How to Check if Your Driving Licence Is Manual or Automatic

To check whether your UK driving licence is manual or automatic, look at the table on the back of your photocard and find the row for category B. If you see the code 78 in column 12 next to it, your licence is automatic-only. If that column is blank, you hold a full manual licence and can drive both manual and automatic cars. You can confirm the same thing free in two minutes using the GOV.UK “View your driving licence information” service.

That is the short answer. But “code 78” trips up more people than almost anything else on the licence, so let me walk you through exactly where to look, what it does and doesn’t mean, and what your options are if the news isn’t what you hoped.

The quick version: code 78 is the one that matters

Here is the rule in plain terms. In the UK, the type of car you passed your practical test in decides what you are allowed to drive:

• Pass in a manual car and you get a full category B licence. You can drive manual and automatic cars. No restriction appears.
• Pass in an automatic car and the DVLA adds restriction code 78 to your category B entitlement. You can drive automatics only.

So checking your licence really comes down to one question: is there a 78 sitting next to category B, or isn’t there? Everything below is just how to find it reliably, whether you are holding the card or looking online.

Method 1: Check the back of your photocard

Turn your pink photocard over. You will see a grid with a column of little vehicle pictures down the left and several numbered columns across the top. Two columns do the work here.

Column 9 lists the vehicle categories you hold – A, B, C, and so on. The row marked B (a small car icon) is your standard car entitlement. If category B is listed, you can drive a normal car. Good start, but column 9 alone does not tell you manual or automatic.

Column 12 is where the answer lives. This is the “information and restriction codes” column, and it is the one to read carefully. Run your eye along the category B row to column 12:

• Blank, or only dates showing – full manual licence. You can drive both.
• The number 78 – automatic transmission only.

That is genuinely it. The number 78 next to category B means “vehicles with automatic transmission,” and nothing else on the card overrides it. If you have ever squinted at the back of your licence wondering which of those numbers matters, it is the 78 in column 12, on the B row.

A couple of things that throw people. Other codes may share that column – you might see 01 (eyesight correction, meaning glasses or contact lenses) or 79 entries too, and those have nothing to do with transmission. Only 78 flags automatic-only. The full list is published on the GOV.UK driving licence codes page if you want to decode the rest.

Method 2: Check online with GOV.UK (free, two minutes)

If your card is buried in a drawer, or you just want certainty, the official check is faster. The DVLA runs a free service called “View your driving licence information” at gov.uk/view-driving-licence. According to GOV.UK, it shows the categories you can drive and any restriction codes, the same data the DVLA holds.

Here is the process:

1. Go to gov.uk/view-driving-licence and select Start now.
2. Enter three things: your driving licence number, your National Insurance number, and your postcode.
3. Open the “Vehicles you can drive” section.
4. Find category B. If it is listed without a code 78, you are full manual. If 78 is shown, you are automatic-only.

This service is the same one a hire company or new employer might ask you to generate a “check code” from, so it is worth knowing where it lives. It costs nothing, and it reads straight from the DVLA record rather than from a card that might be years old.

Tip from the passenger seat: if you are about to hire a car or book a course, do the GOV.UK check first and screenshot the result – it saves an awkward conversation later. While you are in there, glance at the expiry, since the photocard needs renewing every ten years even though the entitlement lasts longer.

How do I check if my driving test was manual or automatic?

Your test and your licence tell the same story, because one sets the other. If you passed your practical test in a car with three pedals and a gearstick you operated yourself, you took a manual test and hold a full manual licence. If the car had two pedals and the gear selector did the changing for you (P, R, N, D), you took an automatic test, and your licence carries code 78.

If you genuinely cannot remember which car you sat the test in – it happens, especially years later – the licence is the record that counts. Use either method above. The code 78 check settles it: present means automatic, absent means manual. You do not need to dig out your old pass certificate.

What is the code for an automatic licence?

The code for an automatic-only car licence is 78. It appears in column 12 on the back of the photocard, against category B, and means “restricted to vehicles with automatic transmission.” If you hold code 78, you are insured and licensed to drive automatics, and only automatics, on a category B entitlement.

It is worth knowing its close relative. Electric cars and many hybrids have no clutch, which technically makes them automatics, and the rules around clutchless vehicles have been evolving. If you trained in an EV, check exactly which code your licence shows rather than assuming. For most drivers, though, the figure to look for is the plain 78.

What do the categories A, A1, B, B1 and B2 mean?

These are the vehicle categories in column 9, separate from the transmission code. The common ones:

• A, A1, A2 – motorcycles, split by engine size and power. A1 is small bikes and mopeds, A2 is medium-power, A is unrestricted.
• B – a standard car or small van up to 3,500kg, with up to eight passenger seats. This is the entitlement nearly everyone wants, and the one code 78 attaches to.
• B1 – light four-wheeled vehicles (quadricycles). Most GB car drivers will never see B1, and that is normal – it is a niche category not granted to new car drivers automatically.
• BE – category B plus a heavier trailer.

There is no standard UK category called “B2.” If you have seen “B1 B2” mentioned, it tends to come from licence formats in other countries; on a GB photocard the car entitlement is simply B. Category B is the row that matters for the manual-versus-automatic question.

Why don’t I have B1 on my licence?

Because B1 is a niche category, not a missing entitlement. B1 covers light quadricycles, a small class of vehicle that very few people drive. Modern GB car licences issued to ordinary drivers grant category B (standard cars) but do not automatically include B1. So if your licence shows B but not B1, nothing is wrong – you can still drive a normal car perfectly legally. It simply means you do not hold the separate quadricycle entitlement, which the vast majority of drivers never need.

What do D1, D2 and D3 mean?

These ones are not on your licence at all – they are on your car’s gear selector, and people often mix them up with licence categories. On an automatic gearbox, D is “Drive” for normal motoring. D1, D2 and D3 (where fitted) lock the gearbox into lower gears: D1 holds first for maximum pulling power and engine braking at low speed, with D2 and D3 stepping up from there. They are handy on steep hills or when towing. The licence category D, by contrast, is for buses – a completely different thing. If you spotted D1 in your car, that is the gearbox, not your entitlement.

I have an automatic licence but I want to drive a manual

Good news: you are not stuck with it. If you hold an automatic-only licence and want to drive a manual, you do not have to reapply for a provisional or retake your theory test. According to GOV.UK, you upgrade by passing a practical driving test in a manual car. Pass it, and the DVLA removes code 78 and issues you a full manual licence – you keep the automatic entitlement and gain the manual one.

The test itself works exactly the same as any other category B practical. You are already a qualified driver, so for most people this is about getting comfortable with the clutch and gears rather than learning to drive from scratch. A focused block of manual lessons usually does it. We have set out the full process, including realistic hours and costs, in our guide to upgrading from an automatic to a manual licence. If you originally passed in an automatic and now want the flexibility of manual – more car choice, often cheaper hire and insurance – a short intensive block is the quickest route. Our Improver intensive course is built for exactly this kind of part-trained driver who needs concentrated practice to convert and test quickly, and if you are weighing up whether to bother, our honest guide to choosing automatic or manual lays out the trade-offs.

If you are happy on automatics and have no plans to switch, code 78 is no barrier to everyday driving. Plenty of drivers stay automatic for life, and with electric cars now clutchless by design, automatic-only is becoming the mainstream rather than the exception. We cover the case for staying automatic in our guide to automatic intensive courses.

A note on paper, EU and foreign licences

Most people in Great Britain now hold the pink photocard, so the column-12 check above applies. A few situations differ. Old-style paper licences (issued before the photocard rolled out in 1998) record restrictions in text rather than a grid, so for those the GOV.UK online check is the cleaner way to confirm whether you are automatic-only. EU and Northern Ireland licences use the same numeric code system, so 78 still means automatic-only. Non-EU foreign licences vary by country; if you have exchanged a foreign licence for a GB one, read the GB card you were issued, as the DVLA will have applied the equivalent code. When in doubt, the GOV.UK record is the single source of truth.

Why this matters before you book lessons or hire a car

Two reasons it is worth checking now rather than later.

First, insurance and hire. Driving a manual on an automatic-only licence means you are not legally entitled to drive that vehicle, which can invalidate your insurance. Car hire desks check the licence category for the same reason. Knowing your code 78 status avoids turning up to collect a manual hire car you cannot legally take.

Second, planning your training. If you are a learner choosing which test to sit, remember that a manual pass gives you the broadest licence – drive anything in category B – whereas an automatic pass is quicker for many people but restricts you to automatics until you upgrade. There is no wrong answer, but it is a decision worth making on purpose, and we weigh both sides in our breakdown of manual versus automatic driving lessons. If you are still deciding, our course comparison walks through which option and intensity suits your situation, and if you are a learner rather than a licence-holder, it is worth knowing how long your provisional licence lasts before you start.

Whichever way you go, the check itself takes two minutes – and now you know exactly where to look.