Driving Instructor Earnings
As a general rule, there’s no reason why you can’t earn more than £40,000 a year with driveJohnson’s.
Since COVID-19, the cost of driving lessons has increased as a result of demand and inflation. We have instructors who earn £60,000+ per year doing it full-time.
Your earning potential will vary based on the following factors:
- How many hours you decide to work a week
- The areas you are teaching in
- The consistency of driving lessons you are doing a week
- The amount of time you give yourself between each lesson
- Your start and finish time each day
If you sign up to a franchise that’s £800-£1000 a month then these figures aren’t possible. At driveJohnson’s, it’s all about keeping your overheads low.
Try to focus on net profit, not gross profit. Most companies charging an expensive driving school franchise will focus on gross as it looks better.
If you’re a driving instructor who wants to work part-time (25 hours a week or less) then you will struggle to make a good income with most of our national competitors who command a franchise in the region of £800-£1000. You would be better off owning your own dual-controlled car if possible or taking out a low-mileage dual-control lease.
Things to consider
Teaching people how to drive isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain type of person and personality for you to become a successful driving instructor, not to mention the nous and resources needed to get the enquiries.
These days, driving tuition has become extremely competitive with more and more beginners taking driving instructor training because they see that they could be earning £30k+ a year, but without considering the outgoings and finance you’ll need.
Generally, if you want to become a driving instructor, you’ll need the following:
- Car hire or long-term lease
- Instructor training
- Car insurance
- Advertising
- Fuel and regular maintenance
Finding affordable car hire or long-term leasing companies
Without a car, you’re not going to be able to teach anyone, so making sure that you get an affordable lease is extremely important. Unfortunately, car hire and long-term leasing aren’t cheap, so you’ll need to shop around if you want to get the best price.
A company that we recommend to upcoming instructors is called CA Cars.
They have a selection of dual-controlled vehicles available on long-term plans, ranging from little Citroen C1s to Fiat 500 Xs. What makes them even more appealing is the fact that they have an excellent customer service team.
Finding training to become a driving instructor
Unfortunately, you cannot simply get behind the wheel of a car and start teaching people how to drive. You’ll need to complete an up-to-date driving instructor training course to become an ADI (Approved Driving Instructor) and only then will you be able to teach unsupervised.
There are a number of driving instructor course packages out there, with the option to pay for your training outright or even take advantage of monthly payment plans if you put down a deposit.
A typical ADI training course will cost between £1350 and £1900, depending on who you choose to learn with.
Car insurance
This is something that you cannot teach without. If you want to be a driving instructor then you absolutely have to have car insurance.
Chances are that anyone you teach will have little experience driving on busy roads. Of course, before you take them out onto a busy dual carriageway, you’re going to teach them the basics, how to start and stop and the process of changing gears. If you try to take them onto the busy roads before then, you cannot be surprised if you have an accident and your insurance will certainly save you financially.
Advertising and getting enquiries
Let’s assume that you’ve completed your training, you’ve ordered yourself a car and you’ve arranged your insurance. Now then, how are you going to get pupils?
Years ago, you would have been able to submit a business listing on the Yellow Pages and you’d get your fair share of bookings, but these days things have changed significantly.
You need to have a decent website for starters, make sure that you provide a load of useful information and be transparent with your pricing. You’ll need to constantly market your site to ensure that it starts to appear higher in search results too.
Many instructors prefer to pass the pressure over to a driving school franchise as they’ll handle the marketing for your coverage area and provide you with everything you could possibly need to impress and retain pupils.
Fuel and regular servicing
Another thing worth considering as a driving instructor is the costs involved with maintaining your learning vehicle because, in effect, this is your office so you want to make sure it’s in perfect condition for any new pupils.
Fuel prices rise and fall regularly so it’s difficult to say how much you’ll spend on filling up. One way to save money is to consider purchasing or leasing a vehicle with high fuel efficiency. Alternatively, look into the garages that you stop at to fill up. Supermarkets tend to have a lot of filling stations built into their designs and often offer the cheapest and most competitive prices.
You’ll also need to make sure that your teaching vehicle is serviced every year, following an annual MOT. This is a full vehicle safety check, highlighting any repairs or minor adjustments to help keep your car safe and road-legal.
ADI Earnings Breakdown
Driving Instructor in Milton Keynes
Breakdown of earnings (51-hour week)
INS
4 hours @ £33 starter offer = £132
47 Hours @ £35 = £1645
Total = £1777
OUTS
Car – owns his car outright but let’s say he leases the vehicle @ £90 per week (going rate)
Fuel for 51 hours = £3 per hour x 51 = £153
Insurance = £10 per week
Repairs = covered in the lease deal
Franchise = £73.50 (our highest rate, lower rates available depending on your location and circumstances)
Other = £25
Take Home (weekly): £1425.50
Take Home (yearly with 4 weeks off holiday): £68,424
Driving Instructor in St Albans
Breakdown of earnings (35-hour week)
INS
2 Hours @ £32 starter offer = £62
33 Hours @ £35 standard rate = £1,155
Total = £1217.00
OUTS
Car – owns the car outright £7,000 Vauxhall Corsa – 2 years old. £7,000 loan paid off over 3 years equals approx. £50 a week based on 3.3% APR (typical Tesco/Sainsbury’s loan). After 3 years, the car will be worth in the region of £2,500 as it would have around 80,000-100,000 miles on it. Based on the car being sold for £2,500, your monthly payments on the car would be around £30 a week.
Fuel for 35 hours = £3 per hour x 35 = £105
Insurance = £10 per week
Repairs = Put aside £15 a week and this will give you £780 a year on repairs which should be more than enough. Your first two years in a relatively new car should be problem-free.
Franchise = £58.00 (average franchise rate for this amount of teaching hours)
Other = £25
Total outgoings a week = £243
Take Home (weekly): £974
Take home (yearly with 4 weeks off holiday): £46,752
The beauty of being your own boss is you can work when you want.
We have some instructors who have no dependents and who are very money-driven so they work 50 hours a week. We have other instructors who have children and can only work during school hours. Other instructors try to get a balance of both worlds by working around 35-40 hours a week, which still allows time for the family by getting home at 6pm and allowing for 2 days off.
Whatever your requirements, driveJohnson’s driving instructor franchise will still mean you can make money.
Our franchise model gives you the peace of mind that we will never have too many instructors in your area. If we do miscalculate or become too greedy then you have just 4 weeks’ notice to leave, which is better than most of our national competitors who have all sorts of hidden small print in their long contracts which normally equates to a minimum term of 24 months.
If you are someone who only wants to work 25-35 hours a week then you may struggle to make a profit by joining other national companies charging in the region of £230-£250 a week franchise.
You may see some lower enticement offers which include the car. With these be sure to read the small print as the price will normally increase later on, and always crunch the maths on the worst-case scenario that your franchise is raised within 6 months of starting.
If you want to work 45-55 hours a week with us then you can and you will see an even tidier net profit. In certain areas, like Oxford and Newbury, we charge £35+ an hour. Driving instructors in Newbury could expect to earn £10,000 more per year.
You may talk to instructors while enquiring about becoming a driving instructor and they may laugh or say these figures are not possible. At driveJohnson’s, they are – we can show you over 400 instructor diaries that are busy.
What does a 35-hour working week calendar look like?
What does a 25-hour working week calendar look like?
What does a 51-hour working week calendar look like?
A few reasons why you might not earn more than £35,000 per year
- You don’t do more than 25 hours a week.
- You don’t manage your diary well.
- You leave large gaps between lessons. We usually recommend 20-30 minutes.
- You cancel on your pupils, therefore, when they cancel on you at short notice it’s a bit cheeky to charge.
- You buy an unreliable car and it’s off the road too much.
- You take out a car lease costing you £150 plus a week.
- You cover too many areas and spend too much time commuting between pupils’ lessons.
- You don’t do double lessons, 2 hours together or 1.5-hour lessons.
- YOU JOIN THE WRONG DRIVING SCHOOL and then realise later they are not good for the work and it’s too late, you have signed your life away.
You are your own boss; like any self-employed start-up business, you will need some initiative, passion and drive to make this a success. You will receive all the help you need from our office managers and Anthony Johnson, the owner. If you join driveJohnson’s, don’t be afraid to ask for help – if you succeed then driveJohnson’s succeeds too!
