Now back to this “unique” money back guarantee you offer, how does this work for any potential customers reading this
I really don’t understand what the mystery is.
The course is unique to the best of my knowledge in as far as I am not aware of any other trainer offering the same deal. The course was devised to try and aleviate the fear that some customers have that they could be wasting their money as they may not pass the test. Also the thought of continuous spending on retests and the associated further training.
The course fee is £1650. This includes unlimited training, 1:1 up to the first test, the test fee, the vehicle for test, VAT and B+B if required. Unlimited training continues until the test is passed with the candidate paying £150 for each attempt at the test. This is the ONLY fee the candidate pays for a retest and further training. All this, of course, is at our DSA accredited centre, with the test taken at our private test centre (not the same as accredited centre) with a fully qualified and registered instructor using a vehicle no more than 4 years old and possibly as new as a couple of months old.
If the trainer was to make the decision that the candidate will never pass the test, then we will refund the intitial training fees. This is to give peace of mind to the customer.
In the region of 50 people have taken this course - the vast majority passing first time due to the extra training up front. No-one has had more than 3 tests (I believe 2 people have had 3 tests) and no-one has had a refund.
I believe this is possibly the best value for money course on the market. Not all training offerings are the same and I have spent the last 30 years building a school around the customer rather than following training fashions and trends.
You asked for the details; hope this is sufficient.
Now back to this “unique” money back guarantee you offer, how does this work for any potential customers reading this
I really don’t understand what the mystery is.
The course is unique to the best of my knowledge in as far as I am not aware of any other trainer offering the same deal. The course was devised to try and aleviate the fear that some customers have that they could be wasting their money as they may not pass the test. Also the thought of continuous spending on retests and the associated further training.
The course fee is £1650. This includes unlimited training, 1:1 up to the first test, the test fee, the vehicle for test, VAT and B+B if required. Unlimited training continues until the test is passed with the candidate paying £150 for each attempt at the test. This is the ONLY fee the candidate pays for a retest and further training. All this, of course, is at our DSA accredited centre, with the test taken at our private test centre (not the same as accredited centre) with a fully qualified and registered instructor using a vehicle no more than 4 years old and possibly as new as a couple of months old.
If the trainer was to make the decision that the candidate will never pass the test, then we will refund the intitial training fees. This is to give peace of mind to the customer.
In the region of 50 people have taken this course - the vast majority passing first time due to the extra training up front. No-one has had more than 3 tests (I believe 2 people have had 3 tests) and no-one has had a refund.
I believe this is possibly the best value for money course on the market. Not all training offerings are the same and I have spent the last 30 years building a school around the customer rather than following training fashions and trends.
You asked for the details; hope this is sufficient.
Pete
ok, now i see how you can be different from other training providers! im not here to try and put you or your business down, as you say your business has a proven track record and speaks for it self. i was just interested in how you can distance yourself from these other training providers. how your set up, can benifit some one with no knowlodge of the haulage industry, make that step and become that lgv driver they want to be, while maybe having thoughts of i cant do it. as for the mystery, it was just out of interest on how your unique offer worked, some may think its a gimick, but reading the above, it makes sence.
You originally asked about the price of a C+E course. This mostly depends on the length of the course and how many attempts it takes to pass.
Last year 2012 we had 41 people pass cat CE. Of these, 35 passed 1st time and the other 6 passed 2nd time. Of those 35 1st time passes, 26 had our 2 day course. The cost for this is £599 fully inc. A retest costs £314.
People ask how can 2 days be enough. It is because we use W+D instead of artics. There is very little difference between rigid and W+D. Obviously reversing is the big difference.
In my opinion about 85% of what is needed to pass CE is covered in the cat C training.
There will be others who want to sell longer courses that will disagree with me. There are members on this board that have passed in 2 days that will agree with me.
If you have built up some experience in a rigid and decide to go down the route of WnD, there is not much to upgrade and therefore 2 or 3 day would probably suffice.
I for one was glad of the level of training put in by Pete Smythe to get me through the test. It gave me a firm grounding for my CE career.
Yes it took me 3 goes but that was down to silly mistakes and nerves. If I’d held it together 1st time I’d have probably been one of those 1st time passes too.
So is W&D easier if you have class II experience? My nearest (and best quality) Class I trainers only use artic. I’m guessing “road sense” is the same as class II and the hardest part is reversing and the extra length of the vehicle? eg going round tight bends … if the cab makes it does that mean the trailer will always make it without clipping the kerb?
What are the main differences between class II and class I apart from reversing and length and the extra bit about coupling and dropping legs etc
?
From my experience SQUIDDY there’s too much talk about the difference between the two.
By that I mean, there is the obvious difference coupling, reversing but neither is hard or easier than the other.
“eg going round tight bends … if the cab makes it does that mean the trailer will always make it without clipping the kerb?” Don’t worry about that point - that’s where driver skill comes into play as every situation is different.
Squiddy:
So is W&D easier if you have class II experience? My nearest (and best quality) Class I trainers only use artic. I’m guessing “road sense” is the same as class II and the hardest part is reversing and the extra length of the vehicle? eg going round tight bends … if the cab makes it does that mean the trailer will always make it without clipping the kerb?
What are the main differences between class II and class I apart from reversing and length and the extra bit about coupling and dropping legs etc
?
My personal opinion is that WnD is a natural progression and therefore should not need much training to get you to test standard.
If you feel that you are able to adapt in 16-20 hours to a completely different outfit then the Artic will be good as there tends to be more of them out on the road.
However… Why put more pressure on yourself in test conditions when you could take the easier option and then do 4 hours in an Artic without the stress of test conditions?
the difference between “private” and “accredited test centre” ■■
DSA Accredited LGV Centre means that the trainer has satisfied all the criteria and subjected the centre to annual inspection. Maybe this is why there’s only a handfull in the country. It is quality control that is sadly lacking in the training industry as we all know.
Private test centre is a different animal altogether. We were proud to be asked to trial this nearly 5 years ago and we satisfied all the stringent rules which have since been decimated to make it possible for more trainers to have their own centre. This is because of the DSA loosing many of their sites attached to VOSA centres up and down the country.
So, having a private test centre is not the same thing - by a long, long way, as being a DSA Accredited Centre.
the difference between “private” and “accredited test centre” ■■
DSA Accredited LGV Centre means that the trainer has satisfied all the criteria and subjected the centre to annual inspection. Maybe this is why there’s only a handfull in the country. It is quality control that is sadly lacking in the training industry as we all know.
Private test centre is a different animal altogether. We were proud to be asked to trial this nearly 5 years ago and we satisfied all the stringent rules which have since been decimated to make it possible for more trainers to have their own centre. This is because of the DSA loosing many of their sites attached to VOSA centres up and down the country.
So, having a private test centre is not the same thing - by a long, long way, as being a DSA Accredited Centre.
Pete
Thanks Pete, I understand that, maybe I read the initial post incorectly, it was the private test centre with accredited in brackets immediately afterwards I couldn’t follow
i fully agree the industry needs more stringent policing, if only to stop customers being ripped off, we to are a Private test centre and will be shortly be applying for DSA Accreditation for our company.
LGV company sets aside an office at their depot for the examiners to use as well as toilets
The reversing area is at another location about 15 mins drive away
Tests are either started and finished at the office or if two tests then the reverse area is used as the finish of the first test and the start of the second with the start of test one at office and the finish of test two at office
Can I ask Pete and/or John is there any advantage to having a private test centre as opposed to using the traditional DSA test centres IF you are located close by a DSA centre so travelling there is no problem. There is surely additional costs like examiner’s office, waiting area, toilets etc that trainers do not have if using DSA test centres.
I do appreciate that in certain circumstances if the trainer already has facilities at his existing reversing area and other criteria like suitable test routes etc are already there then why not have a private test centre based there. But I cannot see many advantages where there is a DSA centre located close by already.
Peter Smythe:
But we are around 18 miles from the nearest DSA centre and so on a different wicket.
Completely agree Pete. We on the other hand can get to the test centre in about 10 minutes. Our existing reversing area is about 25 minutes away but based at a WW2 airfield with long runways for practising gear changing, braking techniques etc BUT not very good for creating test routes from.
LGVTrainer:
Can I ask Pete and/or John is there any advantage to having a private test centre as opposed to using the traditional DSA test centres IF you are located close by a DSA centre so travelling there is no problem. There is surely additional costs like examiner’s office, waiting area, toilets etc that trainers do not have if using DSA test centres.
I do appreciate that in certain circumstances if the trainer already has facilities at his existing reversing area and other criteria like suitable test routes etc are already there then why not have a private test centre based there. But I cannot see many advantages where there is a DSA centre located close by already.
For us the answer would have to Yes - 20 miles each way to the nearest test centre, and we already had all the needed facilities on site so why not??. It does also give the customer a feeling of familiarity when it comes to knowing that where they train from is where they test from.
