How to Start a Traffic School in California

The first thing you want to do is go to the California DMV website, dmv.ca.gov. I will add links for you so you can easily find the information as the DMV website can be a bit tricky to navigate. (AB2499 is a new CA traffic school legislation introduced 1/9/2012) It includes all the rules and regulations and the qualifications required for the owner, operator and instructor.

After going through the information, you’ll want to print out the Traffic School Owner Checklist. It will prove very helpful when checking off everything you need to do.

Opening a school for traffic offenders can be a long and arduous undertaking; There are many requirements that must be met before the DMV approves you.

I will list some of the steps required to open your school:

1) The first thing the DMV requires is the submission of a traffic school lesson plan along with a fee of $800.00 for your original online course review, $800.00 for a home study course review, or $475.00 for a classroom course, to be submitted with your OL764 form. You must wait up to 120 days for the DMV to conduct a background check on you and for your approval or rejection of your course. If you prefer, you can purchase a pre-approved lesson plan, which is probably easier than writing your own, which is a 6 month to a year project. Also, you will receive your approval letter from the DMV in about a week and only need to pay a $25.00 fee to use a pre-approved course.

2) The DMV must approve your traffic school name before you can proceed with the rest of your application. You will need to fill out the OL 612 form, but before you waste your time you can buy your domain name for an online traffic school. Call the DMV and verify that the name you want to use was valid at the time of your call (916 ) 229-3126 is available. If your name is similar to another name in use, your domain name will be rejected. If the name is available you can mail the form overnight to DMV who will return an authorization for your chosen name to you by US mail. Once your application is approved, your school name will be published on the DMV website, this is free marketing for you.

Some additional DMV requirements are: fingerprints via live scan, securing a security deposit, paying the required fees, providing a certificate of insurance, purchasing a DMV-approved lesson plan or creating your own, renting an office space where you can conduct and maintain your business Complete your traffic offender courses if you want to teach a face-to-face course. FYI… The DMV makes no distinction between a classroom traffic school or an online traffic school course when it comes to the application process. The DMV wants you to have an office space, even if you only have an online course. They state that students should be able to enter the business where they chose to take their traffic school course.

Your application must also include the following: Representation of compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Verification of property use. If you are forming a limited liability company, a limited liability partnership, or choose to have a company owned by a limited liability company: You will need a copy of the articles of incorporation, company minutes or other document that is submitted to the Secretary of State and identifies the officers, shareholders and managers with an interest in the company required.

A copy of your business license

Copy of your fictitious name declaration

Copy of your rental or lease agreement for all offices and classrooms or use Form OL 144, Traffic Violator School Classroom Lease or Rental Agreement.

A California traffic school consists of an owner or owners, an operator who oversees the operations of the school, and the traffic school instructor who will teach the classes. The operator must complete an 8 hour course either online or in class as part of their application process if they have never been a licensed DMV operator. If they were previously a DMV-licensed operator, they only need to take a 4-hour online or face-to-face course. After the lesson, they receive a certificate that they can take with their application package to the DMV. After the operator has completed their 4 or 8 hour initial course, they must take a mandatory 4 hour course each year. The owner does not have to take a DMV test, but the operator and the instructor do. The written exam consists of traffic law, safe driving practices, knowledge of teaching methods and techniques. The operator will also have additional test questions on laws and regulations, office procedures and records.

These are just some of the requirements I have listed above. Read the information on the DMV website before deciding whether to proceed with opening your school. In my future articles I will go into more detail about the requirements for the operator and instructor as well as marketing on the Internet.

DMV links:

To view the forms and fees along with the application requirements for the Traffic School Holder, the link below will show you all the information on one page.

Thanks to Beth Singer | #Start #Traffic #School #California