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| Written by Jono Cono Young Drivers of Canada destroyed my clutch! It didn’t take long at under six months and roughly 20,000 KM. I had the misfortune of working for Young Drivers of Canada in Ottawa for almost six months. I can honestly say that working for them was the worst financial decision of my life. Months after leaving the employ of Young Drivers of Canada I’m still losing money. This Post relates merely to the fact that I have to pay out of my own pocket to repair damage caused to my personal vehicle while under the employ of Young Drivers of Canada. I will be writing an expose on Young Drivers of Canada in the future which will contain all the sorted and nefarious details, information that can’t be found anywhere online!!!
Young Drivers of Canada (Ottawa) requires that you use your own personal vehicle (car) for teaching others how to drive. In my case I was teaching Standard in my very own $45,000 car that was only a year old. It was the nicest “Young Drivers of Canada” car on the road in Ottawa. Either way, expensive or cheap the end result is the same, your car gets destroyed and you pay for it! Certain methods that Young Drivers of Canada requires you to teach as an instructor are all designed for automatic vehicles. Due to this there is extensive wear and tear on the vehicle when you’re teaching Standard. Note that Standard instructors are not paid more money to compensate for this fact.
For all those who drive Standard out there, imagine this. Over the course of six months 250+ new drivers have driven your car for 12+ hours each. They have ridden the clutch extensively, burnt the clutch, dropped the clutch, stalled the vehicle dozens of times in one lesson and then there’s the shifting. Perfecting a smooth down-shift is an art, especially when you’re doing it to accelerate. Accidental down-shifting is downright idiotic and causes massive damage to the clutch and flywheel. I had various students that would accelerate out of second gear and slam the shifter back into first and then drop the clutch like it burnt their foot. For anyone who has never experienced this…DON’T. Allow me to describe it to you: The car lurches hard enough that you’re thrown forward, tires squeal, and the engine revs high. If that wasn’t bad enough you’ve now drastically dropped speed without hitting the brakes confusing the car that is tailgating you. (Ottawa drivers love to tailgate Driver Instruction vehicles). A mistake like this at the wrong time could cost you your car if not your life. The thing that amazed me is that certain students would repeatedly make this mistake. This is after hours of instruction, explanations and taking it slow in huge empty parking lots. They already knew what they should be doing but then again these were students that never practiced
So here I am, three and a half months after leaving Young Drivers of Canada and paying out of my own pocket to fix the damage to my personal vehicle caused by their students. I will be picking up my car today after having been without it for the past week as it’s been in the dealership. The cost to replace my clutch and flywheel is $1600 and I have no one to thank for it but Young Drivers of Canada!
How is this situation Young Drivers Of Canada’s Fault? Anyone who has driven or was trained to drive a standard, as you obviously were or else you would not have bought a standard vehicle, knows that clutch wear and even damage is enivitable. You should have known this and either not taken the job or got another car. Also did you not inquire BEFORE accepting the job, who would be responsible for maintenance and wear and tear on your own car?
I really think you are at fault here and not YD. Anyone who uses a 45,000 car to train new drivers and with a clutch at that and DOESN’T think there will be damage is wearing Rose Colored Glasses.
Be careful what you say about companies, when making it as public as this is. You could be opening up yourself to some real financial pain, more than 1600 bucks worth thats for sure.
Not a threat as I have nothing to do with them, but I do have knowledge and experience in the legal field and I can tell you that you don’t have a leg or clutch to stand on here.
Good Luck
It’s a given that on any vehicle the mere use of it will result in wear and tear. The big difference is between a really good driver and those who do not know how to drive standard. I was never trained to drive standard, I taught myself. The first time I drove a standard was when I took my first car for a test drive and then purchased it. I also put hundreds of thousands of KM on the vehicle without ever having to replace the clutch or flywheel.
Young Drivers of Canada did ruin my clutch, after all it wasn’t I who was in the drivers seat doing all the aforementioned destruction. Before I took the job I did inquire as to how maintenance costs would be managed. It just happened that they weren’t exactly transparent as to the true cost of the job, the main reason why I no longer work for them. If Young Drivers of Canada had been honest and advised up front that I would need to budget at the very least $1000 a month for expenses concerning the vehicle including gas and repairs I would have told them to have a nice day. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and I was strung along for a few months before realizing that the true costs of running a driving school are surreptitiously dumped on the driving instructors.
At any rate, what’s done is done. I’ve learned my lesson but others who could potentially end up in the same position should be made aware of what they’re really getting into. The last time I checked we still have Free Speech in Canada although it is slowly getting encroached upon. I have no issues publicly sharing my experiences. There’s a difference between libel and just describing what actually happened, I didn’t make this story up.
Young Drivers of Canada did ruin my clutch, I’ll stick to that. After all, they were all Young Drivers and all were Canadian. Their combined training in my vehicle ruined the clutch.
Thank you for visiting and reading my post, that means others are as well. I appreciate your good intentions but I feel quite comfortable with the two legs and a brand new clutch that I have to stand on ;-)
Cheers!
question one: if you knew that it would be novice drivers learning in your $45000 vehicle why risk it? Question two: are you really stupid enough to expect in experienced drivers who were taught everything about automatic driving and nothing about standard NOT to damage your car? Question three: Sorry it’s not really a question but more of a statement. STOP your BITCHING and read the fine print dumb ass! Check who covers the damages Before you start the job!
Answer one: True amount of risk was not fully disclosed up front. I’ve already eluded to this fact in what has previously been written above.
Answer two: See above.
Answer three: Sorry this is more of a counter statement as opposed to an answer. It’s my blog I’ll BITCH all I want, lol. Also there is no fine print and if EVERYTHING was disclosed up front you really think anyone would be stupid enough to work that job? I know I would’ve taken a pass.