Driving school puts its money where its mouth is

A driving school based in Co Dublin is offering to pay for all future re-tests for its students who fail the driving test.

Testers at Road Runners Driving School are so confident of their skills that, according to the school, they are prepared to "put their money where their mouth is" and pay for the re-tests.

The school, which was set up at the start of the year by three friends, now has 10 instructors on its books and covers most of Dublin and Wicklow, with plans to expand into Kildare in the near future.

According to marketing manager Paul Dervan, one of the founders of the school: "We have some good driving instructors and we realised that it is difficult for people to tell which school is good and which is not."

The initial idea was sparked when Paul went looking for a driving school for his niece. "I found it very difficult to make a choice. The national pass rate is about 50 per cent but all the schools were claiming pass rates of 80 per cent and above. So we decided to set up a school and put our money where our mouth is." The offer applies to customers who have taken six or more lessons with the school. Pupils who fail do not have to return for more lessons to the school to get the re-tests paid for.

So far, Roadrunners has not had to pay out. "Everyone has passed since we started. We've had 17 students succeed in the test and we are trying to cope with demand.

"In the last two months we've had over 1,200 inquiries and we currently have 50 students taking lessons and preparing for the test."

The school offers one trial lesson to students and they can then choose how many further lessons to take.

"We don't believe in selling block bookings," says Paul. The student ultimately decides how many lessons to take.

He says that he would welcome other larger firms following their lead. "It's what the industry needs to let the customer distinguish between the good and bad schools."