Pete S:
I’d love to know what you get for £1750.Pete
6 days training plus tests.
Considering earnings over the course of a driving career, the difference in price will be sweeties. Continuity of employment and at a decent rate is probably more what you should concern yourself with, more than with the headline price of training and test. Despite this new scheme, I would 100% back doing a few months on class 2 and then doing class 1. Just have an aim of where you want to be in say 18 months. You could be in a full-time secure job on class 1 in that time easily (and not with a 50p more than minimum wage outfit either).
Personally I winged it on agency when I got my class 1 and there were a couple of difficult moments for sure. However, the 7.5 tonne work and class 2 work I had done really assisted me because there were many aspects of the job I knew, so I could concentrate more on the driving and reversing. This may not be for everyone because it does involve going straight out unaccompanied. In terms of speed to get myself at a decent level it was quite effective though.
I have also posted recently about the realities of driving. This still rings true, but things are improving. Just be aware of what you are getting into that is all. If it suits you it suits you sort of thing.
Pete S wrote:
I’d love to know what you get for £1750.Pete
6 days training plus tests.
What is a “day” (1:1, 2:1, breaks, how many hours)
What facilities are on site? (reversing area, spare vehicle)
What vehicles on fleet?
Is Pass Protection on offer?
Are the instructors qualified and registered? And is there a reserve instructor in case of Covid etc
Is the training centre accredited?
Can they carry out the 3a test on site?
Can they carry out Mod 4 test on site?
What is the verifiable pass rate?
Are they established in delivery of B to CE?
Who are they?
If all these come back positive, it’s a bargain.
Pete S
David DeHavilland:
nobody else has responded except PSTT who are charging around £1,000 more than my current offer and also in March.
I’ve got no affiliation to PSTT, though I have a good friend who works for another driving school who take a similar quality approach to their truck training; their prices are not too dissimilar to PSTTs, so AFAIAC something around the £2.5k mark is just a sign of quality.
By all means vote with your feet and go with this £1000 cheaper school, but Caveat Emptor! You get what you pay for…
EDIT: Pete, I’ve gotta challenge you on the “established with B to CE training”, it’s such a new gig, no-one is “established” by my definition of the word
Pete, I’ve gotta challenge you on the “established with B to CE training”, it’s such a new gig, no-one is “established” by my definition of the word
Maybe “established” wasn’t the correct word. Let’s swap it for "experienced. Speaking personally, I was teaching car to artic from 1974 to 1997 all day, every day. So I can claim to be experienced.
Many, in fact, most instructors will have never done this before.
Pete S
It’s certainly new to all the truck trainers I know, but that’s not surprising, the youngest one I know is about 45 so they would have been about 20 or 21 when car to artic was stopped.