We rematched when our au pair "who drove every day on city streets" couldn't drive and was too scared to really try.

We need a strong driver because we need someone to drive our kids around.

I know a few families that have paid for their au pair to take driving lessons. Out of them, they didn't see any improvement in their driving abilities. And one had a serious accident with their kids in the car AFTER all the lessons.

This childcare stuff is so stressful.

Here's my advice:

If you NEED a driver, rematch no matter how much you love her.

If you don't NEED a driver (just want one), but you don't really love her, rematch.

If you don't NEED a driver, and you love her, keep her and attempt the driving lessons route.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had an au pair whose driving was not originally up to speed who became a proficient enough driver? If so, what did you do to help? Is there a specific driving school that worked for you?

There is a rematch au pair we are looking at who I really adore, but it sounds like her driving is an issue.

Thanks!

Sorry, it takes years of experience to become a fully competent driver. You won't adore her when she crashes your car or hurts someone and you get sued. HFs do not rematch over trivial things. The agencies minimize serious issues. Be careful.

OP here. This specific rematch wasn't because of driving, but the HF was not having her drive, and it sounds like that was partly because they were unsure of her ability.

We once rematched after driving lessons failed to get our AP up to even minimal safety standards, but I was wondering if anyone else had better luck.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had an au pair whose driving was not originally up to speed who became a proficient enough driver? If so, what did you do to help? Is there a specific driving school that worked for you?

There is a rematch au pair we are looking at who I really adore, but it sounds like her driving is an issue.

Thanks!

Sorry, it takes years of experience to become a fully competent driver. You won't adore her when she crashes your car or hurts someone and you get sued. HFs do not rematch over trivial things. The agencies minimize serious issues. Be careful.

Driving for us is not exactly optional, but not an absolute requirement (at the beginning anyway). I paid for our current au pair to take 6 hours of driving lessons. It worked, she is now much more comfortable. It probably helped that we were not a part of it, nor was she practicing in our vehicle for the lessons. I think we used DC Star driving school, but I don't know that there's much of a difference between the schools listed on the DC DMV website.

Do you require driving for work or is it for social use? Are you prepared to pay $600 for driving lessons and a significant amount of time for her to practice to get her up to speed?

We did it once because we took in a rematch au pair and didn't want to rematch again immediately. Never again. Now we know better to hit the driving questions much harder and will pass on nice candidates with doubtful driving skills.

Has anyone had an au pair whose driving was not originally up to speed who became a proficient enough driver? If so, what did you do to help? Is there a specific driving school that worked for you?

There is a rematch au pair we are looking at who I really adore, but it sounds like her driving is an issue.

Thanks!