AA Franchise - Driving Instructors

The AA Driving School Franchise Take One

I've held an AA Driving School franchise twice, and would like to share my experience with any PDI or ADI thinking of taking out one.

I first joined the AA Driving school as an ADI in late 2003, at the time I had recently become a driving instructor, and needed for my new driving school business to grow, and the way the franchise was setup at the time suited me very well. There was the weekly fixed fee which was about £160 and they then charged you about £150 for every pupil they supplied you over a 10 week period, but the good thing was that they only charged you for a maximum of 10 pupils. They also had an introductory offer which meant that I didn't have to pay the fully weekly franchise fee until I had been with them for 10 weeks. I also think it was one of the cheapest driving school franchises at the time, at least compaered to BSM, RED and probably LDC.

My first franchise with the AA Driving School at the time was very good, I had lots of pupils and didn't have any complaints as an instructor with them, in fact I had to limit the number of pupils with them, as I was getting very busy. I had to give up my franchise with the AA driving school due to some family problems about 2 years after I joined them.

AA Driving School Franchise Second Time

I decided to rejoin the AA driving school as a franchisee in 2007 having sorted out my family problems and having looked at the various driving school franchises around including the Red Driving School, Safeway, the AA still offered the best option for my needs, and since I'd had good service from them the first time round, I had no reservations becoming a driving instructor with the AA for the second time, however things were not going to be the same I later found out.

Just before I left the AA driving school the first time I had a franchise with them, there were a couple of changes made, one of them was a different way of charging instructors for allocated pupils to via insite. Instead of the system I mentioned eralier, there was now a flat £30 fee for each pupil introduced to the ADI. This new change also meant that the instructor was no longer guaranteed a minimum number of lessons with the learner driver pupil. The AA's spin on this was that after their 1st lesson, that pupil was now profitable for the instructor, while this was true, what actually happened in reality, was that there were a lot of instances where the pupil either did not turn up for the lesson, took only one or two lessons and then didn't want anymore (at least not at the AA recommended price anyway), and unless the instructor was very dillegent in checking the insite website, you could end up being charged with a fee for a learner that had cancelled their lessons.

Get cheaper AA Driving lessons

If you really want cheaper AA driving lessons, then instead of calling the 0800 number on the side of the car, contact the driving instructor directly and haggle the price with him or her as this means the ADI doesn't have to pay for the introduction. You can do this even if you had registered with them recently, as long as you didn't take any lessons with the new AA instructor.

How do you know what will be a good price to pay for AA driving lessons? Go to the website and get a quote, if the price for your area is not given online (large city prices are not quoted), call up (make sure you withhold your number otherwise someone will call you up) and ask for a quote. Once you know the price, you can then ask for a lower price when contacting the Instructor directly, a good starting place is £3 lower than the official price, though it is up to you to decide what you can afford, and see if the instructor will accept this or not.

Many AA Driving Instructors are short of work, so they will gladly take something rather than nothing, especially when they have to pay £200 every week to the AA driving School for their franchise.

Don't be afraid to knock on the door of a house where you see an AA driving school parked outside, especially during the week, it might be that the ADI has not got any lessons booked which is why the driving school car is parked outside, so this could also be a sign that you would be able to get bargain AA driving lessons.

Giving AA Driving Lessons

One of the joys of being an ADI with the school is that learner drivers are always looking for high quality AA Driving Lessons. The strong brand name attached to the organisation means that people want to have the best value tuition that their money can get, though not all of the learner drivers will necessarily want to pay pull price for the privildge, some opting to have just one or 2 remidial hours, while others would want a large discount on the current market price, you as a driving instructor will have to consider your individual circumstances and treat each case with your business hat on!

As an instructor holding a franchise with them, giving AA Driving Lessons was a joy, being associated with such a large brand doesn't come cheap as reflected in the weekly franchise charge by the driving school (£200 in 2008), which is one of the reasons why I decided to operate my own independent driving school. While working for myself without a franchise will not allow me to command the high premium I was able to with the AA, I can choose which car to use, market my business more aggressively without fear of breaking some terms and conditions set by the organization.

I must confess I do miss giving AA driving lessons in the Ford Focus car, but not all pupils who used the services of the driving school where totally satisfied with the level of tuition they got, judging by some reviews on consumer websites or learner driver forums. This is not completely down to the organisation, as all ADI's are self employed, and not employed by them so can run their business as they like under the general franchise umbrella.

My advice to anyone learning to drive a car in the UK who have paid the high premium for having AA driving lessons is they should contact the customer advice centre in Bristol if they are not happy with the level of service they are getting (you should always speak to your instructor in the first instance to iron out issues), and request another ADI.