Hidden costs of driving school franchises

Franchise recruitment pages lead with one number: the weekly fee. As of September 2026 the AA All-inclusive franchise is advertised from £201 a week including VAT, for a branded car, insurance, maintenance and pupil introductions. RED's Brand Franchise is £99 a week if you bring your own tuition car.

The weekly fee is where the cost starts, not where it ends. This guide covers what sits around it, and the questions to ask before you sign.

If you're still comparing headline numbers, start with what each driving instructor franchise costs, which puts AA, BSM, RED, Bill Plant and DriveJohnsons side by side, then come back here.

The costs beyond the headline fee

Money up front

The AA charges a £180 admin fee and a £170 deposit on top of the weekly fee, for both its All-inclusive and its car-only Solo package. RED asks for "a small bond" on its full franchise, which it says can be built up over the first few weeks. Ask for every one-off charge in writing, and ask whether the deposit comes back when you leave.

The car and its terms

Most franchises include a car. The terms vary more than the brochures suggest. The AA gives a mileage allowance of 48,750 miles a year and a choice of Ford, Mini, Peugeot and Volkswagen models, subject to availability. Other franchises may be tighter.

Before you sign, ask:

• What's the mileage allowance, and what's the charge per mile over it?
• What counts as damage when the car goes back? Tuition cars pick up scuffs, seat wear and kerbed wheels. Find out what you'll be charged for.
• What happens to the car if you leave early?

If you leased a car yourself, you'd pick the car, the mileage and the terms, and you'd see the monthly cost on its own instead of inside a bundled weekly fee.

Fuel is on you

The weekly fee covers the car, not the fuel. Describing its fixed-fee car package, the AA's own franchise FAQ calls fuel your main day-to-day running cost.

It adds up quickly. At £201 a week in fees, if fuel costs you another £90 a week, you're spending £291 a week (£15,132 a year) before you've earned anything.

Insurance excess

Insurance is included, but the excess on a claim is usually yours to pay. Ask what the excess is, whether it's higher for claims involving pupils, and whether there's an optional charge to reduce it. Compare that with what you'd pay on your own ADI policy.

The restrictions that cost you money

Who sets the lesson price

This varies by franchise. The AA says its franchisees choose their own pricing, locations and working hours. RED works differently: its pupils prepay RED, which collects the lesson fees on your behalf at RED's prices.

Where the franchise sets the price, it matters. If your local market supports £42 an hour and you're teaching at £38, that £4 gap on 32 hours a week for 47 weeks is £6,016 a year.

Branding

On a branded franchise the car, the uniform and the pupil enquiries carry the franchise's name. That's the deal: you're paying for their name. It also means pupils who found you through the franchise found the franchise. When you leave, the brand stays with them.

Pupil supply

Pupil supply is what you're paying for, so find out how it works. The AA says there's no cap on the number of enquiries it can send All-inclusive franchisees. Ask any franchise how enquiries are shared between instructors in your area, how many a new franchisee in your postcode got last year, and what happens if your area goes quiet.

Contract terms

The AA offers 12 or 24 month contracts. Before you sign any franchise agreement, find out:

• the minimum term
• the notice period, and whether notice can only be given at the end of a term
• what it costs to leave early: remaining car payments, a flat fee, or losing the deposit

If you realise six months in that it isn't working, those three answers decide how expensive getting out is.

What a notice period means

A notice period isn't just more weeks of fees. You're planning your exit while still paying, still driving a branded car and still not able to market yourself as an independent. Use the time to line up your own car, insurance and booking system so you don't lose pupils on the way out.

The biggest hidden cost: not building your own brand

This one never shows on an invoice.

Every year under a franchise brand is a year you're not building your own: no website of your own gaining search visibility, no Google reviews under your name, no "ask for Sam" word of mouth that stays with you.

An instructor who went independent from the start has something to show for those years: a name locals recognise, enquiries that come direct, and a Google Business Profile full of reviews. An ex-franchise instructor has the experience but starts the brand from nothing.

Most instructors already work this way. In the DVSA's 2025 instructor survey, 68.2% of ADIs described themselves as independent, against 18.2% with a local franchise and 11.5% with a national driving school.

Adding it up

Here's the first-year cash cost of the AA All-inclusive franchise at its advertised starting price, with an example fuel figure. Put in your own fuel cost.

That's before any insurance excess, any charges when the car goes back, and, on a franchise that sets your prices, any gap between its lesson price and what you could charge yourself.

To run your own contract through the same exercise, use the franchise cost calculator. For what each brand publishes and what it leaves out, we break the fees down one at a time: AA driving school franchise cost, BSM franchise cost, RED driving school franchise cost and Bill Plant franchise cost.

What to do with this

If you're in a franchise now, read your contract. Find your term end date, your notice period, the car return terms and any exit charges. Then work out what the same year would cost you as an independent.

If you're thinking of joining one, get the full terms in writing before you sign: mileage allowance and excess charges, one-off fees, who sets lesson prices, how enquiries are shared, and how you leave. If the recruiter can't or won't answer, that's your answer.

A franchise can work as a launchpad for a newly qualified instructor who needs a car and pupils on day one. Go in knowing the full cost, and with a date in mind for going independent.