Question 1

I used to teach with Stick Shift Driving Academy. How is this different?

Accepted Answer

If you taught with us before, the major difference would be that customers would first contact you instead of contacting us. We’re just responsible for getting leads to contact you. You would handle talking with customers, scheduling, collecting payments, and so on. Additionally, you would not need to put your hours of availability into Acuity. This allows you to be more flexible and take customers whenever is convenient for you. In this model, your earnings would be significantly better. For comparison, in the old model, your typical take was 35% to 50% of what the customer paid, but in the new model, you’d get 75%. When we tested this approach with two instructors in November and December of 2021, the results were amazing. The instructors taught twice as many lessons as usual and they earned an average of $100 more per lesson. Instead of the usual 2 - 4 lesson per month and $125 for a 3-hour lesson, they averaged 8 lessons per month and took home $225 per 3-hour lesson. While we made less per lesson, the increase in total lessons taught made it worthwhile for us. Overall, the instructors made more money and the whole operation was simpler and easier for everyone.

Question 2

Can I try this before committing?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. We’re happy to list you on the site for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, we’ll ask you if you want to continue or not. If you do, we’d ask you to pay 25% of your earnings from the first month to stay on the site. If you decide to not continue, you wouldn’t have to pay anything and we will take you off of the site.

Question 3

How do instructors report their earnings to Stick Shift Driving Academy?

Accepted Answer

We’ll set up a payment portal and send an automated email asking for you to report your earnings and make your payment. In this new model, we’re working (mostly) on the honour system. We’re expecting that you’ll accurately report your earnings to us based on your lessons sold.

Question 4

What if an Instructor Cheats?

Accepted Answer

We have a pretty simple way of detecting if an instructor is cheating. First, we will compare instructor payments to us against the Terms of Service and Lessons Policies that customers sign before the lesson. If an instructor has ten people fill out the form but only send us payments for 5 lessons, we'll suspect cheating. Because we know how many phone calls and emails are being routed to the instructor through our system, we simply compare how many leads they are getting and how many sales they report. The ratio between sales and leads is a good indicator of who might be cheating. To be fair, someone could be below average because their prices are high, they’re not good at sales, or something else, so poor performance will not automatically result in removal. So, we’ll alert the instructor that their performance is way below average and give them an opportunity to fix the problem. After a month, we’ll check their results again to see how performance compares. If it is still way below average, we’ll remove them from the site.

Question 5

How do liability and insurance work?

Accepted Answer

We have a $1,000,000 liability policy and a $10,000 collision policy that covers every lesson. To be eligible for the insurance, you’d need to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract including but not limited to the following:Teach the lesson in a paved off-road area like a parking lot or cemeteryPass a driving record check and have your car inspectedHave the customer sign a liability release formMaintain your own insurance and keep the car in good working orderAnd other requirements as described in the contract.

Question 6

If the customer damages the car during the lesson, will they be held liable?

Accepted Answer

When the customer agrees to the terms and conditions, they are agreeing to be responsible for any collision damage that they cause to your car. This is why it is essential that you have them sign the user agreement on the website. In the event that the customer does not or can not pay for the damage, we would escalate the issue to any relevant insurance companies. For more information on this, please consult your contract.

Question 7

Where will the lessons take place?

Accepted Answer

Lessons should only take place in paved, off-road areas like parking lots and cemeteries

Question 8

Do I have a login, calendar, app, or anything like that?

Accepted Answer

We’ll list your phone number directly on the website for customers to call and/or text. We’ll also display an email widget that will allow prospective customers to email you (though they won’t be able to see your email). There will not be a scheduling system. Instead, you can just discuss scheduling with your customer. There’s no app to download. If you have a phone number and email, you have all you need.

Question 9

What if I don’t want my phone number listed online?

Accepted Answer

We can set up a call forwarding option so that the customer doesn’t see your real phone number. They can see a forwarding number that protects your phone number. When the customer calls the number, the phone system will automatically forward the call to you. Also, if you want to use a Google Voice, Burner, or similar phone number, we can use one of those phone numbers as well.

Question 10

How do Customers Pay the Instructor?

Accepted Answer

They can pay you any way you like, though we recommend an electronic payment system like Square, Paypal, or something similar for a few reasons. First, most people will want to pay by credit card. Second, it will help you to keep track of your earnings so that you can pay us accurately.

Question 11

How much can I charge for a lesson?

Accepted Answer

You can charge anything you like. We recommend searching on Google for stick shift lessons nearby to get a sense of what competitive pricing is like. Also, a bit of trial and error is good. If everyone says yes to your prices, you’re not charging enough. If everyone says no, you’re charging too much. In our experience, the average competitive price for a 3-hour lesson is $225 to $300.

Question 12

What Will I Teach?

Accepted Answer

If you are wondering how much you can really teach in a parking lot (it’s a totally fair concern), customers are only expecting to learn the very basics of a stick shift. They’re expecting to have an opportunity to learn things like getting into gear, upshifting, downshifting, and so on. Additionally, they’re only booking a few hours with you and they know they’re going to stay in a parking lot, so their expectations are pretty modest. There is just a limit to how much you can teach someone in a couple of hours, and there’s a limit on how good they’re going to be by the end of a couple of hours. The problem that you are solving for them is that you are just helping them to develop the fundamentals, like modulating the gas pedal, the clutch pedal, upshifting, downshifting and things of that nature.

Question 13

Requirements Of Lessons

Accepted Answer

If you are looking for ideas about what to teach, there is a recommended-but-not-required curriculum that we wrote and it is on our website. You are welcome to use it and you are welcome to ignore it. What you teach and how you teach are totally up to you. We don’t make any requirements about what you teach or how you teach. If you’ve taught any of your friends or family, you know that some people pick it up very quickly, some take a bit more time to get it.

Question 14

What’s the Earning Potential

Accepted Answer

Your income will vary depending on where you live and how much time you make available to customers. In weather and bigger markets like Los Angeles, Washington DC up through Boston and all of the areas in between, San Fransisco, and similar areas, you can expect about 4 to 8 lessons per month and about $250 to $300 per lesson. For metro areas with smaller populations and those with more modest incomes, 2 to 4 lessons per month and about $150 to $200 per lesson is a more reasonable expectation.

Question 15

What’s Our Relationship with You

Accepted Answer

In addition to providing you with customers and handling all the sales, the way our relationship would work is that we are really working for you and not the other way around. You are not our employee. Rather, you are an independent contractor and we’re providing you customers through the website (similar to how Airbnb and eBay would work) and support your decisions.

Question 16

How does the company support me?

Accepted Answer

At a very high level, we support any decisions that you want to make in the name of safety and security. If a customer makes you feel uncomfortable and you don’t want to take a lesson, we will support that decision. If during the lesson they are driving erratically and you feel uncomfortable and you want to end the lesson early, we will support your decision to end the lesson early. If they are not obeying your Covid-19 requirements, definitely end the lesson early. If they are wearing a Yankees hat and you are from Boston and the Yankees are your sworn enemy, we will support your ending the lesson early (kidding). In all seriousness, you don’t need our permission to ever do whatever you think is safest. Insurance is included in our offering (which we pay for) and I will get into it shortly, but our attitude is we’d rather avoid problems entirely rather than rely on insurance. That is also why the lesson must be done in a paved off-road area like a parking lot. By staying in a parking lot or similar paved off-road area, you’re helping to reduce the risk.

Question 17

What if my clutch wears out

Accepted Answer

You’ll note that what is not covered by insurance is wear and tear. Sometimes instructors say “Hey, if I’m using my car to teach someone stick shift, and they destroy my clutch, is Stick Shift Driving Academy going to cover that?” That goes back to what I said earlier about being cautious and avoiding problems. If a customer’s operation of your vehicle is ever giving you concern, end the lesson immediately. If they’re burning up the clutch, grinding the gears, or doing anything else to your car that you don’t think is safe, reasonable, or normal, you have our guaranteed support in ending the lesson early. We’ve had a few situations where lessons were going poorly and the instructors were getting concerned about their transmission surviving the lesson. The customers were grinding the gears a bit and the clutch was getting a little burnt up and the instructor said that they were not comfortable with what was happening to their car. They ended the lesson early and we just processed the refunds to the customer. To be clear, we do not cover any wear and tear expenses to the clutch or drive train or anything like that but, again, we also support you if the lesson is not going well and you want to end it early.

Question 18

Do I have to use my own stick shift car during the lessons?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we will be providing you with customers that sign up for lessons and you will be using your own car to teach the lessons.

Question 19

Does Stick Shift Driving Academy cover the costs for wear and tear since I will be using my personal stick shift car during the lessons?

Accepted Answer

No, we do not cover the costs for the maintenance and wear and tear of your car.

Question 20

Do I have to buy something like uniforms, etc. to become an instructor?

Accepted Answer

No, you do not have to buy anything from us to get started as an instructor.

Question 21

Do I have to commit to being an instructor full-time?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not, what works for you works for us. You can decide on your availability, and work only at times when you are available.

Question 22

Where do I have to teach the lessons?

Accepted Answer

The lesson should be done on a paved off-road area, like a parking lot. Insurance does not cover any incidents that transpire outside paved off-road areas.

Question 23

How long does a lesson last?

Accepted Answer

We recommend about two to three hours, but you’re welcome to make lessons as long or as short as you and your customers would like.

Question 24

Is there a curriculum available as a guide for teaching?

Accepted Answer

There is an available written curriculum available on our website. You will have access to it once you get onboarded. There is no required way for you to teach the stick shift lessons but what is important is that your customer completes the time behind the wheel based on their booking.

Question 25

Since I get paid as a 1099 contractor, does anything get deducted from my income?

Accepted Answer

No. Because the customer is paying you directly, you are responsible for all of your own taxes, insurance, and other expenses

Question 26

How will I be able to acquire my vehicle safety inspection form?

Accepted Answer

You will have access to “Instructor Central” (a resource portal on our website) during the onboarding process. Over there you will be able to access the form, update your availability times and preview our recommended teaching curriculum.

Question 27

Who can carry out my vehicle safety inspection?

Accepted Answer

Any mechanic can. We can provide a link to a web-based inspector to whom you will have to show your vehicle via video call to get it certified. If you want to have your vehicle inspected by a mechanic, we will be providing a form that needs to be filled out by the mechanic. The mechanic should be licensed/certified in accordance to the laws of your state.

Question 28

I am an Uber/Lyft driver, can I use the Vehicle Inspection Form I obtained with Uber/Lyft?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we use the same form for vehicle inspection as Uber and Lyft. If you have your copy and it was inspected in the last 90 days, we consider your vehicle passed for inspection.

Question 29

What are the requirements a customer must have in order to book a lesson?

Accepted Answer

The minimum requirements that we have on our policy is that the customer has to be over 18 years of age, already has a license and is enrolled in an auto insurance policy.

Question 30

Am I allowed to use a GoPro or a dashcam to record a lesson?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. It is stated in our Terms and Conditions that both you and your customer agree that the lesson can be recorded, although it is not required.

Question 31

Can I end the class early if I feel unsafe or uncomfortable with my customer?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. We support any reasonable decision you make made in the name of caution and safety

Question 32

Am I allowed to do my own marketing like posting on Facebook so my family and friends can book me as an instructor?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we will also do our marketing but you are free to promote the website and yourself. Just make sure that they will sign up using our website so that your lesson will be covered by insurance.

Question 33

Can I join Stick Shift Driving Academy as an instructor long-term?

Accepted Answer

We do not have any restrictions or requirements about your availability and longevity. What works for you, works for us. You can teach at your desired available times.

Question 34

How long will it take for me to get onboarded as an instructor if I sign up today?

Accepted Answer

Usually just a day or two after you submit your information.

Question 35

I used to teach with Stick Shift Driving Academy. How is this different?      If you taught with us before, the major difference would be that customers would first contact you instead of contacting us. We’re just responsible for getting leads to contact you. You would handle talking with customers, scheduling, collecting payments, and so on. Additionally, you would not need to put your hours of availability into Acuity. This allows you to be more flexible and take customers whenever is co

Accepted Answer

You would be moved by our team to the signup phase automatically, usually by the next business day.

Question 36

What would be the next step if I get any quiz question wrong? Can I take it again?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you will get another chance.

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