Recently I got an email from a driving instructor. She provides some very valuable tips to learn driving. I thought it might be helpful to create a post to publish her tips her to help learners to get their driving licences easier.

I’m a driving instructor with about 20yrs teaching experience in our 4 biggest states and in the heart of their cities. I’m not one of the “cheap” or cheapest schools (more like the other end) but generally u get what u pay for.

My focus is on quality instead of price and I find this is what keeps people coming back to me & referring their friends. As I result, I’m usually very busy if not fully booked out. I’ve found that when businesses focus on price, generally the quality suffers greatly.

If they discount on price then often what the customer receives is also quite discounted. Being multilingual (as am I) is great but some have very poor English speaking skills or even are illiterate, shout at their students & even touch them inappropriately and so must provide a discount for these reasons in order to get clients. Some are operating illegally & not even qualified and are moonlighting in shonky, unsafe, dirty, “cheap” vehicles.

I’ve read ur home page and I can see ur trying to help the consumer by collating available schools. I think this is a good thing but I think it is what the student gets that is more important. I thought if I could add a few things? If I could suggest the following things the students should be looking to learn in their “professional” driving lessons:

• Explanation of car controls & Starting procedure.
• Observation skills, different Steering Techniques for different turns. You don’t take a tight corner the same as a faster bend.
• Using the brake, accelerator & clutch/gears correctly.
• Negotiating Roundabouts & Traffic light intersections.
• Lane changing & merging, thinking ahead.
• Defensive driving techniques & how to prevent being involved in an accident.
• Parking & test routes & procedures.

Also I often get students who have done a lot of driving with their parents who have taught them bad habits that then I need to undo. This is all too common and I get students calling up a couple of weeks before their test or even shockingly, “a couple of hours” before their test. As an example, one lady had done a full 70hrs of automatic driving with her dad using 2 feet!

Many don’t know they need to check their blind spots because their parents have told them that they can see everything from their mirrors.

I think it’s great that parents are getting involved but I would recommend that the students have at least a couple (2) lessons before they start with their parents and go with the best instructor they can find who can put them on the right track and perhaps even give them some written material as a basic frame work of what needs to be learnt that the student can use with their parents.

After all, if u want to do any job it’s best to be pointed first in the right direction rather than stumbling around in the dark & making a whole lot of mistake (which definitely can easily cost more than 2 lessons) rather than then trying to get a professional to fix the mistakes (Eg Think DIY at home). Too many new drivers crash or seriously injure themselves or even die to save what might have cost only about $100-$200 :/

We need to think what our safety is really worth and what it is we are trying to save? It can be not that expensive after all if u to it the right way from the start. I guess it’s the quality of what we get rather than how cheap it was?

It is “cheaper” in the end to get 10 good quality lessons instead of 50 cheap, junky ones where u don’t learn much and can end up also with anxiety & stress issues. I have LOTS of students like this.

The above tips are kindly provided by Julia from A. Auto JULIA’S DRIVING SCHOOL (juliasdrivingschool.com.au).

Here is another great tips from Geoff from Penrith Driving School:

One thing I do notice on your website is the word “cheap” and from what I have seen and heard over the past year or so if students buy “cheap” lessons that’s exactly what they get.
Seems to be about getting them in on “cheap” lessons and wasting their time teaching them things they don’t need therefore it costs them more in the long run.

It should be about quality lessons and mentioning that the cheapest aren’t always the best as you may learn more from better quality lessons which can reduce the number of lessons.

As I say on my website “think about a public school compared to a private school you will learn at both but the difference can be the instructors and what you are taught”

What your thought about doing driving lessons and finding driving instructors? Please leave your comments below.