Driving Instructor and Credit crunch

Having spent a lot of money becoming an ADI, put in the effort to pass the 3 part examinations and setup your very own driving school, you would expect that you can relax a bit and start to enjoy your new career as a driving instructor, but then the credit crunch hits.

Even for an established ADI, downturns in the economy can have serious effects on their driving tuition business, not to talk of someone who has only recently become a driving instructor.

So what can you do as an individual who has just setup their driving school and finding things hard going due to the credit crunch?

Driving Instructor Income Streams

You need to maximise your income streams as an ADI. Just teaching learner drivers to pass the driving test is not the only way to earn money.

Pass Plus is a scheme that you should register for and promote as a driving school proprietor. The scheme offers new drivers the opportunity to learn some additional skills that will not only keep them safe on the UK roads, but could also save them money by giving them insurance discounts with participating companies and brookers.

Post Driving test tuition. Not everyone might want to take a 6hr pass plus course, but you can still offer motorway lessons for new or old drivers. Since motorway driving is not allowed for learner drivers, not everyone who has passed the test will feel secure driving at 70mph on a motorway, so this service is required for a few people, especially in areas that don't have national speed limit dual carriageways where a candidate might have only driven at a maximum of 50mph while preparing for the DSA driving test.

Refresher driving lessons for those who might have passed their driving test long ago, but might not have driven since, and now have bought a car and need some more confidence in driving on the own.

Fleet driving. You could go on a fleet training course that would enable you to approach large companies, or you could look out for small companies near you to see if they need any employee driver training services. If you do take up fleet tuition, make sure you also have indemnity insurance to cover you as a driving instructor.

Foriegn language learner drivers. Why not learn a new language that could help you get more pupils? A recent driving instructor I was speaking to offered driving lessons in Spanish, portugese and italian. He is fully booked and often has to turn learner drivers away.

Just as with any business, being a driving instructor requires you to come up with creative ideas of standing above the competition, and these are things that can help you survive any credit crunch as an ADI.