The ICBC Class 7 road test

Booking your road test

• Book, reschedule or cancel Class 5, 6, 7 or 8 road tests online through ICBC. You pay the fee when you arrive.
• The earliest date you can test is printed on your licence. Book well ahead: ICBC says offices get busy, especially in spring and summer. Earlier slots open up as people cancel, and calling doesn’t show different times than booking online.
• Standby road tests: if your schedule is flexible, some offices offer standby tests where you wait for a no-show.
• Cancelling: give at least 48 hours’ notice or pay a $25 cancellation fee.
• Book directly with ICBC. ICBC says third-party booking sites aren’t affiliated with it, and anyone selling “test routes” didn’t get them from ICBC.
• You can ask for a driver examiner of a particular gender at check-in or by calling ahead; you don’t have to give a reason.

What to bring

• One primary and one secondary piece of accepted ID.
• Payment for the $50 road test fee (and the $75 novice licence fee if you pass).
• A safe, reliable, insured vehicle with a Canadian licence plate. You’ll give the plate number at the counter.
• If you’re using a car-share vehicle and aren’t the named member, an original signed letter on company letterhead authorizing the road test (a new one for each attempt).
• Your glasses or contacts if you need them.
• Your Declaration of Completion, if you finished an ICBC-approved driver training course.
• A qualified supervisor to drive you home if you don’t pass.

Your vehicle can be turned away

If the car isn’t safe or legal, the test is cancelled. ICBC’s most common reasons:

• Cracked or illegally tinted windshield or windows
• Dash warning lights (like the airbag light) that affect safe operation
• Seatbelts not working or frayed
• Brake, signal or headlights not working, or badly cracked or missing lenses
• A dirty interior, or items that could affect health or safety
• Unsafe or illegal modifications
• A horn that doesn’t work
• Unsafe tires (a temporary spare isn’t allowed)
• Doors or windows that don’t work from inside
• Too little fuel or charge

Turn off driver-assistance features if you can (hazard warning systems are fine), and turn off GPS and any recording devices. Only you and the examiner are allowed in the car: no translators, children or pets (guide and service dogs excepted).

What the examiner looks for

ICBC says examiners want to see you drive in a safe, smooth and controlled way, not perfectly. They mark the see-think-do skills from Learn to Drive Smart: observation, hazard perception, speed control, space margins, steering and communication. Your test may include:

• Intersections: driving through, turning right and turning left
• Pulling into traffic, and pulling over and stopping
• Changing lanes
• Parking and starting on a hill
• Backing up
• Angle, parallel and stall parking (forward and backing in)
• Two- and three-point turns
• Merging on and off a highway
• General driving: straight, hills and curves, and what to do around emergency vehicles

Not every skill is on every test, so practise them all with your supervisor using ICBC’s Tuning up for drivers. At the end you get a paper copy of your result with a Skills Explainer on the back showing what to work on.

If you don’t pass

After you pass

You get your N and a green N sign. Read the novice rules. Want a lesson or two before the test? Ask local driving schools or find your nearest ICBC office.