Newslink March

Towards your CPD
Are you interested in
making more money?
It’s a simple question: are you
interested in making more money
in your job as an ADI? Asking
the question is Phil Burman
We teach driving to earn our living. So
the title of this article is something I’d
like you to seriously consider. Whether
you are new to the industry or not, you
may well ask, who am I to offer my
opinions about how ADIs should operate,
so I’ll briefly give you a few personal
details.
I have over 40 years of experience as
an ADI, teaching learners and running a
multi-car driving school. I owned a highly
successful ADI training business that
held the ISO 9001 Management System
Standards Certificate and attained its
Gold Award for Customer Satisfaction.
I possess adult education teaching
qualifications, and the DSA Technical
Department accredited the ADI Training
Manuals I authored.
Unfortunately, in my experience many
ADIs do only the minimum training
necessary to keep their registration and
disregard any further development of
their skills. As a result, the average
lesson price is too cheap, especially
when taking into account the cost of
tuition vehicles – whether financed,
leased or obtained as part of a franchise.
When I started as a trainee, lessons
were £6.50 per hour, and the driving test
was £6.75. Although the test lasted 30
minutes and lessons an hour, we must
include the time the ‘DSA’ spent on
administration. When you compared
these fees, I reckon we were pretty much
on an equal footing.
Not so today, as you well know,
because the DVSA test fee is virtually
double the cost of the average driving
lesson. Over time something has gone
very wrong for ADIs to have lost so much
parity. It makes me wonder why
instructors offer such low prices,
particularly compared to the rates other
self-employed people charge.
For example, I recently called a
satellite engineer to fix a problem with
our TV reception. It took about 30
minutes to sort out. I thought his £48
invoice was a fair price. The gardener
charges £40 per hour and does a perfect
job. Tradespeople often have a higher
hourly rate than instructors, but with an
ADI’s level of responsibility, I think it
should be the other way around, don’t
you?
In this economic crisis we’re going
through, you have no time to lose if you
wish to improve your teaching ability
– DOING SO MAY BE THE ONLY WAY
TO INCREASE YOUR INCOME.
Forget block booking discounts and
special offers – working all hours for
‘‘
For example, I recently
called a satellite engineer to
fix a problem with our TV
reception. It took about 30
minutes to sort out. I thought
his £48 invoice was a fair
price. The gardener charges
£40 per hour and does a
perfect job. Tradespeople
often have a higher hourly
rate than instructors, but with
an ADI’s level of responsibility,
I think it should be the other
way around, don’t you?
‘‘
peanuts is a road others might choose to
go down. Far better to let your superior
instructional skills stand out! Learners
who require quality will pay for it,
knowing they’re getting the best possible
value.
I recall my school days. I was in the
bottom group for maths – the C-stream
– the class where they sent the dummies.
I tried hard but could never quite grasp
what the teacher was trying to convey.
On one occasion, he was absent, and
we had to join the A-stream. I was
shaking in my boots! How could I
possibly cope at this level? But an
amazing thing happened. I understood
the lesson! Then I realised my lack of
progress lay with the maths master’s
poor teaching skills and not, as he
frequently said, “because I was so thick”.
To enhance your instructional
techniques, there’s no need to jump in at
the deep end. Start with my new book,
The Top Ten Tips for Driving Instructors.
34 NEWSLINK n MARCH 2023