FRANCHISED DRIVING INSTRUCTORS

Normally a driving school itself owns the cars and employs the instructors. For various reasons, school cars are not as well looked after as they should be. Few people look after someone else's car as well as they would look after their own, consequently a school car does not always give the impression it should. Often the employed instructor does not dedicate himself to his pupils in the same way as his employer would.

The great majority of employed instructors long for the day when they can buy their own car and run their own school, and many of them try, usually by poaching pupils from their previous employer to get started, but most of them do not succeed. They many struggle on for six months, or twelve months, or longer, but eventually major repairs, or the need to replace the car, or competition from all the other one-man schools "going it alone," and in particular, the artificially low tuition fees enforced by such competition, forces them out of business.

A percentage of them succeed of course, and that encourages them to start on a second car and perhaps a third car, using employed instructors who in turn have the ambition to run their own schools, and when they try it is the employer who will suffer because he now finds that he has three cars but only enough work for one car because his employees have poached all his pupils. When that happens to him several times he becomes very reluctant to employ anyone else.

In 15 out of the past 38 years we have operated in this way without financial success, but we have accumulated a wealth of experience and good name, and now rather than resist the ambition of employees to "go it alone" we actively encourage it for the benefit of everyone in our organization.

From all outward appearances our school operates as a normal driving school, but the difference is that our instructors are franchised, own their own cars and operate their own businesses as self-employed instructors under our umbrella whereby we provide all the office facilities inclusive of answering service, advertising, supply of pupils appointment cards etc., etc.

The instructors retain all the money that they receive from pupils except that each instructor pays a weekly sum equivalent to the price of 5 driving lessons (extra saving if paid monthly for provision of the office facilities.

You will see then that instructors are encouraged to do a good job and earn recommendation. Operating in this way we project a better image, better cars - cleaner and properly maintained, happier instructors who have achieved their ambition to "go it alone," and yet they have the benefits of belonging to a bigger organisation. The largest driving school in the country commands high tuition fees because of its public image, even though many of its instructors are trainees.

No one-man school could hope to command the same fees, and have the volume of work to ensure a good living but it will be our policy to establish a similar image and then to command high tuition fees on behalf of our instructors, so that even after the instructor has paid his weekly office fees he will still be better off than if he were working completely on his own. Plus, of course, our instructors have the security of belonging to a bigger organization. For instance there is also the knowledge that should be instructor be taken ill he will have pupils to return to. The instructors will also be free from telephone calls at all hours of the day and night at home and most one man operated schools spend more in fruitless advertisements in the local papers than we charge in rent.

Instructors are also entitled to free advice in order to keep up to date in order to provide the best in modern tuition.

ROADCRAFT
31 Holtwood Road, Plymouth,
PL6 7HU

Telephone:
01752 29 00 99

Email: