Bogof (buy one get one free)
If you are thinking of learning to drive a car in the UK in the present credit crunch economy, then it might have crossed your mind to look for cheap driving lessons. Affordable driving tuition can be a very good way of learning to drive, but you must be very careful who offers driving lessons to you, as you might end up either paying more in the long run with the driving instructor or at worst be throwing a lot of money down the drain.
If you particularly go for the lowest priced driving school in your area (might be offering £16 then you need to make sure that the instructor is operating legally, is insured and are registered with the Driving standards Agency (DSA), and thus will be giving you the right type of driving lessons to help you drive safe and pass the UK road test.
Dirt cheap driving lessons could turn out to be exactly that, can your potential cheap school provide a references from former learner drivers, have they been operating long enough to have built up a good reputation, how about the driving lesson car, is it roadworthy, fully insured and comfortable to drive.
These are some questions you need to ask yourself before trying to save your money by going for cheap driving lessons from a school or instructor (ADI or PDI).
Value and quality is more important, if an instructor can offer Driving Lesson Videos, while it might cost slightly more initially, you will benefit in the long run, and pass your test earlier and at less total cost without being held back by a doggy person who wants to recoup the loss made from smaller profit margins by having you stay with them longer
Thursday, October 1, 2009
£16 lesson! If it is too good to be true, maybe it isn't
Someone recently rang my driving school receptionist looking for £16 driving lessons in. Now I know the credit crunch affects instructors, but I can't imagine any qualified instructor will be covering their costs let alone earn a living by offering such cheap prices for driving tuition in the heart of London.
I know there are many driving school offering these low prices, which makes me wonder if they are operating illegally, are ripping off the learners by offering sub-standard tuition, using various time wasting techniques to reduce the actual car driving time or maybe they aren't even instructors at all!
There is a saying that if it is too good to be true, maybe it isn't. As a learner driver looking for £16 driving instructor lessons, have you ever wondered why they are offering lessons up to £10 cheaper than other ADIs? While there are various factors that could affect the price of services offered in different parts of London, surely there can't be that large a difference in costs incurred to run a driving school business?
Just a word of warning, you get what you pay for, but do you think it is worth being caught driving without insurance, a dangerous un-roadworthy car or even being involved in a life changing accident just because you where trying to saving a few pounds by taking £16 driving lessons.
I know there are many driving school offering these low prices, which makes me wonder if they are operating illegally, are ripping off the learners by offering sub-standard tuition, using various time wasting techniques to reduce the actual car driving time or maybe they aren't even instructors at all!
There is a saying that if it is too good to be true, maybe it isn't. As a learner driver looking for £16 driving instructor lessons, have you ever wondered why they are offering lessons up to £10 cheaper than other ADIs? While there are various factors that could affect the price of services offered in different parts of London, surely there can't be that large a difference in costs incurred to run a driving school business?
Just a word of warning, you get what you pay for, but do you think it is worth being caught driving without insurance, a dangerous un-roadworthy car or even being involved in a life changing accident just because you where trying to saving a few pounds by taking £16 driving lessons.
Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them
I recently had an Iranian foreign licence holder come to me for some intensive driving lessons in preparation for a practical car test, and heard of how he had been ripped of by a driving school instructor.
This learner driver had 10 years of driving experience in a foreign country, had already passed the theory test and wanted some tuition to get to the dsa test standard, and I was thus surprised when he told me that he only had 20 minutes of driving from a 2 hour session. Basically the instructor who happened to hold a franchise with a well known driving school, had ripped him off, by spending one and a half hours going through some kind of 'theory' to educated him on the way things are done here in the UK.
it is a shame the driving school would conduct themselves in such an unprofessional manner just because the learner driver was a bit naive!
This learner driver had 10 years of driving experience in a foreign country, had already passed the theory test and wanted some tuition to get to the dsa test standard, and I was thus surprised when he told me that he only had 20 minutes of driving from a 2 hour session. Basically the instructor who happened to hold a franchise with a well known driving school, had ripped him off, by spending one and a half hours going through some kind of 'theory' to educated him on the way things are done here in the UK.
it is a shame the driving school would conduct themselves in such an unprofessional manner just because the learner driver was a bit naive!
Shifting gears
Think before changing your career!
A driving school instructor needs to work very hard if they are to survive in this cut throat business of teaching learners how to drive a car. Contrary to what a particular driving school advert currently running on UK TV might want you to believe, there are no instructor shortages in any parts of the country, in fact competition is so fierce, that just being a good instructor is not enough to keep your business afloat especially if you are new or recently qualified.
Being a driving instructor means saying goodbye to a regular working hour of 9-5pm, learning how to run a business, understanding tax requirements, customer satisfaction and care skills but more importantly than anything else driving school marketing techniques.
An established instructor might be able to leave off 15 years of recommendations, but a PDI in training or a newly start up driving school will have to go out there and fight tooth an nail to get new learner drivers on a daily basis in order to pay for the weekly school car leasing fees, bearing in bind that there will be those looking for cheap driving lesson deals not willing to pay for a high quality tuition, some only looking for someone to take them for a test, not to talk of the risks involved in running a driving school business like loss of income due to accidents, short notice lesson cancellations, sickness, etc.
So if you are thinking of starting a career as a driving instructor, you need to consider all these factors including having to work at un-social hours (6.30am start and 9pm finishing) to cover driving tests and working clients only available at late hours after work. You do get your rewards though, but money or earnings is not usually one of them. Job satisfaction is one, and once established, then you might be able to dictate more the hours worked and spend time with family members.
Don't for get it costs a lot of money to train as an approved DSA instructor, and time as well so make sure you do all the complete research before embarking on the journey including what the local market conditions, you can't survive on family/friends promises of taking tuition with you when you qualify!
A driving school instructor needs to work very hard if they are to survive in this cut throat business of teaching learners how to drive a car. Contrary to what a particular driving school advert currently running on UK TV might want you to believe, there are no instructor shortages in any parts of the country, in fact competition is so fierce, that just being a good instructor is not enough to keep your business afloat especially if you are new or recently qualified.
Being a driving instructor means saying goodbye to a regular working hour of 9-5pm, learning how to run a business, understanding tax requirements, customer satisfaction and care skills but more importantly than anything else driving school marketing techniques.
An established instructor might be able to leave off 15 years of recommendations, but a PDI in training or a newly start up driving school will have to go out there and fight tooth an nail to get new learner drivers on a daily basis in order to pay for the weekly school car leasing fees, bearing in bind that there will be those looking for cheap driving lesson deals not willing to pay for a high quality tuition, some only looking for someone to take them for a test, not to talk of the risks involved in running a driving school business like loss of income due to accidents, short notice lesson cancellations, sickness, etc.
So if you are thinking of starting a career as a driving instructor, you need to consider all these factors including having to work at un-social hours (6.30am start and 9pm finishing) to cover driving tests and working clients only available at late hours after work. You do get your rewards though, but money or earnings is not usually one of them. Job satisfaction is one, and once established, then you might be able to dictate more the hours worked and spend time with family members.
Don't for get it costs a lot of money to train as an approved DSA instructor, and time as well so make sure you do all the complete research before embarking on the journey including what the local market conditions, you can't survive on family/friends promises of taking tuition with you when you qualify!
Trends Are Changing
For the first time in over seven years of my being a driving school instructor, a potential learner driver client asked to see my green ADI registration badge to confirm that I was a legally operating driving school owner. This was a good thing, but as I said, it is not a regular thing. People are either more interested in getting cheap driving lessons and don't really care who is teaching them, or just take the words of the instructor as being true without checking the green ADI badge which should always be displayed on the windscreen by the instructor when giving paid tuition to any member of the public.
The ADI registration badge has the following information about the person giving the learner tuition, so it is a good idea you check this and avoid getting ripped of by an illegal instructor.
The full name of the instructor, the ADI number, whether they are fully qualified (green coloured badge) or a Trainee (pink/red), the photo of the individual named and the date of issue of the registration badge and expiry date.
The document is the only assurance a learner driver has that whoever is teaching them has gone through the proper training and is operating according to the standards of the DSA and thus will be giving them good quality instruction. There are 2 things that determine if one continues to remain on the the register, the green badge renewal which costs £300 and your passing the DSA instructor check tests.
No matter how cheap your driving lessons are, or what you have agreed to pay your instructor for every hour of tuition, if it involves renumeration in cash or kind, it is illegal for that person to do it unless they are on the ADI register, and display the certificate to prove. Why not check your driving instructor's green registration badge today.
The good, the bad and the downright criminal.
The DSA is cracking down on illegal driving instructors; another illegal instructor has been successfully prosecuted and convicted for fraud.
You can read the latest story as published on DSA. In this case the illegal driving instructor was an individual who had failed a check test, did not turn up for the second one, and was subsequently removed from the ADI register, and thus no longer allowed to take money for giving tuition.
The individual however continued to offer cheap driving lessons to some students probably giving an excuse that she was now operating independently and could afford the discount! Well she got away with it for a while, but in the end, the long arm of the law caught up with her.
If you are currently learning to drive, and are using dirt cheap driving lessons, you could be aiding someone to break the law, always check your instructors’ DSA registration badge to confirm they are legal.
You can read the latest story as published on DSA. In this case the illegal driving instructor was an individual who had failed a check test, did not turn up for the second one, and was subsequently removed from the ADI register, and thus no longer allowed to take money for giving tuition.
The individual however continued to offer cheap driving lessons to some students probably giving an excuse that she was now operating independently and could afford the discount! Well she got away with it for a while, but in the end, the long arm of the law caught up with her.
If you are currently learning to drive, and are using dirt cheap driving lessons, you could be aiding someone to break the law, always check your instructors’ DSA registration badge to confirm they are legal.
Check if your instructor is qualified!
More than 400 driving instructors are under investigation for operating without qualifications, according to the Driving Standards Agency.
As a result, it’s urging learners to check their tutor is properly qualified before booking lessons. It’s thought that the spiralling cost of tuition and the demand for cut-price instruction is tempting criminals into setting up bogus driving schools.
According to the DSA, a number of firms are run by tutors who started instructor training, but failed to finish their courses. Others are still practising after being struck off by the DSA.
Bona fide instructors need to display an in-date pink licence or green certificate in their windscreen during lessons. They should also carry photographic ID along with their paperwork.
DSA spokeswoman Michelle Moston said: “If illegal instructors are on our roads, they haven’t passed the Agency’s rigorous three-part test and could be putting lives at risk.”
Learners suspicious of their instructor should contact the DSA’s fraud team on 029 2058 1155 or E-mail: integrity.team@dsa.gsi.gov.uk.
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