Driving Instructor - My experience after a year

[Valgar]

Hello all, I thought I'd give you my experiences of being a driving instructor as I'm sure many have considered it.

Firstly the training is quite hard, there's 3 tests, theory and advanced driving test are both fairly simple but there's an 'instructional ability test' (soon to be changed) which is utter bullst, an examiner roleplays a student (not at all well) and you have to show that you're a good teacher. There are so many problems with this approach that I don't know where to start but like I mentioned, it's being replaced because it's utter bks and not at all representative of actual teaching.

There are two options when you pass (or during training) join a franchise or go solo, I chose a franchise and was very happy with them, they weren't cheap but they completely filled my diary up as much as I wanted, I was never short of work.

The job itself is extremely rewarding, changing someones life for the better is a fantastic feeling but it's not without it's negatives of which there are many. In order to make decent money you need to work all the hours under the sun, I've been known to work 70+ hours a week on quite a few occasions, and while the money was great for it at around £900-£1000 after deductions it completely ruined any life I had, social life gone, and it really impacted my long term relationship to near breaking point, not good for the health too as I was doing no exercise and gained lots of weight.

A big problem with he job is that there is a lot of time you are working and not getting paid for, time in between lessons, time organising your diary which is an unholy PITA because customers think they're the only person in the world. If I work 30 paid hours a week that's nearly 10 hours travelling between lessons (half hour each 2 hour lesson) and that doesn't include diary work, financial records etc etc. So really a 30 hour paid week is more like 45 hours minimum and don't think you can just do the hours you want, the majority of people aren't available during the day so prepare for later nights.

In terms of hourly rate I receive around £22-£25 an hour but after hours worked and costs it's more like half that. It's a fairly stressful and irritating job too, when you're on the road 10 hours a day you learn to fking detest other peoples driving and I'm a really calm guy, only ever raised my voice to one student and that's because they fell asleep at the wheel!!! The road is full of complete a-holes...

Then you have some students that do their utmost to crash your car, think of ANY scenario and they'll try to do it. Wrong way round a roundabout? CHECK! Swerve towards oncoming vehicles? CHECK! Emergency brake at 60mph because they thought they saw a red light? CHECK! Slam the accelerator when stuck in traffic? CHECK!

So after a year of doing this, I'm looking at getting out, the hourly rate is alright, the good feeling you get is nice too but the aggravation, stress and responsibility just aren't worth while.

If anyone has specific questions I'd be happy to answer them. Just because it's not for me doesn't mean it's not for you.

[Valgar]

In the city but surrounding areas too, even travelling across a short area takes time, you need to piss and eat too, getting to get people to come to me would just be too hard. Some days it works out and a you can get to the lessons earlier and get home a bit earlier, but generally not.

I didn't mention tests either, always at stupid times, like 1117 and 1241 so you always lose a slot because they don't match up very well and have tendency to over run.

[Valgar]

I don't mean to slag them off, it was meant as a way to express the unexpected nature of the job, the fact you have to be vigilant every single lesson, it's quite draining, even those who seem like excellent drivers and haven't made any serious faults in hours suddenly do something unexpected.

[Valgar]

Bristol spark said:

Have you tried increasing the hourly rate?

You may get less work, but will work less and hopefully still earn the same.

Franchise sets the hourly rate, lots of local competition too, you have to be careful you don't price yourself out.

ambuletz said:

Is that £900-1k per month? seems very little if you're spending 70+hrs a week out tthere.

A week

GrandAndrew said:

Even when working for a franchise or similar I take it you still have to do it on a self employed basis?

Yeah Self employed, with the pros and cons but not quite getting full freedom. If I carry on I'll try going independent, save nearly £100 a week.

Rakoosh said:

I've also wondered - what if you got that student that just couldn't do it on the test itself !

It happens, you get pupils that are totally brilliant in lessons then nerves destroy them on the day, one went as far as hypnotherapy (which worked), you just keep trying and trying new things to make them more relaxed.

Nearlyretired said:

The people who are going to change the driving test have never been instructors.

Totally true, I asked an examiner just last week, they know about these changes from news but don't actually know the specifics of whats coming, just as clueless as we are, all we have is vague ideas.

catman said:

I was an Instructor for 8 years. Teaching people to drive was the easy part. Dealing with the morons on the road who were supposedly qualified was the hard part!

Tim

Totally agree, after doing this job I strongly feel the licence should only last so long before some sort of 'refresher test'

liner33 said:

My son is learning to drive at the moment , we are paying £38ph, our instructor is very unreliable and has cancelled or been late for about 40% of his lessons

That has to be London right??? If you aren't happy with your instructor then change, you're paying for a service and not receiving it, you wouldn't go back to a crap restaurant would you?

Loyly said:

He used to tell me about the good things and bad things being a driving instructor entailed. He used to turn away business from certain communities because it was such hard work. He'd given up on instructing Asian women who wanted to be accompanied. Often he'd have a pupil who couldn't speak much English and so didn't understand him very well, accompanied by a friend sitting in the back to translate and an uncle or brother as a chaperone. This seemed to descend into the chaperone shouting at him, the translator shouting at him and the driver crumbling under the pressure. This became an increasing burden on his business as his marketing had reached the inner districts of the city, when he actually worked from twenty miles away in a neighbouring rural county!

Which is to say nothing of the boy racers who wanted to rag the car about. Pupils who received bans during their lessons but never told the instructor. Learners turning up drunk, high or too tired to drive. Learners who wanted to use their driving lesson as cheap and convenient transport to a far off destination (like starting a two hour lesson in Ashington and just wanting to go south on the A1 to Middlesborough or further!).

I deal with a large number of Asians and I've had a few translators in the back but never ever had an issue, dead handy for explaining things, but during the drive just directions, no explanations. I've gotten to the point now where I know how to say left, right, straight, pull over, slow, and gas in Mandarin, can't spell them but I can understand them.

[Valgar]

Downward said:

Do these franchises charge loads of money for leasing the cars ?

I learned in mark 2 Ford Fiesta in 1995 so it must have been 7 or 8 years old. my wife an old shape micra which was around 6 years old.

I've seen a well known name instructor school driving around in Audi a3's. Surely this isn't cost effective ?

Depends on your deal, in my case I supply my own car, the national franchises will bulk buy Fiestas and that's covered in your franchise fee, so if they're Audis the franchise fee is probably extortionate and is just something else for them to make money from.

Seen some in Abarth 595s! I spend about £6-7000 a year on fuel, would hate to see their bill.

Yipper said:

Low pay, long hours, and fighting fire all day long... Sounds no different to most modern jobs.

To be fair it's better than the living wage and it's not the worst job in the world, but it's not amazing either and carries a ton of responsibility. Just thought I'd give my experiences as I'm sure many on PH would've considered it

Edited by Valgar on Sunday 16th April 16:43

Edited by Valgar on Sunday 16th April 16:45

[Valgar]

AndStilliRise said:

Reminds me of this:

https://youtu.be/aNlBMQi3VYE

Hahaha bloody hell I remember that!

Also that emergency stop reminded me of a test I had recently, 60 mph zone with traffic lights, he spotted the lights late (they were Green) but he slammed the brakes on as hard as he possibly could and the car screeched to a halt, the examiner nearly went through the screen!