Driving lessons with BSM?

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

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18 Oct 2002
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12,354
My local BSM do driving lessons @ £25/hour, or £24/h for a block of 10 hrs, or £23/h for a block of 20 hrs!

Is that a decent rate? Are they any good as a driving school?
 
Personally I would rather go with a small, local independent.

Going rate is around ~£20 and you get a better quality service if you find a good person.
 
:eek: £25 a lesson!!!! i paid 20 a lesson and my driving instructor was a really good one he pushes confidence into people which is one thing that most people who had gone with BSM said they didnt get, best thing to do would be to say where your from on here and see if anyone could reccomend you one in your area
 
i did 2 lessons with bsm when i turned 17 and my instructor was a tool.......put me off driving completel


then after no lessons i noticed my theory was due to run out i needed to learn to drive quick and BSM where the only people in the area who could do so many lessons in a week while i had time off

,instructor was spot on and a few weeks after my week of lessons i passed with 1 minor

only 20 quid per lesson/houre up here though
 
Most BSM instructors are trainees or something of the like, according my old instructor.

I went with the AA, who sent me a top bloke. Passed me first time with 4 minors and when he went independant he passed my girlfriends first time with 6 minors.

My advice is to ask friends and family, and get them to ask friends and family etc. They all usually point to the same guy, in which case I had a great experience.
 
Ask your mates see who they learnt to drive, and see who they recomend. A friend of mine used BSM, 20 lessons and she hadnt even done a turn in the road.

A local independatnt instructor will be your best bet.
 
In my experience you've got the same chance of getting a good instructor or a complete plank whichever company you go with. Unless you can get some personal recommendations from friends, then, I'd just go for the cheapest that doesn't look a complete scam. You can always change easily after a lesson if you've been unlucky and got an idiot.
 
myth 1. BSM use mainly trainees = wrong, they do have trainees but they are not the majority

myth 2. bsm are crap = partly, this depends on the instructor you get, as it will be even if you go to an independant

you will find that most indipendants did their training with BSM to go elsewhere i.e AA or just indipendants as BSM are one of the main places to get training to be an instructor

the guy that said his friend had done lessons with bsm and after 20hours still hadnt done the turn in the road, this will uaually depend on the person in question not the instructor it could be that they wasnt ready to do any manouvers

the price for BSM and all other schools will depend on the area in question, where i am it is 22 pounds per hour full rate and can be discounted down to 20 pounds

try them and see and if you dont like the instructor you have ask for another that might better suit your needs, and if still not happy go elsewhere
 
My girlfriend went with a big company like bsm who teach in new minis.

On her first lesson she drove up and down a back road and he turned it round at the end.

On my first lesson with an independant recommended by my mate had my doing t-junctions and driving home on my first lesson, and doing roundabotus and the local bypass on my 2nd lesson

I know not all big companies will be like this but in this case its shocking, in the words of my intructor "we try and run them off the road lol"
 
I would personally go with a recommended independent.

Instructors working for a large firm know that no matter how good/bad they are, they will have a queue of people lining up to be taught.

Independents rely mostly on word of mouth, as they do not have a large customer base behind them - if they do a bad job, they won't get paid.

I went with a local independent, and had 15 lessons, including the 2hrs for the test, a couple of my friends went with large companies, and had upwards of 30 hours of lessons.

One failed his test twice with BSM after a total of 35 lessons, then went to my independent, and had a further 8 lessons, was practically re-taught everything, and then passed his next test.
 
I went with the AA, took me 17 lessons + 1 hour for the test to pass first time (6 minors. Had no problems with them whatsoever, was driving the car around from the first lesson including driving home.

My GF is with an independant, has had 30+ lessons and is nowhere near ready for her test. Was 4 lessons before she even went on a public road.

You cant stereotype either group because learning to drive is quite a personal experience. Some people pick it up naturally and others have to work at it, its down to your instructor to know what pace to push you at.
 
BSM are waaaay overpriced. They work on the principle that people think, 'They've been arouind for ever, they must be the best', this isn't the case.

Find a local indy, recommended from a friend / workmate is normally your best bet.
 
i payed £20 a lesson and learnt in a lovely peugeot 206. my instructor was an older guy (in his mid 60s), yet knew his stuff.

used to be in the forces driving vehicles there, then went on to become a police driver.

so i was in goood hands :)
 
When I learnt, BSM were £18.50 an hour (student rate), local independent ranged from £16-£20 an hour.

The difference was that with BSM they have enough instructors so I could start learning straight away. I must have phoned about 15 independent instructors who all said they couldn't take anybody new on. Not sure why, but there seemed to be a sudden rush of people learning to drive in Bradford at that time. It took me 4.5 months to get a test from booking it too :(

I found the BSM instructor to be good, very calm, had a big folder of notes and diagrams he used to help explain what he was showing you and I didn't feel I was being held back at all. I passed first time with 5 minors.


Mick.
 
I took 11.5 hrs of lessons with BSM, after a lot of lessons with my father. And I got 3 minors, aka top 2% of test scores. :D


Can't argue with that.
 
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