Choosing the Right Driving School for YOU

The Learner Driver’s Journey – Part 2     

Choosing a Driving School

Learning to Drive is a Life Experience

Remember learning to drive is a life experience like starting school, your first job or that first date with someone you like.  Trust your gut and how you feel about things and choose a driving school that suits you, remember it’s your life.

Getting Excited about your Driving School?

If you don’t feel excited (with a little bit of nerves or course) before each session then maybe the school you are with just isn’t for you.  Many learners say they dread their lessons each week for fear of getting things wrong, getting shouted at by their fire breathing instructor or being made to feel stupid.

Negative feelings like anxiety will cloud your judgement and impact on your learning.  Remember bulls*** baffles brains so go with your gut and how you feel.  If you feel bad why not change schools!

Finding the Right Driving School for YOU

There’s lots of things to think about here when choosing a school.  A good way to start is to focus on these 3 things.

1 – Teaching Quality

The teaching quality and styles of a driving school can be very different from one school to another.  Are you

(A) Being involved in the lesson, encouraged to form your own opinions about things and learning how to grow as a driver yourself?  Your instructor may give you choices on lesson plans, involve you in the path you feel is right to go down.  They may ask you what you feel you want to work on and where you would like to go.

or

(B) Having to be told everything in a more parrot fashioned rehearsed way?  Told where to go and when at all times and asked questions on things that may have already been taught to you.

There will be times when an instructor will have to be in control for safety reasons but this can be intertwined with a more client centred approach too.

2 – Price 

Buy cheap buy twice.  A lot of people focus on price.  Ask yourself what differences you notice between cheap clothes or shoes you buy compared to more expensive ones.   A cheap T shirt can look like a potato sack after one wash.

Yes learning to drive is going to cost but it’s a life skill that is going to keep you safe for the rest of your life.  Many people drive every day so getting it right from the beginning is crucial.

A skilled self respecting driving instructor is not going to work for cheap.  They value themselves and their work and don’t need to do deals and charge less to get customers.  These are the ones you are looking for and the ones you stand a better chance of enjoying your time with.

The Early Bird catches the worm.  The good driving instructors may have waiting lists, so book up with them in advance.  Some of the really good ones could have up to 3 months waiting lists.

3 – Driving School Customer Reviews

Recommendations are probably the best source to find a good school.  Has a friend of yours done lessons with that school, what were there opinions on the process? 

Maybe a post on social media asking for recommendations around your local area may be a good idea.  You could also look at the instructors websites or Facebook pages to see what reviews other people have left.

Making the Decision on Which Driving School to Go With

Have a chat with your instructor beforehand.  You may get an idea of which way it’s going to go by having a little phone conversation. 

They may be very test orientated and talking about pass rates and test routes. 

Or

They may be interested more in your journey, why you want to learn, how you learn best and what your drives and ambitions are.

Which is more important to you? Getting through your test fast or enjoying the experience and becoming a safe driver.

You could maybe ask them on their style?  Is it instruction or coaching style they use, are they an A grade or B grade instructor or when and what CPD they did last?

A good instructor or coach will answer these questions for you happily. 

Change Is Great