Practice and the track exam — department of Maldonado
The national rule sets what the exam is made of; the intendencia sets the maneuvers.
Step of the procedure: Pass the practical test
What the source icons mean
official source — you can rely on ityou can rely on itunofficial source — check it on the spotcheck it on the spotneeds checking — plan for the worst caseplan for the worst case
The Maldonado test track and the stages of the exam
The exam is two parts back to back, the track and the street, about 25 minutes. The maneuvers are laid out with cones on the day of the exam; there is no permanent marking for them.
Stages of the exam
Tap an item — the description opens.
How the exam goes
Come to the track by Parque La Loma at the hour you were given, with your accompanying driver and the car’s papers — in a driving school car the instructor covers them. The examiner starts with the papers and with the accompanying driver’s details. Then comes the track, about ten minutes and three maneuvers: pull away, shift into second, accelerate and brake hard at the whistle; a zigzag between cones with two turns, then reverse in a straight line between the lines; parallel parking in three minutes. Right after the track comes the street with a different examiner, 10 to 15 minutes: pulling out, turns, a roundabout, a traffic light and a «pare», and he calls the route as you go, by voice and by hand. Nobody asks you about the mechanics of the car, the mirrors or the seat belt — you get in and you drive.
What they check before the exam
The car and the accompanying driver are checked before you get behind the wheel — that is where it most often ends.
Show the requirements
A requirement you have not met cuts the procedure short: you never get as far as driving.
For the car: a photocopy of the propiedad with no debts, the MTOP permit if it applies, a valid SOA insurance policy.
The car can be a private one or one from a driving school. The intendencia does not provide a car of its own.
An accompanying driver is mandatory: a license of the right category, no fines and no sanctions. The age and the years of experience are a Montevideo requirement.
The accompanying driver’s document number is declared in advance.
The accompanying driver comes to the track together with you.
Failing and retaking
Failing a part, not showing up and not meeting a requirement all cost the same: one attempt.
The track under the Montevideo protocol: five maneuvers
The only list of maneuvers with grounds for failure officially published in the country is the protocol of the Intendencia de Montevideo. There are five maneuvers, and each has its own list of what fails you on the spot.
There are TWO protocols on the intendencia’s site: one of November 12 and one of December 4, 2013, and they do not agree. Neither is marked as repealed. Where they differ, the stricter requirement is the one printed here: preparing by the lenient one means losing on the track. The differences themselves are named below.
Show all five maneuvers
The first is the zigzag between cones, at a steady speed. You fail on the spot for taking the cones out of order, for touching or knocking over a cone, for engaging reverse to reposition and for coming to a full stop during the maneuver. Braking slightly to even out your speed counts as a minor fault.a document of the department of Montevideo
The second is the narrow passage: go straight without touching a single boundary marker. You fail on the spot for brushing a cone, for driving onto the boundary line and for bringing the car to a full stop.a document of the department of Montevideo
The third is reversing: back down the corridor keeping the car straight and at a steady speed. You fail on the spot for brushing a cone, for driving onto the line and for coming to a full stop. Minor faults: not turning the hazard lights on beforehand and not signaling the turn as you pull away again.a document of the department of Montevideo
The fourth is parallel parking against the curb, on the left or on the right: the car goes between cones or markers, as if between two cars. You fail on the spot if you go over five maneuvers, if the maneuvers do not lead to the goal, if a marker is knocked over or a wheel rides up onto the curb. More than 30 cm from the curb, a car left crooked and a brushed marker are minor faults.a document of the department of Montevideo
The later version of the protocol, the one of December 4, 2013, gives EIGHT maneuvers instead of five for that same parking and penalizes only beyond 50 cm, counting 30 to 50 cm as a minor fault. That same pair of versions differs on the zigzag as well: the later one fails you on the spot for a full stop, the earlier one counts it as a minor fault — there the stricter one is the later one, and it is the one that stands here.a document of the department of Montevideo
On the track the number in use is 30, not 50: the caption on the frame of the ACU training video reads «Máximo 30 cm. del cordón», and the people who took the exam say the same. That is why the earlier version of the protocol is printed here: it is the one worth preparing by.a document of the department of Montevideo
The fifth is parking at 45 degrees, and you have to back into it. You fail on the spot for brushing a cone or a marker, for driving onto the lines, for a wheel on the curb and for not completing the maneuver. Minor faults: going over five maneuvers and not turning the hazard lights on while signaling the maneuver.a document of the department of Montevideo
The counting rule is the same for both stages: one serious fault and the stage is lost; two minor ones and it is lost as well.a document of the department of Montevideo
The street under the Montevideo protocol, and what carries over after a failure
The second stage is an ordinary street. The national rule knows nothing of this, but Montevideo allows it: fail the street alone, and next time you drive the street and not the whole exam over again.
On the street you fail on the spot for going through a red light, for ignoring a «Pare» or a yield sign, for not respecting the right of way from the right, for speeding, for losing control of the car or of the wheel, for failing to judge the car’s size — and for any intervention by the examiner: with the dual controls, with the handbrake or by taking the wheel from his seat.a document of the department of Montevideo
Minor faults on the street: driving one-handed, looking down at the gear lever from under your arm while moving, not signaling a maneuver and taking the wrong lane position when maneuvering or changing lanes. Two of those and the stage is lost.a document of the department of Montevideo
Pass the track and fail the street, and next time you take ONLY the street. The examiner writes REPROBADO in red in your file and notes which stage was failed. This is an official exception to the national rule that failing one part means failing the whole exam.a document of the department of Montevideo
What the protocol requires you to have with you: the original form started at Contralor de Conductores, your cédula, the national identity card, a valid mandatory insurance policy and a car in working order. And to arrive early, not on the exact minute.a document of the department of Montevideo
The route is short and does not leave Parque Batlle: a loop around the stadium block, 10 to 20 minutes. By the accounts of the people who took it, it is either Ricaldoni up to the roundabout by the Football Museum, then Alfredo Navarro, Talcahuano, Las Heras and Santiago Gadea back to the track, or shorter still — Vidiella, Benzano, Merola, Ricaldoni, Av. Italia and back. There is no fixed route: the examiner picks it.a document of the department of Montevideo
They almost always ask you to pull away uphill — the prueba de repecho, usually off the handbrake. That maneuver is in the protocol neither on the track list nor on the street list: it is settled practice among the examiners, and all three people who took the exam name it.a document of the department of Montevideo
The department’s second track: Pan de Azúcar
Maldonado has several tracks, but the address is officially published for one of them only — the one in Pan de Azúcar. Where exactly to go is shown by the map below; the exact place of your own exam is named when they give you the date.
Caveats: other departments and rare cases
Maldonado does not publish a list of maneuvers and faults of its own. Below are the neighboring departments and the cases that do not apply to everybody.
Show the caveats
Category A is taken in a vehicle for up to 9 passengers and 4000 kg — a car or a camioneta.
Taking the exam in an automatic puts an «automatics only» mark on the license: in Montevideo that comes from the rule of the Digesto, in Canelones from the intendencia’s guide. For Maldonado there is no rule either way — ask before the exam.a document of the department of Montevideo
The staff do have the list — ask when you pay or when you book.
Canelones, under the same rule, names three maneuvers: parking, turning around and reversing.
Better not to film the exam on your phone: the examiners may take it as filming their work and get stricter.
Under the Canelones guide the accompanying driver answers for the car and has to bring it to the place of the exam himself, and then collect it from wherever the exam ended. That is, he drives before the start and after the finish, not you. Whether that rule holds in Montevideo and in Maldonado, their documents do not say.