The number of applicants for a driving license has decreased since the beginning of the year. In this regard, the number of driving schools in Russia may decrease significantly, experts say. Those who stay will raise their prices.

As the head of the National Union of Associations of Driving Schools, Elena Zaitseva, said, the first blow to educational institutions was caused by a pandemic. Schools then did not work for almost half a year, but they paid rent and so on. This year it became obvious that the number of students, that is, those who would like to get a license, has decreased by about half — cars have become a luxury for many.

Elena Zaitseva said.

The head of the association also noted that the cars that belong to schools wear out quickly, and at the moment it is too expensive to buy new ones.

— the expert gave a forecast.

Zaitseva is sure that by the end of the year most of the driving schools will close. Those who own the premises and managed to conclude state contracts for driver training will survive. However, their services will increase significantly in price.

Another expert, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Driving Schools of Russia Alexander Achkasov, said that the number of students and future drivers began to decline since 2010. At that time, about 3-5 million people graduated from Russia a year, now these figures are two times less. Achkasov also stressed that the number of driving schools has been decreasing for a long time: in 2012 there were about 14 thousand of them, now there are about six to seven thousand.

Today, the cost of training for obtaining rights varies from 10 to 40 thousand rubles. Experts predict an increase in the price of driving school services by at least 7-10 thousand rubles, Izvestia writes.