G1 Test at DriveTest Espanola
Yes. You can write the G1 knowledge test at Espanola.
Espanola Mall, 800 Centre St, Unit 101D
Espanola, Ontario P5E 1J3 · Open in Google Maps
Greenhorn Driving School
DriveTest data retrieved August 22, 2026
DriveTest Espanola
DriveTest Espanola is a full DriveTest Centre at Espanola Mall, 800 Centre St, Unit 101D in Espanola. That is the detail worth knowing: DriveTest examines drivers at 92 locations across Ontario, but only 56 of them are full centres, and the G1 knowledge test is a full-centre service. You walk in during counter hours, apply, pay, and write the test the same visit. In 2022, the most recent year with published figures, it ran the 49th highest number of knowledge tests of the 56 centres that reported one.
Yes. You can write the G1 knowledge test at Espanola.
Knowledge tests at full DriveTest Centres are walk-in only, so there is nothing to book and no appointment to make. Join the counter queue with your documents, and you can be writing within the same visit.
What Espanola Handles
Examiners based here also travel to three outlying locations: Blind River, Elliot Lake and Little Current. Those visits are mostly road tests, so if the G1 is what you need, Espanola itself is the trip.
Copied from DriveTest’s own centre locator on August 22, 2026. Services change. Check the official locator before you travel, and use it for live wait times too.
Published Hours
Counter, where the G1 happens
May to October
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM,
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
November to April
Thursday, Friday
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM,
2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Those are the hours DriveTest published on August 22, 2026. The number that actually matters is closing time, because a knowledge test the office cannot finish before it shuts will not be started. DriveTest asks you to arrive at least an hour before close, and that is the floor, not the target.
Nearest Alternatives to Espanola
If the line at Espanola is long, or it is closed on the day you can go, these are the closest locations that also offer the knowledge test. Distances are straight-line, calculated from the coordinates DriveTest publishes, so every one of them is shorter than the drive. Around the Great Lakes it can be much shorter.
| Location | Distance |
|---|---|
| SudburyMontrose Mall, 782 LaSalle Blvd, Sudbury · Maps | 68 km |
| North BayNew North Bay Mall, 300 Lakeshore Dr, Unit 502, North Bay · Maps | 178 km |
| Sault Ste MarieChurchill Plaza, 150 Churchill Blvd, C15-16, Sault Ste Marie · Maps | 197 km |
| Owen SoundSpring Mount Business Park, 107 Jason St, RR#5, Unit 1, Owen Sound · Maps | 197 km |
Before You Go
None of this is specific to Espanola. It is specific to Ontario, and it is where most wasted trips come from.
- Bring original documents. Photocopies, scans and photos on a phone are refused at the counter. You need original proof of identity, and if you are under 16 you need a parent or guardian with you.
- There is a vision screening first. Bring your glasses or contacts if you wear them. It happens before the written test, not after.
- The fee is $159.75 for the Class G1 licence package, set by the province and the same at every location. A retake of the knowledge test is $16.
- Nothing is bookable. Knowledge tests are first come, first served at every DriveTest Centre. Arrive well before closing rather than close to it.
Turn Up Having Already Passed It Once
The trip is the expensive part, not the $16. Our G1 practice test is free, has no ads and needs no account: 200 questions on signs and rules of the road, a 40-question mock in the real two-section format, an explanation on every answer, and unlimited retakes.
How Busy This Centre Is
In 2022 this centre ran 3,567 knowledge tests. For scale, the busiest centre that year was Mississauga at 173,833, and the quietest was Kirkland Lake at 1,235.
The same 2022 table puts this centre's road test pass rates at 82% for the G2 and 84% for the full G. Those are road test numbers, not knowledge test numbers. No per-centre G1 pass rate has ever been published by anyone, so treat any site that quotes one as guessing.
These figures come from Appendix 2 of the Ontario Auditor General’s December 2023 audit of driver training and examination, which is the last time per-centre numbers were published anywhere. They describe the 2022 calendar year, so read them as a picture of relative demand rather than of today’s queue. For today’s queue, DriveTest updates live wait times through the day.
Common Questions About Espanola
Yes. You can write the G1 knowledge test at Espanola. Knowledge tests at full DriveTest Centres are walk-in only, so there is nothing to book and no appointment to make. Join the counter queue with your documents, and you can be writing within the same visit.
Espanola Mall, 800 Centre St, Unit 101D, Espanola, Ontario P5E 1J3. DriveTest lists it under Northern Ontario as a DriveTest Centre.
As published by DriveTest on August 22, 2026, the counter is open May to October, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM,, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, November to April, Thursday, Friday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM,, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Hours change, so check the official locator before you travel. Arrive at least an hour before closing: DriveTest will not start a knowledge test it cannot finish before the office shuts.
Sudbury, roughly 68 km away in a straight line, at Montrose Mall, 782 LaSalle Blvd, Sudbury. After that, North Bay at about 178 km. Straight-line distance is always shorter than the drive.
The same as everywhere else in Ontario. DriveTest fees are set by the province, so there is no local pricing. The Class G1 licence package is $159.75 and covers the knowledge test, a G2 road test later, and a five-year licence. A retake of the knowledge test is $16.
We are a driving school in Richmond Hill, not DriveTest, and we do not administer tests. Everything on this page about Espanola is taken from DriveTest’s own centre locator on August 22, 2026. Where DriveTest publishes nothing, we say so instead of filling the gap.