Driving Instructor risks

One of the minor drawbacks to being a driving instructor is that like any other business, you are taking a risk, and therefore your income is very unpredictable but also you might have to pay for unavoidable issues.

Recently my driving school car broke down due to a mechanical failure of the clutch, something that I couldn't have prevented, considering I had the car for only 2 months and that it had been given a service shortly before I acquired it.



The resultant effect of this driving school car breakdown for me as an instructor was 1.5 days loss of income (my leasing company only provided a spare car if off the road for 48hrs), one driving test refund plus a goodwill offer of 2 lessons, and a lot of stress, not to consider other ad hoc expenses like cab/bus fares to get to garage.
While some of these business expenses are tax deductible, your profit and loss margin is affected.

These are some of the things that those TV adverts don't tell you about being a driving instructor, not to talk about how unpredictible the driving instructor's salary is.