How to earn £30,000 as a driving instructor?

Red Driving School and others claim you can earn £30,000 per year as a Driving Instructor. Some instructor training organisations even suggest you can earn £40k. Here's the maths to show you how you can do it!

These figures are based on an average of £21 per lesson (Red Driving school's advertised price 2009)

Work from 9.00am till 8.00pm, six days a week, take one hour off for lunch and one hour for tea. Never have any empty spaces in your diary. Allow 10 minutes between lessons. So that's eight lessons per day, 48 lessons per week.

Never have a day off sick. Have four weeks holiday + normal public holidays each year = 46 weeks.

48
46x
---
2208 lessons x £21 per lesson = £46,368

Petrol (based on £5 per gallon, 40mpg, 16 miles per lesson) = £2.00
£2.00 x 2208 = £4416

Franchise say £185 per week (Red basic price)... = £9,200pa

46,368 - 4416 - 9200

Total - £32,752 - so you can earn £30k as an instructor ....

...you just need to work from 9am till 8pm six days a week, never be sick, never have any cancelled lessons and take just four weeks holiday a year. Be aware though, there is not a national shortage of instructors - many instructors are unable to fill their diaries.

Extra Expenses
Of course we haven't included time to do your administration, book-keeping and accounts, keep the car clean, keep up to date with your training, or the incidental costs of your adi licence, subscription to driving instructors associations etc.

Flexibility
Another common claim is that this is a flexible job that you can work round your other committments. You can't however earn £30k and have flexibility! Training to be a driving instructor can lead to a rewarding career, but the claims of what an Instructor can claim are often unrealistic!

Note: Red Driving School training is carried out with The Instructor College. Both are owned by the same parent company.

All information in this article is believed to be correct at the time of writing. Lesson prices, fuel prices and franchise prices and terms can fluctuate. You are advised to do your own thorough research.