Driving School Reform 2027: What Driving Schools Should Prepare Now

The 2027 driving school reform changes more than lessons and tests. Driving schools face new entrepreneurial and organisational decisions: Which theory formats should be offered? How will simulations be integrated? How will test readiness be documented? And how can prices for all locations and licence categories be captured uniformly and reported on time?

The reform promises more freedom to shape offerings and fewer rigid requirements. At the same time, a public transparency register is meant to make prices and practical pass rates comparable. For driving schools, that means fewer constraints in some areas, but significantly higher demands on structured and consistent data.

Status: 31 August 2026. The reform package is still in the parliamentary process. This article describes the current draft act and draft ordinance, not law already in force.

Key points for driving schools

• Under the draft, the new training rules are due to take effect predominantly on 1 January 2027.
• Changes to the tests and the legal rules for the transparency register are generally scheduled for 1 July 2027.
• Driving schools should be free to decide whether to offer theory in person, digitally in real time, flexibly over time via digital materials, or in combination.
• The fixed number of special training drives is to cease. The required driving areas remain and must be mastered safely.
• Simulations should be usable more widely but must not fully replace real driving practice.
• Before accompanying a learner to the practical test, a successful test-like assessment in real traffic should be documented.
• Prices are to be reported electronically per licence category according to prescribed service items.
• New or changed prices should be transmitted before they are applied in contractual agreements.
• For existing driving schools, the current draft provides a deadline for the first price submission by 1 October 2027.
• Practical pass data are to be transmitted by the technical testing organisations. Driving schools should not report these rates themselves.

Where does the legislative process stand?

The Federal Government has adopted the draft act amending the Driving Instructor Act and further road traffic law provisions. It was introduced in the Bundestag on 29 July 2026 as Bundestag Printed Paper 21/7404. The accompanying Ordinance on Modernising Driving School Training is available as Bundesrat Printed Paper 365/26.

The reform package is therefore politically well advanced, but not yet finally adopted. The Bundestag and the Bundesrat can still change rules, transitional periods and start dates. Operational preparation is therefore sensible; irreversible technical or contractual decisions should still be tied to the actual promulgation status.

The planned timeline

For training that began before 1 January 2027, the draft ordinance contains a transitional rule. Such courses may be completed under the training rules applicable until the end of 2026. Driving schools may therefore need two clearly distinguishable training processes for a transitional period.

More freedom in theory – but a business decision

The classroom obligation is to cease. In future, driving schools should be able to choose among several forms of knowledge acquisition:

• classroom theory teaching,
• digital delivery in real time (synchronous),
• digital learning materials usable flexibly over time (asynchronous), and
• combinations of these formats.

The driving school decides which variants it offers. That creates no duty to provide all formats in parallel. For operators, this is less a pure technology question than a strategic decision.

Before switching, the following points in particular should be clarified:

• Which target groups prefer classroom, real-time online or self-paced learning?
• Which platform meets professional and data-protection requirements?
• How will learning progress and accessibility be organised?
• Which rooms are still needed?
• How will the offering be described clearly on the website, in the contract and in price information?
• What costs arise for content, licences, support and technical maintenance?

Digital theory can reduce room and organisational costs. It can also create new ongoing costs. A robust calculation should therefore not rest solely on the political expectation of a cheaper driving licence.

Special training drives become more individually plannable

For category B, twelve special training drives currently apply: five rural, four motorway and three darkness drives. This fixed minimum number is to cease. Rural drives, drives on motorways or dual carriageways, and drives in darkness or dusk remain necessary training areas, however.

How many drives are required should depend on the individual training level. For driving schools, that means more pedagogical leeway, but also a greater need to explain. The decision on further drives must be understandable to learner drivers, especially if the expectation has arisen that in future only three special training drives will be needed across the board.

For processes and communication, it is therefore advisable to:

• name the three driving areas clearly in the training plan,
• not promise a new fixed minimum number,
• record individual learning progress in a traceable way,
• justify additional drives on professional grounds, and
• not mix price information with misleading special-drive packages.

According to the reasoning of the current draft, the reported price of a driving lesson should also cover the special training drives. Separate reporting items for rural, motorway and darkness drives are not included in the intended price catalogue.

Simulations: a new offering without an obligation to offer

Simulations should be integrable more widely into practical training. The prerequisite is a realistic and dynamic representation of different traffic situations. Under the draft, an instructor need not necessarily be present during a simulation.

Even so, the simulator does not replace real training. Certain driving areas must still be completed in public traffic. There is also no requirement to purchase or offer a simulator.

Before investing, driving schools should therefore examine:

• which training content can usefully be simulated,
• how the offering fits the existing process,
• what utilisation is realistic,
• whether purchase, leasing or cooperation is more economical,
• how simulation services are priced, and
• how benefits and limits are communicated.

Because the price of a simulation lesson is intended as a separate reporting item, this service should be set up clearly in the price and service system from the start.

Test readiness becomes a documented process

A central innovation is the planned test of practical exam readiness. Before a driving school accompanies a learner to the practical test, at least one successful test-like assessment should be conducted.

The test should:

• take place in public traffic,
• cover the relevant exam content,
• match the intended exam duration and minimum driving time, and
• be documented.

For driving schools, this creates a clear process step between training and presentation for the exam. It should be reflected cleanly in organisation, contracts and pricing.

Points to clarify include in particular:

• Who may conduct the test?
• How is the appointment planned?
• Which criteria apply for a successful completion?
• How is an unsuccessful attempt documented?
• Which further training measures follow from that?
• How is the service charged?

In the intended price catalogue, establishing practical test readiness is included as a separate item. It should therefore not disappear silently into the basic fee or a general exam flat rate.

Shorter tests can change workflows

For categories B and BE, the practical test is to last at least 40 minutes from 1 July 2027. At least 25 minutes of that are intended as pure driving time. The current minimum duration is 55 minutes in total; the draft ordinance provides a reduction of 15 minutes for that.

A shorter test can create additional capacity but does not guarantee shorter waiting times. Availability and regional demand remain decisive. Driving schools should therefore adjust their appointment planning only once testing organisations announce the actual workflows and available quotas.

Which prices are to be reported?

The planned transparency register is to publish price information per licence category in a more uniform structure. Under the current draft act, this includes in particular:

• basic fee,
• total price of the theory teaching offered,
• further theory training after a failed theory test,
• presentation for the theory test,
• price of a driving lesson,
• price of a simulation lesson,
• establishing practical test readiness,
• presentation or accompaniment to the practical test, and
• further category-specific training and partial tests.

Depending on the licence category, further items may become relevant, such as partial tests, moped training, supervised driving practice or seminars. A blanket price sheet for all categories and locations is therefore not enough if services or terms differ.

Multiple locations and categories become a data task

For a driving school with one location and few categories, capture is still manageable. With several branches, however, numerous combinations quickly arise:

Location × licence category × service item × price status

Not every service necessarily needs its own monetary amount. An item can, for example:

• have its own price,
• already be included in the basic fee,
• be offered free of charge, or
• not be offered at a location or for a category.

These cases should not all be stored indiscriminately as €0. A zero amount can otherwise mean that a service is actually free, is already charged elsewhere, or is not offered at all. For reliable reporting data, these meanings must remain distinct.

When must prices be reported?

Under the current draft, new prices and price changes are to be transmitted electronically before they are applied in contractual agreements. Price maintenance thus becomes an ongoing process rather than a one-off submission.

For already existing driving schools, a transitional period for the first submission until 1 October 2027 is envisaged. That does not mean no preparation is needed until then. The more locations, categories and differing price rules exist, the more work cleaning and mapping become.

A sensible internal process could look like this in future:

1. Calculate and internally approve new prices.
2. Identify affected locations, categories and service items.
3. Update reporting data and check completeness.
4. Transmit prices electronically before contractual use.
5. Keep website, price lists, contract documents and public data in sync.
6. Document the timing and content of the change in a traceable way.

The exact technical reporting standards may still be specified further in the process and during implementation. Driving schools should therefore not treat a self-developed interface as already officially recognised.

How are the planned pass rates meant to work?

The transparency register is to show not only prices but also practical pass rates. A differentiated statistic by licence category is envisaged. First and retake tests, as well as passed and failed practical tests, are to be accounted for separately.

Important for driving schools: exam data are to be transmitted quarterly by the technical testing organisations. Driving schools do not report their pass rates themselves. Results are to be attributed to the driving school where test readiness was established.

The planned readiness test thus also gains economic significance. Presentation for an exam will in future affect not only the individual training case but may feed into a publicly visible statistic.

A pass rate alone does not, however, explain training quality. A high rate can indicate good training. It can also arise if learners are only entered for the test after a great many additional lessons. Driving schools should therefore explain transparently how training, test readiness and pricing hang together.

How does the transparency register change competition?

More uniform data lower the barrier to comparison. Learner drivers and relatives can more easily juxtapose price items, and information services may process the published data.

For driving schools, it will therefore matter less than ever to advertise only with a low basic fee. What becomes decisive is whether the overall offering is understandable:

• Which services are included?
• How is training organised?
• Which additional costs can arise?
• Which learning formats are actually offered?
• How quickly are lessons and exam appointments available?
• How is test readiness established?

Transparency need not mean only price pressure. It also gives well-organised driving schools the chance to explain their offering clearly and to put incomplete loss-leader offers in context.

What driving schools can prepare now

Even before final adoption, reversible work that remains useful regardless of the exact wording can be done.

1. Clean master data

• Check operator details
• Capture all locations completely
• Harmonise addresses and contact data
• Clean duplicate or outdated locations
• Define responsibilities per location

2. Assign licence categories

• Document categories offered per location
• Distinguish central offerings from location deviations
• Mark temporarily unavailable categories correctly
• Do not mix combinations such as B, B78 and B197

3. Structure price items

• Capture prices per category and location
• Distinguish included and free services
• Mark services not offered clearly
• Show exam presentations separately
• Prepare establishing test readiness as its own item
• List simulations only where they are actually offered

4. Define the change process

• Define internal price approval
• Name people responsible for reporting
• Document versions and validity dates
• Align website, contract documents and reporting data
• Introduce a check step before publication

5. Review training offerings

• Select theory formats
• Assess a simulator economically
• Plan the readiness test into the process
• Define transition cases at the year change
• Inform staff and instructors early

How fahrschuldaten.de supports preparation

fahrschuldaten.de is designed for structured management of driving school data. Schools can capture operators, locations, licence categories and price items in a shared workspace.

For several locations, central details can be used and then adjusted where a location differs. Price items are not stored only as amounts. It is possible to distinguish whether a service:

• has its own price,
• is included in the basic fee,
• is offered free of charge, or
• is not offered.

Price lists thus remain clear even with multiple categories and branches. Open or incomplete details are easier to spot before they become publications or structured exports.

fahrschuldaten.de also provides a structured register batch export based on its own publicly documented data schema. This schema is a technical preparation and not an officially defined reporting standard. Once binding technical requirements are published, the output must be checked against them and adjusted if necessary.

Practical pass rates are not collected from driving schools by fahrschuldaten.de. They can only be included once corresponding official data from the technical testing organisations are available and legally usable.

Frequently asked questions from driving schools

Must driving schools report all prices from January 2027?

Under the current draft, the training rules and the legal rules for the transparency register do not start on the same day. The transparency register is generally scheduled for 1 July 2027. For the first price submission by existing driving schools, a transitional period until 1 October 2027 is intended. Changes in the process remain possible.

Must driving schools offer online theory?

No. Driving schools should be free to decide which permitted learning formats they offer.

Are only three special training drives still required?

No. Rural drives, drives on motorways or dual carriageways, and drives in darkness or dusk remain three necessary driving areas. The draft dispenses with a fixed minimum number of drives.

Must every driving school buy a simulator?

No. Simulations are to be enabled but not made mandatory for every driving school.

Do driving schools report their pass rates themselves?

No. The intended practical exam data are to be transmitted by the technical testing organisations.

Is fahrschuldaten.de the state transparency register?

No. fahrschuldaten.de is an independent platform for structured capture and preparation of driving school data. The planned state transparency register is to be run by the Federal Ministry of Transport and made accessible via Mobilithek.

Conclusion: Organise data and processes now, await final rules

The 2027 driving school reform combines greater pedagogical freedom with significantly more market transparency. Driving schools can shape their theory offerings more flexibly, determine the volume of special training drives more individually, and integrate simulations into training. At the same time, test readiness, price items and change processes become more structured.

Not all rules are final yet. Even so, it is worth organising master data, categories, prices and internal responsibilities now. This preparatory work remains useful even if the Bundestag or Bundesrat still change individual details.

A clear summary for prospective learner drivers is available in the guide Driving School Reform 2027: What Will Change for Learner Drivers.

Editorial note: Legal statements and dates were checked against official publications and printed papers. Content, deadlines and technical requirements may change until the legislative process is complete.