The Consumer Council said on Monday many driving schools often attract students with low headline prices that hide extra costs and make it difficult for learners to compare fees across the market.

The revelation came in the wake of a review by the watchdog of 32 learning packages offered by 11 driving schools to understand what they include and how their fee structures work.

It found that the headline package prices often omit unavoidable expenditures such as car rentals for on-road lessons and fees for using the school’s vehicles during the test. Many schools advertise lower prices upfront but add on these costs later, making the real cost of learning to drive significantly higher.

It also found that although the Transport Department recommends at least 30 hours of training before taking the driving test, none of the packages meet this guideline. Some offer as few as 10 hours of lessons.

Package prices range widely – from HK$4,320 to HK$19,480. However, the actual cost of meeting the recommended training hours is far higher if students purchase extra lessons.

At A1 Driving School, the total can exceed HK$15,000, while at the Hong Kong School of Motoring it may go beyond HK$26,000.

The council's chief executive, Alaina Shum, said the current lack of clarity might disadvantage learners and called on schools to disclose all associated charges so students can make more informed comparisons.

"It would be desirable where the training school should advertise the associated charges based on the recommended hours," she said.

"That would create more transparency for consumers to choose which training school they should commit. And also they would have a better idea on how much budget they should prepare for attending the lessons before they could actually obtain a driving permit."

The council had received more than 150 complaints since 2022 about driving-lesson services, covering issues such as teaching quality, contract disputes, inflexible lesson arrangements and even instructors’ poor attitude or insulting behaviour.