Mainland Chinese middlemen are offering Hongkongers driving lessons and tests at nearly half the price of city rates and showing them how to convert permits into local licences, a practice that authorities have deemed illegal.
Checks by the Post on popular mainland social media platform RedNote have found that a driving school in Shenzhen is offering tailor-made packages for Hong Kong residents, including ways to circumvent legal requirements.
It charges 6,800 yuan (HK$7,422) for a driving course to obtain a licence in Shenzhen, including five test retakes within three years. In Hong Kong, it costs learner drivers at least HK$15,000 for lessons and other fees before taking the test.
The process is also much faster in Shenzhen, where a licence can be attained within three months, compared with at least a year in Hong Kong, assuming a learner passes written and road tests.
“We will lend you our employees’ addresses. They are real and reliable,” an agent with the driving school told a Post reporter pretending to be a potential customer.
“More than 1,000 Hongkongers have successfully used our service to obtain mainland driving licences and get them converted in Hong Kong in the past two years.
