Where I'm at...

 

A few thoughts just off the top of my head - not thinking it through just making notes

What do you class as a brand new car? i.e. if you are looking at leasing a car for say 24/36 months as soon as the plate change takes effect the car is no longer seen as brand new. Private plate??? Trades description???

Does the advert need an area on it if you are using a mobile number? Just a thought if they get passed around a college for example do you really want to be working with people living 30 miles apart?

I would personally leave off the trainee bit

A financial incentive for the 2 hour lessons might work, I know when I learnt to drive I was using my supermarket wages and a 2 hour lesson would have been my entire weeks wage whereas a 1 hour lesson was drive then some beer/night out. You might find on a tight budget the 2 hour lessons (if simply double the price of a 1 hour lesson) do not work, plus you are generally knackered after 2 hours driving, if you have to think about it as well the you (the pupil) would be beat.

DSA certified and approved - I know i sometimes get asked to show certs and customers have rung me specifically because I state certs.

Evening lessons available - offer and advertise something others don't

As I said, just thoughts

Kev

 

Thanks Kev, valid points.

Firstly, the car will be leased on a 7 month plan until I get the feel for how things are going so will be pretty damn new for the whole of this period. After this I shall decide on whether to continue leasing or pursue different methods for the vehicle, but the ads will probably be out of date by then and I will probably be relying more on referrals (every instructor I have spoken to has stated that once they start coming, they don't stop as long as you're good and they leave (pass) satisfied).
The leaflets will be posted through doors in my local area, and so should remain pretty local but there is a chance someone will pass it on, so it is a good idea to state it. I shall redesign to include it on the leaflet.
The trainee bit HAS to be stated, by law. It is also advisable that the costs reflect this. I will be printing a small quantity of these to get me going, and the areas I post these shall be re-hit with the "qualified" ones once I am.
2 hour lessons will be slightly cheaper than 2x 1 hour, but I will actively deter 1 hour lessons. From the students perspective, by the time we have got in the car, done a re-cap on where we're at, set out the objectives for the lesson, perhaps moved to a suitable place if they're very early on; then at the end done a summary of the lesson and detailed the next lessons objectives, they'll be lucky to get 20 minutes actual driving. From my point of view, if customers don't immediately follow (where I can get one pupil to arrive at the next pupils house, and then get the new pupil to drive them home) then I have the time between each booking to travel, which could lose me 1/4 to 1/2 an hour depending on where each is and what time of day. Multiply that by possibly 8 customers a day and it is a lot of wasted time. If however I have 4 pupils doing 2 hour lessons I minimise my downtime. If clients are plentiful I will have no qualms turning 1 hour requests down, and the people I have spoken to so far say they do !
When teaching driving for reward, you must display your DSA badge in the vehicle. this contains your photo and all your details. If you aren't qualified and thus have no badge it is illegal to teach driving for reward. Therefore my qualifications shall be permanently on display.
Good idea mentioning the extended hours available. Will do that.

Thanks for the input, all good points

 

Dave, just found this thread (getting less and less of even being a lurker now )

Now you've settled on "zest" there's a yellow mini with two skidmarks over it (black ones so = tyremarks I suppose ) gone by the window with "Zoom" driving school on it...

For the two-hour lessons - nice if you can get it but as Kev says, might be a tad steep for young-uns depending on pricing. I seem to remember lessons are more expensive now than when I learnt (something like 8 quid an hour - not 2 shillings and sixpence per fortnight as in Al's day ) How about say (arbitrary figures) 20 quid per hour or 35 quid for 2 hours? A slight sweetener and you save a bit because you don't have to make a journey in the middle to pick them up.

Andy

PS I couldn't let you get away with this one... (Does Helen mind? )

or (not chopping as much out)

Fnarr, fnarr

 

Andy, thanks for the comments (I think ). One of the name suggestions I received was Zoom!Zoom!Zoom! but I think that's already being used

As for the prices, that's about where I'm heading. From a professional point of view, a learner would get more learning time from a fortnightly 2 hour lesson, but may feel detached from the learning process with such a long lay-off between. One hour lessons are really a waste of time until they're near test standard for the reasons I stated earlier.

 

yellow periL

 

Cut the mustard, drive with custard!

 

Are you back on the old jokes about how many elephants can you get in a mini and why do elephants have yellow feet?

Showing your age a tad, miss