Who it is for / Driving instructors / Lost income calculator
What do missed calls cost your driving school?
A new learner who cannot get hold of you books with the next instructor, and stays with them until their test. Put in your own lesson price and hours to see what the calls you miss during lessons are worth.
4 enquiries × 50% × £38 × 40 hours = £3,040 of lessons. Plus 2 cancellations × £38 = £76.
About £37,392 a year of lessons going to other instructors or left empty.
What it means
One pupil is worth a whole course
At £38 an hour and 40 hours, one new pupil is worth £1,520 of lessons. While You Work costs from £39 a month plus VAT.
The figures are lesson income, not profit, and they leave out referrals. Change any number to match your diary.
Where the money goes
Two ways a busy instructor loses lessons
New pupils who ring while you are teaching
You cannot answer with a learner at the wheel. Learners and parents often ring a few instructors and book with the first one who answers, so an enquiry you ring back tonight may already have booked. How new pupil enquiries are handled.
Cancellations you hear about too late
A pupil who cancels tomorrow morning’s lesson by voicemail leaves a slot you could have offered to someone wanting more hours, if you had known between lessons. How cancellations are handled.
Questions
About the calculator
How is the figure worked out?
Missed new pupil enquiries a month, times the share who would have booked with you, times your hourly lesson price, times the hours a pupil usually takes with you. Then add late cancellations you could have refilled, times your lesson price. Every number is your own.
Is this lost profit?
No. It is lesson income before your car, fuel, insurance and franchise costs. It also leaves out referrals, which is how many instructors find most of their pupils, so the real cost of a lost pupil is usually higher.
How many hours does a learner need?
There is no official figure to use. GOV.UK says there is no minimum number of lessons and that how many a learner needs depends on how quickly they learn, so put in the hours your own pupils usually take before their test.
Why count the whole course for one missed call?
A new learner who books with another instructor usually stays with them until their test. One missed enquiry is not one lost lesson, it is every lesson that pupil would have booked with you.
Is it worth the monthly price?
Divide the monthly price by your lesson price. At £38 an hour, Starter at £39 a month plus VAT is about one lesson, and Pro at £69 plus VAT is under two. One new pupil who stays for their whole course covers it many times over.
What does While You Work do with those calls?
It answers in your school’s name while you teach, asks whether the caller is a new learner, a pupil or a parent, takes their licence, experience and pick-up area, flags cancellations inside 24 hours as urgent, and sends you the details to ring back between lessons.
Source: GOV.UK, Taking driving lessons: there is no minimum number of lessons, and how many a learner needs depends on how quickly they learn.
More for driving instructors: new pupil enquiries, lesson cancellations, lesson types and intensive courses, what driving instructors charge, and what a missed call costs any business.
Fill the gaps in your diary without picking up the phone
Free for 7 days, no card. Pupils and clients who ring while you are busy get a proper answer, a text to say you will ring back, and on Pro your booking link. Plans from £39 a month plus VAT after that; Pro is £69, or £49 plus VAT for 12 months for the first 50 UK businesses.