Tomorrow I will make the second attempt to obtain CA driver's license. And no, I did not fail a drive test the first time around - I was not allowed to take it.
In California (and I guess in other states as well) you need to bring your own car for the exam. I do not own a car (and I do not intend to own one in the foreseeable future), so it is difficult for me to show up for the exam with a car... Of course I could borrow it from somebody, but not so many of my friends have cars, and the ones that do, actually need them to commute to work.
So last time that I tried to take the exam, I rented a car from Hertz. That would have worked out well for me, if I had only known that (on top of all possible insurances) I needed to bring with me an additional letter from Hertz that stated that I was allowed to use their car for the behind the wheel test. Unfortunately, I did not know that and I showed up at the DMV office without the aforementioned document. On the day of my exam, I still tried to obtain the appropriate letter from Hertz, but it was not possible as I was not assigned as a primary driver (I co-rented the car with one other person and he was the primary driver) on the rental contract for the car...
Today I tried to rent a car from Hertz for my exam tomorrow morning, but somehow, all of their cars all over the city are rented out. (Yes, I was too stupid/arrogant/naive to get an idea of booking the car in advance.) I tried to rent the car from other companies, but all of the ones that I called did not allow for their cars to be used during the drive test.
I ended up borrowing an SUV from my bf, but I have to say that I do not feel 100% comfortable driving it. Well, actually driving itself is not a problem, but parallel parking is. This car needs really a lot of space to be parked easily. Of course I can park it, but not always at the first attempt, which I am afraid is necessary during the exam. Moreover, I will be taking the exam in Oakland (as to get an appointment for the exam in SF you need to wait around a month), in the neighborhood that I have not been driving before. Also to get there I will need to take a 7km long bridge. Alone. (And in case you do not know I have a strong bridge-phobia). Taken all that into account I really wonder what my chances for passing the exam tomorrow are. In any case, keep your fingers crossed.