Driving lessons scam

Squiggybank

I passed last month and learn't with the AA. Yes they were a little more expensive than some other schools. However, they use excuslively fully trained instructors (green badge), some schools use instructors in training (pink badge). They also use ford focus' replaced every 9 months. I was really happy with my instructor he pushed me all the way - had my joining the dual carriageway on my 2nd lesson, he even turned around and told me I only needed 1 hour not 1.5 hours in the run up to my test as there was nothing more he could teach me and he thought I had spent enough already.
Unfortunately I think it can be a case of you get what you pay for.

hollie.weimeraner

Unfortunately this is common practice within the driver training industry and especially among some of the national schools such as kanKan. It's a marketing ploy to attract those people that don't tend to look much further than the price they are paying and as such are easy targets.

What they don't realise is that the national average number of lessons needed to pass the test at the moment is in the region of 45 to 50 lessons therefore needing a massive outlay.

Pupils and parents get sucked in by the juicy cheap offers but don't relaise that these scholls will then charge premium rates for the lessons in between in order to fund the cheap offers.

If the pupil then doesn't continue with the lessons for any reason they also have a non refund policy therefore making those cheap lessons quite expensive.

My wife is an independent driving instructor in Sheffield and this practice really annoys her but at the end of the day it is not illegal provided they are sated in the terms and conditions.

DaveF327

daveyjp wrote: »

To complain contact the DSA:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dsa/about/contact/dsa-approved-driving-instructor-branch/

DSA can only consider complaints against an individual driving instructor with regard to their personal conduct or substandard teaching. Contractual matters such as pricing and payment are a "civil matter". In fairness to the individual instructor concerned, she is unlikely to have drafted the contract herself, as the company she is franchised with does all that to drum up business for the self-employed instructors and protect them against loss of income from bad payers and inconsiderate customers who cancel at short (or no) notice, leaving them out of pocket.

Although I've never heard of pre-paid lesson monies being kept aside for specific lessons far in the future, I can understand why this has been made a condition of a special offer.

As for being made aware of this, consider carefully: was the special offer first noticed in a printed advert? If so, there is usually a footnote stating that the offer is subject to terms and conditions. These conditions are in the piece of paper your daughter was asked to agree to and sign. If you were only made aware off the offer by telephone, you need to be careful that the highly trained telesales person didn't mention "subject to conditions" at some point in the banter. Only a recording of the conversation will reveal this.

That said, are the terms really so bad if you're getting lessons for £9.90 per hour and you're planning to have regular lessons every week? If the instructor is brilliant and your daughter is happy to continue lessons up to test, wouldn't it be a welcome relief to find the last few lessons already paid for? A bit like a payment holiday for council tax in February and March each year? To play devil's advocate here, it could be said that only someone planning to pull the rug on lessons after a few of them would be aggrieved by having paid lessons "held back" until a later date. If that's the case, the poor instructor is better off without customers like that, so terms have been drafted to discourage such practices.

Ask yourself whether the money or your daughter's success is the biggest issue here. Would you be happy with a refund right now for the remaining untaken lessons? If so, you could simply ask them, but prepare for the first 2 hour lessons to be charged for at full price. Is your daughter over the moon with her new instructor and receiving quality tuition by an individual she gets on well with? It's your daughter's lesson after all, so would it be worth putting a stop to her progress just for a grievance over money? You should discuss this with your daughter before making a decision.

Sharon87

I was wary of all the cheap driving lessons around, so I decided to go with a known name. I'm learning with BSM, which like the AA only use Qualified instructors, and mostly use modern Vauxhaull Corsas (in London at least).

BSM did offer 5 at a discounted rate, from £95 or something, although my instructor had slightly higher rates, as he's more experienced and does most of London. Big companies you can book blocks of lessons and get a discount 5% discount for 10 hours or 10% for 20 hours with BSM, standard price is about £27 an hour I think, which is a bit steep, but most decent instructors charge over £20 these days. When I've been driving around, I've seen some really dodgy looking driving schools teaching pupils to do things wrong, like manoeuvres in severely wrong places.

You need a good instructor to help pass your test. I've got my test in 9 days. Sooner than I thought, well actually later than I originally booked, but it got cancelled due to ice (GRR!).

DaveF327

Sharon87 wrote: »

I'm learning with BSM, which like the AA only use Qualified instructors

I beg to differ. If a BSM telesales person had told you this, and your instructor displays a pink triangle in the windscreen, you should demand your money back. BSM use trainee instructors who are not yet fully qualified and some may never qualify due to their inability to pass the final qualifying exam. Have a look at this web page: http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-training to see that once a trainee licence has been obtained, anyone who's passed the first two exams can teach in a BSM car and charge full price, whether their teaching skills are up to it or not. In other words, you have L-plate instructors teaching L-plate drivers.


The green octagon badge is displayed by fully qualified instructors near the tax disc. A red / pink triangle is displayed by trainee instructors. It pays to know the difference.

Sharon87

My driving instructor's fully qualified, has been teaching for over 10 years.

I had a lesson with an AA instructor before, 1 lesson that's how terrible she was. Didn't ask to see my driving licence once, and if she did she would have realised I forgot my glasses, which I only noticed halfway through my lesson! She was also very snappy, she told me to park up, so I did (had 8 hours up to that point) then snapped saying 'you shouldn't park in front of a drive way', I told her I hadn't driven for months before. She seemed to get very impatient when I stalled as well. So even if she was fully qualified she was rubbish.

That's why I decided not to use the AA after that!

LandyAndy

My DS1 has just learned (and passed first time) with a local independent. £44 for a two hour lesson. An excellent teacher and well worth the cost. £22 an hour before costs doesn't make instructing a very highly paid job.

marywooyeah

OP check the ts and cs which you signed up to carefully. they cannot add terms into a contract after it has been agreed, and as another poster said it would be a civil matter rather than getting the dsa involved, although it couldn't hurt to threaten the driving school with it!

I had a few cruddy instructors too - finally passed after around 70 lessons and 5 tests (3 fails, 1 non test)!

Blackpool_Saver

I really don't think learner drivers can have valid opinions on driving instructors capability, maybe their personality, kindness, patience etc, but not their driving ability.....

Blackpool_Saver

Good lord, I have just looked at their website, all hearts and flowers, very professional looking NOT, I wouldn't pay them in chocolate coins