WheelPlanner

The office job nobody trained you for

This guide is for driving school owners who do the office work themselves and keep losing time hunting for answers. When a parent asks how many hours are left, or a student's permit is close to running out, you want the answer in one place. Here is what to keep on every student, how long to keep it, which reminders to set up first, and what to write down so the school can run for a week without you.

You learned to teach a nervous sixteen-year-old to merge, and nobody taught you the filing. Everything below works with one spreadsheet and a box of folders, and none of it needs software.

The legal examples are worked in California, where I have taught behind the wheel for five years and still teach part-time. Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia appear beside it where their rules differ. Where your state says something different, your state wins.

What to keep on every student

Keep the record your state requires on every student, plus six things your week depends on. When a parent questions a bill, that file is your answer, and in states like California and Texas it is also what an inspector asks to see.

California's Vehicle Code section 11108 is one example of a state list. It requires:

  • your school's name, address and license number
  • each student's name and address
  • the student's permit or license number, and the date the permit was issued
  • each instructor's name and license number
  • the type and date of each lesson, the time spent on each type, and total hours
  • the total cost to the student

On top of your state's list, keep these six:

  • The signed contract. It is your only proof of what the family agreed to.
  • Hours bought and hours used, as two separate numbers. Money questions from parents usually come down to these two numbers, so update them after every lesson.
  • Permit number and expiry date, where your state issues a permit. A California permit is good for up to one year from the application date, and a minor must hold it at least six months before the drive test. Ohio's and Pennsylvania's also last a year, and Georgia's lasts up to two.
  • Parent contact details, separate from the student's. Parents often have a different phone, email and last name, and bills should reach the person who pays.
  • The road test date, plus a note the next instructor would need. For example, "Panics on left turns across traffic" or "Mother prefers Spanish." It is what a substitute instructor reads first.
  • Payments taken and payments owed. Update them the day money changes hands.

How long to keep the files, and how to keep them

Keep student files for whichever period is longer, your state's rule or the IRS's. A record you have thrown out cannot be shown when the state or the IRS asks.

California's section 11108 says at least three years, open to DMV inspection. If you close a California school, the records go to DMV by the end of the third day, not counting weekends and holidays. Ohio and Texas also say three years. Pennsylvania says five years after the student completes training.

The IRS rule touches the payment records in each student file: the receipts and the payments taken and owed. The IRS tells small businesses to keep records three years in the ordinary case, and employment tax records at least four years after the tax is due or paid.

How you store the files matters too, because many of your students are minors. Keep permit photos in the student's paper folder and off personal phones, whose camera rolls often sync to other devices. In lesson notes, record what the student did behind the wheel and leave out guesses about medical or learning conditions.

The five reminders, in the order to set them up

Set up these five reminders, in this order, so you hear about the dates in your files before they arrive. A calendar alarm on your phone reminds you, and then you contact the family yourself.

  • The lesson, 24 hours ahead, to the parent. A no-show costs you the hour and the fuel, and you cannot resell it, so set this one up first.
  • The permit expiry, 60 days out. In California, the permit application (the form and fee the family filed) is good for 12 months. If the application expires before the student has held the permit for six months, the family reapplies at a DMV office. The months the student already held the permit still count toward the six.
  • Two hours left. Tell the family so they can decide whether to buy more. It comes third because a missed sale costs less than a lost lesson or a lapsed permit.
  • Payment due. Fourth, because slow money is usually still there.
  • The road test, one week out and one day out. A week out, check the car's insurance and registration papers. A day out, check everything your state's licensing agency says to bring. In California that is the permit, a safe vehicle, proof of insurance and registration, and, for a minor, a licensed driver age 25 or older. A California minor who fails waits 14 days to retest, so tell the family before they ask you to rebook.

The folder that keeps the school running when you are out

Write these down in one place and tell one trusted person where it is. Those reminders only help if someone is there to act on them, and if you get sick for a week, someone else runs the school from what you wrote down.

  • Where the keys are, for every vehicle.
  • The insurance policy number and your agent's phone number. Ask your agent what your state's minimum coverage is. California's Vehicle Code 11103 requires at least $150,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $300,000 for two or more, and $50,000 for property damage, and a new insurance certificate must reach DMV before the old one expires.
  • Registration and the safety inspection date for each car, if your state inspects training cars (California and Ohio do it every year).
  • The student list with parent contacts.
  • Bank and payment logins, in a sealed envelope in a locked drawer.
  • Your bonding company's name and number, if your state requires a school bond. A surety bond is a guarantee you buy from a bonding company. California requires a $10,000 bond.
  • Your license dates, since the school's and each instructor's can expire at different times. In California the owner license runs one year at first, then renews in two year terms at twice the fee, and an instructor license is valid for three years. Your state's license lookup, if it has one, shows whether each license is current. California's is the DMV Occupational License Lookup.

Before you pay for any software

None of this needs software, but if you decide to buy some later, ask two questions first. Can you find any student in ten seconds? Does it warn you before a date arrives?

If both answers are yes, check five more things before you pay. You can download all your data as a spreadsheet file without asking support. You can pay month to month and cancel easily, and you can get both promises in writing. An instructor can use it one-handed on a phone. It stores your state's required record fields, and it keeps parent and student contacts separate.

What to do this week

Start with the sheet and the permit check. The hours-bought and hours-used columns and the permit dates protect lessons families have already paid for.

After that, set aside twenty minutes once a week. Pull the permits inside 60 days, the students at two hours or fewer, and the families more than 30 days behind on payment, then send next week's parents their lesson times.

This guide covers day-to-day operations only. Have a professional check your contract and refund terms, call your insurance agent before you add a vehicle or an instructor, and confirm your license status with your state's licensing office (DMV Occupational Licensing in California), since a summary like this one can go out of date.

  • Build one sheet, one row per student. Give it your state's record items, the six additions, and the next lesson and test dates, then fill it in for every active student.
  • Sort it by permit expiry. Call anyone inside 60 days today.
  • Make one folder per student. It holds the contract, a permit copy, receipts in date order, and a lesson log the instructor fills in after each drive.
  • Put every license, insurance and inspection date on one card. Keep it in sight.
  • Seal the bank and payment logins in an envelope. Lock the drawer, and tell one trusted person where it is.

Sources

Written by Andrew Sanchez, a California behind-the-wheel instructor for five years who still teaches part-time and builds WheelPlanner.

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