Driving Instructor Tip practical car tests

Here is a quick tip that you should use once you've successfully become a driving instructor and start to have learner driver pupils who are taking the practical car tests with you.

ALWAYS take payment for the driving test at the beginning when you pick up the candidate from their home, not at the test centre or after they have passed or failed.

I have adopted this policy since I had difficulty getting payment from a learner driver once after failing to pass their driving test. In this particular case the candidate was trying to give me less money than we had agreed during previous lessons.

Today while picking up another pupil, I asked for the driving test fee in advance as was now my policy as an instructor, and the candidate took out some money, but was short (despite me telling them yesterday how much I charged for the lesson the hour before and car hire for the actual test), and had to go back in to the house to get extra cash.

As a driving school owner trying to earn a living, you can not afford to be short changed everytime to take someone for a test, because first of all you may never see them again (pass or fail), secondly these little shortages add up over a year, and finally your time is important, so if the learner driver needs to go to the cash point, do it in their time on the way to the test centre, not after when you have another lesson appointment with another client.

All the best with your driving instructor training, and wish you the best with your career.