How to find a good driving instructor?

[backwoodsman]

At the age of 43, my wife is finally going to learn to drive.

Due to disability, she will only be able to drive an automatic.

We know no one that has had driving lessons in the last 15 years, so personal recommendations are out.

How do we find an instructor, and what questions should we ask of them?

I used BSM 20 years ago, but wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

[User33678888]

Word of mouth. The good ones don't advertise.

[R0G]

Ask what grade they are - 6 is the highest

Make sure they are not an ADI in training - they are allowed to teach doing that!

Many local IAM groups have top grade ADIs who also do the observing

Which part of UK are you?

[Qwert1e]

I doubt there are many bad instructors out there. Customers are likely to vote with their feet.

[backwoodsman]

R0G said:

Ask what grade they are - 6 is the highest

Make sure they are not an ADI in training - they are allowed to teach doing that!

Many local IAM groups have top grade ADIs who also do the observing

Which part of UK are you?

Thanks for that, we are near Mansfield, and Worksop.

[anonymous-user]

Qwert1e said:

I doubt there are many bad instructors out there. Customers are likely to vote with their feet.

There are plenty of bad instructors out there. All it takes is a cheap enough price to get clients in the car and having a good enough manor of 'teaching' you could have someone hooked for tens of hours before they figure out you're a bit rubbish/are milking them of money.

I tried a couple of places when I was learning to drive,. All of them came with the 'hard sell' at the end of the first lesson or two about they thought it would take the average 40 hours of practice before being pass ready, and that perhaps we should talk to my parents about the discounts available on 10/20/30 hour packages!? I eventually found someone good and went on to pass in 10 lessons with no minors, but if I wasn't overly confident in my driving skill (which most learners will not be) I would have easily been roped into spending loads on lessons that just weren't needed. This is how the bad ones stick around.

[Frankthered]

OP, are you sure you don't know anybody who has learned lately? Maybe your friends have kids or neices/nephews who might have recommendations?

My Mrs (also 43) passed her UK test earlier this year (she's American) and we got a recommendation from our friend's neices and nephews, but the guy wasn't really interested (working on another project) so she ended up taking a punt on RED.

Not who I would have picked, but it turned out that the instructor in question was a good one, she got on with him well enough and she passed first time.

My sister learned about 10 years ago (at a similar age!) and she tried BSM initially and had a nightmare - went through 3 different instructors (because the first two left, I think!) and got very upset by the third one. She ended up with a local independent who got her through.

If you want an auto you're likely to have a limited choice anyway, so pick the one with the nicest car and don't be afraid to change if something doesn't work out or she just doen't get on with the instructor.