Ansela / Who it’s for / Driving instructors
For driving instructors
You can’t pick up with a learner on a roundabout. She can.
Ansela answers in your driving school’s name, takes new-pupil enquiries, books first lessons into your diary, and takes the message from the pupil who needs to move Thursday.
£1.99 your first month, including VAT, then from £99 a month + VAT. 60 minutes in month one. No contract.
Set up in about 15 minutes.
Ansela is a Bookeasy.ai product. You sign up at ansela.bookeasy.ai, and you’ll see BOOKEASY.AI on your card statement.
Is there an AI receptionist for driving instructors?
Yes. Ansela answers in your driving school’s name while you’re in the passenger seat with a pupil. She takes new-pupil enquiries, gives your prices and areas, books first lessons into your Ansela diary, and takes messages about moving a lesson. Plans start at £99 a month + VAT.
01
The first lesson that started as automatic
This is the kind of call a driving instructor gets at teatime, from a parent. Manual or automatic is settled in two lines, and Priya knows where to pick him up.
Example call; Pass with Priya Driving School and the caller are made up.
This call may be recorded. Thank you for calling Pass with Priya Driving School. Please hold for a moment while I connect you.Recorded, and played before she picks up.
Pass with Priya Driving School, Ansela speaking. How can I help?
Hi, it’s for my son. He’s just turned seventeen and he wants lessons. Manual. Well, he says automatic, but I think he should do manual.
Priya teaches both. Shall I put manual for now, and he can switch after the first lesson if he wants?
Yeah, go on, manual. How much is it?
Lessons are thirty-eight pounds an hour, and the first one’s two hours. Has he got his provisional licence?
Came last week. Can she pick him up from school?
If it’s in her area, yes. What’s the school’s postcode?
Er, LS17 6HA, I think. It’s Allerton.
That’s in her area. Priya has Saturday at ten from home, or Tuesday at four from school. Which suits?
Tuesday at four. His name’s Ethan Clarke, and I’m Joanne, this is my number.
Thanks Joanne. Ethan’s booked for Tuesday at four, two hours, manual, picked up from school at LS17 6HA.
02
What she does for a driving school, and what she won’t
She works from your prices, your area, your lesson lengths, manual or automatic, and the notice you ask for when a pupil cancels.
- New pupils and first lessons, booked into your diary with where to pick them up.
- “Do you do automatic?” and “Do you cover Horsforth?” answered from your own list.
- Moving or cancelling a lesson, inside the notice you’ve set, with your cancellation policy read out.
- The parent ringing for their son, noted as who rang and who the pupil is.
- Won’t promise a test date or comment on the test. She takes a message for you.
- Won’t book outside your hours or your area. She tells the caller what you cover and takes the details.
03
What happens when a driving instructor can’t answer the phone?
You can’t take a call with a learner at the wheel, so it rings out all lesson. New pupils usually ring more than one instructor, and the one who answers or rings back first often gets the first lesson. A parent ringing for a seventeen-year-old rarely leaves a long message.
Between lessons you have a few minutes to eat, fill in the progress book and get to the next pick-up. Ringing back every missed call then is a job in itself.
04
What does she ask a new pupil or their parent?
Who the pupil is, and who is ringing, because it’s often a parent. Then whether they have a provisional licence, manual or automatic, any lessons they’ve had before, and where to pick them up. She checks the postcode against the area you cover and gives your lesson price and length from what you’ve given her.
Then she offers the days and times in your Ansela diary, such as a two-hour first lesson on Saturday morning, and takes a name and number. The summary tells you who the pupil is and who to ring back.
05
Can she move or cancel a lesson for a pupil?
She takes the name, the lesson and the new time they want, and reads out your cancellation policy. If the new time is free in the diary, she books it. She doesn’t decide whether to charge for a late cancellation: that’s for you when you read the summary.
06
What won’t she say to someone learning to drive?
Nothing about tests. She doesn’t book or promise a test date, and she doesn’t give a view on whether a pupil is ready. If a caller asks, she takes a message for you.
Being on the DVSA register of Approved Driving Instructors is your claim to make. If you want it said to callers, give her the words, and she says it as you wrote it. If you teach on weekday evenings or at weekends, she books only the times you’ve set.
Plans start at £99 a month + VAT: see what each plan includes. Paying a per-call service now? See how Ansela compares.
07
Where the phone usually is while a learner finds second gear
We built Ansela because we kept ringing tradespeople who couldn’t pick up, and then booking someone else. She isn’t a call centre. She answers in your name, says what you’ve told her to say, and writes down what the caller wanted.
If she gets a call wrong, forward us the recording.
Ansela[email protected]
08
How do you set up Ansela?
You choose a plan before your number goes live.
For driving instructors: keep your current number and divert it to Ansela, or take a new UK business number for your website and cards, or use both.
- Give her your website or your Facebook page. She reads it and comes back with your prices, your area and your lesson lengths for you to check.
- Pick a voice and try her. Have the first-lesson call above with her yourself in your browser before she takes a real one. Ring as the parent.
- Divert your mobile. We give you a UK number. One short code diverts your mobile to it when you don’t pick up. Another turns it off.
09
What does Ansela cost? Three plans, no contract
Starter suits most instructors on their own. Team for a school with more than one instructor’s diary.
Ansela is a Bookeasy.ai product. You sign up at ansela.bookeasy.ai, and you’ll see BOOKEASY.AI on your card statement.
| Plan | A month + VAT | Minutes | Calls at once |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterSole traders, one or two vans | £99 | 600 | 1 |
| TeamDiaries for up to 10 people | £279 | 1,800 | 3 |
| ScaleSet up with you, not self-serve | £499 | 3,500 | 3 |
Minutes are time she spends on the phone with callers. Extra minutes are 20p each, up to a limit you set.
First month £1.99 including VAT, with 60 minutes, on Starter. Card needed; nothing else to pay in month one. Cancel from your billing page and it stops at the end of the month you’ve paid for. Plan prices exclude VAT.
Not VAT-registered? With VAT that’s £118.80 a month on Starter, £334.80 a month on Team and £598.80 a month on Scale.
Scale is set up with you. Need her plugged into your own systems? Talk to us about Enterprise.
10
Questions driving instructors ask
Pupils cancel on the morning.
She reads out your cancellation policy and takes the message. You decide whether to charge.
Can she book two-hour lessons?
Yes. Tell her the lengths you offer, and whether the first lesson is longer, and she books the right amount of time.
Most of my enquiries are parents.
She takes the pupil’s name and a number for them, and notes who rang, so you know who to ring back.
Can she tell a pupil when their test is?
No. She doesn’t know test dates and doesn’t book or promise them. She takes a message for you.
Do I have to change my number?
No. We give you a UK number and you divert your own to it with a short code (codes by network). Turn the divert off whenever you like.
What is a minute, and can she take two calls at once?
A minute is time she spends on the phone with callers. Starter includes 600 a month, extra minutes are 20p each up to a limit you set, and Starter takes 1 call at a time. A caller who rings while she’s busy can leave a voicemail, which doesn’t use your minutes.
Is there a contract, and what happens after the £1.99 month?
No minimum term. After the first month it carries on at your plan price plus VAT unless you cancel, which you can do from your billing page at any time.
Keep your eyes on the mirrors. She’ll get the phone.
Ansela is a Bookeasy.ai product. You sign up at ansela.bookeasy.ai, and you’ll see BOOKEASY.AI on your card statement.