Despite the constant influx of new students, the driving school as a business is experiencing high competition from other driving schools. In addition, the peculiarities of running this business require a careful approach to planning and conducting marketing research at the initial stage.
A feature of the business of a driving school is the need to obtain a license and permits, which are issued only if the driving school fulfills all the requirements of the law.
The driving school should have a fairly spacious room with equipped classrooms that have all the necessary teaching aids and equipment. To teach practical driving skills, a driving school needs to have or rent a training ground, as well as have a sufficient number of cars equipped for training with the help of an instructor.
Since a driving school must already have everything it needs by the time it receives a license, the importance of a preliminary market research cannot be overestimated.
Finding all the information you need and planning carefully will reduce the overhead of starting a business.
The dimensions of the premises should ensure the training of all recruited groups of the driving school. As a rule, the number of students in a group is up to 30 people. Therefore, classrooms should be sufficiently spacious and equipped.
Since classes in a driving school are usually held in the evening, the most rational option is to rent classes from schools, colleges, and other educational institutions.
However, since the term of the driving school license is 5 years, you need to take care of the long-term lease of the premises, especially since the necessary teaching aids and inventory must be placed in the classrooms.
As for the training ground, it should also be equipped with the necessary equipment for performing exercises. The creation of such a training ground is quite expensive, so most driving schools unite and share training grounds among themselves, thereby reducing the cost of their maintenance.
True, it should be taken into account that driving schools usually do not welcome the emergence of a new competitor, so it is necessary to agree on the lease of the site in advance, at the stage of marketing research.
Organizing practical driving is one of the most difficult parts of a driving school business.
In order for students to pass the required number of hours of practical driving, it is necessary to have a sufficient number of cars.
These vehicles may be the property of a driving school, or they may be the property of driving instructors.
If you have your own cars, the driving school does not bear the risks associated with the dismissal of instructors who leave with the cars. However, in this case, the driving school will have to spend money on the maintenance of cars, their maintenance, repairs, the maintenance of a mechanic, the availability of garages. Therefore, most driving schools hire instructors who have their own equipped cars and licenses for the right to teach.
Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so driving schools often use the second option more often at the first stage of creation, and, as they develop, they buy and equip their own cars.
The choice of one or another option affects the value of the initial costs of creating a driving school.
The initial costs include the necessary costs for renting the premises, purchasing the necessary teaching aids, inventory, repairing and equipping classrooms, arranging or renting a driving training ground, as well as other costs that have to be borne in the period before obtaining a license. The initial costs also include the cost of advertising, through which potential customers learn about the new driving school.
Current costs will consist of the cost of renting the premises and the training ground, staff salaries, expenses for fuel and lubricants, vehicle maintenance, medical examinations of drivers, utility bills, current advertising.
Depending on the number of groups and the size of the rented premises, as well as the timing of obtaining a license, the initial cost of opening a driving school can be estimated at several thousand dollars. The size of the initial costs depends very much on the opportunities and connections that the founders of the driving school have.
The income of the driving school consists of tuition fees received from the cadets of the driving school. As a rule, these incomes make the driving school business profitable within the first six months of operation.
The initial costs pay off within up to two years, after which the driving school begins to make a profit.
Successful driving schools often begin to expand their business after several years of work by opening new classes, purchasing cars, acquiring land to create their own driving training sites.
You can make a preliminary assessment of the profitability of a driving school as a business using the calculator on our website.
You can also order more accurate calculations and a ready-made business plan on our website.
