The ups and downs of a driving instructor

Intelligent Instructor is proud to have brought together industry experts to produce ‘The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Driving Instructor’.

It has been created in association with Drive.Day, a free magazine offering advice and guidance for those wishing to train and qualify as professional driving instructors.

This FREE 68-page digital magazine is packed with impartial, comprehensive, and detailed information for individuals looking to become driving instructors, and those who have already started out on the road to becoming a professional driver trainer.

Over the next ten weeks, we will publish a small selection of the articles in this guide.

This week, Al Sutie explains the ups and downs of a driving instructor.

The ups and downs of a Driving Instructor

Becoming a Driving Instructor offers a rewarding, involving career, but there is plenty to
consider before committing. Here, we look at the pros and cons of the job.

Fancy a job where you get to meet lots of interesting people, make a positive impact on
their lives, earn a good salary, work flexibly, and indulge in your passion for driving? This
isn’t a job application to be the next Lewis Hamilton, but it is what inspires many of us to
look at becoming an Approved Driving Instructor. That coveted ADI status is a key goal in the
driving instruction process, but there is plenty to consider beforehand for anyone looking at
this as their career. Here, we look at the key benefits of being a Driving Instructor, as well as
some of the downsides you will need to weigh up just as with any job – even a Formula 1
star!

First off, anyone thinking of being a Driving Instructor must have an interest in other people.
If you enjoy interacting with new people regularly and helping them to learn a vital new skill,
this is the perfect role for you. There are hundreds of thousands of learner drivers at any one
time and almost all of them choose professional driving instruction for at least part of their
training ahead of sitting a driving test. There is also a large backlog of pupils waiting to sit
their driving tests, so ongoing tuition is needed by many of them to maintain their driving
skills at the standard required to pass the test. This is welcome news for anyone looking to
become a Driving Instructor as it means there is plenty of work available.

Even with the high demand for Driving Instructors, there is still plenty of scope for the job to
be flexible for you. By managing your diary, especially with apps such as Drive.Day, you can
organise your working day, week, and month to suit your schedule and family life. Few other
jobs allow you this degree of flexibility and it’s why many Driving Instructors enjoy a high
level of job satisfaction as they don’t feel they are tied to someone else’s timescales.

“Few other jobs allow you this degree of flexibility and high level of job satisfaction”

However, as a Driving Instructor, you will also have to be flexible about when you work if you
intend it to be your full-time occupation. Many pupils will want to fit in lessons around their
own working lives or school times, so you may have to start work early in the morning or
work evenings and weekends. The upside to this is it can give you time to yourself through
the week to relax or take care of administrative tasks. It’s also time you can use for exercise
to counter the hours you spend in the car while giving lessons.

Even when you might have to work outside of what many will think of as normal office
hours, becoming a Driving Instructor gives you the chance to be your own boss. Whether
you opt to work with a franchise or as an independent, you are largely in charge of your own
work schedule, how many pupils you take on, and the hours you work.

Being the boss does come with responsibilities, so you will have to learn a lot of skills that
are not directly related to teaching a learner to drive. These skills are important to running a
business, though, which is what you are doing as a Driving Instructor. Some people are more
organised than others and are happy with admin, so it’s an important point to consider
when thinking about becoming an instructor. Are you willing to look after payments, bills,
tax, vehicle running costs, marketing, a website, social media, and ongoing development for
you and your business? Don’t panic if that all sounds too much – you can still become a
Driving Instructor but perhaps working for a franchise is a better option where much of this
additional effort is taken care of for you.

At its core, of course, being a Driving Instructor is about people, and you will get to meet all
sorts as pupils. Being friendly, courteous, interested, and professional is the ideal mix of
traits for a Driving Instructor, and you can brush up on them as part of your ongoing
development to further improve rapport with students. You will also learn endless patience
with other drivers on the road, who are not always as considerate of a learner as they should
be.

As well as the huge variety of people you will meet, being a Driving Instructor is also a great
career for ongoing professional development opportunities. Qualifying as an ADI is not the
end of the process as you will experience Standards Checks throughout your career to
ensure you are maintaining the required standard of training. However, beyond that you can
also look at a number of other areas to develop your skills and many Driving Instructors add
to their skills so they can teach Potential Driving Instructors. You can also learn new methods
and techniques to help pupils, which is highly recommended as no two pupils will ever learn
in exactly the same way. The more you can adapt your teaching practices to suit, the greater
number of pupils you can teach and progress through to a successful driving test pass.

On top of the broad mix of people you will meet, being a Driving Instructor also means you
are rarely in the same place two days in a row. This keeps the work interesting as you teach
pupils in different environments, and also teach learners at varying stages of ability. Another
big plus point for many Driving Instructors is that, over time, they become an important part
of their community. There are many instructors who have taught generations of the same
family to drive, and being part of a community’s fabric also helps your business as your
name is trusted and passed around learner drivers.

“The more you adapt your teaching practices, the more pupils you can teach”

Lastly, we cannot talk about why you should consider a career as a Driving Instructor without
mentioning the financial side of the job. Your earnings will depend greatly on how many
hours per week you work. Some Driving Instructors prefer to work part-time to fit in with
their lives, but most are full-time. The salary range is broadly between £30,000 and £50,000,
though you will have to factor in all the usual taxes and outgoings, plus the cost of your car,
insurance, and maintenance. Even so, there is the potential for a very good living as a Driving
Instructor.

One other point to bear in mind for anyone starting out their journey to becoming a Driving
Instructor is you can earn while you learn. As a Potential Driving Instructor, you can start to
charge for lessons before you have passed the Part 3 exam. This requires you to have a PDI
licence and you can only work in this way for up to six months. Even so, it’s a great way to
gain practical experience ahead of sitting the Part 3 exam and help cover the expense of
insurance and vehicle running costs.

Al Sutie,

Editor, ‘The Ultimate Guide To Becoming A Driving Instructor’

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