Learning to drive is possibly one of the biggest decisions we make in our lives. Regardless of what age we are when we learn to drive the costs of driving lessons, not to mention theory and practical tests, can be extremely high. It is therefore, imperative that we start off on the right foot, so to speak. Choosing a good instructor and a good driving school can make the difference not only in whether we pass the actual driving test or not but most importantly in the number of lessons we need and thus the cost of the driving itself. A good instructor also helps to shape the type of drive we become after passing the test.
If you, or someone you know, had learnt to drive, the chances are that you have at least heard (if not experienced it first hand) of the horror driving instructor stories. These range from the instructors who is only concerned with extorting as much money out of their unsuspecting students as possible with as little driving tuition as possible to the instructor who uses the lesson time to run his/her errands leaving the student confused. These horror stories unfortunately keep happening, so what can a student do to make sure that he/she doesn't end up with a driving instructor from hell?
There are a few simple steps that can help the student to weed out the bad from the good instructors. These are as follows:
1) Use a recommended instructor and/or driving school:
This may seem very obvious, partly because it is, however there are some things to look out for. When looking for a good instructor make sure to get a number of feedbacks from trusted people you know. These could be your friends, family, work mates and so on. Make sure to also look at the 'flexibility' in the instructor's teaching ability. What I mean is that look to see if the positive feedback come from students of a certain age or even sex. The idea here is to find an instructor that is going to be able to give you the best lessons and/or one from whom you will get the best out of. Sometimes certain drivers are very good at teaching teenagers or mature learners but not very good at teaching both types of learners. If you are, for example, a mature learner and got feedbacks from co-workers whose teenager kids passed first time with a certain instructor, you may want to find out more to see if people your age group (as an example) had the same success with that driving instructor/school.
2) Use the internet:
We live in a digital age and thankfully we can access a vast amount of information just by clicking a button, so utilize this very valuable source. The web can be used to read both 'independent' reviews as well as those displayed on various driving schools' websites. The independent reviews are those that have been checked and verified by a third party i.e., you can be sure that what has been written about that specific instructor or driving school was really written by a student. The web is also useful to give you an idea of what sort of instructor and/or school to choose from. In fact many instructors and driving school have a website in which costs, type of lessons/courses offered and even the type of cars used are displayed. This is useful also in deciding on how much to invest in your lessons. In regards to the recommendations, using the web provides a further advantage in that you can access a much larger 'pool' of feedback from previous students. Thus allowing yourself to see much more objectively if a certain instructor and/or school is correct for you or not.
3) Take the instructor for a test run:
Once you have decided who to take your lessons with don't be afraid to take on a 'trial test'. This is the largely discounted rate many driving schools offer for the first 2 hours and so on. This is offered usually as an incentive to attract new customers. Use this to your advantage and make sure you ask the instructor questions but also observe how he/she is with you, their teaching approach, mannerism and so on. If this time is used effectively you will be able to decipher a lot about the instructor and whether he/she is the right one for you or not. Things that you will be able to see easily are; whether he/she is on time, is he/she friendly to you or not (watch out for over friendliness), how clean is his/her appearance, what condition is the car in and so on. These things can help you get a clearer idea of whether to continue your lessons with the instructor or not.
4) Don't be afraid to ask for what you want and/or change your mind:
This is important if you decided to go with an instructor and find soon after that you are not getting on well. It is important to get on and feel that you can trust what your instructor is teaching you as well as have faith in their ability to teach you what you need to know in order to be successful in your test and to be a confident driver. If you have doubts about what you are been taught and if you have raised the doubts but have had no reasonable explanations/clarifications or even any changes to address your concerns and doubts, it might be time to move on. The trick is to do so early on rather than leaving it too late. A 'bad' instructor or rather a 'wrong' instructor for you will ultimately cost you more, the more you stay with him/her. Another danger is that you may start to take on 'bad driving habits', which may require even more lessons later on to rectify. However, make sure that the doubts and/or concerns you have are genuine i.e., avoid 'instructor shopping' by simply jumping from one instructor to another.
With these very simply steps you should be able to find the right instructor for you. I wish you all the best in your lessons and success in your test.
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