West Midlands · Midlands
Birmingham (Garretts Green) driving test centre
44.4% of car practical tests taken at Birmingham (Garretts Green) passed in 2025-26, from 22,480 tests. Pass rates, local road types and how we prepare you for this centre.
Birmingham (Garretts Green) pass rates
Pass rate 2025-26
44.4%
9,980 passes
National average
50%
-5.6 points here
Tests conducted
22,480
about 1,873 a month
Best published year
44.4%
2025-26
22,480 car practical tests were taken at Birmingham (Garretts Green) in 2025-26. 44.4% passed, 5.6 percentage points below the national average of 50%. It is up on 2019-20, when 38% passed.
Over the published years the rate has moved between 38% in 2019-20 and 44.4% in 2025-26, so a single year's figure is a weak guide on its own. In 2025-26 the rate was 46.9% for male candidates and 40.7% for female candidates. That works out at roughly 1,873 tests a month, which is what waiting times at Birmingham (Garretts Green) depend on more than the pass rate does.
- Birmingham (Garretts Green)
- National average
| Year | Tests | Passes | Pass rate | National | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 22,480 | 9,980 | 44.4% | 50% | 46.9% | 40.7% |
| 2024-25 | 21,871 | 9,189 | 42% | 48.7% | 44.3% | 38.8% |
| 2023-24 | 21,951 | 8,828 | 40.2% | 47.9% | 42.8% | 36.9% |
| 2022-23 | 12,677 | 5,440 | 42.9% | 48.4% | 46.9% | 38.7% |
| 2021-22 | 11,486 | 4,740 | 41.3% | 48.9% | 45.1% | 36.7% |
| 2019-20 | 12,399 | 4,716 | 38% | 45.9% | 43.9% | 33.4% |
Source: DVSA table DRT122A, car practical driving test pass rates by test centre, published on GOV.UK. Figures are financial years running April to March.
Where Birmingham (Garretts Green) test centre is
Arrive ten minutes early and park where you can pull out easily. The waiting room is small at most centres, so your instructor will normally wait in the car park while you take the test.
Driving out of Birmingham (Garretts Green)
The local network around Birmingham (Garretts Green) is dual carriageway, industrial roads and residential estates, and test routes are built from it. You cannot cover that range on one street, so the pre-test sessions move between them.
One of the busiest centres in the country — book early.
Birmingham (Garretts Green) covers learners in and around Birmingham, and it is where most of our Birmingham course students sit the test. If you are choosing between centres, practise the road types listed above rather than picking on pass-rate figures alone.
Most learners who retake at Birmingham (Garretts Green) say the driving was fine and the pressure was not.
Roads you are likely to meet
Dual carriageway
Industrial roads
Residential estates
- One of the busiest centres in the country — book early.
Test routes are no longer published by the DVSA, and examiners vary them. Treat this as a guide to the local road types rather than a route list. Book your test and check availability on GOV.UK.
Where marks are lost at Birmingham (Garretts Green)
Slip roads and lane changes
Two things get marked here: arriving at the merge under-speed, and changing lanes on mirrors alone without the blind-spot check.
Space around large vehicles
Leave bigger gaps and hang back at junctions so you can see past. Cutting in front of a lorry is a common serious fault on these routes.
Priority on narrow streets
The recurring fault is stopping in the gap rather than before it, then having nowhere to go when something comes the other way.
How we prepare you for this centre
Practice where you will be marked
Your instructor works the roads around Birmingham (Garretts Green) in the sessions before your test — dual carriageway included — not generic estate roads.
A marked mock run
Run silently and scored properly — no coaching mid-drive — then debriefed fault by fault.
Manoeuvres to standard
Bay park, parallel park, pull up on the right and forward bay — rehearsed on live roads near the centre rather than an empty car park.
Everything around the drive
Paperwork, show me / tell me questions and the independent drive, run through in advance.
Courses that suit test-centre prep
Birmingham (Garretts Green) test centre FAQs
What are the test routes like at Birmingham (Garretts Green)?
The DVSA stopped publishing official routes, and examiners vary them. In practice, routes from Birmingham (Garretts Green) draw on dual carriageway, industrial roads, residential estates, so those are the conditions to rehearse rather than a fixed sequence of streets.
What do learners most often fail on at Birmingham (Garretts Green)?
slip roads and lane changes, space around large vehicles, priority on narrow streets — all of which come directly from the road types on the local network.
Can I take an intensive course and test at Birmingham (Garretts Green)?
Yes. We match you with a DVSA approved instructor who teaches on these roads day to day, and we look for the earliest practical slot at Birmingham (Garretts Green) or a nearby centre serving Birmingham.
How do I book a practical test at Birmingham (Garretts Green)?
Practical tests are booked through GOV.UK with your provisional licence and theory certificate numbers. We can check cancellations for you once your course dates are set.
How early should I arrive at Birmingham (Garretts Green)?
Ten minutes early is enough. Bring your provisional licence; the eyesight check happens outside before you get in the car, so know which plate you can read.
Should I travel to a different centre instead?
We will not sell you a pass rate. Published DVSA figures reflect who books there as much as the roads, and a centre an hour away that you cannot practise around is a worse bet than the one your instructor drives every week.
Not sure how many hours you need?
Answer four quick questions and we will recommend a course based on your experience, not a sales target.