The content of the article:
- Training or consultation
- "Pitfalls" of the agreement
- Duration of theoretical and practical lessons
- Ineffective training
- Internal exam - carry your money!
- Paper is expensive now
- How to determine the "quality" of a driving school
- How to choose a driving school
- If you still fall into a trap
Gone are the days when there were only a couple of driving schools in an average Russian city. Now there are so many offers for those who want to learn how to drive a car that sometimes beginners simply get lost in a flurry of advertisements.
Fierce competition makes it possible to squeeze out the maximum benefit from each client, and often banal deception and dishonest tricks are used. How not to fall for the bait? Let's figure it out.
Training or consultation
Since August 2014, new programs have been adopted in Russia, according to which driving training can be carried out - an accelerated course of training and driving as an external driver is now prohibited by law.
But instead, organizations that have the right to provide consulting services to their clients have entered the scene. Such services have a very indirect relationship to training. The main thing is that they do not have the authority to issue a driving school graduation certificate. If you do not have such a certificate in your hands, you will not be allowed to take the exam at the traffic police.
Naturally, no consulting firm will directly tell a client that it is merely “advising”. It is necessary to read the agreement very carefully - in the section "Subject of the agreement" it should be directly and unambiguously indicated - "training in driving a car", and not "provision of consulting services".
"Pitfalls" of the agreement
A separate topic for discussion is the contract that the client concludes with the driving school. You need to read it very, very carefully, because behind the abundance of complex wording, often cunning lawyers hide the main idea, which in a simple way sounds as follows - "You pay us money, but we are not responsible for anything."
The text of the agreement must contain a list of lectures to be read as part of the training, indicate how many hours of classes should be held, describe the scheme and duration of practical training.
The costs of fuels and lubricants required for practice must also be initially included in the contract. One of the favorite techniques of unscrupulous schools is to present the student with a “surprise” in the form of the need to pay extra for fuel and lubricants for the training vehicle. If this amount is not initially defined in the contract, it may grow in the future to just the same to fabulous proportions.
Duration of theoretical and practical lessons
When signing an agreement, you should know that according to the norms adopted in Russia, the theory in a driving school should be read during 65 lessons, 2 hours each. The practice involves 28 lessons, 2 hours each. In order to deceive their customers, unscrupulous driving schools may try to to manipulate the duration and number of classes in different ways:
- indicate in the contract the number of theoretical lessons is less than 65;
- stipulate 65 theoretical lessons, without specifying that each lesson should last 2 hours;
- they stipulate in the contract a smaller number of theoretical lessons, and for the rest they try to take money as for an "elective" (meanwhile, such courses as the basics of first aid and the basics of psychological training are an important mandatory component of the course, which cannot be dispensed with);
- reduce the duration of a practical lesson from two hours to one;
- prescribe in the contract less than the prescribed 28 practical lessons.
Ineffective training
This scheme of deception requires a well-developed and specific teaching style. The student is specially "taught" so that by the end of the course he will not be able to pass the internal exam. In this situation, as a rule, the instructor will persistently offer additional classes, of course, for an additional fee.
It is rather difficult to uncover this scheme of deception, since it is required to find out whether a particular instructor is bad, or whether we are really talking about a scheme of deception. It's good if changing the instructor early in the training solves the problem. But often students come to the end of the course with a disastrous result and the need to decide something, when, to be honest, it is too late to decide.
Activities that are not and will not be
Some driving school instructors may ask their students to sign more hours in advance than the student was actually offered. As a rule, the arguments follow that "there is still no time to spend the hours stipulated by the regulations before the exam, in this case the student will need to wait a couple of months and take the exam with the next group."
If we are talking about this, there is no need to give in and sign non-existent classes - by law, the student must drive at least 28 lessons - 56 hours. If the class schedule does not allow this, this means only one thing - the driving school has incorrectly formed the schedule of theoretical and practical classes and must correct it.
Internal exam - carry your money!
The temptation to make the final exam at a driving school a source of additional money in an unscrupulous driving school is very high, therefore this scheme is often used.
The motivation of dishonest instructors and guides is clear - the student paid most of the amount, the training must be completed, and without the results of the final exam, the driving school is not allowed to the traffic police exams. Therefore, retake follows one after another, students are offered to take additional hours of driving lessons for a fee, so as not to fail in the exam in the traffic police.
It seems that the reasoning is good - the driving school seeks to help students pass the exams. But in general, this situation very well falls under the law on imposed services.
Another interesting point is the proposal for paid additional classes after the internal exam has been passed, and the exam in the traffic police is still ahead. It turns out that the driving school, in fact, even after the internal exam does not think that the student is ready for tests in the traffic police? Strange to say the least.
Another situation from the category of "classics" is no longer a pecuniary divorce, but a situation that fully illustrates the attitude of the driving school to its students - in the traffic police you have to run on your own and look for a group in which you can pass the driving license exam.
If the school respects itself and its students, all the necessary documents will be drawn up at the school, and the entire organization of the exam in the traffic police is also carried out by the school. The driving school instructor must announce to the students what day they are going to the traffic police and accompany them to the exam.
Paper is expensive now
Often, the driving school earns additional funds on the so-called "paperwork in the traffic police". The additional fee for this service is by no means a small price tag - two to three thousand rubles. But if you figure out what documents the traffic police requires, questions immediately arise - where are these prices?
The main document issued by the driving school is a certificate confirming that the student has completed full-fledged training. According to the law on education, such documents are issued free of charge in Russia. The form on which the application is written to the traffic police and the examination sheet are issued to the traffic police, and also free of charge.
What else? Driver's medical certificate, passport and copies of these documents, which can be made for a penny at any post office, and a receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state duty.
How to determine the "quality" of a driving school
Often, students learn about the unscrupulousness of a driving school even when it is too late to do something - the money for the most part has already migrated from the student's pocket about the driving school, a lot of time has been spent, and it is extremely undesirable to start all over again. How to understand in advance that it is not worth getting in touch with this driving school?
"Magic" discounts
Learning to drive has never been a cheap pleasure. Therefore, if a driving school offers fabulous discounts of up to 95%, there is reason to think and be wary. A good driving school is:
- experienced instructors who need to be paid;
- a license for their activities, which is also not issued free of charge;
- renting or maintaining your own classrooms;
- maintenance of the fleet of training vehicles.
All this costs money, and a lot. And this money needs to be taken somewhere. If theoretical lessons cost only 800 rubles ... you know where you can find free cheese. For gullible customers, such a driving school will offer "additional services" immediately after signing the contract:
- 300 rubles per hour of practical training (and in the case of a car with automatic transmission - all 400) - fuel surcharge;
- 800 rubles and more - the amount for didactic material for theoretical studies;
- 1,500 rubles - a medical certificate from the traffic police;
- 9000 rubles - the presence of a school instructor at the tests in the traffic police.
If you calculate the total amount, training "at a discount" will cost more than training in a driving school, where the entire amount is initially included in the contract, and there are no discounts. A perfect illustration of the saying "the miser pays twice."
All these services are positioned as "additional", but here's an interesting nuance - in the contract for the provision of services, as a rule, there is a clause according to which, if the driver refuses to pay for these services, the driving school is not obliged to complete the student's training.
External training
Let's repeat - according to the 2014 regulation on driving training, external studies and accelerated training in this area are unacceptable. Therefore, if a driving school offers abbreviated theoretical courses, it is simply illegal. An abbreviated theory, and even more so practice, will lead to the fact that the exam in the traffic police can not be passed.
Correspondence theory
A driving school that has no theory classes is anything but a driving school. According to Russian rules, the driver must know the device of the car deeper than it is customary, for example, in the same America. For a novice US driver, when passing the exam, it is enough to demonstrate knowledge of the rules, as well as be able to drive in a straight line, reversing and parking.
And this is understandable - the level of car service in the USA and in Russia differs dramatically... Traditionally, our drivers have to deeply understand the structure of the car, and as long as our car service is not as developed as in the USA or Europe, the situation is unlikely to change.
Therefore, if a driving school suggests that students can study theory on their own, you should be alert and look for another driving school for yourself, with normal classes.
How to choose a driving school
First of all, it is worth analyzing the reviews of former students. On the Internet, such reviews are more objective on the forums of motorists, and not on the websites of the driving schools themselves, since the site administrators, of course, remove negative reviews about their educational institution.
Naturally, the recently opened driving schools cannot inspire much confidence - they do not yet have accumulated reviews, and it is easy to run into deceivers here.
Having picked up several suitable, in your opinion, driving schools, you need to clarify whether they are present in the list of accreditation on the traffic police website. Analyze whether the driving school license will be expired at the time when you finish your training, because in this case, the traffic police may simply not be allowed to take the exams.
Check how easy it is at the driving school to change the instructor if necessary. If it is difficult to do this, it is better to find a driving school with a large network of branches and a large number of instructors.
The driving school must have its own equipped area with a flyover for training. In the traffic police, the exam necessarily includes a test on an overpass, and if the student did not have the opportunity to "roll back" the driving element, there will be problems with passing.
A good driving school will not be stingy to provide the student with the opportunity to attend a trial lesson. Only after you are convinced that everything suits you, it makes sense to sign a contract and pay for services.
If you still fall into a trap
If, after all, you ended up in a "bad" driving school with scammers, do not hesitate to write a complaint to the traffic police, which issued this driving school a license, as well as to other controlling organizations such as the prosecutor's office.
But this is already an extreme situation. Often, most of the issues can be resolved painlessly by having a conversation with the management of a driving school and demonstrating your firm position.
If a student studies conscientiously and responsibly, it is not so easy to "fail" him on the exam, so you should decide - to study with full dedication, or "be silent in a rag" and agree with all the requirements of unscrupulous teachers.
Conclusion
The choice of an educational institution is a very important point, therefore, you should not save on a preliminary study of the educational services market in the field of driving. It is much easier to spend initially time and effort on the selection of a driving school, than then to disentangle the undesirable consequences and become a victim of scammers.
If you approach the issue of choice carefully and responsibly, the effectiveness of training will depend solely on the student's desire to gain knowledge and experience.
