The AA is calling on the UK government to introduce short conversion courses for motorists who hold automatic-only licenses. This proposal aims to help drivers access more affordable used vehicles as manual options rapidly vanish from new car showrooms.
The drop from two-in-three manual moodels
The British automotive market is seeing a decisive pivot toward automatic transmissions, driven largely by the rise of electric vehicles which exclusively use automatics. According to a market review cited by the AA,fewer than one in four new models now feature a manual gear stick,a stark contrast to a decade ago when two in three vehicles were equipped with them.
This shift is not merely a preference but a structural change in the industry. Experts predict that manual gearboxes could be entirely absent from British showrooms by 2030. This transition is reflected in learner behavior; the AA reported that nearly 30% of practical driving tests last year were taken in automatic cars, up from just 8.2% durnig the 2016-2017 period.
Why 51% of young motorists still seek manual gearboxes
Despite the industry's move toward automatics, a significant portion of the youth market remains tethered to manual transmissions due to financial necessity. A poll of 13,631 motorists found that 51% of drivers aged 18 to 34 expect their next vehicle to be a manual. This is primarily because used automatic cars often command a price premium over their manual counterparts, making them less accessible to those on a tight budget.
The report says that more than half of young license holders can only afford used cars with manual gearsticks, as the high cost of electric vehicles remains a barrier . this creates a paradoxical situation where a growing number of young drivers are legally restricted to automatic cars but financially restricted to manual ones, effectively locking them out of the cheapest segment of the second-hand market.
Germany's ten-lesson blueprint for license conversion
To resolve this imbalance, AA President Edmund King suggests that the UK adopt a model similar to the one implemented in Germany in April 2021. Under the German system, automatic-only license holders can qualify to drive manuals by completing at least ten lessons of 45 minutes each, followed by a 15-minute assessment with a qualified instructor.
Edmund King argues that because these drivers have already passed a driving test, they possess the necessary knowledge of road rules and should not be forced to retake a full practical exam. The AA proposes a regulated UK conversion course consisting of 7.5 hours of professional tuition to ensure safety standards are met without placing an undue burden on the driver.
The 20-week DVSA backlog and remaining regulatory gaps
The push for a conversion course is also a response to the systemic failures of the current testing infrastructure. Many motorists are unwilling to re-enter the queue for a Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) test, where pandemic-era backlogs have led to waiting times of nearly 20 weeks. A short, instructor-led conversion would bypass this administrative bottleneck.
However , several critical details remain unaddressed in the current proposal. The source does not provide a response from the DVSA or the UK government regarding the feasibility of such a scheme, nor does it specify how these conversion certificates would be legally integrated into existing license records. It remains unclear whether the government views the manual-to-automatic transition as a temporary hurdle or a permanent shift that renders manual licenses obsolete.
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