My mother is currently learning to become a driving instructor, and is in the market to buy a car which will eventually be used for driving tuition.
She requires something which will last well, as she intends to keep it for a long time provided it doesn't fall apart...
I have suggested the following cars; budget is about £2500 to £3000.
1) Mk4 Golf TDI (non PD model). At this price range would have to be an early one.
2) Toyota Yaris 1.0. A well thought of car, but the eccentric instrumentation may be a barrier.
3) Nissan Almera 1.5. The budget should just stretch to one of the facelift 2003 model year cars. Dull but potentially hassle free; I am discounting the diesel because IMHO common rail is more trouble than it's worth, and I would expect the 1.5 to manage low 40's in the MPG stakes...
Thoughts comments and other suggestions most welcome!
Jonathan.
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Of the top of my head and from a position of ignorance, I would say that dull means good in this context, and a diesel might not be ideal. The Almera, sounds like. Petrol.
Edited by Lud on 20/04/2008 at 16:45
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You're right about the instrumentation in a Yaris which cannot be seen by the passenger.
I'd have thought that you'd be better off with as new a car as poss, even if the brand lacks prestige. Are there any makes such as Kia which have 5 year warranties might still cover a car in your budget.
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A Diesel would be harder to stall. But as learners can pick and choose what car they want to learn in, why not choose the most popular from that perspective?
I bet a KA would be popular and you would never be off the road for parts with it being a Ford.
Regards
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Learners do get choosy about what they drive, if she buys something "too girly" or "too big" then she may alienate certain sectors of the market. I heard about someone losing business when he swapped to a Skoda for example.
May be best getting something that has a little street appeal, a Ka could be ok, but Fiesta would be better as they are more appealing to blokes than a Ka.
I got a Focus TDCi Sport when I set my business up, I'm not aware of anyone having a problem with the car and it was very reliable, although not as efficient as I would have liked.
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Interesting replies so far, thankyou!
Forgot to say, the car will be maintained mainly by my father, with the trickier things farmed out (sic) to the local agricultural engineer, which was why the petrol Almera was scoring from an ease of maintainence point of view, and also lack of dual mass flywheels and such like, which I'm sure learner drivers will kill off in double quick time...
Jonathan.
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ALMERA.. its good, its bland and no one really hates it or loves it.
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You'll be lucky to get the sort of economy you're expecting from an Almera. My '53 plate 1.5 will achieve 45 MPG on a run (just), providing there's no motorway involved.
I think it may also put off many potential learners. They seem to think it's better to learn in something small, or mainstream.
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Hi Jonathan - Interesting this. My wife got very serious about training to be a driving instructor at one time. She subsequently changed her mind but in the meanwhile we had bought a brand new Ka and had it fitted with dual controls so that she could practice. The thing is she never did pursue it and has only used the car for "normal" purposes. We never got round to removing the dual controls though. It is now four years old and has 16k on it and it might be for sale. ( Now what she really needs is my diesel Mondeo Ghia X estate, thus allowing me to buy a much more .....um .......reliable 3.0 V6 ST220 estate )
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Jonathan
Don't know if you or your mum knows anyone who could advise her on tax but I'm wondering whether she could lease a new smallish car for her business and write off the cost against her profit like any other business expense?
Otherwise she's putting money into an elderly car which might not be very attractive to a learner.
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Regarding the unusual instrumentation on the Yaris.
For dual-control cars a second speedo can be fitted to the passenger side . See the link below.
tinyurl.com/69zxwv
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I looked into leasing when I was instructing, but they all come with unrealistic mileage restrictions of somewhere around 15,000 a year. The penalty charge per thousand over the limit soon makes the idea uneconomic.
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Were I myself going down this path then I think I would buy a petrol Fiesta, not a used one but a new one; it's going to get a lot of hard use! Also note other comments regarding people not wanting to drive an older car, etc.
If the speedo on a Yaris can't be seen from the passenger side then I believe a driving test can't be taken in the car unless the second speedo is fitted.
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There is a company (in Leicester istr) that specializes in leasing to instructors. I can't remember the name right now, but I have got them at the office if you can wait til tomorrow.
Provided the car has a cash price of less than £12000 the whole lease cost is allowable for tax purposes, less any private use, of course.
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Thankyou for all of the interesting replies.
Choosing a car which would be popular with pupils is an important point, which is why the Golf was on the preliminary list. A Fiesta or a Ka would potentially be good choices, but my mam dislikes Fords, and in any case I have a strong suspicion that a Japanese car would be less troublesome.
A new (or leased) car would be nice, but would break the budget. (only a modest £2500 to £3000).
A Civic might be suitable, but they seem a bit big, whereas the Jazz is still too dear :-(
The other consideration is economy. We've always tended to have diesel cars, but what with Diesel being considerably more expensive at the pumps, and the propensity for common rail diesels to fail in extremely expensive ways, I think petrol would probably work out cheaper...
Jonathan.
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Jonathan
A lease wouldn't have to break the budget. The £12000 another poster mentioned is the cost price. You don't pay that. You pay a monthly rental, say £200 plus VAT. Look at some of the deals on this site or elsewhere on the web.
Good luck.
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"A Fiesta or a Ka would potentially be good choices, but my mam dislikes Fords, and in any case I have a strong suspicion that a Japanese car would be less troublesome"
My dad has over 20 years of teaching under his belt. He started out in a Fiesta 1.1L which was the family car when he was learning to be an instructor and teaching part time.
He is still in a Fiesta, but is now on his second 1.4TDCi diesel and his only problem occured just before Christmas which needed work on the gearbox - over the two cars he has covered about 130,000 miles.
He would recommend nothing else and would definately avoid anything Japanese, not due to reliability issues, but due to cost and ease of getting parts and also getting them fixed.
When you run a driving school the car is a tool of the trade, nothing more, nothing less and outgoings need to be as low as possible - this is your number on priority, not whether you like something or not. Fiesta parts are cheap as chips, generally available within an hour and anyone can fix them.
This cannot be said of many other marques (especially Japanese) and he has spoken to enough instructors who have found this out the hard way.
I saw an instructor the other day in a brand new VW 2.0TDi - on current lesson rates of £20 or so an hour I don't know how anyone could make money running such an expensive car.
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Fiesta parts are cheap as chips generally available within an hour and anyone can fix them.
Well said, and you don't need to be a driving instructor to feel the benefit.
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