I have been an ADI for 15years. 13 With BSM, and 2 on my own as a sole trader, and am always busy without having to advertise. I have a yellow MINI Cooper which I bought new 2years ago which has proved to be a really reliable car, which has now done 58,000 miles.
When I started out on my own I decided a fair lesson price to be £20 per. hour, which I have not changed.
For some time now I have been thinking about increasing my lesson price due to the cost of fuel and everything else going up. What really gets me going is the tanker drivers have just negotiated an increase from £32,000 to £40+
Whilst I am working I see other cars, with adverts on them for deals like ' First 5 lessons for £56 ' or 'Lessons £10' or really potty deals in our local paper ( Express & Star )
So, the dilemma is, how can I compete with this undermining of our industry? Why do these people have to sell with a gimmick? Are these Instructors so bad that they have to give lessons away ?
Perhaps we could all put pressure on the DSA to set mininum standards in this country starting with the lesson price per hour. We all worked really hard to become Instructors and still have to put up with check tests etc. What do we get in return? I will leave you to ponder that one!
The DSA are encouraging us all to respond to their dilemma of teenagers and accidents, why cant we return the favor and ask for their help.
Comments please,
Chris Finch
I know a great chap who charges £24 per hour, and he tells pupils you pay £24 and get a great lesson, or pass less and get a not so great lesson.
then he goes on to say ow his lessons are quite intense, and that you may be paying more per hour, but you probaly will have fewer lessons to get to test standard and save in long run.
a minimum lesson fee would be great! when I learned a lesson was £12 per hour, but i think if you take into account cost of living, inflation etc, these days, its cheaper today then back then.
I also believe those instructors offering £10 lessons etc, must string pupils on for ages to make it worth while, but in my opinion thats bad business, and word of mouth works better when you have pupils pass as quickly as possible.
A girl came to me because her instructor had told her that she would need 100 hours before she was test ready, i agreed to take her on, thinking she might be a right muppet, and thats why he had told her 100hours, but she was a great learner, and needed more like 30 (ish). Instructors that milk it like that give us all bad names and gets pupils paranoid that we are taking them for a ride (pardon the pun )
Nice one Pocko, but what are we going to do about it?
i cannot see how the people who charge £50 for the first 5 lessons can actually make a living from that, by the time overheads have been taken into account. if we all charged a minimum then everyone could do well. we do need the DSA to set mimimum charges as they have for instructors with check tests. you will always get someone to undercut you just to get the business but normally you get what you pay for. other trades charge a lot more an hour than we do and we are just as skilled as they are.
Bottom line here: Supply and Demand.
There are too many instructors for the work available and thats whats bringing the prices down.
I do not agree totally that these instructors are poor instructors, in fact they could be very good and their pupils pass very quickly which is why they need to attract more clients with special deals. Alot is about franchises working the system, of one in and one out.
However. I do feel that if we all collectively dropped any special deals then the problem would be solved, we should'nt compete with each other.
Of course there are always going to be the rague traders. Those sending pupils to test when they are not ready, charging £100 for a 2 hour test session and claiming the money back this way. Its painful when you pick one of these up and the penny drops that they have been ripped off.
Im with you all the way thou, but what can we do?
I mentioned the very same point on another forum, and im more or less booted off the street. Some just are not interested and are happy in their own little world forgetting about whats happening around them.
Sorry to sound harsh, but sometimes its very frustrating looking at whats could be changed and not being able to do much about it.
Got to do now. Have a long day ahead.