\u00a325 per hour, \u00a324 per hour for 10x block, introductory offer \u00a314 per hour for 4x block<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nRemember that at least half of pupils will likely be taking the block booking option, so the actual rate being charged is about half way (at best) between the standard hourly rate and the pro rata<\/em> rate for block booking. It will be lower if a lot of students are on the books and a student discount is offered. And for those who make \u201cintroductory\u201d offers, it will be lower still. And although these figures are specific to Nottingham, the same relationship between standard rate and actual rate applies across the country.<\/p>\nTake that first (and last) example. Charging \u00a328 an hour means you must be \u00a31 an hour more<\/strong> brilliant than the national schools according to that original comment, and that\u2019s definitely worth boasting about on the forums. Except that a pupil who takes, let\u2019s say, 34 hours to pass their test will pay for three block bookings and that introductory offer. The average hourly rate paid by that pupil is therefore \u00a324.12 per hour, and that\u2019s \u00a33 less<\/strong> than the big national schools! The last example works out to \u00a322.82 per hour on the same basis, which is more than \u00a34 less. This is simple maths, but the people who make these silly claims haven\u2019t got a clue, and they believe what they say. They genuinely believe that someone who buys a block with a 10% discount is actually paying full price!<\/p>\nThese easily-obtained examples (I just picked the first few from a list of hundreds) show that the real lesson price – the one they actually pocket – for independents is at least \u00a31 lower<\/strong> than the large national schools, even for those with the highest stated standard hourly rates. Yes, there are one or two who appear to have high prices and no substantial discounts, but I note that they also have glittery, sign-written cars plastered across expensive-looking websites. That\u2019s strange, since I never see them out on the roads or at the test centres, and after another 12 months probably won\u2019t even see them on the internet – though right now they\u2019re probably making daft claims on forums about how great they are. Because that\u2019s<\/strong> how the cycle goes. And yet some ADIs still believe that they are charging top dollar, even though they\u2019re not.<\/p>\nThe other thing is that these instructors have been foolish enough to put themselves at the mercy of the Google review system, most likely because they initially saw it as a free advertising medium. So in spite of their alleged outstanding \u201cexperience and expertise\u201d – as claimed on that forum – many of them have a rating of three stars or less, often from a single review by someone they pissed off – probably as a result of doing what many instructors specialise in doing no matter what<\/strong> they have written on the sides of their cars. Namely, letting someone down. And that means they aren’t any better or more professional than anyone else.<\/p>\nSo, there we have some facts. On average, independent instructors do not<\/strong> charge more than the national schools. They actually charge less. They most certainly do<\/strong> offer a bewildering array of discounts. And there is absolutely no evidence<\/strong> that they have better skills, qualifications, or professionalism – we all pass the same tests, after all.<\/p>\nFor the record, my current lesson rate is \u00a326.50 per hour (\u00a31 less than the national school rate here), and I discount it to \u00a324.50 per hour for block bookings of ten hours. I have a full diary, about half of which is taken by block-booked lessons. Someone who didn\u2019t have the work might well be tempted to start making offers that attracted some, and there\u2019s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if they then convince themselves that they\u2019re still charging the full price, when they\u2019re really discounting by almost 10%, they\u2019re going to be looking for salaried employment again very soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just saw the biggest load of nonsense on a web forum. Someone has made the statement that independent instructors charge more than those who are franchised to a school, and that independents don\u2019t offer block booking discounts, whereas the schools do. Others have added that this is because independent instructors are \u201cmore experienced\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"April Fools Day Isn't For Months, Yet... more nonsense on the forums","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adi-related"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"Pinocchio's](\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pinocchio.png\" "\\"Pinocchio's")
I just saw the biggest load of nonsense on a web forum. Someone has made the statement that independent instructors charge more than those who are franchised to a school, and that independents don\u2019t offer block booking discounts, whereas the schools do. Others have added that this is because independent instructors are \u201cmore experienced\u201d and \u201cbetter qualified\u201d.<\/p>\n