IAM Membership

[itcaptainslow]

My renewal has just arrived, and £47...

Kept it going for the past few years for the discount at Bike Stop, but genuinely I'm starting to wonder if I bother renewing. The magazine never seems to hold any interest, at times the noises coming out of the organisation I find it difficult to agree with and selfishly I'm struggling to see any return on spending nigh on fifty quid with them. It would be a shame to depart after 19 years, but it's not pocket change.

Be interested to hear other people's thoughts and experiences, and indeed if someone can convince me to renew!

[wyson]

I see it as a guilt free way to show chuggers the door. My line to them is I already sponsor a charity. I keep an additional membership with my old local IAM group too, even though I moved away a long time ago.

Agree with you about the lack of benefits from being a member. Most of the ‘benefits’ are just marketing.

[outnumbered]

Try being a bike observer, you have to pay to work for them

[cliffords]

My local club, a big club in the SE, insist on membership of IAM to be a club member. So I departed both.
The IAM is a busted flush, meaningless and without direction. It has failed to change and become relevant.

[gdaybruce]

itcaptainslow said:

My renewal has just arrived, and £47...

Kept it going for the past few years for the discount at Bike Stop, but genuinely I'm starting to wonder if I bother renewing. The magazine never seems to hold any interest, at times the noises coming out of the organisation I find it difficult to agree with and selfishly I'm struggling to see any return on spending nigh on fifty quid with them. It would be a shame to depart after 19 years, but it's not pocket change.

Be interested to hear other people's thoughts and experiences, and indeed if someone can convince me to renew!

Earlier this year I gave notice that I don't want to renew next year for pretty much all the same reasons as you set out. I skim the magazine but find little that interests me. I always thought the word 'Institute' needed updating but 'I Am Smart'? If that doesn't sound arrogant and condescending, I don't know what does!

[GSA_fattie]

I have to agree and I passed my car test in 1988.
I very nearly gave them the push when they appear to have failed to respond to the rash of speed limit reductions GB wide (brought in by the last b’stard labour administration – continued by the tossers) and the dumbing down of driving and, failed to appear to respond to the mantra of ‘speed kills’ that still infects us today.

I would have thought they would have been campaigning hard to promote that better skilled drivers are the key to safer roads not the one size fits all of speed limit reductions.

That (at the time) appeared to have been left to the ABD and another group of people/ campaigners, whose name escapes. Not sure what success they had, but I never read about objection made by IAM who I thought were a campaigning group and sat at the “Top Table” of road safety and had influence not just there for the tea and biscuits and to agree with every other hand wringing, the speed limit should be 40mph, red flag waving tts.

The mag, when I joined had interesting articles every few months and I actually looked forward to receiving it. Now it just gets a flick through and recycled – not interested in electric, self-driving, cycling or cheap cruising with herty gerty and I do wonder if the letters/queries are written by real people or just office staff as I find some of them are hard to believe. Do members/people actually write that st?

The problem with the fee increase is that I never noticed until it arrived yesterday thought it was still in the £30s.

I actually read the leaflet and joked about the strap line – “membership card identifies you as one of the UK’s most skilled road users”, then i realised it was £47.

Mmm really, I drive like everyone else ‘cause it’s so congested and the speed limit is so fking low it does not need any skill to drive anymore so “advanced” driving is just about obsolete.

(of course, I might be wrong and they may have campaigned hard but failed against the tide of brake and civil servants etc, if they did, it was not obvious)

[ScoobyChris]

I let both my IAM and ROADAR (or whatever it is today!) lapse - the courses are absolutely worth paying for, but the membership doesn't really feel like value for money and even the Surety Insurance isn't really competitive any more.

Chris

[itcaptainslow]

Interesting to see my sentiment is shared.

I'd be interested in taking the Masters - it's 19 years since I passed the car test, and around six since doing the bike version. It's always good to check there isn't any skill fade...!

Are there any alternatives to the Masters with another organisation?

[ScoobyChris]

HPC is next level (imho) but you’ll need deeper pockets for it than Masters.

Chris

[john493]

Motorcycles are still alive and thriving with IAM groups - car groups struggling by comparison.

I'm a bike examiner for IAM Roadsmart and there are lots of very active riders keeping IAM bike training on the boil.
Bike Masters is a decent challenge and well worth the money if you're looking for continuous improvement.

[brisel]

itcaptainslow said:

Interesting to see my sentiment is shared.

I'd be interested in taking the Masters - it's 19 years since I passed the car test, and around six since doing the bike version. It's always good to check there isn't any skill fade...!

Are there any alternatives to the Masters with another organisation?

ROADAR/RoSPA has 3 year retesting. I guess the Masters & Fellowship were the IAM responses to this.

I did the Masters earlier in the year and enjoyed it, but I did feel that my time would have been better spent doing more with the HPC but I'm considering becoming an Observer to help share the benefit of the knowledge I've gained over the years. It's more about trying to improve driving standards one driver at a time.

My local IAM car group is struggling, as are many others. The bike groups seem to thrive though. No doubt a biker might be able to describe why - higher risk on today's roads therefore more benefit?

[carreauchompeur]

I think unfortunately a motorcycle is the only way to make any progress these days, barring a few decent roads!

[Majorslow]

I let my IAM membership go after 20 years as it irrelevant these days.
The mag is boring, and they are more worried about diversity etc... than delivering driving tips/skills.
I also objected to the price.
Some of the letters of fellow members were also petty by so called "advanced" drivers with comments that were....well just daft
The so called discounts for members were a joke, with calls to the suriety office in Ireland a joke as their quotes for insurance often a shed more than I can get else where.
No requirement for retesting like the Rospa organisation to maintain skills set either. But, having said that Rospa haven't asked me to resit the test since before coivid so not that impressed with them either, and trying to navigate their website is a nightmare.
Both are poor

[Speary8]

outnumbered said:

Try being a bike observer, you have to pay to work for them

I am a car observer, Masters mentor and skills day instructor which over a year costs me quite a bit in time and fuel but for me it’s still worth it. I get quite a bit of satisfaction helping others to be better drivers.

[outnumbered]

Speary8 said:

outnumbered said:

Try being a bike observer, you have to pay to work for them

I am a car observer, Masters mentor and skills day instructor which over a year costs me quite a bit in time and fuel but for me it’s still worth it. I get quite a bit of satisfaction helping others to be better drivers.

Sure, me too, but doesn't stop a lot of us feeling that the IAM takes us rather for granted. We don't get any benefit at all from the IAM but without us, their "business" simply wouldn't exist.

[Glosphil]

cliffords said:

My local club, a big club in the SE, insist on membership of IAM to be a club member. So I departed both.
The IAM is a busted flush, meaningless and without direction. It has failed to change and become relevant.

It is a stipulation of the IAM that group members must be IAM members. However, many groups have Friends that are group members without being IAM members. Only real difference is that Friends can't vote at the group's AGM.

Our car group current has 226 members.

We have sponsorship to provide the Advanced Driving Course to young drinkers FOC. We are usually training 10 - 15 at any one time.

[johnao]

outnumbered said:

Sure, me too, but doesn't stop a lot of us feeling that the IAM takes us rather for granted. We don't get any benefit at all from the IAM but without us, their "business" simply wouldn't exist.

I agree that without the observer cohort and other group volunteers the IAM would struggle to exist. In fact it couldn’t exist in its present form. It seems to me that the IAM’s current business model is likely to be non-viable in the long run. Twenty years ago, when the IAM was run as a charitable “Institute”, with local groups largely being left to do their own thing, its membership was in the region of 115,000, today, now that it is being run as a nonprofit organisation with professional management and business leaders, and much closer control of local groups, its membership is down to approximately 70,000. Membership at £47 per annum, with little or no benefit in membership, will surely see the membership continue to decline.

[jlsmith.fcma]

Well I've just paid my dues as an Associate to get some driving observation with the intention of taking the IAM test :-)

As it is very early days I can't saying anything about the Institute as such, other than I get the general impression early on that it needs new blood.

[johnao]

jlsmith.fcma said:

Well I've just paid my dues as an Associate to get some driving observation with the intention of taking the IAM test :-)

As it is very early days I can't saying anything about the Institute as such, other than I get the general impression early on that it needs new blood.

Good luck with your course and advanced test.

The thing is that the delivery of the course and the advanced test is almost completely in the hands of the dedicated volunteer observers and examiners. Okay, HQ have a modicum of input with regard to standards and course materials, but that’s not difficult, and yes, it acts as a clearinghouse for members of the public wishing to purchase the course, but that’s it.

So, the course itself will survive provided the volunteer observers and examiners are willing and able to make it survive. But whether the non-advanced driving activities and pursuits that HQ deem to be of such importance nowadays, and for which it is imposing an ever increasing membership fee, will survive, remains to be seen.

[9xxNick]

I tend to agree with the last poster. It's difficult to envisage a bright future for the IAM and similar organisations when they seem to take pleasure in reducing the act of driving to a set of regulations which can't be breached. Brake "the road safety charity" are similarly myopic in that regard.