Red Driving Instructor Training TV adverts

Yep - they're back!!!

The Instructor College always used to be linked to Red Driving School, and were the only people advertising on TV, so I'm gonna make a big assumption (possibly a mistake - correct me if I'm wrong guys) and suggest that it's the same company, just a different name on the adverts.

Well the search engine queries have all started up again:

• How much does a driving instructor earn
• Driving instructor training prices

and one of the more worrying ones:

• learner instructor £30k tv ads

(lets face it, if you can't search for something with a little more finesse than that, you may not be able to communicate well enough under pressure to be a competent driving instructor.)

So, we come back to the same old questions of whether there are too many ADIs out there, and whether you can earn £30k as a driving instructor.

In response to the "too many ADIs" statement that always gets bandied around - well there's no shortage, but like anything else - if you're good enough you'll get work.

In response to the next question, I'm actually gonna change my answer:

No, you can't earn £30k as a driving instructor while working a normal week.

If all you want to do is instruct people how to drive - you probably won't be able to consistently clear £30k after expenses and before tax. However easy the salesperson with a few figures on a whiteboard or in a glossy brochure suggests it may be - the reality is that there are very very few driving instructors who earn this much. Those who do certainly don't conform to a 9 to 5 work pattern.

However - if you're prepared to be a business person, a coach, a trainer and use your skills and imagination - you can earn this and more.

Consider fleet training - you should earn around £120 a day before tax even when working for someone else. That's a 9-5 job (ish) which earns around £600/week if you can get the work. There's your £30k straight up.

Consider getting your own business training - fleet, or specialist. Now you can charge £300+ per day, but you've got bigger overheads, but if you're really good you could be working 4 days a week, and if you have a free receptionist (partner or suchlike) you could bring in £1200 a week.

Suddenly you're earning £60k a year.

And finally, consider ADI training You can charge £4000 for a course that has overheads of around £400, and takes around 80 hours to deliver - often at a ratio of 2 trainees to 1 trainer. This means that in 2 weeks you should effectively turn around 2 trainees, at a gross profit of £3600 each.

Suddenly you're earning enough to start advertising on TV!!!! (after doing the math, and having 4 weeks off a year, you should be getting around £140,000!)

The training colleges would have a problem with my math here, in the same way that I would have a problem with theirs!

Just a word of advice to all thinking of training - do the research on the forums and at the websites mentioned in the sidebar to the right.

Don't hand over any cash until you know what you want and are certain you are going to get it.

Driving instructor training shouldn't need to cost the earth, and having a successful career shouldn't mean penury for ever, but it's not as easy as it seems in the adverts. The exams take hard work and dedication, and even when (if? the overall pass rate for completing all 3 ADI exams is around 7%) you pass, you may find that what you think is a job at the end of a course is only a franchise, and no guarantee of earnings.

http://www.adiforum.co.uk/

http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/

Front fog lights when it isn't foggy........WWWHHHYYY?????!!!!!

Just a quickie - but I just don't get it - why?

Are you just thick - and have left them on since it was foggy (3 or 4 months ago) but have turned your rear ones off?

Or are you so sad as to think they look "cool"?

Or are you such an incompetent person that you didn't even know they were on?

Come on guys - turn em off!

I don't know why it drives me mad this one, but.....it does.

Strange questions for Driving Instructors!

Just wanted to put on a few of the questions that find their way to us - and some answers so people stop asking them (for christ's sake!).

What is an ADI Number?

This is the number your driving instructor has been allocated by the DSA when they became an ADI. If you are booking a driving test and don't know it - leave it blank, but make sure you let your instructor know you are booking your test or you may not have a car for the day itself!

How do you complain about a driving instructor?

Well - tell em you're annoyed is a good first point of call. If this doesn't work, then go above them - either to their franchise manager (phone the office if they're with a multi car school), or if this doesn't help (or if they're a one man/woman band) go direct to the DSA (Driving Standards Agency).

Can you become an instructor if you have 6 points on your licence?

Possibly - you'd need to contact the DSA for a definite answer, and it's quite possible they'll turn you down.

If you get 6 points do you need to re-take your driving test?

If the 6 points are within the first two years from passing your test - yes. And the theory test. Serves you right you pratt. This is not being banned - this is having your license removed, though admittedly the effects are the same.

If you get banned do you need to take your test again?

Possibly - look at the info you got when the case was decided. Often yes, sometimes you need to take an extended test. Oh, and you're a pratt too - get so proper training and sort your attitude out or you'll be priced out of the market by the insurance companies.

What happens if the speed or traffic light camera flashes you when on a lesson?

You get the points. If the camera is working. You can sack your instructor too if you want, but lets face it speed limits are pretty simple, and a red light is a red light - even 3 year olds mean that you stop at these. Some instructors still think that they should take the rap for these - if they do so they are breaking the law and could be struck off the register - not worth it.

Which car do you take your driving test in?

Whichever one you fancy, as long as it is legal and insured for the test (most insurances do not cover this even if you're covered for learning in it - so check before you go), and has a mirror for the examiner to use. Also worth checking if your car has had a recall on it which may not have been fixed or certified by a main dealer. Using your instructors car should cover all of these bases with a lot less hastle.

There's millions of these questions - if you're really stuck, have a look at the www.2pass.co.uk forum and ask the instructors in there - you'll usually get a really good answer really quick, or you'll start an argument between them - a win win situation.

If you're an instructor and have a few more to add - put em in the comments and we'll see if we can add to them!

Intensive guaranteed pass driving courses - again!

Yep, this subject keeps coming up, and all I can say is -

THERE'S NEVER GONNA BE A FRICKIN GUARANTEE!!!!!

So stop searching for one on google.

If you want anything in life you've got to work for it - and that includes learning to drive. Did you choose your sixth form by guaranteed A-grades? Did you search for your University by guaranteed firsts?

No. You knew it would take work from yourself, so why is driving any different?

I reckon it's because you're paying for it - well I've got some suggestions for you - have a look at:

Driving Lesson Prices and Costs

and work out how much it should cost you.

Then find the best driving instructor you can get your hands on.

Have a look at:

Top ten tips for picking a driving instructor - if you want a quick guide

2pass guide to finding an instructor - with links to their directory and forum

How to find a driving instructor - an in depth guide of what to look for, avoid and ask

and don't try to rush it - it'll cost you more in the long run.

And after all of that - if you insist on finding intensive courses - make sure you do an assessment before hand - preferably with a couple of different instructors so that you can find out whether you get on with the person you're going to be sharing a car with for the next 30 hours!!!!

Illegal number plates and driving tests

The DSA are tightening up their stance on illegal number plates according to their latest press release:

DSA Illegal Number Plates Statement

The fact that they are going to start reporting them is good, but on some of the forums I've noticed a distinct "who cares" attitude to this problem - even from DSA examiners themselves.

There's a few problems with illegal number plates:

1. Speed cameras sometimes have trouble picking them out, which means that the 4x4 that just blasted past you in the wrong lane on the roundabout will not get his cummuppance.
2. When reported to the police, these plates are often mis-quoted and regularly come back as being not registered to a car. Hit and run accidents with illegal number plates are often not traceable for this reason.
3. They're just plain tacky.
4. They show that the person is happy breaking one law - why not a few more? Is the car actually insured for the test?

So please guys - don't just report them - refuse to take tests in them.

Also - if they're illegal - could the people who make these plates up not be prosecuted? I genuinely don't know the answer to this one, but I'm reasonably sure that someone will email me the answer! Thanks.

The Right to Drive?

The new driver act has kicked in - and we've all had the phone call from the distraught 18 year old who feels hard done by when they have their licence removed from them.

"But I only got 2 - I was doing 32 in a 30, and the second one was for being on me fone - I thought you had to get six points before you were banned?!"

Hmmm - just in case anyone has not understood the stupidity of the above - let me explain:

Many driving offences carry a different penalty point weighting. It just so happens that a speeding camera fine is usually 3 points, as is talking on your mobile phone. So with those two stupid actions - 6 points and if you passed your test less than 2 years ago - you're back to square 1 - take your test again.

Also - "32 in a 30" - do you think we're thick? You wouldn't trigger a camera until you were going 33, or more likely 35 or above.

Grrrr!

I love these phone calls - I'm always polite, and I will always accept someone if they have learnt with me, or if they understand what they have done, and why they shouldn't have, but the ones who are just angry that "everyone's gettin at me - shutup, shutup, oh whateva" can go hang.

Unfortunately, though I personally think this is a great idea - I understand that it has had a very limited effect on road safety.

In fact - it may even have made things worse. People who have been banned start driving illegally. They have got used to driving and had begun to take it for granted, so when it is taken away they decide to continue, not understanding the dangers and life wrecking stupidity of what they are doing.

And this leads me to the main problem with all of this - what can the police do? What do the police do? Surely impounding every car that is driven on the road without insurance, tax, or MOT would go some way toward solving the problem. Then link any release fee directly to the cost of the policing, the impound and the paperwork of the operation (2 coppers - 2 hours, 1 administrator - 1 hour, 1 recovery truck - 3 hours, 1 compound - 3 days, maybe around £500, with an extra £100 per day until someone who is insured for the car itself turns up to collect it!).

Criminals would no longer have cars. This may help the fight against normal crime too just a little!

Cost of Training Courses

CPD hasn't arrived yet, but most of us with a couple of braincells are already involved with training ourselves almost as much as we do training our customers.

There's one thing that seems to run through all of these courses - it doesn't matter which course it is - there's a company set up to administer the course, and of course they have to cover their costs, but some of these costs are pretty high.

Cost of course - £420 for 2 days - no problem. Excellent 1 to 1 training with loads of useful information.

Cost of registration - £100 - just to put my details on a computer and a phone call to confirm things? Profit to administering organisation - probably £80

Cost to be a trainer for the courses - £250 - this covers a few booklets, cost value of which I would put at no more than £25 for printing, and probably could've been designed over 2 days with an expert, 1 day with a graphic designer - total design cost - no more than £1000. Considering that there's probably between 500 and 2000 of these courses taken per year that means at most an extra £2. Profit to organisation - £220

Maybe I should stop being a trainer, design a course - sell the idea to government for their backing, then make it compulsory and rake in £300 profit from every trainer who signs up to promote my course for me!

Whoopee.