Become a Driving Instructor - Who are my customers?
Car ownership has increased and as a driving licence becomes more of a necessity, it is becoming increasingly common for young people reaching their 17th birthday to arrange a series of driving lessons.
About 1.8 million tests are conducted each year in the UK.
A number of clients may require refresher courses or advanced driving tuition, though this is less common and should only be viewed as additional custom.
Good Instructors deliver to their pupils the Government backed ‘Pass Plus’ course. This is gaining more popularity and support from insurance companies and local authorities and prepares newly qualified drivers for motorway driving and driving in different conditions.
In the early stages of your career you will probably need to recruit customers through advertising or have extra support from your franchise company.
Many instructors work on a 'Franchise' basis, this method of operation suits some instructors because their customers are recruited by the driving school franchise operator (more about this on the next page).
Whether working on a franchise or for themselves, the best (and most successful) driving instructors attract most of their custom through recommendation. More about this later.
Opportunities for business also exist in company car driver training, taxi training and other fields.
Most 'fleet' work is handled by larch specialist companies who subcontract work on a daily or weekly basis to specially selected instructors - while most work is in the UK, some companies operate around the world, especially those who teach special skills such as anti-hijack driving.
The proportion of instructors working in the fleet market is growing and is very much a growth area with European legislation dictating more and more strict guide lines over health and safety in th ework place.
Many instructors prefer working with experienced drivers and the corporate industry is a huge untapped resoucrce.
Taxi Driver training, MIDAS, SAFED, DSA Fleet, Risk assessment and Corporate manslaughter risk aversion are creating hundreds of positions for qualified ADIs.
A landmark case was heard in March 2011 regarding corporate liability and the full repercussions are yet to be felt but it suggests every fleet, personell and health and safety manager and executive will be furiously looking for ADI consultants.
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