watches sometimes according to it ) + driverless metro in some cities etc.

Congrats for your Tesla btw, looking forward to your ownership thread!

[nandrive]

Mods: I am commenting 2nd time on this thread, if irrelevant please delete. It is irrelevant but couldn't stop myself. Apologies OP.

I believe the stringent theory and practical tests are must have, but I am really not impressed with the cost of getting a license and the must have driving school criteria. This sounds exactly the licence raj of India. I am really surprised that everyone is of full praise, no one is against it. If these were to be implemented in India, every one would be up in the arms saying, government wants to fill up it's coffers or schools are run by politicians etc etc. It's really amazing how we accept and adore if its foreign.

[aved]

Originally Posted by alphamike_1612

Hi Aved,

Congratulations on your licence.

Looking forward to the Tesla thread.

Do you have any link for an ebook for the theory part?

Even though we don't have to write such stringent tests here or any tests for that matter, we might be able to unlearn and re-learn many things.

Unfortunately, book is in hard copy format and copyrighted. Most of the theory in concise form (and in English) is available here

https://korkortonline.se/en/theory/

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

Wow, this was a very stringent process indeed! I have heard in the past from friends in Germany that it takes a minimum of €1200/$1400 for a driving license (including the driving school lessons), but yours (SEK 25000) was closer to $3000! More expensive more stringent! Were you also required to drive down icy patches of road like the video you shared in the previous post?

Compared to this, my own DL experience in Michigan was meh.. just around $60 out of pocket, and a basic 30-minute driving test.

Congratulations on getting your DL, and on your ownership experience with the Kia Niro!




And here I was, thinking that the 1.99% interest rate I got in the US for my Model 3 Dual Motor was so great! This is a shockingly low interest rate!


I too was offered a one-way rental car to get to the Tesla showroom which was a good 3 hours away from where I lived at the time (I live in metro Detroit area and the nearest Tesla store at the time was Cleveland, OH). There's a newer one about 30 mins away now though (Clarkston, Michigan).




Looking forward to see your review!! Here's mine in case you want to use it for reference!
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...or-review.html (Journeying into the electric future – My Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Review)


Hope you enjoy your new ride as much as I did!

Thank you for sharing your review thread. I really enjoyed reading it. I am impressed with the kind of detail you went into explaining different aspects of the car and your ownership experience.

I drove in winter conditions during my Risk 2 training, where I got a fairly good idea about what I could expect in Swedish winter. I did my driving test in summertime, so there were no winter conditions.

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Wow, such a detailed perspective. Thanks for sharing

I recall my days spent in Stavanger (Norway) and Copenhagen about 3 years ago while on multiple work visits.
I have heard my colleagues undergo the same experience but they had only praise inspite of the effort they underwent.

Such is the sheer brilliance of the transport system in those countries that I secretly wished sometimes, what would it take to replicate that across India.

Back in those countries, I have a fond and vivid recollection of - the almost seamless transition between multiple transport systems (taxi, metro, bus etc.) + the almost accurate time-tables of various transport systems (one could adjust their watches sometimes according to it ) + driverless metro in some cities etc.

Congrats for your Tesla btw, looking forward to your ownership thread!

Thank you, I will put up the Tesla M3 ownership thread soon

Originally Posted by nandrive

Mods: I am commenting 2nd time on this thread, if irrelevant please delete. It is irrelevant but couldn't stop myself. Apologies OP.

I believe the stringent theory and practical tests are must have, but I am really not impressed with the cost of getting a license and the must have driving school criteria. This sounds exactly the licence raj of India. I am really surprised that everyone is of full praise, no one is against it. If these were to be implemented in India, every one would be up in the arms saying, government wants to fill up it's coffers or schools are run by politicians etc etc. It's really amazing how we accept and adore if its foreign.

Well, the costs are aligned to the geography and prevalent effort cost. There is absolutely no compulsion for going to the driving schools in Sweden and most young Swedes are actually trained by their parents only. The only privilege that driving schools have is a separate queue where they can access the slots for the test, but then they are measured by the success of the candidates in the actual test and if the candidates are not performing well, it can impact the driving school quite adversly. So,it works both ways.

[BigBrad]

Originally Posted by aved

..

Aved, thanks for the detailed information you have shared in this thread. It helped me a lot in getting a clear understanding of the process and more importantly knowing your experience. Happy to say that I passed the test in my first attempt!

The learning phase:
I checked the costs at nearby driving schools and some of them were reasonable with good reviews, but it was still a bit expensive for me. I didn't want to spend too much money on this and hence decided to go with a private instructor instead of a driving school. While deciding between the two options, I heard about a private instructor with good reviews. So decided to give him a try. Regardless of driving school or private instructor, one common advice I got was to pass the theory test first before starting the driving practice lessons. Around end of March, I booked the slots for theory (3rd May) and practical test (19th July). I always wanted to drive a manual and hence booked the same for practical test. The good thing is, the manual exam slots are much easier to find compared to the automatics. Bought the "Driving Licence Book 2022" edition and also bought the mock theory tests in trafiko.se and started preparing. Attempted the theory test and I barely managed to cross the pass percentage of 80%. Meanwhile, I continued practicing with the instructor on weekends and almost reached a stage where I felt reasonably confident of clearing the test. So started looking for early exam slots to prepone the driving test and luckily found a slot for today. I practiced for 3 hours in the weekend and went for the test.

The test:
I reached the test center ahead of time, verified the appointment and waited in the reception. The examiner lady came at the right time and called my name. She asked for few details which she captured in a tab. We then proceeded to the car and it was a new Skoda Karoq (was expecting a Volvo V60). It had the ugly 2 spoke steering wheel and full digital cluster. I was prepared to do the safety check before entering the car, but she asked me to get in and so I sat inside after a casual glance at the tyres. She explained everything about the test, the car's controls and did an alcohol test. She also mentioned that she may forgive a minor mistake, but warned me that there should not be any repeated mistakes. I was asked to adjust the seat, mirrors, check the brakes etc. which I was prepared to do. We exited the test center and proceeded to nearby areas which had some country roads. Drove around for around 40-45 mins (did not drive on the highways) and came back at the test center where she asked me to do front parking in a designated slot. I parked the car and held my breath to hear her response. She uttered the magical words, "Congratulations! You have passed the test, but...". I was excited and bit curious to know what went wrong. She mentioned 2 minor mistakes. Once when I was driving on a 90 kmph country road, there were couple of horses passing by on the oncoming side. I continued to maintain the speed despite seeing them. I was supposed to maintain a lower speed as I came closer to them, but I slowed down only after she told me to do so. This was required as the horses could be intimidated by fast moving vehicles. Second one was when I was driving in a residential area with cars parked on the right side and there was space only for one car to drive. There was an oncoming car bit ahead of me (not too close) and I did not stop and continued driving although we both passed each other comfortably without any issues. But in this situation, I should have stopped behind the parked cars and let the oncoming vehicle pass before driving on. I apologised for the mistakes and she was kind enough to let it go. In the end, we got out of the car and she told me that I will receive an email with the result and will get the licence card in couple of days. Without a doubt, today was my happiest day in Sweden.

I don't plan to buy a car soon as I haven't found a family apartment with parking yet (that's a story for another day). But I would like to buy one in next 1-2 years and hopefully a manual before it goes extinct.