Become a Driving Instructor
In Your Own Town
We are looking for people in Bedford, Northampton and Leighton Buzzard who want to train as driving instructors and teach where they already live. Train with us, qualify with us, and there is a place on our team waiting in your own area.
We want instructors who already live there
Right now, lessons in Bedford and Northampton cost more because our instructors travel out from Milton Keynes to teach them. We would much rather have someone based in the town itself — no travelling, no area rate, and a diary full of pupils who live five minutes away.
Bedford
We already teach in Bedford, Kempston, Bromham and the surrounding villages, but we travel to get there. A local instructor would pick up that work straight away.
Northampton
Our least developed area and the biggest opportunity. Whoever trains with us here would be building a diary from the ground up with our name behind them.
Leighton Buzzard
Steady demand and close enough to Milton Keynes for easy support while you train, but far enough that a local instructor makes a real difference.
What qualifying actually involves
Becoming an approved driving instructor means passing three DVSA exams. It is a real qualification and plenty of people do not make it through. We would rather tell you that now than take your money and find out later.
Part 1 — Theory
100 multiple choice questions and a hazard perception test. You need 85 out of 100, with at least 20 in each of the four sections, plus 57 out of 75 on hazard perception. Unlimited attempts.
Part 2 — Your driving
An advanced driving test to a far higher standard than your learner test. No more than six minor faults and nothing serious. Three attempts only.
Part 3 — Your teaching
A 45-minute lesson with a real pupil, marked on 17 competencies out of 51. You need 31 to pass. Three attempts only — and this is the one that catches most people out, which is why your final preparation is done with a former DVSA examiner.
The two-year clock
Once you pass Part 1, the whole process has to be completed within two years. Use up your three attempts at Part 3 and you must stop teaching immediately and wait until two years after your Part 1 before starting again from scratch. This is why we care more about you being properly ready than about you moving quickly.
The costs that aren’t ours
These go to DVSA, not to us, and they are the same wherever you train. We have listed them so you can see the real cost of qualifying before you speak to anybody.
Part 1 test
£81
Part 2 test
£111
Part 3 test
£111
Trainee licence
£140 — optional, lasts 6 months
ADI registration
£300 — once you qualify, lasts 4 years
Retakes
Full fee again each time. Another reason not to rush a test you are not ready for.
Training, and somewhere to work afterwards
The 40 hours you need
Before you can apply for a trainee licence you need at least 40 hours of training from a qualified ADI, ten of them in a car, completed within the previous six months. That is what we deliver, and we document it properly on your DVSA paperwork.
A Part 3 specialist
We have an instructor on the team whose focus is Part 3 preparation. Our own instructors have been through it recently and remember exactly where it gets hard.
Final prep with a former DVSA examiner
For the closing stage before your Part 3, we bring in a former DVSA examiner — someone who spent years sitting in the back marking this exact test. You get a realistic run-through and an honest verdict on whether you are ready, from the person best placed to judge it.
Trainee licence support
If you want to teach while you train, we will help you apply for a trainee licence and provide the supervision or additional training DVSA requires. You would be teaching under our name, in your own town.
A place when you qualify
Pass Part 3 and there is a franchise place waiting at £60 a week, capped — the same as every other instructor here. No obligation, and no penalty if you decide to go elsewhere.
What we won’t promise you
Some training providers will tell you what you want to hear. Here is where we stand.
We can’t guarantee you a trainee licence
DVSA decides who gets one and they can refuse. We will help you put in the strongest application we can, but nobody can promise you the outcome.
We can’t guarantee you’ll pass
You get three attempts at Part 2 and three at Part 3. We will not put you in for a test we do not think you are ready for, because a wasted attempt costs you more than a delay does — and on Part 3 that judgement is made with a former DVSA examiner, not just by us.
We won’t quote you a price online
What you need depends on where you are starting from. We would rather work out what you actually need and give you a straight figure than advertise a headline number with conditions underneath it.
We’ll tell you if it isn’t for you
If we do not think this is the right move for you, we will say so. We would rather lose a course fee than take money from someone who will not make it through.
Who can apply
Train as a driving instructor near you
SAR Driving School provides ADI Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 instructor training for people in Bedford, Northampton, Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas. If you are researching how to become a driving instructor, preparing for your Part 3, or thinking about a career change into driving instruction, we are happy to talk it through with no pressure and no sales pitch.
Tell us where you’re starting from
Whether you are just curious or already part-way through your exams, send us a message and we will tell you honestly what would be involved and what it would cost.