Is it worth becoming a driving instructor?

Becoming a driving instructor can be an extremely rewarding career, both for yourself and your wallet. But we appreciate that when you’re looking to start a new career, it’s likely you’ll find yourself asking whether or not it’s worth pursuing and if it’s the right fit for you.

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Demand is at an all-time high and is growing

Demand is currently at an all-time high due to a large backlog of driving lessons being created from the global pandemic. There is also a national shortage of driving instructors but an increase in demand as more people are now learning to drive in order to avoid using public transport.

We are getting unprecedented levels of new customers wanting to learn to drive, meaning that our instructors have the opportunity to take as much or little work as they like. There’s never been a better time to learn to become a driving instructor, be your own boss and take control of your career.

Pros

What are the pros of being a driving instructor?

Be your own boss – As a driving instructor, you won’t have someone telling you what to do. You’re in charge, and you get to make the important decisions that affect you. You’ll also be able to make a positive impact on the community around you and meet new people every day.
Teaching is rewarding – You’ll get to meet a lot of new people and teach them an important life skill. Taking a complete beginner and guiding them through to passing their driving test can be an extremely rewarding experience.
Balance your work and life – Making time for things outside of work is important. As a driving instructor, you can control your own hours and balance your life, enabling you to make positive changes to your life and increase your job satisfaction.
No day is really the same – Another benefit of meeting a range of different people from different backgrounds is that no day will ever really be the same. You’ll be teaching students at all different levels, finding the best way to help them grow and become great drivers.
You’ll always have a modern car – RED provides their Full Franchise instructors with up to date dual-controlled cars that can even be driven by named family members once approved.
Career progression – As a qualified Driving Instructor there are opportunities to develop professionally. Many RED instructors go on to qualify and work in corporate driver training roles too.

CONS

What are the cons of being a driving instructor?

You need to be personable – If you’re looking for a career without too much human interaction, being a driving instructor might not be for you. Your day to day will be interacting with and guiding your students, so being happy to meet new people is a must.
Managing your time well – As it’s completely up to you how much you work, you will need to make sure that you manage both your time and your workload well. Taking on too much work can be easy to do, and it’s important to remember that dropping off a student in one location and having to get to the other side of the town to pick up another can easily add on time to your schedule.
You need to be patient – As a teacher, you need to be patient with your students. Everyones going to make mistakes from time to time, and some students may find it more difficult to pick up a certain manoeuvre than others. You’ll need to remain calm and work through these challenges with each of your students.

How much can a driving instructor expect to earn?

Salary is a large factor that most take into account when starting a new career – and rightly so. We cover all the bases on our Earnings page if you want to dive into the details, but here are the main points:

RED driving instructors earn an average of £32.52 per hour.
RED driving instructors on average choose to work 30 hours per week
The average RED driving instructor earns on average £975 per week and £48,750 annually.

However, one of the perks of being a driving instructor is the flexibility to choose how much you want to work, so if you did want to earn more you certainly could!

1/4

Of all driving instructors in the UK were trained by RED

10,000+

Fully qualified ADIs trained by RED

£919

Average gross weekly income

4.8/5

Happy reviews on Feefo

How do you become a driving instructor?

RED offers a comprehensive and flexible driving instructor course. Having trained around a quarter of all driving instructors on the road in the UK, we have been able to fine-tune our driving instructor course in order to offer the best training possible.

To become an approved driving instructor, you’ll need to complete three sections that make up the ADI (Approved Driving Instructor) training. At RED we make sure that you have all the tools and support at each stage of the process to ensure you have all the tools for success.

Part 1 – To pass the first part of your ADI training, you’ll need to take the theory and hazard perception test.
Part 2 – Next is to pass a practical driving test and demonstrate a professional level of driving ability to a DVSA examiner.
Part 3 – Finally, you’ll need to pass an hour-long test where a DVSA examiner will watch you deliver a client-centred driving lesson.

As part of the RED driving instructor course, you’ll be given the opportunity to train on the job where you’ll be able to get extremely valuable, real experience teaching as a driving instructor whilst earning money at the same time. You can find out more about our driving instructor course here.

FAST TRACK

FAST TRACK: SPEED UP YOUR TRAINING AND START EARNING FASTER

Looking to become a driving instructor and start earning as fast as possible? Joining our fast track programme could be perfect for you. With RED you can earn as you qualify on a Trainee Licence and our flexible fast track option gives you the option to speed things up and help to fit the training in with your busy schedule

Our qualified RED Trainers provide up to 80 hours of specialist training, and our fast track option is delivered at the same price as our classic route, with the benefit of being able to get a 100% refund on your training costs when you become a RED Driving Instructor.

Give us a call or complete the enquiry form to find out more about our fast track programme and RED Driving Instructor training NOW.

Pete Chiston had to say “The fast track training was very intense and a lot to take in over three days however the follow up support from my in car trainer David was great and tailored to meet my very hands on approach to learning, this in combination with the office support has meant that the process although at points very challenging was still a positive overall experience.”