Do driving instructors make good money?

Green Finers

A private driving instructor charges on average €50 an hour. This is inclusive of 23% VAT. So €40 goes to the instructor.

Insurance for an instructor is roughly €10,000 per annum or €208 per week based on a 48 week year.

Fuel could be ca. €100 per week.

Lets say an instructor gets 30 hours per week, that’s €40x30=€1,200.

Take away the fuel and insurance and it’s not that great, good, but not great.

Miscreant

You asked and answered your own question at the same time. Well done. :)

bazz26

Only when they wear their seat belt.

con747

You do like your thread starting for us gullible fools.

Ubbquittious

10k for inshoorance WoW. Yet you very rarely hear of an instructors car crashing. The insurance industry really has instructors by the liathróidi

They might not have to charge vat if they are not registered as a company and they can expense the fuel and insurance but maybe not the car

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058233546/do-driving-instructors-make-good-money

Good job they don't have to pay for the car or maintain it.

ongarite

10K insurance? Are you mad!

My Dad was an instructor & insurance was a tenth of that.

Gant21

They drive at 200kph in a micra boi

John_Rambo

I'd imagine it's a hard job with a lot of finger pointing due to failure and equal gouging accusations due to incapability when more lessons are suggested. Unless the instructor manages to get some sort of retainer from a corporation, school or a minority focused specialised niche clientele (for example an Indian, Chinese or Filipino instructor breaking cultural & language barriers) it's an incredibly hard groundhog day slog with very little income after all the outgoings that come with a heavily insurable and taxable motor vehicle business.

colm_mcm

How do you even organise your day and fill your schedule? I don’t think they’re flat out all day doing lessons.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118650353#Comment_118650353

What does being a company have to do with registering for VAT?

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651144#Comment_118651144

Earn over 35k a year or a certain amount in two months from what I can remember my accountant said. When said happened I left it up to him and he sorted it.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651156#Comment_118651156

But what difference does it make if you are a company or sole trade?

Padraig Mor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651174#Comment_118651174

You don't need to register for VAT unless your income is over a certain amount - think it's €35 as mentioned for services (i.e. driving instructor), €75k for goods.

Edit: get what you're saying, yeah shouldn't make a difference as a company.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651417#Comment_118651417

It is €37,500 but this applies for companies and sole trades so wondering what the poster meant in his comment

callaway92

I’d imagine where you start to make money is when you become a chain/have a fleet of cars and staff.

Margins would be tight but if you got the market you’d probably do well.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651174#Comment_118651174

The poster obviously meant registered as a business, they are not trying to distinguish between a sole trader or ltd company.

What they mean is if they are a registered business and earn under a certain amount they don’t need to register for VAT.

zg3409

In terms of a handy number I doubt it is.

There is basically no barrier to entry, anyone with a driving licence can do the same and compete for a limited customers. You continuously need new customers and need to keep a good word of mouth reputation. You need to deal with stressed people all day long.

It's crazy shift work, weekday evenings from say 5pm to darkness, and all day Saturday and Sunday possibly with gaps of hours between lessons. You may need to drive to meet each client (they don't have a licence), and at the start you may have zero work. Even if you are good and in demand you are limited how many customers you can handle per evening.

You probably can't have a day job as sometimes learners use the car for driving tests which are weird times weekdays and you need to bring them the car.

It's not very family friendly. A better similar job might be bus driver or delivery driver. A least you would have low risk and fairly defined income. Learning to drive is less popular with young people, although number of lessons needed have gone up. I would be worried about students getting to work on scooters and demand dropping for lessons as people own apartments with no parking spaces

Miscreant

I think there is a process for becoming an ADI (Approved Driving Instructor) with the RSA as well and passing a Garda vetting is probably in there somewhere considering you would be working with potentially vulnerable members of the public.

Not sure it would be a job I would go for and as said above, the hours would be all over the place but I'm sure it would suit some.... Definitely not a career to make you rich though (if money is a motivator for you).

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653591#Comment_118653591

Have you a source to back up your claims that demand for learning to drive has dropped or is dropping? Its quite the opposite in fact with more and more cars being on our roads each year.

Anyone I know doing driving lessons are facing weeks worth of waiting lists.