A trainee enrolled in a motor vehicle driver's license examination training class but failed the exam multiple times. Can they demand a refund of the training fees from the drving school? Recently, the Heshan District People's Court of Yiyang City concluded a dispute over an education and training contract.

基本案情

Due to the need for training for the motor vehicle driver's license examination, He Moumou paid a training fee of 3,680 yuao a coach at a certain driving school in Yiyang. The driving school registered He Moumou as a student. The driving school paid the examination fees for the C1 Classand Class II tests and the cost of the driver's license for He Moumou. He Moumou passed the C1 Class I test but failed both the first and second attpts at the C1 Class II test.

Subsequently, at the request of He Moumou, the vehicle category for his driver's license examination was changed from C1 to C2. A ceriving school paid the C2 subject three examination fee for He Moumou, and He Moumou paid 1,500 yuan to the school's instructor fo subject two and subject three training. After receiving training from the instructor, He Moumou failed both the C2 subject three examination and the third attempt at the C2 subject two mination. He Moumou then independently scheduled and failed the fourth and fifth attempts at the C2 subject two examination.

Due to the failure to obtain a driver's license and He Moumou's belief that a certain driving school had engaged in unauthorized charging, a dispute arose the parties. After mediation by staff from the Transportation Administration Bureau, a preliminary mediation agreement was reached: the driving school instructor refunded He Moumou 1,500 yuan raining fees, and it was agreed that the school would re-register He Moumou for free, with He Moumou bearing the examination fees and no further training fees being chared. However, no written mediation agreement was signed. Later, because He Moumou was unwilling to pay the examination fees for the re-registration, a disagreement arose again. Consequetly, He Moumou filed a lawsuit against the driving school, demanding the refund of training fees and compensation for lost wages and transportation costs.

法院判决

The Heshan District Court found that although He Moumou did not sign a written training contract with a certain driving school, he paid training fees to the school' instructor, and the school acknowledged this and registered him as a student, thereby establishing a de facto motor vehicle driving training contract relationship between the two parties.

The driving school provided training for Subject One, Subject Two, and Subject Three to He Moumou and registered him for the examinations, with allnation dates determined after consultation with He Moumou. After failing Subject Two three times, He Moumou independently scheduled two additional attempts without passing and failed to inform the driving school ultimately, he failed all five attempts, resulting in the inability to schedule further examinations. The driving school fulfilled its training obligations and was not at obvious fault for his examination failures. Furtherg subsequent mediation, the driving school remained willing to continue providing training services, but negotiations failed because He Moumou refused to pay the examination registration fees. He Moumou has no evidence to prove that the driving school provided insufficient training or refused to provide training. Additionally, expenses for lost wages and transportation incurred due to training and examinations are necessary costs for obtaing a driver's license. Accordingly, the court dismissed all of He Moumou's claims. Dissatisfied, He Moumou appealed. After reviewing the case, the second-instance court dd the appeal and upheld the original judgment, which is now effective.

法官说法

As a common training program in reality, disputes arising from driver's license training are not uncommon. As training institutions, driving schools have contractual obligations to provide driving training services to students to enable them to acquire basic driving skills; after paying the training fees, students also have the right to receive training services from the driving schools. Whether a student can pass the examination and obtain a driver's license is determined by factors such as the student's learning ability, their performance during the examination, and whether the driving school provides training services completely and accurately.

Here, the judge reminds people that before registering for a driver's license exam, individuals should carefully consider their own time and energy before signing a training contract with a drving school, so as to avoid unexpected incidents caused by their inability to continue fulfilling the contract due to personal reasons.

This article is reprinted from the WeChat Official Account "Shandong Higher People's Court", and we express our gratitude!