So I’ve decided to take the plunge and move from the catering industry and I have heard good (as well as bad things) about being a driver.
It seems like there’s a lot of salespeople out there trying to make easy commission off people like me so I thought I’d come here for some real advice.
Has anyone had any experience with hgvtraingcentre.co.uk? The guy on the phone was the friendliest of all of them that I spoke to. He did leave out some important facts like the CPC isn’t included in the bundle but It still seems cheaper than others.
He quoted me £2380 for a b2b C+E course with everything except CPC included in the price.
Does this seem reasonable?
How much would a CPC cost to do afterwards?
Can anyone recommend somewhere better?
They are a broker. So, of course the guy was friendly - he’s sat in a call centre with targets to meet. This is also why he “forgot” to mention cpc. I wonder what else he forgot to mention.
The broker model is simple. Take as much money from the customer as possible. Hold onto it until someone (the customer) shouts, and then book the customer with the cheapest trainer they can find. They will still hold onto the money for as long as possible until the trainer shouts. As a result, the brokers are forever looking for new trainers and relationships are continually strained. Sadly, this often gets passed down in the lack of service the candidate will receive.
Just ignore the brokers. They’re easy to identify. They invariably claim 30 or 40 centres nationwide. There is no trainer has that number of centres - so they are a broker.
You will do a lot better by going to trainers by recommendation. As ROG has advised, go visit and look at what you’re getting. Even then, be careful. Most trainers have no teaching qualifications and only a few will have their own reversing practice area. Then look at the trucks. If they look past their best, they probably are. So why make life hard?
A certain truck manufacturer operating training profess to have the highest pass rate in the country - they haven’t. Their instructors claim that they have DVSA Accredited training centres further north- they don’t and never have had. So you need to be diligent in your research because names that you associate with quality can sometimes fall short.
Claims of centre accreditation can be checked by simply checking the list which is at dft.gov.uk/fyn/lgv.php
There is so much more to learning to drive a truck than price. Have a look at what is on offer first then look at the price. I’m sure you can reach a satisfactory conclusion. But above all, stay away from brokers.
