Broker or training school? How to tell before you pay
A training school owns the trucks and employs the instructors. A broker takes your booking and money, then passes you to a school. You can usually tell which one you're talking to in a few minutes.
The quickest test
Ask to see the truck you'll train in, and ask for an assessment drive before you pay in full. A school can arrange both. A broker usually can't, because the trucks belong to someone else.
Eight checks before you pay
None of these take long, and a good provider will answer all of them without fuss.
- Where is the truck? Ask for the training site address. A school will tell you where the yard is and which test centre it uses.
- Can I have an assessment drive first? Forum regulars use this as the standard test: if a provider can offer an assessment before you pay, it isn't a broker.
- Who will my instructor be? A school knows its own instructors by name.
- How many hours in the cab, and is it one-to-one? Brokers often sell a "course" without saying how long the course actually is. Get the hours in writing so you can compare like for like.
- What exactly is included? Medical, theory tests, CPC modules, test fees and retests. DVSA test fees are fixed, so check what they should add up to.
- Does the trading name match a real company? Search the name on Companies House and check the address and how long it has traded.
- Are they promising a pass or a job? Nobody can guarantee a pass, because the result depends on how you drive on the day. A guaranteed interview is not a guaranteed job.
- Is it a job or a course? Some "trainee HGV driver" job adverts are paid courses. One Gillingham listing says "this is a training course and fees apply".
What the wording usually means
These phrases aren't proof on their own, but they tell you which questions to ask.
| What the website says | What to ask |
|---|---|
| "Access to 90+ training locations" or "we'll find a vetted school near you" (example) | Which school will train me, and how much of my money goes to them? |
| "Nationwide training provider" with no yard address | Where is the truck I'll train in, and can I see it? |
| "Call for a price" or "price on request" | Can I have the full price and hours in writing? |
| A "course" with no hours stated | How many hours in the cab, one-to-one? |
| "Guaranteed pass" or "guaranteed job" | What happens, and what do I pay, if I fail or no job comes? |
What a broker costs you
The broker's cut comes out of what you pay for training. One long-standing forum contributor estimates it at roughly the cost of a day's training, so you can end up with four days where a school would have given you five for the same money.
Forum users also describe having no say over which school trains them, and schools treating broker customers as lower priority than their own. One learner paid £450 for a Class 1 rebooking that still hadn't been booked three weeks later.
Using a broker isn't illegal, and some people are happy to pay for someone else to arrange everything. The point is to know what you're paying for. Our Kent price index shows who delivers each provider's training, as each provider describes it.
Different names, same company
Getting three quotes from three national brands doesn't always mean three different companies. From the companies' own websites and terms:
- HGV Training Centre, Easy As HGV, The LGV Training Company and Surrey and Hampshire HGV Training are four separate limited companies that share a registered address (Higgison House, City Road, London), an office in Fleet, Hampshire, and near-identical terms. HGVTraining.co.uk says it connects you with "our own group brands", naming three of them.
- HGVT and HGVC (now rebranded Insite) are run by the same company, HGV Training Services Ltd.
- TrainHGV and HGV Nationwide publish terms that match word for word, including the same refund table and the same £300 deduction.
None of these publishes a course price. Between them they describe networks of anywhere from 50 to more than 400 training centres, but none names the school that would train you in Kent. What their cancellation terms say.
1 of 15 national HGV training companies and brokers we checked publish a course price. Compare them with Kent schools in the price index.
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