Trainee driving instructor

Everywhere you look you can find companies and franchises trying to lure you with the prospect of earning potentially good money. Sounds really good but how much does it cost to learn, start up and become a trainee driving instructor before actually becoming an ADI (Approved Driving Instructor)? We take a look at how to train to become a driving tutor and what the advantages are.

How do I go about teaching learners to drive?
First you will need to understand the financial side of learning to become an instructor; it costs on average £2,000 - £4,000 to become a fully qualified instructor. Only 5% of learners actually go through and complete the whole process of qualifying as many will give up beforehand. Make this decision wisely because if you pay for it all upfront and then change your mind, you could be making a big financial loss.

You can become a trainee driving instructor after completing the second out of the three exams needed to pass. This will then entitle you to hold a pink permit allowing you to teach pupils for six months. It will help you practice and perfect your teaching before sitting the final exam. Many people think that holding a trainee licence as a driving instructor is enough for them to start making money but what they don’t realise is it takes a lot for an individual or new driving school to gain recognition and get pupils. The trainee licence is also only valid for 6 months, so it really is a short period but it can help you improve your teaching ability before sitting the 3rd part of the exam.

You must be sure that your trainee licence enables you to teach and get paid for it as some only let you teach for free. Teaching for free isn’t really beneficial as the people you are most likely to teach are friends and family who will be biased. Being paid to teach will give the pupil an honest opinion of what they think of you and if you need any improvement when tutoring.

Having a pink trainee licence is not mandatory and has to be applied for to enable you to teach and get paid for a maximum of six months; only one is issued per trainee and it cannot be extended. There have been many myths circulating that you need a pink licence before proceeding to get the green fully qualified ADI licence but this is false. Most training schools encourage trainee driving instructors to apply for the pink licence as this will help them greatly in passing the final exam. There are others that discourage this so it really depends on you - no driving school should persuade you to change your mind. You should be given the facts and feel free to choose, otherwise you may regret it later after spending thousands of pounds.