How much does a driving instructor franchise cost per week in 2026?

As of September 2026 the AA advertises its All-Inclusive franchise from £201 a week and its car-only Solo package from £181 a week, both plus a £180 admin fee and £170 deposit. RED advertises a Brand Franchise at £99 a week if you already have a suitable car. Bill Plant charges a fixed weekly fee but does not publish the amount.

How much more does an independent ADI earn than a franchise ADI?

It depends on what your own car costs. The AA All-Inclusive fee is £10,452 a year and covers the car, insurance, maintenance, breakdown cover and pupil supply. If you can lease, insure and maintain a dual-control car and find your own pupils for less than that, independent comes out ahead by the difference. Fuel is paid either way.

Is the franchise worth it for finding pupils?

The AA prices it for you. Its All-Inclusive package, which adds pupil supply, branding, a diary system and AA membership, is £20 a week more than its car-only Solo package: £1,040 a year. If you can fill your diary for less than that, the pupil supply is not worth paying for.

What do I give up by going independent?

The car arrangement (insurance, servicing, breakdown cover and a courtesy car are handled for you on the AA packages), the franchise pupil enquiries and the national brand. In return you keep the weekly fee and build a name that stays with you if you move on.

Franchise vs independent: what driving instructors take home

The franchise pitch is simple: pay us a weekly fee, we'll give you a car and a stream of pupils. No marketing headaches, no finding your own learners. It sounds reasonable. Then you do the maths.

Most instructors already have. In the DVSA's 2025 survey of 3,448 ADIs, 68.2% said they were independent, 18.2% worked with a local driving school franchise and 11.5% with a national driving school.

What franchises charge

Franchise fees are a fixed weekly payment. Here is what the big names publish, as of September 2026:

Franchise	Weekly fee	Over 52 weeks	What the fee covers
AA All-Inclusive	from £201	£10,452	Branded car, insurance, maintenance, courtesy car, breakdown cover, uncapped pupil supply, diary system
AA Solo	from £181	£9,412	Unbranded car, insurance, maintenance, courtesy car, breakdown cover. No pupils
RED Brand Franchise	£99	£5,148	The RED brand, for instructors who already have a suitable car
Bill Plant	not published	not published	Bill Plant says the fee is fixed and covers insurance, servicing and maintenance

Both AA packages add a £180 admin fee and a £170 deposit, and the AA offers 24-month contracts. Fuel is on you either way: the AA describes it as "your main day-to-day running cost".

For more on each brand, see the comparisons for the AA, BSM, RED and Bill Plant, or the full franchise comparison.

The fee is the same whether you teach 15 hours that week or 40. The AA is clear that time off "is on you".

What the AA says pupils are worth

The AA's own price list answers the question most instructors ask. The All-Inclusive package adds branding, pupil supply, the diary system and AA membership to what Solo already includes, for £20 a week more. That is £1,040 a year.

So even by the AA's pricing, the pupil supply is not where most of the fee goes. The bulk of £201 a week pays for a car that is insured and kept on the road. An independent instructor pays for that too, to a leasing company and an insurer instead.

That matters more now than it did. In the same DVSA survey, 45.4% of ADIs said they had room for new pupils in October 2025, up from 36.6% in September 2024. More instructors have gaps to fill, which is when a steady source of pupils you control is worth having.

Side by side

Take a full-time ADI teaching 32 hours a week at £36 an hour for 47 weeks. That's £54,144 of lesson income. The DVSA survey found £36 to £40 is the most common price for a one-hour lesson, charged by 50.3% of ADIs.

	AA All-Inclusive franchisee	Independent ADI
Lesson income	£54,144	£54,144
Franchise fee	£10,452 (£201 × 52)	£0
Car lease or finance, insurance, maintenance, breakdown cover	In the fee	Your quotes
Finding pupils	In the fee	Your marketing spend
Diary and booking software	In the fee	£0 with Orbit, which is free for instructors
Fuel	You pay	You pay

The comparison comes down to one line. Get quotes for a dual-control car on lease or finance, ADI insurance, servicing and breakdown cover, and add what you'd spend on marketing. If the total is under £10,452 a year, independent leaves you with more, by exactly the gap. If you already own a suitable car, compare against RED's £99 a week instead, because that is the like-for-like franchise.

The franchise cost calculator runs this with your own franchise fee, car costs, hourly rate, hours and weeks worked.

What the table doesn't show

Your prices

The AA tells franchisees to "set your own pricing", and Bill Plant says "you're in charge of how much you choose to charge". So the old argument that franchises cap your rate doesn't hold for these two. The difference is who your pupils think they're booking: the brand or you.

Your pupils and your name

A franchise instructor's reviews and enquiries sit under the franchise brand. When you leave, the brand stays with the franchise. Before you sign, or before you leave, read what your contract says about pupils you taught under its name.

An independent instructor's Google reviews, referrals and booking page stay theirs, and keep working year after year.

Five years of fees

At £201 a week, five years on the AA All-Inclusive package is £52,260 in fees, plus the £180 admin fee. Part of that buys a car you would have had to pay for anyway. The rest is the brand and the pupil supply. You can decide what that rest is worth to you once you know your own car costs.

When a franchise makes sense

You've just qualified and have no pupils. A franchise gives you a diary from week one while you learn the business side.
You don't want to run a business. Some people want to teach driving, not deal with car leases, insurers and marketing. That's a legitimate choice, and the fee is its price.
You're bridging. Start on a franchise, build a reputation and a pupil list, then go independent when the contract ends.

If you're established with a full diary and still paying £201 a week, work out what your own car would cost. The gap is your raise.

Orbit gives independents the pieces a franchise bundles into its software: a booking page with your name on it, a diary, pupil records and card payments, free for instructors.