Lebanon's Ministry of Interior and Municipalities has set a single, nationwide price list for driving lessons. Decision No. 825, dated July 8, 2026 and signed by Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar, caps what schools can charge and ties the final bill to how much training a student actually needs. For years, learners had little way of knowing whether they were paying a fair price. Now the fee is meant to follow the driver, not a flat course rate.
A skill test now sets your price
Before any lessons begin, every student sits a mandatory 40-minute evaluation session, capped at 1,350,000 pounds, about 15 dollars at the current market rate. Based on that session, the school sorts the student into one of five levels: very good, good, average, weak, or very weak. Each level carries a fixed number of required hours covering theory, road checks, and hands-on instruction. Fewer hours mean a smaller total bill.
From five hours to eleven
A student graded very good already drives safely and needs only 5 total hours before the exam. That places them at the lowest package cap, 11,250,000 pounds, or roughly 126 dollars. Someone who has never held a steering wheel is likely to be graded weak, which the decision ties to about 11 hours of instructor time. At that level the cap climbs to 22,950,000 pounds, close to 256 dollars, or more than double the baseline.
These caps assume the student trains in the school's own car, the most expensive option because it covers vehicle wear and insurance. Bringing your own vehicle lowers the cap, and training on a motorcycle costs less again. Across the five tiers, the bill rises step by step as the required hours climb.
Two extras that used to be a grey area
Decision 825 also puts a ceiling on services that schools once priced freely. Students can pay an optional fee, capped at 2,250,000 pounds or about 25 dollars, for the school to file and follow up on their license paperwork with the Vehicle Registration Department, known locally as the Nafaa. A separate regulated fee covers transport from the student's home to the training site and back, scaled to distance and local market rates. Both were common sources of surprise charges before the rules landed.
Who the system quietly favors
The tiers are built to reward skill rather than privilege, but skill at that first test is rarely built from nothing. A student who grew up with a family car and a parent willing to let them practice on quiet roads is far more likely to walk in and test as good or very good. Someone with no access to a vehicle will often land in weak or very weak, facing both more hours and a bill more than twice the baseline.
For all it fixes, the decision cannot fully level the field. It ends the arbitrary overcharging that learners once could not challenge, yet it leaves untouched the head start that some students bring to the wheel before the meter even runs.
