There are many warning signs of a bad driving instructor.
Bad instructors are going to say the same things as good ones so they’re not easy to spot. Some of the worst instructors genuinely believe they’re good and don’t even know what they’re doing wrong!
Let me share my 20+ years of experience as a driving instructor with you and show you how to spot a poor driving instructor. You can learn even more on other pages like How to find a good driving instructor.
Signs of a bad driving instructor
Here we go with some red flags to look out for when choosing or using a driving instructor.
I’m going to split this into three sections:
Read this guide, watch my videos, and you’ll be more likely to find the best driving instructors while avoiding the cowboys. There’s a point in the section about what to look for after driving lessons that many people don’t think of until it’s too late…
Signs of a bad driving instructor before lessons
The best way to avoid a bad driving instructor is to not even get as far as taking a lesson with them.
Here are a few things you can look for when contacting a driving instructor or driving school. If they don’t mention these things, especially the one about checking your licence, then I would be suspicious of them.
Not checking your provisional driving licence for endorsements
It’s incredible how many driving instructors don’t bother checking driving licences.
I’ve had pupils come to me who don’t even know what a provisional driving licence is and have been driving for months without one!
If you haven’t got a provisional driving licence you’re not insured. That means you and your driving instructor will each get 6 points on your licence and a fine of up to £5,000.
The driving instructor would lose their job because they’d be removed from the ADI register. You could face crippling insurance premiums many times more than they would normally be and even have your driving licence revoked as soon as you pass. You’d then have to take an extended driving test after passing the standard one.
Watch the video below to see me doing these checks with pupils. Just seeing a licence is no good because you can’t tell if someone has any points on their licence from just looking at it.
If you have a provisional licence with no points, or points that allow you to drive still, then you’re ok but how would your driving instructor know that without checking?
See how to do an online driving licence check.
Not checking your eyesight before letting you drive
One of the surest signs of a bad driving instructor is not giving their pupils an eyesight check (pun intended).
I meet people every year who need glasses or contact lenses to correct their vision but they have no idea anything is wrong with their eyesight. Some are shocked and even a bit upset but they’re always thankful I made them aware of the issue.
I once had a pupil that couldn’t read a car number plate from 6 feet away but he’d been driving for months. His eyesight had been fine when he started lessons but he’d damaged it with long gaming sessions since then.
Many bad driving instructors don’t care if you can’t see as long as you pay for the lesson.
You’ll always be given an eyesight test when you take your practical driving test and if you fail that then you’ll fail the whole test before you’ve even sat in the car. It can be quite embarrassing because if you read a car number plate incorrectly twice then they have to get a tape measure out and measure the exact distance for your third attempt!
The eyesight standard required is quite low. Learn about driving eyesight requirements here.
Delaying your theory test
You should have your theory test done when first starting lessons or even before.
You see, the whole point is that you pass the theory and then put it into practice on the road.
One of the signs of a bad driving instructor is that they’ll tell you to delay the theory. Just leave it, don’t do it yet! You’re not ready!
What’s the real reason? They need to drag your lessons out because they haven’t got much work.
You can’t book your practical driving test until the theory test is passed. That means delaying the theory delays your practical test and makes them more money.
You often have to wait months for a practical test so you should book it well in advance. If you wait until you’re ready for a practical test and only then take your theory, you could be taking for lessons for months longer than needed as you wait for your practical test to come round.
Signs of a bad driving instructor during lessons
There are many ways you can tell a bad driving instructor from what they do in lessons.
Some of them are more obvious than others, but here are some things I recommend looking out for.
Not displaying their ADI badge during lessons
Just as you must have a licence to drive, your instructor must have a licence to teach.
All driving instructors must by law display a badge like the one below in the windscreen of the car. Not doing this can result in a fine.
If the badge is green it means they’re fully qualified, a pink/red badge means they’re still training to be an instructor. If they don’t have a badge then they might not even be a driving instructor and could be teaching illegally. There are people that pretend to be instructors so they can get people into their cars to commit crimes so be careful.
Never assume that an instructor is genuine just because they work at a driving school. It has been known for some to fail their exams and not be allowed to teach anymore but they simply don’t tell the school or show a fake badge to begin with. Read about a fake driving instructor.
You can check if a driving instructor is genuine here. Type in their postcode and their details will come up. Not all instructors choose to be listed here because many companies misuse that database to make sales calls and send spam email messages.
Legal changes could be coming in 2025 which will force driving instructors to display their badges on driving tests.
Working at a driving school
Most bad driving instructors work at driving schools. This does not mean that all instructors at schools are bad or that all private instructors are great, it’s just a rule of thumb.
Why would a great driving instructor work at a school?
Let’s compare two facts:
1) Private driving instructors like myself get work because people recommend us.
2) Driving instructors at schools get work because the school spends lots of money on adverts.
Which of those two reasons is the best for choosing an instructor?
Driving schools are sometimes nothing more than a bunch of bad driving instructors hiding behind a name.
There are no interviews to get into driving schools. There are no standards and they’ll just take on anyone.
Why? Because driving schools make money from instructors paying them a weekly fee to be supplied with work. Why would the school care how bad they are? Pay and you’re in! Driving schools often care far more about their instructors than their pupils because that’s how they make money.
You can read more about this on my driving school secrets page.
Learn some of the classic mistakes made by driving instructors.
Teaching to use clutch before the gas
One of the surest signs of a bad driving instructor is that they teach you to move off using the clutch and then the gas.
It says in Essential skills, the official DVSA guide to driving which examiners mark by, that you should press the gas before the clutch. It says it in the car’s manual and doing the clutch first won’t work in many vehicles.
Despite this, many driving instructors insist that it’s clutch first.
Why? There are two reasons:
- Because they’re lazy.
- Because they don’t know what they’re doing.
Every pupil I have ever taught (over 1,000 of them!) wants to use the clutch pedal first. It’s just what learners do but it is wrong and can be dangerous.
A good instructor will constantly remind you that it should be the gas first.
A bad driving instructor can’t be bothered and will just let you do it because you don’t fail a test for it. They’re lazy and can’t be bothered to keep saying the same thing over and over.
That brings us nicely onto the next point but you can read more about using the gas pedal first on my gas then clutch page.
Teaching you how to pass a driving test
A bad driving instructor will justify everything by saying that you’ll fail the test if you don’t do it.
Pupil – “Why do I need to check my blind spot?”
Bad instructor – “Cos you’ll fail your test if you don’t.”
Now here’s how it should be…
Pupil – “Why do I need to check my blind spot?”
Good instructor – “Because there might be something there that stops you from moving off. If you don’t look you could cause a crash.”
Can you see the difference?
A bad driving instructor only cares about getting you through a test. A good driving instructor cares about you being safe after passing.
Just look at how many schools even use the word pass in their name. That is a sign that all they care about it passing and why I chose the word drive and not pass for the name of my school.
This is why bad instructors don’t care about teaching you to use the clutch pedal first; you don’t fail the driving test for it because the examiners don’t mark it. As long as you move off safely on the driving test then the examiner won’t care how you did it.
Silly isn’t it? You can pass a driving test for doing something that only works in your instructors car. That’s just how it is and bad instructors will use that to justify being lazy.
Competing on price not quality
If you want the best things in life then you have to pay for them.
You’re not going to get the best mobile phone for £100.
You’re not going to get the best food at a 5-star restaurant with a 2-for-1 offer.
I never compete on price and make no secret of the fact that lessons with me are not cheap. That’s because people can see how good I am and are willing to pay for quality.
Bad driving instructors will be desperately flogging lessons with offers like 5 lessons for £50 or 10 lessons for £99.
You can read more about this on my page about driving school intro offers and why to avoid them.
The cheapest isn’t the best. If that was true then the most expensive would be the worst. What sense does that make?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had pupils come to me that have paid £2,000 at a cheap school for lessons that went on for years and they’ve learnt nothing.
After 1 hour with me, they say they’ve learnt more than in two years with the other instructor.
Having no videos, or videos showing their poor teaching
I was one of the first driving instructors on YouTube, starting in May 2008.
Other instructors have since copied me but bad instructors won’t have videos at all.
Why do you think that is?
They’ll say they aren’t good on computers or that it’s because of privacy rules etc.
We all know some instructors don’t make videos because they just don’t want you seeing how rubbish they are!
Some driving instructors make lots of videos showing them grabbing for the steering wheel in the thumbnails. They attract views by shock content and titles like “Learner nearly kills examiner!”.
All that does is show how poor they are because a good driving instructor wouldn’t end up in situations where they’re constantly having to reach for the wheel, or have to rely on shock content to get work.
Pass rates
Bad driving instructors throw out made-up pass rates to impress you.
The simple fact is that pass rates mean nothing because driving instructors can choose whether or not a pupil’s driving test result is recorded.
Think that sounds daft? Watch this video to learn more.
Focusing on a fancy car (one of the surest signs of a bad driving instructor!)
Bad driving instructors often have a fancy car to hide the fact they’re rubbish.
You’ve probably heard jokes about how small men buy massive cars with huge engines to compensate for their smallness. Well, the same is true for driving instructors!
I see some instructors driving around in top-of-the-range Mercedes, Audi’s and BMW’s and it makes me laugh.
My car is a Ford Fiesta because my teaching skills are what matters. I don’t need a fancy-pants car to compensate for a lack of skill.
That’s not to say my car isn’t great because it is. It has some great features like being able to call for an ambulance after a crash and can even steer itself to keep you in your lane.
It’s just that I don’t feel the need to advertise “Learn in a BMW! Learn in a VW Golf!” because I’d rather let my great teaching do the talking.
The very best instructors often drive old bangers or basic little cars. Is it because we cant afford a better car? No.
We get on with teaching people quietly while these other “best instructors” rely on their car’s technology, gimmicks and badges to impress people.
Choose a great instructor, not a great car.
They’re just driving instructors or not just driving instructors
Many of the worst driving instructors are just driving instructors and nothing else.
While there’s nothing wrong with just qualifying as a driving instructor and that’s it, those of us who are really keen go way beyond just the basic qualifications you need to become a driving instructor.
You can do extra training in teaching, coaching, take further advanced driving courses or any number of things.
In my case, I’m also a professional hypnotherapist so I know how your mind works. I fix people’s driving fears and phobias just by talking to them over the internet.
Some instructors barely ever work as instructors and only have it as a backup job when demand for their other work is low. Many instructors are builders, electricians, plumbers and all sorts. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but if you are keen on finding the best then you’re hardly likely to get the best from someone who only teaches for a few weeks each year and whose heart isn’t really in it.
Look for a driving instructor who is dedicated to teaching people, doesn’t just do it to make money and has additional skills that complement being a driving instructor.
Signs of a bad driving instructor after lessons
You’ll only know how good your driving instructor was once you’ve been driving for a few years after passing.
Many driving instructors think they’re great just because they get people through a driving test. They focus on the test, they talk about passing all the time, and some even put the word “pass” in the name of their school.
Did you know you can pass a driving test without driving a single large roundabout, without having to reverse into a parking space (bay or parallel) or do an emergency stop?
Learn with a good driving instructor and you’ll not only learn how to trick your way through a driving test, but how to actually drive!
You’ll also have developed a system of assessing your driving and improving where necessary, rather than becoming yet another driver who thinks they’re perfect because they passed a test and everyone else is the problem.
Learn with a poor instructor, and you can look forward to car crashes, increasing insurance premiums, and you may even pay the ultimate price.
Signs of a bad driving instructor in summary
Here are the main points:
- Make sure they check your driving licence before you drive
- Choose a driving instructor, not a driving school
- Make sure they’re teaching by the book, not by their opinion
- Focus on learning how to drive not how to pass a test
- You get what you pay for so don’t choose a cheap instructor
- Get your theory test done ASAP and don’t use any instructor who tells you not to
If you follow my advice above then you’ll avoid the majority of bad driving instructors.
Learn more on other pages such as How to find a good driving instructor.