The ‘new’ man at the top of the DSA has retired then. I say ‘new’ as that is how I have tended to
refer to him since he took over the top job not that many moons ago. Things don’t stand still long. It will be interesting to see how things
develop now. I can’t get too excited
about it, my relationship with them is so distant that it’s kind of
irrelevant. I’m about to be tested by
them on one of their spot checks, and I see their examiners once in a while
when my learners go to test; but other than that, there is very little
interaction. I don’t know if my
perception is typical, perhaps there are many instructors out there that enjoy
a regular interaction with them, but not I.
I follow ‘John’ from the DSA on Twitter, I follow (or did until his retirement)
Trevor Wedge (the top job in the DSA) on Facebook, and in that regard I have
seen what they publish for all to see.
I can’t honestly say I ‘relate’ to them in any way, shape or
form – their tweets and posts always seem so ‘sterile’ if that’s the right
word? It’s a little bit like how the
examiners have to act on the tests..... ‘de-humanised’. I’ve been following the chap in the top job
of the AA for a while now, and I feel I can relate to him a little bit; he puts
up stuff about his 2 boys playing footy at the week-end, he bungs up stuff that
he is doing in the day – interviews, or stuck in jams or any old thing it
seems. I like that, as I can see there’s
a human behind the posts. I have always
liked the way the AA go about their business, they seem a class act to me. Their training packages for PDI’s is sound,
the people they use are generally good.
I am not a lover of this idea of ‘hooking’ PDI’s into franchise
contracts by offering them ‘cash back’ on their training – but there you
go. A friend of mine who qualified at
the same time as me, did go on the AA franchise and about 6 months ago gave up
his career as a driving instructor. When
I spoke to him, he said the weekly franchise fee they charge was crippling him,
and because there’s always new instructors coming through, he was not even
getting a regular supply of new learners from them. He got very unwell with that situation as I guess
everyone reading can imagine, and eventually realised he had to give it up. Very sad.
He is a young chap, very unassuming and yet sound. We used to practise our ‘coaching’ techniques
of driving instruction with each other before he packed it in – I know I miss
him much.
The trouble with our current situation in the industry is
that it is very difficult (if not impossible) to know how much of the above is
going on. I reckon a lot. You don’t have to be Einstein to realise the
gravity of the situation. If you are
paying a franchisor say £200 a week then consider what that means. If you do 10x1hr lessons in that week then
the money for those lessons is going straight to the franchisor, but hang on,
what about the fuel used for those 10 lessons?
Let’s say for argument sake, when you factor in the travelling also required
in between those 10 customers, a tank full of petrol – not unreasonable I
think. So, that means, before you even
start making any money in a given week, you need to have provided 13 x 1hr driving
lessons. Wow! And that is on a £200/week franchise, I know
certain organisations charge a lot more than that. Another friend I have who is with the AA said
to me a while ago that he starts making his own money on the tail end of the
week. For an ‘independent’ like me who
has never been involved in these franchises, that takes some getting your head
around.
So given these circumstances I guess it’s really no surprise
that some driving instructors have had to succumb to some rather unsavoury
marketing techniques. If you are able
to put yourself in their situation, then you may be able to understand
why. Driving instructors train hard to
qualify, it often costs thousands of pounds, and takes a year +. It is no small undertaking. They get qualified, if they don’t have the
finance to buy/lease a driving school car, they end up going on a franchise
with a company that provides a car, and before you know it, there they are –
LOSING money every week, not just breaking even, actually LOSING money. They would have been financially better off,
not qualifying, and claiming the dole.
Too much for some people to stomach.... what do they do? They start throwing their services to
learners at the rate of 10hrs for £99 and such like. How sad is that? They not only de-value their own personal
worth, but they indirectly de-value the rest of the industry.
I remember seeing a video clip a couple of years ago of a
driving instructor trainer I greatly admire and respect, and he was talking
about this very subject. He concluded
that it’s probably best not to enter into these kind of pricing tactics, as it’s
important to build a reputation, let word of mouth do it’s work, and be a ‘trusted’
brand in effect was what he was saying.
Which is all well and good. I
remember a colleague in another job I had several years ago said to me one day “But
remember Tom, the cream always rises to the top”. These words are ultimately true, but I do
worry what effect this is having on the industry as a whole.
When I first realised that there are trainee driving
instructors out there (registered with the DSA on pink licences) who actually
charge the same (if not more) than fully qualified driving instructors to
practise on real learners..... I was then, and still remain absolutely stunned that
could even be legal let alone morally acceptable. And I hear rumblings that this pink licence
is being considered to be scrapped – not before time.
Sometimes I think the DSA would do well, to stand back and
think “What would a person of reasonable mind think about this?” Being in touch with reality, becoming more ‘human’
will hopefully be in the mind of the next person at the top of the DSA.... I
live in hope.
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