The Learner License Package
In the last week I’ve had a number of people that contacted me regarding a Learner License Package and not only do they want a quotation but they want to compare value for this “comprehensive” learner license service they seem to be after. The value-part I quite understand.
A few things to consider…
I do not offer a Learner License Package.
I do the driving lesson part of getting your license.
Apparently there are guys out there that offer a Learner License Package at R800 that includes “all the material you will need to pass your test”, they make the booking for you…and, and, and.
Now think about it for a minute. The Call Centre crashed a few months back already. It also then follows that the guys offering the Learner License Package are “connected” to someone at the testing stations. How else could you get a booking without filling in a form like everyone else? How could you get a booking without doing an eye test like everyone else? …for instance.
This then also necessarily means that your Learner License Package person is run off his feet between testing stations, and at R800 a pop, he’s making a very tidy profit of your apathy, disinterest, laziness, irritation, or whatever prompts you to consider following his particular route.
With the Call Centre in place some driving schools used to make “block bookings”, which meant that they would arrange with their “contact” to keep out, say 100 booking dates reserved for them alone. This would then mean that if your friend wanted a booking too, not for love or money may they actually get one. Why? Yip, the bookings were kinda pre-allocated “by arrangement” NOT for your friend though.
With the Call centre now out of the picture, I can’t confirm whether this same “block booking” practice is still kept up by some driving schools, specially by those guys offering a Learner License Package.
The beauty is that booking work MUCH better now…ike they used to, go figure.
Going the normal route to do your Learner License is much cheaper, albeit with more effort.
K53 Study Guide (average R60 from most retailers)
Booking Fee (R95 – Gauteng)
Photocopy of ID (average R7 by entrepreneurs around the test stations)
Photos Black & White (average R50 by entrepreneurs around the test stations)
Issue Fee (R50 – Gauteng)
TOTAL: R 262
Ahhh, but what you really want is a guarantee that you’ll pass, right?
Sorry to disappoint, but legally there’s no hope in hell that anyone can guarantee you a pass.
Now here’s where I encounter the biggest problem – the shorter the shortcut is that people take to obtain their Learner License, whether as a Learner License Package or not, the harder it is for me to get trainees to adapt. No, seriously, it’s a mission of epic proportions on occasion!
If you learn by rote, like a parrot, you will have a more difficult time to learn to drive because you will very often have to refer back to theory in the study guide to be able to make sense of what’s happening on the road, instead of just implementing theory, that is.
Let’s just say that if you pitch up at your doctor’s rooms in excruciating pain you wouldn’t want him to grab the Merck Manual to “explain disorders, who is likely to get them, their symptoms, how they’re diagnosed, how they might be prevented, and how they can be treated”. For one, you want him to KNOW your appendix has burst!!!
This is the point. Just like your doctor started off his skills with theory and learned to apply them during his internship, just so you’ll be applying yours when learning to drive.
However it is that you decide to get your Learner License, I hope we’re at least in the same library when you book my time.
See ya in my driver’s seat!
What else would you appreciate?
C’mon….comment here and tell me so I can help, OK?