Lesson reminders for driving instructors: cut no-shows

A pupil who forgets their lesson leaves you parked outside their house for 20 minutes and then driving home unpaid. One no-show a week at $51£38€45A$73C$71 is about $217£163€194A$313C$306 a month, before the fuel and the hour you could have sold to someone else.

Total Drive's instructor app sends free lesson reminders, which its app page says go out 24 or 48 hours before, and you can tailor the wording. Pupils also get a digital lesson card in their app. When you drag a lesson to a new time in the diary, the app sends the pupil a change notification automatically, so moved lessons don't turn into no-shows. Reminders are in every plan, from Basic at $24£18€21A$35C$34 a month including VAT.

An automatic-car instructor in Swindon has about 30 pupils and loses roughly one lesson a week to a pupil who forgot or mixed up the time.

About $166£125€149A$240C$235 a month kept, against $24£18€21A$35C$34 for Total Drive. That's 3.3 fewer no-shows a month (4.3 down to 1) at $51£38€45A$73C$71; most of it is profit because the hour and the car were already committed. The reduction is an assumption; compare your own no-show count after two months.

1. 1Import your pupils with up-to-date mobile numbers and email addresses.
2. 2Choose whether reminders go 24 or 48 hours ahead and edit the wording to include the pick-up point.
3. 3Ask each pupil to install the pupil app so they also get the lesson card.
4. 4Only move lessons in the Total Drive diary, so change notifications go out.
5. 5Count no-shows for 8 weeks and compare with before.

• A lesson changed by text but not in the diary gets a reminder for the old time.
• Reminders go to the pupil's details; if a parent books and pays, make sure the pupil gets them too.
• Reminders cut forgetting, not canceling; you still need a clear cancellation charge in your terms.