Any driving instructors able to give advice?

[Pieman68]

I'm thinking of a career change and am interested in training to become a driving instructor.

Any advice on the best place to train? I've been looking at Bill Plant for training?

What are your opinions on setting up your own driving school against franchising?

I'm led to believe there's a shortage of instructors at the minute. Are there any pitfalls to be aware of?

[Red9zero]

Not a DI, but a friend is and I asked her similar questions. Apparently the money isn't as good as the adverts suggest (surprise) and the hours aren't the best, as people tend to want lessons on evenings and weekends.

[Ussrcossack]

Avoid unless you have lots of time to spend at work, can cope with cancellations, poor wage.

Did of day avoid a franchise.

Husband of ex instructor

[stevensdrs]

As a retired driving instructor and instructor trainer, my first advice would be find something else to do as driving instruction is a very hard job.
If you must go down the route of training to be a driving instructor then find an independant trainer. All the companys offering training just want to fill cars with the gullible with the offer of a job and high earnings. A very small percentage of the people they sign up will actually qualify in the end. This route can end up costing you a lot of money.

A franchise isn't a great idea either. Again you would find yourself working for peanuts after paying the weekly fees. You might actually lose money if they don't provide enough pupils.

If you start as an independant you will be responsible for attracting your own pupils. This takes time, though social media has made this a lot easier than it used to be. Given the supposed high demand at the moment you might manage to build a successful business in the first year.

If you have little in the way of monthly bills and can survive at least 6 months without any income then it might be worth the risk.
Otherwise I would say, find another career path.