ISM experiences?

celestial

Hey guys,

Just wondering if you have any experience with ISM instructors - are they good, by and large?

Random

I've had experience with 3 different instructors.

* The first one gave me blatently wrong advice on the morning of my test which caused 12 faults.
* The second one spent the whole time bitching and moaning about life and not telling me anything.
* The third guy was fecking excelent and one pre-test the morning of my retest had me pass

Devia

From what i've heard they're fairly hit and miss. Its not about the driving school really, its about what instructor you get. My personal experience with them was good though.

theocn

I'd agree with the last poster, they can be hit or miss. What you'll find though is that most of them are franchised so they work for themselves and it's in their interest to give a good service.
The guy I had was very good and he'd been recommended to me by other people, & he told me that that's how he got most of his business.
No matter who you use make sure that your instructor is an ADI.

tormented

Thats an excellent point, no matter what school/instructor you go to make sure they are an ADI, they should be able to show you their ADI no. Just because ISM are the 'oldest driving school' in Ireland does not mean the instructors are qualified. Best of luck;)

celestial

I just booked in with one of the ISM guys there. €43 for a one-hour lesson. Seems expensive! Am I right?

It is prob the norm but I have heard of lessons for €30 in other schools....

tormented

43 euro...??? They are normally around the 30-35eur mark especially now. More importantly is he ADI qualified? I would ring around a few more schools if I were you.

celestial

Hmmm. This guy came recommended to me by two people I know, so decided to go for him. Will see what he's like.

What is the average price in Dub for a decent instructor? Seems like the good ones charging 30 quid should be charging more if other good ones are charging 40+ quid?

tormented

Its normally 30 to 35eur, ISM and Airport etc are always more expensive because they are franchised, so the instructor has to pay the school to use their name etc, also ISM pride themselves on being the oldest school in the country so probably feel they can charge this. There are better prices and better schools out there but if the instructor was recommended to you then certainly give it a go.

not14talk

My instructor is an ADI and doesn't advertise just gets his business from word of mouth. I find him really good but costs €40 for an hour with him but only costs me €35 as I am a student.

tormented

If an instructor has gone to the bother of getting the ADI exams, not to mention the cost involved then they're in a position to charge a little extra, in saying that if the RSA don't enforce their own rules ADI instructors will fall by the wayside cos instructors not bothering their barney to take the ADI will still charge way cheaper and there are people out there, especially now that don't care if they're qualified just want cheap lessons!

RSA ADI MARK

hi all the most important parts are ,1the instructor is rsa adi 2you fill comfortable with them and 3its you're money if not happy get another:)

Old Gill

Most instructors would have a few stories to tell of pupils they had and having to correct bad habits given to them by iSM. Only this week Id a student who was told by them it was fine to coast through a stop sign and not stop! Another pupil was told they must not under any circumstances brake on a corner and onothert time told that when stopped for any length of time the HB muct be applied!

As for the price beign charged somehow refl;ecting how good the lesson will be.. very celtic tiger

TwoShedsJackson

and onothert time told that when stopped for any length of time the HB muct be applied!

That isn't bad advice though - I'll put the handbrake on any time I think I'm going to be stopped for over ten seconds or so. Clearly if he was told to put it on any time he stopped even for a second or two in heavy traffic etc., that's probably not 100% correct

As for ISM, I know three people who tried them and all thought their instructors were pretty bad, that could just be the luck of the draw of course, but one girl told me she was brought straight out on to main roads on her first test, despite the fact that she was nervous about learning and made that clear to the instructor - not helpful!

RSA ADI MARK

hi all with the law changing hopefully it will get rid of the bad ones ,because you have to be rsa adi

Old Gill

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

That isn't bad advice though - I'll put the handbrake on any time I think I'm going to be stopped for over ten seconds or so. Clearly if he was told to put it on any time he stopped even for a second or two in heavy traffic etc., that's probably not 100% correct

As for ISM, I know three people who tried them and all thought their instructors were pretty bad, that could just be the luck of the draw of course, but one girl told me she was brought straight out on to main roads on her first test, despite the fact that she was nervous about learning and made that clear to the instructor - not helpful!

Yeah use it of a stop becomes a wait..not at absolutely every junction or even slow moving traffic as that instructor had advised.

theocn

Old Gill wrote: »

Most instructors would have a few stories to tell of pupils they had and having to correct bad habits given to them by iSM.

I think that might go for most driving schools/instructors, given my experiences and those of my friends. I have had some terrible instructors over the years, some of them were independent and some were with companies. Some of my friends had the same problems, and while some of these were with ISM, quite a number were with non ISM instructors.

My last instructor was with ISM and he was great, he sorted out my faults really quickly, he didn't seem to want to book lessons for the sake of it and I passed my test with just a couple of Grade 2 faults.

I also think there might be a difference between ISM instructors who are franchised and those that are employed directly. From what I can gather the franchised guys tend to be a bit better as they are going to depend on referrals for more business, whereas to the employees its just a job.

At the end of the day, the ADI system should weed out most of the bad instructors.

BrigR

I've only had positive experience with ISM. ihave been taking lessons with 2 instructors, one was dood,the other is excellent. Being a teacher I can assess somebody's ability to teach, and I would rate my instructor among the top 10 %.

tormented

One would wonder then why the ISM rates of passing the ADI are very low. Having said that, if you get a decent instructor thats the main thing, (once they're ADI)though if the RSA actually start to enforce the regulations, ISM and the other big schools will feel the pinch bigtime if their instructors have to come off the road as the majority aren't qualified.

theocn

tormented wrote: »

One would wonder then why the ISM rates of passing the ADI are very low. Having said that, if you get a decent instructor thats the main thing, (once they're ADI)though if the RSA actually start to enforce the regulations, ISM and the other big schools will feel the pinch bigtime if their instructors have to come off the road as the majority aren't qualified.

Are there actual figures for the number of instructors who've passed for each school? How do you know the ISM rates are low?
From what I hear, ISM are getting away from employing instructors, I think they now mainly have self employed franchisees. So if they don't pass the ADI they'll have to let them go, but presumably there may be others who'll take their place.

Old Gill

theocn wrote: »

Are there actual figures for the number of instructors who've passed for each school? How do you know the ISM rates are low?
From what I hear, ISM are getting away from employing instructors, I think they now mainly have self employed franchisees. So if they don't pass the ADI they'll have to let them go, but presumably there may be others who'll take their place.

its mainly anecdotal but i heard the same myself. I went on the ism course about 3 years back and if anyone relies solely on that course to be trained as a driving instructor they would be in big trouble. Thi swas before the adi so they may have improved it a bit but I didnt rate their training at all

RSA ADI MARK

hi all as from the 1st of august all instructors must be rsa adi ,no badge no number no lessons