Driving Instructor Help

rachna_01

My dad wants to become a driving instructor. I know he has to get a starter pack from the DSA and theres an option to buy the theory Q&A book for £6. I want to know whether your can buy this from Whsmith (i've got lots of vouchers!) and is it different from the normal theory book? also where can you get the theory and hazard perception cds from? im just a bit confused whether there are differnt publications for driving instructors from the normal ones
thanx

Conor_3

DO NOT BOTHER. The market is flooded with driving instructors. You pay an arm and a leg to get into it to find that there's not enough pupils to go around.

The £30,000 a year is a lie and you'll be lucky to earn half of that after expenses. Also, the "work your own hours" is also a lie. Expect to work every evening and weekend as well as regular hours.

Also the course is less about your driving ability than the ability to teach.

rachna_01

i'll pass that on to my dad! but can anyone answer the question? im sure there were some Driving Instructors on here.

daveyjp

Conor - my dads been a driving instructor for 20 years. He has never had a problem getting enough pupils for 40+ lessons per week and he never advertises. Like any business good ones will do well, but you have to put the hours in. I agree that you can't choose when to work and you have to work VERY hard to earn £30,000 a year - 40 lessons is 50-60 hours per week.

jessicamb

you should be able to get the books online - or if doing a course most include the books with the package.

My dad is a driving instructor too - I would echo what the other posters have said. It is a very competitive market and you have to work very hard to make money here.

In terms of earnings potential the £30k they quote is revenue generated - you have to knock off this the costs for the car, petrol, phone, car washing, etc. I think after expenses its about £7 an hour in "wages" on 30 hours a week - then you have to pay tax and NI. If you do less hours then the rate goes down - because the car cost is fixed.

Plus bear in mind the hours are based on teaching hours - not including time spent travelling around.

cajef

rachna_01 wrote: »

but can anyone answer the question? there

Go into your local BSM office they will give you all the information you need to become a driving instructor, they also run a training school for instructors, and they will offer you a job if you train with them.

Many instructors work for them for a couple of years to gain experience, then go independent, but as others have said it is not cheap, it takes several years to become established and the financial rewards are not great unless you are prepared to work a sixty or seventy hour week.

The_Undercover_ADI

Simple answer to the original question.

No, you can't get the same question bank from WHSmith. However, you could spend your money on a CDRom for the Hazard Perception test which is the same as the learners one (just with a higher pass mark).

With regards to the training, it will cost around £2000-£4000. I suggest your dad looks at www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk and the forums on there, or www.adiforum.co.uk. Both of which have a lot of instructors who can give good solid sensible advice.

Personally, unless you are a good business person, I wouldn't suggest it at the moment. If you are good at business, it's just as good as any other, but with better customer satisfaction!

My homepage has a lot of honest info about becoming a driving instructor - might be worth a look.