{"id":21202,"date":"2017-05-06T00:35:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T23:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21202"},"modified":"2023-01-28T01:52:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T01:52:32","slug":"bill-plant-goes-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21202","title":{"rendered":"Bill Plant Goes Bust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is an old article from 2017. You may want to take a look here<\/a>, as I was told by a Bill Plant franchisee that they “went bust” again in early 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came in via the Google newsfeeds. It seems that Bill Plant driving school went into administration on 27 April 2017<\/a>. It has since been bought out by Ecodot, which is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026a specialist in car vehicle preparation and dual control vehicle hire. Our main services are, Dual control vehicle hire, Alloy refurbishment, Porfessional (sic) Valeting services and Body Repairs<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I would have used an image above which related directly to Bill Plant, but from past experience I know that they\u2019re a bunch of prima donnas who threaten court action unless you\u2019re saying anything good about them. Of course, such behaviour makes it even more difficult to say anything good about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for the titsup is given as being due to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026exceptional costs associated with a change in operating model.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Or, in other words, they were a bunch of incompetent<\/strong> prima donnas. Most of the other belly-ups in the driver training industry went bust during the economic downturn during the last decade and the early part of this one. Bill Plant has managed it during a period of economic growth, and that doesn\u2019t bode well for their future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This industry is not high-margin. Driving lessons can only cost so much before learners won\u2019t pay for them, and at the moment almost everyone is charging the same (in the region of \u00a325 an hour, give or take a few quid). Similarly, instructors who work on a franchise will only pay so much before they walk away, too. The amount they pay for the franchise lines the pockets of the franchiser, who is at the top of the pile, and that franchiser will not be happy unless he or she is pocketing enough to keep a new X5 on the driveway. A kind of status quo is established, whereby the only loser is the instructor \u2013 lesson prices can\u2019t go up by much, and the franchiser will still want to increase profits year on year, so the franchise fee goes up. It\u2019s a simple Law of Nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes you wonder what the numpties did to their \u201coperating model\u201d to screw things so badly. I wonder if it had anything to do with introducing BMW X1s as tuition cars \u2013 the prices of which range from \u00a323,000 to \u00a335,000, which is at least double (and up to five times) the price new of most instructors\u2019 tuition vehicles? If it did, I can\u2019t see Ecodot \u2013 which is apparently now trading as Bill Plant Driving School Ltd \u2013 keeping them. Someone somewhere in the chain has to pay for the overheads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I say, this industry is not high-margin, and anyone who buys a top marque as an overhead and then delivers lessons costing the same as they would in a vehicle costing a quarter of that is not going to stay in business long without someone on the outside pumping them money intravenously. Having hubby (or wifey) supply the financial drip feed to their other half is one thing, but for a limited company it\u2019s a different matter altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ecodot isn\u2019t big enough to pump money in indefinitely, and I can see big changes coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n