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My brother-in-law is contemplating training to be a driving instructor. Any opinions, good or bad? Any idea of the time to training and the cost?
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Hi Woody,
I've no idea,
but round these parts, driving instructors get lots of work, during the week, when they would get lttle work otherwise {?} on speed awarness courses.
I had to spend 2 days, taking turns at driving around in a Micra with two others and a driving instructor.
Quite good fun and 'educational' too.
Note been 'done since'.
Paul {Forest of Bowland}
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I did it for eighteen years. It cost me about £400 in the mid eighties, it will be considerably more now and the requirements are a bit stricter. Avoid going to a big organisation and paying a hefty whack up front (around £2500 I think at present). It is best to find a a small established school or instructor to train with who is willing to teach you on a pay as you go basis.
I have been out of it for three years now, but I think the work available may be diminishing because of a demographic blip causing a drop in the number of teenagers around. There is also a reduction in the percentage of people who begin learning when they come of age due to the number now staying in full time education and not having the cash to learn.
Hours are horrible and sitting in a car all day is as unhealthy as it gets. Better off training to be a plumber or electrician, the money will be better.
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I work as an accountant for a firm that specializes in driving instructors. The adverts currently running on tv for 'The Instructor College' always make me laugh when they say 'You can earn up to £30k per year'. Yes, you can earn that, but by the time you have allowed for motoring costs/franchise fees/phone/other expenses the annual PROFIT is hardly enough to live on!
I should also point out that whatever the college may tell you, your initial training fees are not tax deductable.
Furthermore, many of my more established clients reckon the market is now pretty saturated to the extent that you have to cut rates to the bone to get the work. To some extent this is a function of the falling birth rate in this country - there are just less 17 year olds about than there used to be.
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My dad's an instructor of 20 years standing. He earned his badge by teaching friends and family (including me and my sister) free of charge to get the hours up. He kept his day job and taught when he wasn't working. After 12 months or so he got his badge, did part time teaching for a while then went alone. It was a huge step at the time, but he still enjoys it.
£30,000 a year is 28 lessons a week at £20 an hour - take home will be less than £20k. You need to be doing 50+ lessons a week to live comfortably - that's 60+ hours a week working. My dad was used to 12 hours a day so these hours have never bothered him.
I don't agree about cutting rates to get work - like any service industry if you do the job well you have no problem getting custom. That means learners paying for an hour of teaching expect an hour of your time - no having another learner in the car as a passenger, no calling home to put the tea on, no calling in to get fuel etc etc.
My dad has said ther are fewer 17-18 year olds learning as they don't see it as a necessity and insurance is so expensive they prefer to wait a few years.
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I was looking into being a driving instructor, and I found this website really informative. www.instructor-training-uk.co.uk hopefully this will be of use to someone?
Good Luck!
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I spent considerable time looking into this a couple of years ago & the figures just don't add up for the hours. better to train in a different trade or do the above part time with hours to suit.
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