How do I become a Driving Instructor?
Washington State has several requirements to obtain a Driving Instructor license, which you'll need if you want to teach people how to drive as a job.
Pre-Application Requirements
- You must have a valid Washington State driver's license
- You must have a high school diploma, GED, or equivalent
- You must have had a driver's license for at least 5 years
- You must be at least 21 years of age
- State mandated pre-employment background check
- 100-question Instructor Exam (score 87 or better)
- State Driving Exam (score 90 or better)
Training Requirements - 100 Hours
- 40 Hours of classroom observation
- 40 hours of observing lessons from the back seat
- 20 hours of teaching driving from the front seat
Before applying for the driving instructor license
Before you apply, you'll have to accomplish all of the above listed requirements. If you try to apply before they are done, you'll delay your application. Fortunately, you can do all of them while you are collecting your 100 training hours.
We recommend doing the background check once you begin the training, since it can take up to several weeks for the check to complete. Washington State uses Identogo to collect your information and conduct the background check. You simply schedule an appointment, fill out the form online, and show up to have your fingerprints digitally collected. It costs around $43, and you pay in person with a credit card when you get there. They won't notify you when the check is complete, and they don't share the results with you; only the the DOL gets to see it. Schedule an appointment here: https://wa.state.identogo.com/
The results will be available to the DOL once you apply for the instructor license. Be sure to keep the little paper with the very long number on it, in case your results are difficult for them to find. The tracking number can help the DOL find your results.
You'll also need to take the Instructor Exam, and that is scheduled through License Express. Log in to your personal account, and then choose the option to Schedule an Appointment. You'll find options for taking the knowledge test. Log in here: https://secure.dol.wa.gov/home/
Once you pass the Instructor Exam, you can then schedule the standard State Driving Exam, and you'll need a score of 90 or better (the general public needs an 80 or better). If you are working with a school already, they can help you with this.
Applying for the Instructor License
After you have completed the 100 hours of training, passed both instructor exams, and completed the background check, you can apply for the license. Do this online, at the other Washington state site: https://secureaccess.wa.gov/myAccess/saw/select.do
Use the same login you use for the License Express account above. Once you're in there, you'll need to click on "Add a New Service", then choose from the list of services by agency. The one you are adding is DOL Professional and Business Licensing. Once you've added that (it's instantaneous), then click on the "Access Now" button, then Apply for a Professional License.
You'll answer some questions, and they will ask you to upload your training log showing proof of the 100 hours. At the end, you'll pay a fee of $250 to apply for the license. Lately, it only takes about 1-2 weeks at most to get approval and then you are licensed!
Getting the 100 Training Hours
Most people who want to become drive instructors are usually trained by the driving school they plan to work with. If a driving school hires you, they should offer the training at no cost to you, and many of them also pay a hiring bonus if you decide to work there. Once you have obtained a driving instructor license, the license belongs to you and not to the school where you are employed. You are simply placing your professional license there while you work there.
If you want to get an instructor license so you can start your own school, it's best to reach out to schools that aren't close to your planned location. No one likes to train their direct competitors, and it's the primary reason that it's so hard to find driving instructor license training in this state.
The few schools that do offer license training charge a fee, which can vary quite a bit, but you shouldn't pay more than $4000. When Central Washington University offered a training program, their tuition fee was around $5000, and most schools use that number as a rough estimate for setting their pricing. At the time of this writing (June 2025), there are no colleges offering this training, and the Department of Licensing is testing a pilot program of training new licensees.
Training with us
We do offer driving instructor license training for $3500, as space is available. Since you must observe lessons from the back seat and also teach from the front seat, there can be limited seat belts available and we can only take on a few trainees at a time. The classroom hours are primarily done online, but can be done in person if you prefer.
Training with us is done on a drop-in basis, and you can attend classes and lessons as you have time. We don't require you to complete the training within a minimum or maximum time frame. This is great if you are already working another job and can't commit to attending full-time.
We've opened our four schools and helped many others open their own schools with lots of free advice, form designs, route ideas, and curriculum decisions. We want you to succeed and become the type of instructor who wants to provide an excellent learning experience for students. For more information and availability, reach out to Ryan at ryan@i5driving.com
Cautions for prospective new driving school owners
We've seen too many people try to open driving schools thinking that it will be easy. You just have to drive around in a car for an hour giving out advice, right? Play some videos in a classroom and call it good?
The driving and the classroom portions are the easy part. The parts that turn your hair gray are the marketing, the startup costs, scheduling issues, employee challenges, difficult customers, mechanical issues, the lean winter months, and compliance with state rules. It's usually the state compliance that causes schools to fail, when they choose not to follow the laws and rules.
The paperwork can be a real challenge, especially if you are conducting the state license exams. The error rate on those needs to be near zero, which means you and your staff will need to be very well-trained. State auditors visit every year and review your paperwork for issues, including scoring, ID checks, and data entry. Errors can be addressed, but willfully breaking the rules is likely to result in them suspending your license for 6 months or longer. In south King County where we are located, this happens to other schools about twice per year.
We're happy to teach you how to keep your paperwork clean of critical errors, and how to conduct license exams without running afoul of the rules. We provide a lot of free resources, including our free state driving test tutorial on YouTube: i5driving.com/refresher