Reading a mainland driving-school contract: hours, payment accounts, withdrawal and refunds

Before you start

The Ministry of Transport's training rules revised in 2026 retain contract and published service-and-charge requirements. Guangzhou's June 2026 industry template update includes a seven-day registration cooling period, selectable duration and refund calculations. A local template is not a nationwide unconditional refund guarantee. Check the version offered and how its terms apply to your registration, including tuition custody or other payment arrangements.

What to do, step by step

1. Check provider registration, vehicle class and training ground through the transport authority or official guide. A recruitment agent is not necessarily the school. The contract and receipt should identify the actual provider rather than only an instructor's personal name.
2. Obtain itemised tuition, official examinations, medical and photo, simulation, extra lessons, retakes, transfers and accommodation. Ask what additional training a package provides; guaranteed official results or fictitious hours are unacceptable substitutes for genuine learning.
3. Record actual weekly availability, location, instructor choice and absence or change procedures. A Hong Kong weekend learner should clarify cancellation after border delays, extension options when the course expires, and any related charges before enrolment.
4. Calculate refunds before teaching, after theory, after partial practical training and after test applications, checking service deductions and payment timing. Pay the agreed account and retain the contract version, transaction numbers and genuine lesson records.

Costs, timing, and things to check

Verify claimed test bookings through your own 12123 record; a salesperson's date may not be an allocated place. Changing school or city also requires registration or examination-location arrangements and charges, not merely paying another instructor.

For a dispute, organise contract, advertising, payments, attendance and refund calculations chronologically. Make a written amount-specific request to the school, then use the local official complaint channel. Describe contract issues and suspected fabrication according to the evidence.

A practical example

An all-inclusive package omits simulation and retake charges. The learner asks for both and weekend availability before paying, clarifies the calculation for services actually completed and refund timing, and retains the complete stamped agreement.