How to choose your HGV / PCV training provider?

Recently I have found myself looking at training providers for a course I would personally like to do and it got me thinking about the search and booking process. Naturally I feel very reflective about how we do things at National Driving Centre and how we come across to individual people and businesses.

Here are a few things I look for as customer and I’ll try to link it back to not only NDC and how we do things, but how if you’re reading this, how to find your perfect HGV / PCV training provider:

Are they at the top of Google because they paid to be there? Or have they got a strong enough website and SEO game to get them high up organically on their own merit.

I am guilty like everyone of clicking the top sponsored ads on Google, why? Because it’s easy. Hence why businesses pay to be up there through GoogleAds! However this doesn’t make them ‘the top choice’. NDC of course has to use GoogleAds to cover off my above point, but we also work hard on creating information on our website on how to get your HGV licence all the way to a jobs page and accompanying video on how to get your first HGV job. Even with this and for seemingly no reason, such pages could still end up in the SEO toilet! 

Note to self with training providers – don’t click on the first search result without pausing to think and maybe scrolling down a little further to get a better picture of more companies and different offerings. Being at the top doesn’t mean they are the top when it comes to quality.

How easy is their website to use? Is it easy to find what I’m looking for? Let’s face it, we all want to know how much something is…

You’ve seen the pretty pictures and the glitzy animations, but ultimately do you know what is included in the course and for how much? I get so frustrated when I’m fumbling around a website looking for basic detail on what’s included and how much. Actually this is something at National Driving Centre we could do better. Ah, you thought this would be a total puff piece about the company right? Nope, because we’re not perfect. We give a very good idea of what’s involved in your training by pulling back the curtain through video not the written word. We have YouTube HGV & PCV how to videos all over our site, but probably not enough written wording for what actually happens over those training days. Because let’s face it, if you don’t have headphones, you’re not going to gamble on clicking that video on the train to work. One thing we have always done well (before I arrived, so can’t take credit for this….) is make our pricing easy to find and obvious how much each course is > https://www.nationaldrivingcentre.co.uk/prices/

When I look over other HGV / PCV training providers websites and I’ve got to fill out an enquiry form for a ‘member of the team’ to get back to me, I’m a bit lost at that point. Or if there is too much information with things like adding CPC, offering you a starter pack or pass protection etc etc. It’s like buying a car to find out these cheeky little extras like leather seats (that you do really want and need) aren’t originally included so the price then quietly creeps up to a point you would never have looked at from the outset. 

Note to self with training providers – Beware of stock images of lorries or buses that are clearly not that company’s vehicles. If it’s a perfect photo of a handsome man behind the wheel of a brand new, left hand drive lorry – it’s certainly not that company’s. Or even from this country. Hell, we have some pretty rough around the edges photos of our vehicles and instructors, but you know they’re ours! But that’s why we largely try and stick to the bit we’re good at – lorry & bus driver training. When it comes to the website glitz we try to stay as real and authentic as we can.

Of course there are occasions where you can use a stock image from the internet when writing an article like this but NOT for showing off your own driving instructors or vehicles. This is a big red flag that it’s a broker, and you’re going to spend 20% + more for your training course because they got you at the top of Google (remember my first point above) and they then sub contract you out to a company that actually has their own vehicles and HGV instructors. All while taking your money off the top.

On the price side of things, if it’s not clear and obvious what you’re getting with a company and for how much, be very careful. It’s 2025, if you want to avoid talking to a salesman from a callback and just get the price off the website to make your own mind up, you should totally be allowed that right.

Good reviews. Bad reviews. All reviews help to make your decision.

We’re all doing it more and more. Leaving reviews and reading reviews. Sometimes people just need to vent about what they feel is an injustice, but for the most part it’s positive and a green flag to any future customer – choose this company / product. 

For many, the ‘success’ of an HGV or PCV driving course usually comes down to a pass or fail on the driving test. But is that result inextricably linked to how good the training company’s service was? Realistically no. The foundation of a smooth booking process, informative and patient tuition is the majority of the iceberg. The test is what you see right at the end out of the water. I made a pond parallel last week and this week we’re out into the ocean – next week I’ll attempt some land based metaphors. No guarantees though.

Hence why whenever you look at a 1 star review where someone is actually bombing on the DVSA examiner for failing them – that’s not necessarily the training provider’s fault. That’s the DVSA and highly likely student error on the day. IF they were taught correctly.

Note to self with training providers- Make sure to read reviews on every platform an HGV training company has: Google, Trustpilot, Facebook, Feefo, or simply ask a friend if you know they’ve had a course there. Knowledge is power in this buying process, so if you can read that instructors shout at students then you probably want to avoid that company and a costly mistake. 

How far are you willing to travel for the right training company?

Oh this is my favourite one. The course I mentioned at the start of this blog post is two weeks long, pretty important, but not life changing. Therefore you tie that level of importance as to how much you’re willing to throw your standard routine out the window to get there and back for. For reference, it’s a 1h 30 round trip each day, which is a time trade off I’m very happy with. Would I go further? On this occasion, probably not. Due to the nature of the course having a large emphasis on me doing lots of personal studying and being in a semi big class, the tutor quality won’t make or break it. I’m sure they’ll be grand! I went to state school where within any classes that weren’t immediately ‘setted’, you could have some that went to Oxford at the top…and…some that didn’t, shall we say. I can handle it! 

The game then changes if what is being taught is practical, has a larger personal importance to it and the tuition ratio is much much smaller. Enter, HGV & PCV training. You will either complete your training one on one or certainly no more than one instructor to two pupils. Therefore prior research has to be done to find the right company for the job, and if that company isn’t within a round trip of 1h 30 for example, you might throw out your life routine to go to the very best place to do your HGV or PCV training. After all, it’s only five to ten days of training maximum to achieve a driving licence you should have for the rest of your driving life. 

Back in 2020, one month before Covid hit, we started a YouTube channel. Needless to say, it didn’t start very well! But as soon as we were allowed, myself and our Chief Instructor Paul Mac got to work on making videos showing what happened on a lorry or bus course. The reversing exercises, the Module 4 CPC tuition. You name it, we’ve probably had a go. Was it cinema grade quality, absolutely not! However what it did do was offer any potential customer a window into what we did and why on the training course. Not only that, but to see a number of instructors (that would let me and Paul put a camera in their face) that could be ‘your instructor’. Other companies didn’t offer this. It was very much – here’s a picture of one of our training fleet, we’ve been operating for ‘X’ years and reviews from previous customers say mostly positive things on Google. Pretty uninspiring.

When someone arrives at one of our free driving assessments and tells us how far they’ve come, mostly because they’ve seen Paul on TV – it still doesn’t feel real. We’ve had all sorts. The Megabus from Scotland, on the train from Wales and one guy who genuinely came from Sweden – SWEDEN! They saw our YouTube videos and trusted us firstly, enjoyed our content secondly, and came to the decision whatever the distance, those guys can get me my lorry or bus driving licence. It blows the team away every single time and has become such a heartwarming part of everyday business for us. 

So in conclusion, should you travel to train with the right training company? Absolutely. If you let them know what set them apart from others and the effort you made to get there, I can tell you from experience that they will do everything they can to put on an enjoyable and successful driving course for you.