Driving Instructor tax return January deadline

This is a quick reminder to all driving instructors who haven't filed a paper tax return for the year ended April 2009 that you have until the end of January 31st 2010 to file an online return.



Failure to meet this deadline means an automatic penalty fine of £100, and you will still be liable for tax due on any profits made in the year from your driving school as well as interest.

So either chase up your accountant or log on to the HM customs website now before it is too late. I assume you have been keeping accurate records of your business activities for the year 2008/09? It is best if you file your driving instructor tax return online manually or via commercial software.

Driving Lessons in snow

Last week the weather conditions gave me a chance of giving a few learner drivers some driving lessons in snow and icy conditions for the very first time of their lives.

You might be asking if it is a good idea to take provisional licence holders out in such conditions, and the answer is yes because this might be the only time that they would be able to learn how to deal with both the weather conditions and other road user who might be driving dangerously as I was able to prove to one learner driver from an experience instructor.



We exprienced a driver going too fast for the conditions, braking and swerving into parked cars. We also saw a black cab taxi driver reversing into a main road, and had we been speeding, we would have crashed into it despite us using the horn to try and stop it from doing the reversing maneuver which is also illegal.

This is also the time when a learner driver can pt into practice some of the theory test knowledge about stopping distances and avoid being in an accident from being unsafe on black ice.

Sadly the bad weather meant a lot of driving test cancellations for many who had appointments over the weekend, as the DSA takes the safety of it's examiners very seriously, and would not allow them to conduct practical assessments if the conditions were not perfect. I'm hoping that conditions start to improve, as snow is not good news for our business.

Driving Test cancellations in Winter

With Christmas fast approaching, there is no doubt that winter is finally here, and as such there is always a chance of the DSA cancelling a driving test on short notice due to snow or icy road conditions in the folowing months of the year, decemcer, January and possibly febuary.



The unfortunate thing is that you will not be compensated by the DSA if your test is cancelled on short notice due to weather, so if the weather had been bad overnight, and you have a test early in the morning, you should call the number on your driving test appointment letter to confirm your assessment is still going ahead, this might save you a wasted journey, though your driving instructor is most likely to still charge you for his diary time already booked.

For a driving school owner, this is that time of the year when I often have to cancel driving lessons due to snow, which is bad for business, but what can one due as the circumstances are beyond one's control, and you can't risk damaging your school car for the sake of a £20 lesson, especially if you have a hefty insurance excess premium to pay.

If you drive in artic weather conditions, make sure you are safe, and keep the speed reasonable, you should anticipate and plan your journey well, avoiding harsh breaking, as the roads might not have the necessary traction to deal with this even if you have a 4 wheel drive car and ABS for the test, skidding is to be avoided at all costs.

Driving Lessons should boost confidence

If you are paying for driving lessons with an instructor, then you should not only be learning the skills necessary to keep you safe on the road and pass the dsa practical car test, but these lessons should also act as a confidence booster.

I have seen many new learner drivers come to me who claim to have been taught by qualified dsa approved instructors, yet they seem to lack confidence in either the knowledge or skills they have been taught, and this reflects in the decisions they make while out on the road.

A typical example was someone taking driving lessons in hampstead who had driven many times home through the narrow NW3 streets, yet was not confident of when he had the right of way at a meeting situation, even when he was nearer to the narrower part of the road than the oncoming vehicle, always stopping to the let the other car through (even if that meant slowing down road users behind us). Many people think that being safe is okay by acting over cautiously while on the roads, the truth is that if you always drive with hesitation, you will cause drivers behind you to overtake at places not suitable because you are slowing them down unnecessarily, and the DSA examiners will mark this against you.

So I like to check peoples knowledge, and re-assure them when they do the right thing, that it is okay, like using the car horn to stop a pedestrian from walking into the road while talking on the mobile phone and not paying attention to what is happening around them.

Make sure that your driving lessons are boosting your confidence, and that your instructor is saying some positive things about your driving skills, not just negative feedback during the debrief at the end of a day's session and while training is taking place.

Driving Instructors are targets

Due to the current economic credit crunch, driving instructors are good targets for those who want to make some quick money. The reason for this is not far fetched, driving lessons are some of the first things that people will stop spending money on when they feel a squeeze on their pocket, and with there being so many instructors in the market, there will always be quite a few who could do with more learner drivers, so you will have marketers trying to get money out of them with promises of getting more business.



I have had my fair share of letters in the post from franchises claiming they have too many students and not enough instructors, phone calls from online internet directories asking me to pay to get a number one spot on google, emails from people peddling eBooks that have secrets to having pupils ponding on your door and a full instructor diary.

As a business owner you need to always make sure that you totally research any marketing methods you intend to spend your money on. Obviously you need to advertise one way or the other to make sure services known to potential client, but the truth is our industry will always suffer in a recession, and the more competition you have due to efforts of organisations like red driving school, the harder you will have to work to keep your head above the water. Remember winter months have always been a slow time, so don't bow to pressure from a very good salesperson promising a full diary if you pay to put an enhanced entry in a directory because they get a million hits a month.

One of the most effecting driving instructor marketing solutions is still your school website, couple that with a few offline marketing ideas, and you should be able to make the most of the current credit crunch situation.