Its worth knowing that when a manual car test has been passed and a licence received, you’ll be able to drive both manual and automatic cars. Whereas the opposite does not apply with an automatic licence. Therefore choosing to learn to drive a manual will give better options when buying or renting a vehicle.

The benefit of a manual licence is that in comparison, a like for like car where the only difference is the gearbox, the manual transmission car tends to be cheaper than the automatic version of the same make, and can often be more reliable.

Automatic cars, if driven in icy or snowy conditions, can be lacking in control whereas then a manual car can offer greater control and so perform better when roads are slippery or dangerous.

If you decide to take further licences, the vast majority of vehicles are a manual transmission. Other vehicles besides cars have a manual gearbox such as commercial vehicles which usually are to transport goods or materials rather than passengers eg: horse trucks, pickup to tow a caravan, other licences such as Buses, Coaches, PCV, minibus, haulage for moving house etc. Many vehicles can be hired but they are usually a manual gearbox.