Unit 46: The trainee licence

Resources:
The Driving Instructor’s Handbook

Many potential driving instructors are encouraged to earn money during their training using the trainee licence. The rules surrounding the licence may well soon change, so be sure to keep up to date with all of the most recent changes on this from the driving instructor forums, the DSA and the Department of Transport.

You can work as a trainee driving instructor with the sponsorship of another ADI or by working with a driving school. The licence allows you to give instruction for reward for a period of 6 months. To gain the licence, you must have taken (and had signed off by an ADI) 40 hours of training. During the first 3 months of the trainee licence you must also receive a further 20 hours of training, or have 25% of your lessons supervised by an ADI.

There is very little statistical evidence that PDIs who have used the trainee licence scheme actually perform better at Part 3 than PDIs who don’t. However, many who have used the scheme have found it useful. Whether this is because they have had to self teach themselves while paying customers suffer or not is a different matter!

If you have decided to work on the trainee licence during your training you must bear in mind that you have a responsibility to yourself first and foremost. If your training is being impeded by your workload you must cut down the amount of lessons you give.

Discussion Points:
Is it suitable for you?
How can it be made to work for you?
The customer/trainee balance
Giving value for money as a trainee

Unit 47: Self assessing your performance

Whether you are working on a trainee licence or you are working as a qualified ADI, you should self assess your performance on a regular basis.

Grade yourself from 1 (lost it completely, didn’t achieve it at all, or gave incorrect information), to grade 6 (the best you could expect to achieve).

Grade yourself 1-6 for each of the following:

Planned the lesson beforehand
Recap of previous experience
SMART objective set
Agreement gained
Main Points for the subject covered
Demonstration with explanation given (if necessary)
Customer driving within 10 minutes
Initial level of instruction suitable during practice
Level of instruction reduced within 30 minutes
Route chosen was suitable and flexible
Customer involved at all stages
Feedback and encouragement given
All faults identified (within the subject)
All faults analysed
Remedial action was effective
End of lesson summary was constructive
Next lesson planned and agreed
Lesson was controlled well (with freedom to learn)

Unit 48: Being self employed

As a driving instructor it is more than likely that you will be self employed. (Check very carefully with your training company or “placement” company, many people have been misled into thinking they would get a “job” at the end of their training, rather than a franchise.)

As well as having the freedom to work for yourself, you also have the responsibility to ensure that everyone who needs to know about your status does. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will undoubtedly want to know, and you will need to register to pay your own national insurance. Some mortgage companies will expect to be notified, and often insurance for injury and illness may need to be changed. A quick chat with all of these providers would be sensible and the local tax office can be a great source of information about self employment and tax matters.

If you need help setting yourself up, local enterprise partnerships and council-run initiatives can be useful. A quick search of the internet can find a lot of information and may save you a fortune in set up costs. Often advisors will know what works in your area and can put you in touch with other individuals or small companies who may well be able to help.

You need to plan how you want your business to work, whether you are looking for a part time income or a long term professional career. The skills you have gained can be used for this – recap what skills you have, set SMART objectives, with time scales, and list all of the main points you will need to put into place. Once you make a start on this it is simple and it will help you to keep an objective overview of how well you are doing when you might have had a bad day. Regularly go through these objectives and re-evaluate them depending on how well you are doing, or in the light of new circumstances.

Discussion Points:
Inform the relevant authorities
Seek Advice
Business Plan

Unit 49: Getting work

So you’re a driving instructor now. How do we pay the bills, how do we get established, and how – in the long run – do we build a profitable business?

Recommendations: Free.
This is the best way to get custom, but it won’t help you yet. One customer who has friends could fill your diary in a very short time – with a little luck! Treat every customer like they have lots of friends- build a recommendation scheme that will encourage and reward them to get their friends in with you.

The Directories: 1 line – free, 3 line bold – £120?, quarter column – £400?
Yellow Pages, The Phone Book, Thompson etc – get registered with all of these (this can usually be done online), and make sure you get your free line ad – if someone knows your name, they can find your number. The directories used to be the main advertising for Driving Instructors and many still spend up to £3000 a year on advertising with them. This may not be worth it. Your target audience will predominantly be younger and the directories will not be their first point of call.

The Internet: Name registry – £5/year? Site – Free up to £thousands.
This is where to start. The majority of any work which doesn’t come from word of mouth now comes from the internet. Get registered on as many of the directories as possible and get yourself a website.

At first your website won’t register on ‘standard’ searches (yahoo, google, msn etc), but the directories will send people to you. In the long run you will need your site to work for you.

This means you need people to see your advertisement – get some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) done on your site – at the very least you should appear on all ‘local’ searches for your area. You should also appear on the first 3 pages of the main three search engines (preferably number 1, page 1 for ‘driving lessons in your area’).

Ensure that you can check who is visiting your site and which pages interest them, this way you can adjust your site to keep people interested for longer and make sure that valuable information isn’t missed.

Even before you qualify, it can be worth getting a basic site (however simple) registered and submitted to the search engines. Search engines (especially google) may take some time to check your site and add them to search results – get started early. A professional, well optimised site should cost around £300 for 5 pages – home, prices, you and your car, the course, area. Instructor forums are good for this info (esp. www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk).

Local Papers: Credit card size ad in the directory of services – £50? Same size ad in the motoring section – £25?
It is often tempting to put a big ad in and hope that this will do the job, but a safer option is to put a regular ad in every week. People will get used to seeing your name, and after a few weeks you will find that you are getting regular calls.

Lesson prices: First Lesson Free, First 4 lessons £5.99, First 10 lessons £99, oh the list of offers is endless!
Don’t get caught in the trap of offering cheap lessons for any period of time. I offer the first lesson free with no catches which means that people can try my service, then I charge a realistic price for myself and for the area I teach in after this. Average lesson prices vary from around £18 an hour in rural and deprived areas to £25 in the big cities.
Bear in mind that doing 6 lessons of an hour will take around 9 hours, but doing 3 lessons of 2 hours will only take 7.5 hours. This enables you to give sustainable discounts to encourage people to take longer lessons – something that many instructors haven‘t cottoned on to yet.
Payment in advance also safeguards you against customers not turning up or cancelling at short notice, which hits your pocket. Discounting for advance payment even by only one lesson will pay for itself and ensure a lot less aggravation in the long run.
What you need to do is work out how much you need to earn, and how much work you are happy doing in order to get there. Do your sums – silly discounts do not help.

Leaflets and flyers: how much work are you willing to do?
This can be a very cheap way of doing things – try to make your flyers as professional as you can afford, and drop them yourself. Ask local shops, take aways etc to put one up for you – many will do this for free, some will ask a few pence per week. If you have contacts with local secondary schools or colleges, ask whether you can advertise on their notice boards. This is a very hit and miss way of doing things, but one customer from 1000 flyers may well make it worth it.

Answering the phone: hmmmmm……?!
It’s all very well being the best instructor, having your number in the right places, and having the right discounts to draw people in, but if no-one is answering the phone you won’t get any customers. Answer as many calls as possible, as professionally as possible. If you have a message return it as soon as possible; people will move on rapidly if you don’t.

How much is one customer worth?
Well – 45 hours (average amount of hours with an instructor for every test passed according to the DSA) at £20 an hour – £900. If you reckon that could be 2 quiet weeks work, this would equate to around £650 after costs and before tax – paying £20 to get nearly 2 weeks work wouldn’t be unreasonable. While getting established, you should probably reckon on around £50 per customer – some of this may be your time and resources offered free, but some of this will need to be hard cash. Anticipate and plan for this, you will not be able to set yourself up without it.

Discussion Points:
Write your own marketting plan

Unit 50: Independent or franchise?

This is a big question which will need some thinking about. Here are some of the arguments:

For:
They find you work
There is someone to answer the phone
You get a car
They pay for all the advertising
The franchise fee covers everything
You have the back up of a big company
It makes life easier
You get resources and materials provided
“Free” training
A structure within which you can learn how the business works

Against:
They don’t always find you work
Your recommendations may go to another instructor
You may not get a car
You could be advertising yourself with the franchise fee
Apart from tax, fuel, and often the customer introduction fee
You may find your reputaion is affected by weaker instructors in the company
You may have to sign a binding contract
You have to work to “their” methods
You decide what training you want
A structure that doesn’t allow you to structure your own business and career

If you look at each of the columns in isolation you could be easily convinced, but this is a big decision and you should take your time over it. If you are a confident self starter, or have been self employed in another career, you should aim to become independent as the rewards will undoubtedly be higher. However, if you prefer to work within a structure, the franchise option may suit you better.

If you decide to go with a franchise make sure you speak to instructors who are with the company, and look carefully through the contracts you are expected to sign. If you have any doubts about any legal documents you must seek advice. The DIA will often look through legal documents for you, and answer any questions you may have.

Discussion Points:

Write your own list – which is best for you?

Unit 51: The car, the instructor and “Hell, is that the time?!”

The Car:
First things first – you’re going to be in it a lot – make sure that it is comfortable for you and your customers. Do not forget to check the passenger seat – this is the one you’ll be in for the majority of the time.

The petrol or diesel debate will always rage, petrol cars are cheaper to buy, diesels are cheaper to run and usually easier to drive for learners. The majority of instructors are now changing to diesels, so if you pick up customers from another instructor and they find that they are constantly stalling in your petrol car this may become a problem.

Dual controls are essential for obvious reasons and for insurance purposes for the job. Some cars cannot be fitted with dual controls, and some older cars could be a problem, though many instructors are also mechanical, and can adapt ‘universal’ dual controls to most cars – just make sure they can be fitted before you buy.

Cabriolets and cars with only 2 seats (Smart fortwo for example) aren’t usually suitable due to DSA guidelines. Check with the DSA about any car you decide to buy which may be out of the ordinary.

Many cars have had recalls on them in the past. If buying a second hand car, ensure that the recall has been dealt with and make sure you have a certificate of proof of this work being done.

Make sure the car is clean both inside and out. It is worth keeping cleaning wipes in the car for the wheel and controls – customers with colds and flu could knock you out of action, losing you money and, potentially, customers.

A reliable car will allow you more time working and less time waiting in garages for things to be fixed – a car off the road for a day loses a lot of money, and will test your customer’s patience.

The Instructor:
Don’t smell, don’t look like you’ve spent the rest of the day slobbing out in front of the telly – attempt to look professional. This doesn’t necessarily mean shirt and tie (in fact this may put some customers off), but it does mean a relatively smart-casual appearance.

Punctuality is important, leave yourself enough time to get to a lesson, bearing in mind that a journey that can take 5 minutes at a quiet time of day could take 50 minutes in rush hour.

This is also important with regards to giving a full lesson – don’t cut them short. If your stated lesson plan is finished with 10 minutes to spare – make sure that something useful is done with this time – show and tell questions, and recaps on simple skills like hill starts are good, but don’t make a habit of padding out weak lessons with these – your customer will notice. Being reliable will gain you custom – many instructors still feel that this is a part-time casual job and can be treated in the same way.

‘Hell, is that the time?’:
As has been touched on above and in an earlier unit, punctuality is important but time spent travelling is dead time, earning you nothing.

If you can organise your diary well, you will be able to have customers in adjacent areas on the same day with short gaps between them. However, there will always be times when you have 3 customers and need an hour to travel between each of them. This is sometimes unavoidable, but with good planning should not happen often.

If covering a wide area, it can often be worth encouraging customers to travel in to your area from where they live – this can save both of you money – they get a lesson full of value, instead of getting to know the road in and out of town perfectly for half an hour every lesson, and you get less dead time.

Longer lessons will always save you money and be easier to plan around. People who live a long way from the test centre (if they cannot travel in to meet you) will need longer lessons – as a rule of thumb, if they live over 10 minutes away from the test centre, I will only do 1½ hour lessons; over 20 minutes away and I will only do 2 hour lessons. This may not be strictly necessary to teach the early stages, but will become a necessity when it comes to mock test time.

Discussion Points:

• What car, and why.
• Finance and Leasing
• The “uniform”
• Your area
• Pricing
• Your diary – when will you work and lesson lengths
• With a franchise – setting your area and gaps between lessons

Unit 52: Record keeping

Effective records will save you a lot of time and money.

Lesson Appointments and Payments:
Ensure your diary is kept neat and tidy – this will avoid confusion. Try to book customers with regular slots well ahead – this will allow you to book new customers in without worrying whether you are bumping a current customer out of their regular slot.

Keep a note of all up-front payments for lessons. This money must be held for the customer – you can’t spend it until their lesson has been taken.

Give all of your customers an appointment sheet detailing the date and time of their next lesson. This sheet can also contain information on how many payments they have made, allowing them to check when they will next owe you money for lessons.

Advertising:
Keep a note of how people found out about you – this will allow you to understand the effectiveness of your advertising. If your advertising is not effective, you may find that you pay much more than you need to for advertising which is not reaching your customers. It is also worth noting down who a recommendation came from – this can be used to reward a customer who regularly recommends you.

Accounts:
Mileage:
Your car and its fuel will be your biggest single outgoing and you can claim all of your business use, but beware of the tax office – unless you keep good records of how much mileage is business related and how much is personal, you may find they refuse a certain amount of the costs.

What can be claimed:
An accountant can help you with this (claimable!), and so can your local tax office.

The basic principle is that if something is for the sole use of your business, then it can be claimed.

Lease car – minus personal mileage as a percentage of cost.
Insurance – as above.
Bought car – depreciation can be claimed, though this is more complex and your tax office or accountant can work this out for you.
Uniforms – with logos.
Stationery – for sole use of the business.
Office equipment – computers and the like can be claimed for but may be subject to personal use as well.
An office – a certain proportion of your mortgage may be claimable, though this may well prove more trouble than it is worth.
Utility bills – as above.
Phone line – certainly if you have a separate one for the business, and a percentage of a single home line may be claimable.
Car Washing.
Car Repairs.
Sign-writing.
Advertising.
Websites and hosting.
Phone answering services.
Book-keeping.

If you feel that the only use for something is for your business – then it is worth claiming for. If you are unsure about something – ask someone in the know. There are a lot of experienced self-employed instructors on the forums, who will often have tried something before – don’t be afraid to ask them.

Being self-employed can be a lonely thing to do sometimes, but remember there is a whole community out there who are doing this too – keep in touch with them.

Discussion Points:
Design of a lesson appointments and payments card
Recording the cost effectiveness of advertising
Mileage records (and mpg)
Accounts – What can be claimed, and what will you need to buy?

Unit 53: Continuing professional development

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is due to be introduced as mandatory for all driving instructors. The principle is sound but some details may need work. DSA suggest that 50% of training will be compulsory, while 50% will be ‘elective’ allowing you to decide on your specialism. The list below has been put forward for consultation by the DSA:

You will already have an idea as to where you would like your career to go, and as discussed earlier you may wish to progress beyond teaching learners. Whatever niche you would like to occupy, having extra skills sets which customers cannot find from other instructors in your area will guarantee your income.

All of this training will cost you money, though many local instructor groups are planning on doing group training with local independent instructors in order to reduce the costs of this training. Work out what area you feel you would like more training in and discuss this with your trainer. Do the research with regards who can provide this training, and who will be the best people to work with.

If you are with a franchise you will want to discuss your training with your trainer or area manager, as they will know what skills the franchise would like you to have to make you (and them) more saleable to prospective customers.

Originally published on Beyond Driving.

This unit is out of date due to the introduction of the Standards Check.

Unit 54: The check test

Within your first year as a qualified ADI (hopefully within the first 6 months) you will receive a letter from the DSA asking you to undertake a check test. During the check test (which lasts 1 hour), you will either be observed giving a lesson to a customer, or if you decide to take a role-play check test, you will give an hours lesson to a “customer” role-played by the supervising examiner.

The role play check test will involve you deciding which of the following scenarios you would like to teach to your “new customer”:

A remedial lesson
Junctions
Mirrors and a manoeuvre
Pass Plus module
Dual carriageways and open roads
Meet, cross, overtake, anticipation pedestrian crossings
Advanced/fleet drivers
Extended, disqualified drivers

Whether you decide on roleplay or taking one of your own customers, you need to plan effectively for the check test. Using the self assessment forms from earlier, you can go back through your training and make sure that you are up to date with your methods and that bad habits haven’t crept in.

With this first check test, you can be graded E (eductational – this would be a fail at part 3), 4, 5 or 6.

If you are not up to standard, you will need to work hard as you will receive another check test within 3 months, and if still not up to standard, you will have a check test with a regional examiner. If you fail this third check test you can be removed from the register.

If you get a grade 4, you will probably be called for your next check test in around 2 years. With a grade 5 or 6 you will be called within 4 years.

It is well worth coming back to your trainer whenever you have a check test due.