Surepass Driving Instructor Training

Posted on August 31st, 2010 by admin, under Driving Instructor, Driving Tips.

Surepass Driving Instructor Training Courses

For over 14 years now, Surepass driving school has been providing driving instructor training courses across the country. The company is on the Official Register of Driving Instructor Trainers, which ensures DSA learning standards are maintained. That’s one of the reasons the driving school enjoys one of the best pass rates in the UK – 90%, a whopping 67% better performance than the national average.

What can be more reliable than other people’s experiences? So as you search for driving instructor courses, check for internet forum discussions about Surepass.

Surepass adopted a variety of driving instructor training courses to better suit instructors’ needs and means. Below are short descriptions of choices available.

Group Instructor Training Course

If you are the kind of person who likes to study in a group then this course is ideal. The pack includes a 14 day trial offer (which means you can cancel your course for any reason), Part 1 home study pack, 2 days Part 2 training, Part 3 study material and 6 days Part 3 training.

2 days Part 2 training involves 2 x 7 hours in car training over one month period. 6 days Part 3 training includes 4 x 7 hours in car training and 2 x 6 hours classroom training sessions. You can use all your hours the week before your Part 3 test or distribute it over a month.

Group Instructor Training Course costs £800.

One To One Instructor Training Courses

Basically, one to one instructor training courses are geared towards people who prefer tailored tuition and look for extra benefits. Surepass provides three types of individual training courses – silver, gold and platinum. You will receive a standard training course plus benefits such as cash back and a guaranteed pass.

Cash back is an option available to fully qualified driving instructors who take out a franchise with Surepass. The cash back is returned in the form of a credit to the driving instructors franchise account. Cash back starts from £100, £500 and £1000 options available under Silver, Gold and Platinum choices respectively.

One of the extra benefits of the Platinum course is the guaranteed pass. It allows you to receive the Silver course as many times as you need, if you have failed to qualify as a driving instructor within 2 years of passing the first exam.

What will your costs be?

Silver – £1490
Gold – £1990
Platinum – £2490

Consider these fees as you go shopping for your driving instructor training courses.

For more information visit the Surepass website
Learn about what instructors who actually trained with Surepass have to say. http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/

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The Importance of Insurance for Driving Schools

Posted on August 27th, 2010 by admin, under Driving Research and Statistics, Driving Schools.

The number of vehicles on our roads is growing by the year. Every single day, more and more budding drivers are booking lessons with their instructors, eager to be part of the vehicular revolution. However, there is also a down side to all of this; the more cars that we have on our roads, the more accidents will occur…

Anyone who makes their living by teaching others how to drive will be fully aware of the many hazards on our roads. Tailgating, speeding and overtaking on bends are all frighteningly common problems. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how gooda driver you are, if you are unlucky enough to meet someone driving their vehicle recklessly, then you may well be involved in a collision. Even driving instructors will need to make car and accident claims if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time!

And this is why it is so important to have a good standard of protection in place. Many people will simply see insurance as being a legal requirement and a rather expensive necessity; but this is an unhealthy way to think. In the wake of an accident, the quality of your cover really can make all the difference to how quickly you are able to get your life back on track. And if you run your own driving school, then this will be doubly important! For a driving instructor, a car is the singularly most important item to have. And if it is off the road, then your income will immediately grind to a halt.

Of course, anyone will want their vehicle repaired/replaced as quickly as possible after an accident, but if your livelihood depends on it, then it is so much more serious. Some insurance companies will deal with claims far quicker than others and it is well worth looking around. This is where the internet proves to be very useful; not only can we use it to get quotes, but it will also provide us with plenty of information about each insurer!

Many people will make the mistake of trying to find the very cheapest insurance, but this is often a bad idea. There are plenty of companies out there who will offer you cover for a really low price, but at what other cost? Just how comprehensive will your policy be? And how quickly will they deal with any claims? Finding the right insurance isn’t simply about tracking down the lowest quote, there is far more to it all than that.

We all like to find ourselves a bargain whenever we can, but vehicle insurance is very much an exception. So save your ‘penny-pinching’ for other products and concentrate on the quality of your cover instead! Your vehicle is very important to you and keeping it adequately protected is of paramount importance; especially if you are using it to shape the drivers of tomorrow!

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How much does it cost to get a driving licence?

Posted on June 4th, 2010 by admin, under Advice for Learner Drivers.

In our last post we were talking about getting a driving licence in the UK. Today we will look at a financial side of learning. I guess nobody would expect learning to drive could be cheap. Check out how much you will have to pay and how you can cut your tuition expenses.

Statutory fees

Your overall expenses can be divided into two groups. One group includes statutory fees. In other words, fees you will pay to driving authorities. Your first pounds will go to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for your provisional licence. You are not legally allowed to start learning to drive without provisional licence. So you will need to pay £50 to get started. The next fee is £31 – that much you pay to take your theory test. Be aware that if you fail to pass your test, the fee is not refundable. You will have to pay again to get a second chance. Finally, you will have to part with £62 before you can book your practical driving test. It works the same way as with your theory test. Failed test means you’ve lost your money. There is no way to cut on your statutory fees other than passing your tests with flying colors.

Tuition fees

It is this portion of your expenses that may greatly vary. The total of your tuition expenses will much depend on a driving school or driving instructor you choose and your driving experience.

Choosing the right driving school or driving instructor is crucial if you want to get value for money. Make sure you avoid two equally disadvantageous extremes – overpriced offerings from heavily advertised schools and underpriced bargains from self-employed driving instructors. What you need to search for is a driving school that is able to provide a combination of the highest pass rate and reasonable price for value. But what is that reasonable price?

We have done a research on the web, asking industry professionals and driving instructors about a basic cost of driving lesson. The cheapest you can find is about £10-12 and the most expensive may reach £25. Remember the extremes? Right! We are looking for a reasonable average, which is actually a fair market price. That average stands at about £17-19.

Having calculated an average fee for driving lessons, we now need to find out how many lessons you need to get enough practice for your practical driving test.  We will look at a learner who is between 17 and 25 years of age with no or little driving experience. Based on our extensive teaching experience we can say that a person from this group will need to get up to 25 lessons. With 25 driving lessons and £17-19 average, we arrive at £425-475 to complete your driving courses.

Note that more experienced learners will need fewer driving lessons so their expenses would be lower.  More lessons are required for learners who are too nervous or timid. Another thing that can add to the number of lessons is your age. Experienced driving instructors say that learners older than 25 basically need to get more hours of training.

Driving lessons are not the last thing a learner has to pay for. Obviously, you will need plenty of training aids to get ready for your driving test. It will depend on each individual learner how many aids he or she would use. The basic cost of training aids that you REALLY need is around £10-15.

Interested to have a look at the total?

Statutory fees: £143
Training aids: £15
Driving lessons: £425-£475
TOTAL: £583-£633

Cutting down on your costs

We said earlier that a key to saving your money is choosing a driving schooloffering a reasonable price for driving tuition. Instead of bombarding you with sales pitches, we invite you look at what Surepass driving school has to offer and think for yourself.
Operating a vast network of schools and employing its own staff of qualified driving instructors, Surepass is able to charge from £15.5 a lesson. That is almost £5 less than an industry average so you can save up to £125 with your entire driving course. For this money you are getting tuition from reliable driving instructors who are carefully assessed by the company. Instead of one-size-fits-all approach, each learner can get a tailored course based on previous experience and personal abilities.  School will also provide the training aides you need for your theory test for free. And, finally, Surepass uses the new air conditioned Vauxhall Corsa for their driving lessons, making your driving experience a pleasure.

The choice is yours!

Stay tuned to driving-instructor-trainings.co.uk for driving news and helpful articles for learners and driving instructors.

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Why Do Driving Instructors Need Business Skills

Posted on October 31st, 2009 by admin, under Driving Instructor, Driving Tips.

Why do you think it happens that a staggering 50 percent of newly qualified approved driving instructors quit within the first 18 months? In most cases, the reverse comes from disillusionment. After being lulled by the advertising industry into believing in a paradise-like future of being a driving instructor, they faced tough challenges and gave up. They were not bad driving instructors. What they were bad at was running their own business.

No Room to Swing a Cat

If you still think that you’ve made it when you stuck that green badge in your windscreen, it is time to start really worrying. The market is packed and it would take a good deal of business skills to rip it open and shove in. Despite advertising fellows telling you that a million of people learn to drive every year, there is still no room for a newly qualified ADI. Advertising does not necessarily misrepresent, but what these chaps don’t want you to know about is how many of your competitors are out there. And there are legions of them. It is estimated there are only 19 pupils per each driving instructor on the market. It goes without saying that luring in just one of those is not easy.

Think Like a Salesperson

To survive in this environment, you first have to think how good your business skills are. Being a driving instructor in most cases means self-employment. And self-employment is in many ways like running your own business. Look at your driving school. Are they sitting around waiting for would-be driving instructors to be pouring into their offices? Hardly so. They go out there and advertise like hell! Or look at a thriving baker’s shop. Their cakes must be the yummiest in the neighborhood, right? To make your “cakes” the best, you will need to take care of the following things.

Get yourself noticed. It all starts with advertising your services smartly. An advertising technique is largely depends on the audience you target. Basically, you customers are going to be young so make sure your advertising is both entertaining and informative. The best choice is to set up a website. It should be catchy. Boring website means you are a bore. Nothing can scary a young pupil away best than a boring teacher!

Be a Good Salesperson. Reaching your audience is not enough. You should be able to convert your audience into your customers. And this magic metamorphosis can be done by phone. Answer the calls effectively. That means you need a good answerphone message when you are not available. But as you pick up the phone, that’s when your salesperson skills come into play. If you don’t have any, start learning right away. If you can’t sell, you will have nobody to teach. Professional Excellence. Eventually, your best advertising is your teaching attitude and your personal pass rates. Your successful pupils may be your reliable references and they can become your word of mouth advertising. They tell a friend, their friend tells a friend and soon you will be teaching those 19 pupils. So it doesn’t matter how good you are as a driving instructor, if you don’t have any business sense, you’ll probably be struggling.

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Learner Driver Theory Test Revamped

Posted on October 26th, 2009 by admin, under Driving Instructor, Driving Schools, Driving Test.

Learning to Drive programme launched by Driving Standard Agency (DSA) is coming into its new phase with the introduction of changes to learner driver theory test. The Learning to Drive was planned as a long-term programme to overhaul learner driver test practices and regulations with the aim to strengthen the way drivers are trained and tested at driving schools.

From late September this year, learner drivers taking their theory test will face case study questions. As of now only one new question has been added in each theory exam for drivers, motorcyclists and moped riders. Instead of just choosing correct answer out of multiple-choice list, learner drivers will find a case study of driving episode. Candidates will judge by context and answer the case study question in the common way by choosing the right answer from a multiple-choice list using mouse or touch screen. Case studies are not something learners never heard about before as they are being extensively used in education.

DSA announced about the introduction of one new question based on existing multiple-choice questions so learner drivers could adapt to the concept. DSAofficials, however, say they plan to include more case studies into exams in future. The reason for revamping the approach to the theory test was that case study can really put candidates into the context and show how well they understand what they have learnt during their theory training.

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The discipline of a good Driving School business

Posted on November 5th, 2008 by admin, under Driving Instructor, Driving Schools.

Having clearly established the purpose of setting up a driving school business you then need to be clear about the “shape” of the business and set a market leading strategy. There are three basic principles for establishing a good strategy:

- Teaching excellence
- Exceptional value
- Complete customer satisfaction

Driving Instructors must aim to be an expert in at least one of the above fields – just one, but you need to be at least “industry average” in all three. If you are not then you are likely to have weakness that undermines your strengths in other areas. But first let’s discuss numbers.

What information do you need to get started in setting up your driving school.

• Start with what’s important – Profit (assuming you’re interested in making money)
• Keep a strict diary of what’s happening in your business, how many pupils you have and where they came from
• Keep a balance sheet so you can see at first hand how much is in the bank and how much is in your pocket!

The above information shown on a month by month basis should you give you a good idea what is going on in your driving school business. Next, you need to look at the big picture. This is more important with financial information than probably any other area in the business. Whether you are comparing year on year, or just checking a few months at a time, I would recommend you draw up a simple driving instructor profit and loss account.

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