Driving Instructor funding

shellyanne276

Hi

Me and hubby want desperately to get off benefits so have been to inquire about becoming driving instructors.

The total cost would be over £4000 each and we just don't have that kind of money.

Does anyone know of anywhere we get funding from?

We have been in contact with direct.gov who weren't very helpful and he just got ridiculed when he went to our local job centre plus.

We are unlikely to be able to fund this with a loan as we are in a debt management plan.

Any ideas would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance

Michelle

SPANIEL36

i dont know how true it is but the RED driving school group (cant remember proper name) may do the funding

shellyanne276

Hi Spaniel

That's who we have been to. We both passed the evaluation today but they don't help with funding.

Thanks for your reply x

Jakg

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

The Job Centre do have "career development loans" but they are not for £4k in an area with lots of people already unemployed.

Oldernotwiser

Becoming a driving instructor isn't a particularly good way of coming off benefits when you have debts. Apart from the training and start up costs there could be a lengthy period while you build up a client base and gain experience.

I certainly wouldn't dream of both of you doing it at the same time as you will be in direct competition for clients and there'll be no guaranteed income coming into the house.

DCFC79

Id stay clear of it to be honest, find a local job and pay off your debts

pinkshoes

I thought RED had gone into administration, or did I imagine that???

molerat

They have been bailed out.

DCFC79

pinkshoes wrote: »

I thought RED had gone into administration, or did I imagine that???

It wasnt actually red who were in administration but the parent company LVG

dugdale_2

Please think long and hard before you make any financial commitment.

I work as an adviser at Jobcentre Plus and you would be suprised how many people I've seen over the last month who've sunk much of their redundancy payouts into training to be a driving instructor. (Has anyone ever failed the Red evaluation ?).

I've also see quite a few self employed driving instructors with many years experience who are currently unable to make a living due to a much larger pool of driving instructors trying to win business from a much smaller pool of customers.

alunharford

It really doesn't sound like a great deal to me. I paid 20 quid an hour. Add on 10 minutes getting there and back and it's 20 quid per 80 minutes. So 120 quid per day.

Minus the cost of running a car for 8 hours travelling at an average of just under 30mph. So 90 quid per day.
Minus insurance, road tax and servicing (£1000 per year if you're lucky) so 85 quid.
Minus depreciation cost of running a 'respectable' car doing about 50,000 miles per year (assuming you're lucky enough to be always working) at say £2000. So 75 quid.
Minus the general costs of running a business (accountancy, insurance, phone, stationary, etc) at £1000. So 70 quid.
Minus the cost of your time at NMW (£6.56 if you include holidays) so £17.50 left.
Minus the cost of you being sick so £15.
Minus the costs of advertising.

Assuming you can totally fill your books, you can make slightly more than the minimum wage. With 90% of your time booked, it's much tougher.

£4000 is a hell of a lot of money to set up such a difficult business.