Is anyone a driving instructor?

SideWinder · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:15

I keep seeing adverts saying how fantastic it is to be one...did anyone look at the advert and decide to go for it? What's it like?

Scuzi · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:17

The TV adverts state that you could be earning "UP TO £30,000 a year!!!!11".

Is £30k really the maximum potential earnings for a driving instructor? If so, that's a bit rubbish.

georges · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:24

Yeah, but I guess there's a maximum price they can charge per hour (maybe £25 tops?) due to competition, and insurance costs etc if they own the car, or profit for the company they work for included in this money, petrol etc.

aproctor · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:25

Think about it, you earn £20 p/h and with that you have to pay for fuel a car and repairs. What will you get in the end £10 p/h its not exactly mega bucks is it?

Hedge · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:29

My instructer was for one school when i started, then he moved to the AA, all the people he had from the first school stayed with him, and paid him cash in hand.

he was a retired policeman, so he was raking his pension in, and about 15-25ph every lesson. And the AA provided him and his family with discounted cars.

Seemed like a cushy number!

Jez · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:36

Hedge said:
My instructer was for one school when i started, then he moved to the AA, all the people he had from the first school stayed with him, and paid him cash in hand.

he was a retired policeman, so he was raking his pension in, and about 15-25ph every lesson. And the AA provided him and his family with discounted cars.

Seemed like a cushy number!

An ex policeman was working cash in hand?

Rotty · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:37

My sister's other half is a driving instructor, he makes around £30k less costs but he doesn't bust a gut for it, the financial commitments to the folks that trained him took a lot of paying off

lot of unsociable hours too

loltim · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:38

30k has never been rubbish Scuzi, probably different in Sussex than up here though..

I could never be a driving instructor, don't have the patience.

Whiskas · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:46

Tim said:
30k has never been rubbish Scuzi, probably different in Sussex than up here though..

I could never be a driving instructor, don't have the patience.

LOL, surely you realise that you're a nobody on OCUK unless you pull in a 6 figure salary and your watch costs more than most people's cars

Hedge · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:49

Jez said:
An ex policeman was working cash in hand?

Well he moved to a different school (think it was AA, not sure actually).. but he kept the people he had from the earlier school, who he was continuing to give lessons to on the sly

Duke · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:49

My uncle is an instructor, it is long hours to make it worth while. He has found it hard though recently and is winding it down and doing other work now, mainly due to the rising costs and that his local test centre has closed, so it isn't worth the distance now.

Jez · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:53

Hedge said:
Well he moved to a different school (think it was AA, not sure actually).. but he kept the people he had from the earlier school, who he was continuing to give lessons to on the sly

I was pointing out that this is illegal, and i am surprised that an ex policeman would be in the mindset for tax evasion.

Hedge · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:55

Jez said:
I was pointing out that this is illegal, and i am surprised that an ex policeman would be in the mindset for tax evasion.

Extra income often overrules the law

Energize · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:57

Jez said:
I was pointing out that this is illegal, and i am surprised that an ex policeman would be in the mindset for tax evasion.

Since when where the police different to everyone else?

Jez · 6 Sep 2008 at 12:58

Hedge said:
Extra income often overrules the law

I'm not taking moral high ground myself, that would be utterly hypocritical. I'm just saying that i am very surprised that an ex policeman shares my mindset on income tax

Hedge · 6 Sep 2008 at 13:00

Jez said:
I'm not taking moral high ground myself, that would be utterly hypocritical. I'm just saying that i am very surprised that an ex policeman shares my mindset on income tax

Hahaha

Phate · 6 Sep 2008 at 13:01

Jez said:
I was pointing out that this is illegal, and i am surprised that an ex policeman would be in the mindset for tax evasion.

My Uncle is a retired policeman, he didn't have any issues when I was putting some software on his machine

Even asked me to show him how to rip and burn a dvd from blockbusters

ganesh · 6 Sep 2008 at 13:04

Duke said:
My uncle is an instructor, it is long hours to make it worth while. He has found it hard though recently and is winding it down and doing other work now, mainly due to the rising costs and that his local test centre has closed, so it isn't worth the distance now.

You mean Trowbridge center?

A bit of a kick in the balls that, a few friends of mine have had to go to chippenham.

Scuzi · 6 Sep 2008 at 13:10

Tim said:
30k has never been rubbish Scuzi, probably different in Sussex than up here though..

I could never be a driving instructor, don't have the patience.

£30k is rubbish if it is as much as you're ever going to earn. Unless you really loved the job, would you be happy to do a job for 20-30 years and as you approach retirement, still be on £30k (or whatever the equivalent will be then taking inflation into consideration)?

I wouldn't enter into a career knowing that the most I'm likely to ever earn is £30k, especially give the long hours and the nature of the work in this case.

Hedge · 6 Sep 2008 at 13:15

Scuzi said:
£30k is rubbish if it is as much as you're ever going to earn. Unless you really loved the job, would you be happy to do a job for 20-30 years and as you approach retirement, still be on £30k (or whatever the equivalent will be then taking inflation into consideration)?

I wouldn't enter into a career knowing that the most I'm likely to ever earn is £30k, especially give the long hours and the nature of the work in this case.

30k is plenty of money. Its likely to rise over the next 30 years for anyone. But there is sod all wrong with 30k

i imagine its about 2k a month after tax etc.

Perfectly fine for any single person to live comfortably on