Increase in fuel prices: driving schools forced to increase their prices, the price of the license could rise by 200 euros

“We are going to have to increase our prices”: put under pressure by the rise in fuel prices but excluded from government aid, driving schools are trying to adapt to continue driving. Pump prices, inflated by the war in the Middle East, recently broke records, putting a strain on the cash flow of some 11,000 driving schools in the country. The “fuel” bill is exploding, with cars whose counters show 45,000 to 60,000 km traveled each year, according to several managers interviewed by AFP.

Gasoline supply costs have “increased by 30 to 40%” since the start of the crisis, estimates Vincent Rageul, manager of establishments in Rennes and regional president of the French Driving School (ECF). At the Rennes driving school Republik, this means “10,000 euros increase in the fuel budget over the last nine months”, according to the co-manager, Morgan Poriel. If eco-driving or increased use of simulators - within the limit of ten hours - save fuel, most driving schools plan to increase the price of the license to absorb the additional costs.

“To the bone”

“We have no other choice but to increase our rates,” from 52 to 55 euros per hour, deplores Morgan Poriel. The fault lies in very low margins, between 2 and 4 euros on a driving course, which the increase in fuel prices further reduces, according to Lorenzo Lefebvre, president of the education and road safety branch of the Mobilians union. “We are on the bone,” he sums up. “There will inevitably be an increase in the cost of training,” he regrets, worrying: “We are in a trap, because if it increases, young people will come less,” in a context of declining purchasing power.

While 36% of young people aged 18-24 do not have a driving license, mainly "for reasons of cost", according to the Wimoov barometer in September, the future increase in the price of the license would be "150 to 200 euros on a package of 1600 euros currently", predicts the president of the ECF, Patrick Mirouse. He thus asks the State to grant “one-off aid to driving schools, before embarking on a much more sustainable approach to greening the fleet” thanks to electrification to free itself from fossil fuels.

Electrification

The ADav driving school chose the latter option “to depend less on fuel”. When he moved in 18 months ago, the manager, Dave Abissoina, already worried about the evolution of gasoline prices, installed a charging station on the walls of his driving school to power an electric car. “For 320 km of autonomy, a full tank of electricity costs me between 5 and 9 euros,” compared to “80 euros a full tank” of a thermal car for 600 km of autonomy, he says.

If this choice goes “in the direction of history”, judges Patrick Mirouse, it is difficult to generalize due to the lack of charging stations and a request for permits for manual transmissions which are still in the majority. “We are based in the city center, it’s unfeasible because employees would have to go and recharge the cars at home in the evening,” says Morgan Poriel. On the students' side, in any case, the surge in gasoline prices is leading to questions. For Nora Hennebert, 27, the choice of a thermal vehicle once she had her license seemed obvious. “But I'm going to think about it because with the prices it's complicated,” concedes this web developer who wants to settle in the countryside.