Why do you need to pay up front fees of around ?2500-?3000? The answer is you don't. Take my advice, don't do it! Any reputable training company will let you pay as you go along. If the company you have entrusted your training to are demanding up front fees, ask yourself why.

If you Pay As You Go along and are not happy with your training or your personal circumstances change you have lost nothing. If you pay up front you could end up losing thousands of pounds. Don't be fooled by the glossy image of some National companies. They need your money up front to pay for their television coverage and large advertising campaigns. Someone has to pay for it, don't let it be you!

When you start to look at the possibility of becoming a driving instructor you need to be wary of the independent training colleges and other such organisations that use high-pressure selling techniques. When you telephone such organisations they usually try to book you into a group selling session as quickly as possible (i.e. within a day or two). At these meetings, an experienced sales presenter will work the group into an excited frenzy by exaggerating the career prospects, making the exams seem incredibly easy and making false claims about the industry. For example, some claim that there is a national shortage of driving instructors or they understate the number of active instructors on the register. They also claim that driving schools are ringing them everyday desperate for instructors or suggest that obtaining 40 hours work per week is no problem, etc.

Remember, if the training college/organisation is only offering a guaranteed position with an unnamed school or a superficial school they know you will not actually join, it is easy for them to exaggerate the earnings potential and career prospects. At the end of the meeting they would get you to book an assessment drive or joining class so that they can close the sale.

Some training companies (well known within the industry) are renowned for offering some kind of incentive to get you to pay on the day and sign an agreement on the spot. If you do not sign on the spot you will find that you are continually pestered on the phone or written to with special offers and further discounts. Some organisations have refined their sales techniques to such an extent that they can get you to part with your money or sign a buy-now-pay-later agreement within just a few days of your call.

A decision of this importance should not be hurried and should be carefully considered over a number of weeks or indeed months after collecting all the facts together. Over the past 10 years there has been an explosion in the number of instructor training colleges and 'schools' offering 'guaranteed placements'. Ironically, despite this increase, the actual number of instructors on the DSA ADI register has only marginally grown over the last 12 years. This would indicate that these colleges and other such training organisations have had in the main little effect on our industry and must in truth achieve very poor results. Some are therefore clearly profiteering at both the industry's and the public's expense.