Open driving school in 2022

Driving license exam is passed by around 1.5 million candidates every year. The driving school market is a very dynamic market. Do you want to open your own driving school? Before we begin, we give you all the information you need to know.

Who can open or take a driving school?

Driving school openings are regulated. Keep in mind that as a driving school manager, you have to meet certain prerequisites.

First, in terms of marital status, you must be at least 23 years of age and not convicted of a traffic violation, offense or banned from business activity. The diploma required to open a driving school corresponds to either an approved Level III Diploma or training to open a CQP approved driving school “Head of Road Safety and Driving Teaching Unit”, bearing on the management and operation of driving establishments. An approved Level III training corresponds to a BTS or DUT training in the legal, economic, accounting and commercial sectors.

If you also want to become an instructor at your driving school, keep in mind that you will need to obtain authorization to teach driving like your instructors. To get this, you must be over 20 years old and have not been convicted of a traffic violation. In addition, you must have a B license and a driving instruction diploma (CAPEC, BSAT, BEPECASAR, CAPPP, ECSR) for more than 3 years. You will also have to pass a mandatory medical examination during which your physical abilities will be tested.

What is the legal status of opening a driving school?

Several legal statutes are conducive to opening a driving school. You can decide to open a company like SASU, SAS, SARL or even a EURL.

You also need to remember to register your company with the CFE (Centre de Formalités des Entreprises) and the Registry of the Commercial Court.

What are the rules for opening a driving school?

The conditions for opening a driving school are very strict.

First of all, it is mandatory that the order approving your establishment appears on your premises. To obtain this authorization, you must make a request to the departmental directorate of the province of the department where your driving school is located.

With regard to the vehicles you use, everyone must have a road license. They will be subjected to technical inspection after 4 years of entry and then every two years.

In the event of an accident and damage caused to a third party by your students, it is imperative that you are covered by insurance covering the damage caused.

When you take over a new candidate, it is necessary to conclude a contract with them after a preliminary assessment specifying the exact elements defined by the decree. Furthermore, when you train your future students, you must respect and adhere to the content defined by the teaching manual. Indeed, the content and its organization are defined by decree.

Open Driving School in 4 Steps

1 – Survey the market

To be able to refine your strategy, it is important that you do a market study. This will allow you to determine primarily the type of your future customers, their age, their habits, their expectations. It will also allow you to determine the level of competition, your forecast turnover, and refine your strategy in terms of offers and price. We recommend that you also pay attention to the competition on the Internet, especially for Highway Codes.

2 – Establish a concept

Firstly, to define your concept, you have to choose whether you are going to open a physical or online driving school. In recent years, the concept is becoming more and more popular because it saves cost. Be aware, however, that physical driving schools are largely the norm.

Then you need to define your proposal. You can choose to offer only B permit training or other permits to diversify your offer. For License B, will you offer manual and automatic licenses? In addition, internships and quick internships are becoming more and more popular to get points. So these are also interesting avenues to study. You can also pass the ASSR and be offered simultaneous and supervised driving. In the medium term, building a series of driving schools could also be a project.

It would also be interesting to be eligible for financing for your driving school through a Vocational Training Account (CPF) or a device with a permit of 1€ per day. However, don’t forget that the quality of your trainers as well as your success rate will be an essential element in attracting your clients.

3 – Work on finance

To make your project last longer, you need to work on your finances. It is important that you prepare a financing plan specifically keeping in mind substantial investments such as premises and vehicles. However, do not forget to keep the expenses contained in the material such as insurance of premises, insurance fleet, fuel expenses, vehicle maintenance, professional and administrative training.

All of these expenses should be included in your provisional financing plan as well as your business plan. In this business plan, you will need to describe your project, your strategy as well as your tentative financial plans. This will allow your potential investors to assess the financial viability of your project.

4 – Find the right place

In order to find the right premises, it must first meet the standards defined by the regulations. In fact, your future local should be more than 25 square meters, with an independent entrance hall and at least two rooms. The first should be devoted to reception and administration and the second to theoretical reviews. In addition, this room must meet health and safety standards.

Regarding the location of your premises, we recommend that you choose a location near schools and universities in the city center to attract your main customers easily and improve your visibility.

5 – Equip yourself with the right vehicles

One of the most important ingredients in your driving school will be vehicles. After defining your concept, you will be able to define the number of cars needed for a good start to your driving school as well as the type of cars. Buying your vehicle will require substantial investment. To reduce the amount, you can opt to finance your vehicles through options like rental, long-term rental or leasing with the option of buying your vehicles.

Make sure your vehicles comply with applicable regulations. All your vehicles must have a registration permit. It is indicated on the registration certificate with the mention of “School Vehicle”. This condition does not apply to motorcycles, mopeds, tricycles with motors less than 15W and less than 550 kg, as well as light and heavy quadricycles. A driving school vehicle must be equipped with a dual brake and clutch control (except for the automatic gearbox), a dual throttle control, a buzzer and direction change indicator, among other things. In addition, your vehicles must be less than 6 years old.

Finally, if you welcome people with reduced mobility, be aware that you should be equipped with a vehicle for people with reduced mobility.

6 – Communicate at launch

When you open your driving school, you need to think of a marketing plan to improve your visibility and attract your customers. For example, we advise you to offer promotions to celebrate the opening, distribute flyers and communicate on the Internet by creating your own website, and especially Facebook. Be equally careful to respect the rules in terms of displaying prices.

As you progress, it will be mostly verbal and your results will be advertised to you.

What are the benefits of opening an online driving school?

As mentioned earlier, the online driving school model is on the rise. The main advantage of opening an online driving school is that it will save you an average of about 40% in operating costs. That way, you can offer more attractive prices.

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