If you're considering Driving Camp, do you know how much it costs? The biggest appeal of Driving Camp is that it's cheaper than attending classes. You may see advertisements claiming "As low as 150,000 yen!", but the truth is that only a very limited number of people can participate in a driving school at this price. Read this article to get a firm grasp of the Driving Camp price and tips for keeping costs down, and find the best driving school.

Why is Driving Camp so cheap?

1. High competition leads to price wars
   Generally, driving schools that offer courses for those who commute to a school target local residents, but driving schools that offer training camps attract students from all over the country. This inevitably means that they are competing with driving schools all over the country, which tends to result in fierce price competition.
2. Labor costs are relatively low
   Driving schools that hold training camps are often located in rural areas, where labor and land costs are cheaper than in urban areas.
3. Because you can teach efficiently
   The training schedule for the camp is basically decided by the driving school. In the case of commuting to a school, students make reservations for lessons according to their own schedule, which inevitably leads to busy times and cancellations, making it inefficient. On the other hand, training camps can be scheduled evenly, so instructors can be allocated to lessons efficiently, such as multiple people always taking multiple lessons.

The secret behind the "cheapest price of 150,000 yen"

This price often seen in advertisements causes people to misestimate the cost of Driving Camp. Achieving this price is extremely difficult and can only be achieved under the following conditions.

1. Participating during off-season (school/work periods)
2. Shared room (multiple people staying in the same room)
3. Self Cook (gather ingredients at your own expense)

To begin with, there are only a limited number of people who can participate in training camps during the off-season, and sharing a room or cooking your own meals may not be suitable for some people. These conditions tend to be necessary when the price is less than 200,000 yen. Let's estimate that the average price of Driving Camp is around 250,000 yen.

How to keep camp costs low

I want to keep costs down! That's what everyone thinks. So what should you pay attention to? I have summarized the points.

1.Select an AT car

If you obtain an automatic transmission vehicle, it will cost 20,000 to 70,000 yen less than a manual transmission vehicle. Due to a legal change that took effect on April 1, 2025 Regular Manual license will be subject to a new training system, which will result in a major change to the format of taking additional training in an automatic transmission vehicle after training in an automatic transmission vehicle, and the fees will be higher than for an automatic transmission vehicle.

Generally, when obtaining a regular car license, it is sufficient to only drive an AT car. In fact, MT cars accounted for 1.5% of domestic passenger car sales, while AT cars accounted for 98.5% (2011). In addition, it was said that a manual transmission license was required to become a professional driver, but in recent years, the proportion of commercial vehicles that use automatic transmissions has increased, and a manual transmission license is no longer required.

2. Aim for low season or around the time when prices fluctuate.

It will be much cheaper if you avoid the busy season. This is because during the off-season, school and work have already started, and most people are unable to attend, so prices are lower. The prices you often see in advertisements are for this period.

There are ways to keep prices down even during peak seasons. The key is booking before and after price changes. The graph above shows price changes at a certain driving school during spring break. Prices are highest from February to early March due to the high number of applications. However, even during spring break, prices are slightly cheaper in January and after mid-March. Here's the key: If you aim to book just before or just after prices go up or down, you can keep prices even lower, even during times when it's easier to fit your schedule. However, because prices are cheaper around the time of price changes, even during the same period, there's a high chance that places will fill up quickly. To ensure you get a spot, it's important to book well in advance. Camp prices become available around October for spring break and around April for summer vacation, so plan your application around those times.

3.Choose a shared room/ Self Cook (if self-catering, avoid eating out as much as possible)

Among the training camp plans, shared room plans are cheaper than single and double room plans. Self Cook are also cheaper because you prepare your own meals. However, you need to be careful with Self Cook; if you eat out repeatedly, you will have to pay for meals, so you will need to think about how to prepare meals cheaply until graduation.

4. Take advantage of discounts

Please check the discount benefits when applying. Representative ones are as follows.

• Group discount: Discounts are applied when 3 or more people apply.
• Early bird discount: Applies if you apply immediately after the price is disclosed.
• Student discount: Applicable if you prove you are a student.

[Source] https://menkyodeace.jp/discount.html

Other sites also offer their own discounts and special benefits, so if you want to get a better deal, check them out.

5. Take advantage of our lowest price guarantee

The Lowest Price Guarantee is a service that will refund the difference if you apply for a lower price on another website than the one you have booked.
The application method and refund amount will vary depending on the application site, but it is a good idea to use this to keep costs down.

An example of the lowest price guarantee: "Driving Camp Do-Live"

If you report to the Do-Live Customer Center within two weeks (14 days) of applying and before you enroll in the driving school you have applied to that you find a website that offers a cheaper plan with the same content as the driver's license plan you applied to on Do-Live, we will give you a discount or refund the difference between the price you paid for the application on Do-Live and the cheaper driver's license plan you found.
引用元：https://ziplus.jp/do-live/hosyo/

Warranty details

If you find a site where you can apply for the same Driving Camp course plan at a cheaper price, we will refund the difference.

summary

Budget is an important point, especially for students, but driving schools that offer Driving Camp offer a variety of events and services for students to enjoy. Since this is a special training camp, please first look for a training camp not only in terms of price, but also in terms of things you can enjoy during your time between lessons (leisure, gourmet food, events, etc.) and lodging (enjoying with everyone, relaxing by yourself, with hot springs, etc.). Make your once-in-a-lifetime license training camp something you won't regret.