How to Know if Your Driving Instructor is Right for You
Driving lessons cost a lot of money, so it's important that you're investing it wisely.
And, to an extent, you get what you pay for.
If someone is offering driving lessons for $50 an hour while everyone else around them is charging significantly more, you should probably be asking why. Are they actually a qualified driving instructor? Are they insured? Are they running a legitimate business? Or are they just not very good?
Cheap driving lessons aren't necessarily good value if you're paying someone to waste your time.
There are plenty of great driving instructors out there, but that doesn't necessarily mean every instructor is going to be the right instructor for you.
Everyone learns differently. The teaching style that works perfectly for one learner might not work at all for another. And over the years, I've had students tell me some absolute horror stories about previous driving instructors.
I've heard stories of instructors yelling at students and making them cry.
Instructors spending the entire lesson on their phone.
Instructors using lessons to run their own errands.
One instructor would sometimes turn up more than an hour late.
One instructor apparently made her 16-year-old student buy her bottles of brandy if she hit the kerb.
Seriously.
Most driving instructors aren't going to be anywhere near that bad. But you also shouldn't assume that because someone calls themselves a driving instructor, they're automatically someone you should be handing your money to.
So how do you know if your driving instructor is right for you? Ask yourself a few questions.
Do You Feel Comfortable?
You're going to make mistakes when you're learning to drive. You're going to misunderstand instructions, forget things you've already learned and occasionally do something that makes absolutely no sense afterwards. That's part of learning.
I've heard so many stories from students about previous instructors yelling at them, getting angry when they make mistakes or making them feel so uncomfortable that they've ended up crying during their lessons.
How are you supposed to learn like that?
You should feel comfortable asking questions. You should be able to say you don't understand something. You should be able to ask your instructor to explain something differently without worrying about how they're going to react.
You don't need to become best friends with your driving instructor. But you should feel comfortable learning with them.
Do You Feel Safe?
There's a difference between being nervous because you're learning something new and genuinely feeling unsafe.
Your instructor should challenge you as your skills improve, but what they're asking you to do should be appropriate for your current level of ability.
I've had students tell me their previous instructor forced them onto the freeway the very first time they ever drove a car.
Why?
There is absolutely no need to throw a brand-new learner into a situation like that.
At the other extreme, one student told me her instructor wouldn't even let her use the pedals. She would steer the car while the instructor controlled the pedals.
Neither extreme is particularly useful.
Your instructor should gradually introduce you to more difficult situations as your skills develop. You should be challenged, but you should also trust that your instructor is paying attention, knows what you're capable of and can step in if something goes wrong.
And if you're under 18 — or you're the parent of a learner who is under 18 — ask to see your instructor's Working With Children Card.
I've been doing this for over seven years and not a single parent has ever asked to see mine.
Think about that.
Parents will quite happily ship off their 16-year-old daughter with a complete stranger of a man for 90 minutes without ever asking to see his Working With Children Card.
Ask.
A legitimate instructor who works with children should have no problem showing it to you.
Do You Feel Under Pressure?
Learning to drive comes with some pressure.
Eventually, you need to make decisions independently. You need to deal with traffic. You need to handle situations you haven't encountered before. That's part of becoming a driver.
But constantly feeling rushed, stressed or afraid of making a mistake isn't a productive learning environment.
The same goes for being pressured into doing something you don't feel ready for.
I had a student who was doing lessons with me while also using another instructor. The other instructor kept gassing her up, telling her she was ready for her Practical Driving Assessment (PDA). The problem was, she didn't feel ready. And when she was driving with me, there were still areas of her driving that weren't up to standard, so we kept working through them. Eventually, she ditched the other instructor and just continued working with me.
An instructor telling you you're ready doesn't magically make you ready. Sometimes learners do lack confidence and need a little push. But your instructor should be able to explain why they think you're ready, what standard your driving is currently at and what you still need to work on before your PDA.
Are You Being Allowed to Make Mistakes?
This one is important.
Your instructor shouldn't prevent every mistake before it happens. Obviously, they need to intervene when safety is involved. But when it's safe to do so, sometimes the best thing an instructor can do is let you make the mistake. Then you can talk about what happened, why it happened and what you could do differently next time.
If you're constantly being told exactly what to do, you can become very good at following instructions without becoming very good at making decisions.
This is especially important if you're also learning to drive with Mum or Dad between professional lessons.
Your instructor shouldn't be creating a learner who can only drive when that particular instructor is sitting beside them.
Eventually, your instructor won't be sitting beside you. You need to learn to drive without them.
Are You Learning Something New Each Time?
This doesn't mean you need to learn an entirely new skill every lesson. Sometimes progress means improving something you've already learned. Sometimes it means becoming more consistent. Sometimes it means doing the same thing with less help from your instructor.
But there should be progress.
I've had plenty of students come to me after doing lessons with another instructor and tell me that almost all they've worked on is parking and the Left Something Behind exercise.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Hardly any actual driving.
Parking is important. Left Something Behind is important. They're both things you may encounter during your PDA. But they're only part of learning to drive.
You need experience making decisions in traffic. Intersections. Roundabouts. Lane changes. Different roads. Different traffic conditions. Hazard recognition. Positioning. Planning ahead.
Your lessons should be developing you into a driver, not just teaching you a couple of exercises that might appear on your PDA. After each lesson, you should have some idea of what improved, what still needs work and what you're working towards next.
Are You Actually Getting What You're Paying For?
A driving lesson isn't cheap. So if your instructor spends half the lesson on their phone, regularly turns up late or uses your lesson to run their errands, you're not getting what you're paying for.
And think about how much of your time you're getting value from as well.
I hear about driving instructors taking a whole carload of learners up to Northam, spending the entire day up there, and everyone takes turns driving at some point.
That's an entire day.
Is that really the best use of your time?
You've given up an entire day to do SOME driving around NORTHAM — which isn't particularly reflective of driving around Perth in the first place. How much of that day did you actually spend behind the wheel? How much did you actually learn? And could you have achieved more with a focused 60 or 90-minute lesson closer to home?
More time doesn't automatically mean more value.
Things happen, of course. Everyone gets caught in traffic occasionally. Everyone can run late. But there's a difference between something happening occasionally and it becoming normal.
You're paying for your instructor's time and attention — and you're giving them your time as well.
You should be getting value from both.
The Right Instructor for You
A good instructor isn't necessarily the instructor with the highest pass rate, the most experience or the cheapest lessons.
It's the instructor who helps you learn.
You should feel comfortable enough to ask questions, safe enough to challenge yourself and supported enough to make mistakes. You should understand what you're working on and why you're working on it. And over time, you should notice something important happening: You need your instructor less and less.
That's ultimately what you're paying for — not someone to sit beside you and tell you how to drive, but someone who teaches you how to drive without them.
Ready to Learn?
Part of the reason I developed GOAT Driving was to eliminate the risk of getting a bad driving instructor.
If you do most of your driving with Mum or Dad, or you're on an overseas licence and can already drive yourself, why gamble on whether the driving instructor you choose is actually competent?
You can sign up to the GOAT Driving online course, get access to the same professional-level information I teach my on-road students, and that might be all you need.
I've had people use ONLY the online course and go on to pass their PDA.
Some people use it alongside professional driving lessons. Some use it to help Mum or Dad teach them. Some already know how to drive and just need to understand what WA assessors expect.
No matter what level of experience you're starting from, the information is there and it's easy to use.
You don't necessarily need to pay someone to sit beside you week after week just to access professional driving instruction.
And if that's enough to get you through your PDA, even better.
Prefer On-Road Lessons?
And if you've read all of this and thought, "This sounds like the kind of driving instructor I'd like to learn with" — I also offer on-road driving lessons.
You can learn with me directly and use the online lessons between our sessions to keep working on what we've covered.
Very useful 👌