THREE-POINT TURN.
I do not teach the three-point turn in my vehicle with the Student-driver behind-the- wheel of my vehicle. There are excellent reasons for this that I will cheerfully clarify upon request. I do show the three-point turn to the Student-driver with me behind-the-wheel, AFTER the Student-driver memorizes the steps (procedure) for the three-point turn well enough to quote them without hesitation or error and upon request. Or, I do teach the three-point turn with the driver behind-the-wheel in any vehicle, other than mine, even if the Student-driver has not memorized the steps for the three-point turn, if the Client can show written proof that the Student-driver is covered by the vehicle insurance.
PARKING I do not teach parking in my vehicle with the Student-driver behind-the-wheel of my vehicle. There are excellent reasons for this that I will cheerfully clarify upon request. I do show parking skills/procedure to the Student-driver with me behind-the-wheel, AFTER the Student-driver learns the three-point turn skills. Or, I do teach the parking with the driver behind-the-wheel in any vehicle, other than mine, even if the Student-driver cannot do the three-point turn, if the Client can show written proof that the Student-driver is covered by the vehicle insurance.
Unless otherwise directed use this procedure (memory steps) for the three-point turn:
Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop.
Turn, Look, Go, Stop, Reverse.
Turn, Look, Go, Stop, Drive.
Turn, Look, ... Accelerate.
Entering a parking space when using a private vehicle for parking.
1. Go slow, get far right, look over left shoulder and if safe, signal left.
2. Stop, turn wheel 90% full left.
3. When safe, coast.
4. Steer right in order to stop with car centered in lane.
5. Point front wheels straight.
6. Put parking brake on and transmission in park.
Note: "When safe," means you look in every possible direction from which a vehicle or pedestrian might reasonably be about to enter your line of travel.
Exiting a parking space when using a private vehicle for parking.
1. When safe, put in reverse, release parking brake when safe, back.
2. Stop when my front bumper is even with back bumper of vehicle on right or left.
3. Turn wheel 100% in the direction you want the back end of vehicle to go. .
4. When safe, back up, stop at 45-degree angle and put in drive.
5. Turn wheel 100% in the direction you want the front of the vehicle to go and when safe, accelerate.
View: http://activerain.com/blogsview/505780/a-slice-of-life
Three Point Turn when using a private vehicle for three point turn training.
1. Go slow, get far right, look over left shoulder and if safe signal left and stop.
2. Turn 100% left and, when safe, coast, stop and put in reverse.
3. Turn 100% right, when safe coast back, stop and put in drive.
4 Turn 100% left and when safe, go.
There is more to entering and exiting a parking space than what is noted above, but the additional information is easily incorporated into the steps above once the steps above are memorized.
Entering a parking space when using Academy vehicle for parking.
1. Go slow
2. Get far right
3. Look over left shoulder and if safe.
4. Signal left.
5. Stop.
6. When safe, coast at 0 to 1 mph and then
7. Turn wheel fast 1.5 turns left (as soon as your from bumper passes post.
8. Turn wheel to 1.5 turns to right.
9. Stop centered in your lane one to 12 inches from curb or concrete stop.
10. Put parking brake on and transmission in Park.
Exiting a parking space when using Academy vehicle for parking.
1. When safe, put in reverse and when safe, back.
2. Stop when told to do so, when directed turn wheel full left then stop vehicle at 45 degree angle.
3. Put in drive and when safe, coast at 0.1 to 1mph and then steer into your lane.
Three Point Turn when using Academy vehicle for three point turn training.
1. Go slow, get far right, look over left shoulder and if safe signal left and stop.
2. When safe, remove some brake pressure, coast, and turn full left and stop before any part of vehicle goes off the road.
3. Put in reverse, when safe, coast with partial brake pressure on, turn wheel full right as fast as you can, stop when told.
4 Put in drive, when safe, remove some brake pressure, coast while turning wheel left as fast as you can and steer into your lane.
Note: "Stop," means "stop when I (Joda Collins) tell you to stop. "Coasting," is always at 0 to 1mph, accomplished by keeping some brake pressure on.
There is more to entering and exiting a parking space than what is noted above, but the additional information is easily incorporated into the steps above once the steps above are memorized.
We offer a free written Memory Course that, upon completing, most student drivers have memorized the parking procedures. That free Memory Course is found at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joda-collins/driving-skills-memory-work/paperback/product-20127983.html
If you want to use this Memory training and need more direction to do so, just ask!
For student-drivers that have completed the Driving Skills Memory Workbook and turned in the completed written work to us (as evidence of completion of the Memory Workbook) and still find they cannot memorize the steps for parking, we set you down at a table and quote each step to you one and you restate them. We do this for one hour. So far, everyone who thought they could not memorize, did.
Every driver that has secured a driver's license in the State of Florida has memorized steps for parking and a three-point-turn. You can do it, too.
Even if the vehicle that the driver will use for the State test is not available for use for training, I still prefer to use the Client's or Student-drivers personal vehicle instead of my vehicle for parking and three point turn training. That is because I do not allow my vehicle have the steering wheel turned while the vehicle is stationary. It is very hard on the power steering over a long period of time. It will not hurt power steering if done a few hundred times, but can damage the power steering when done a few thousand times as it is when done in a vehicle use for training every day.
FREE TRAINING (PARKING AND THREE POINT TURN)
We do not charge for parking and/or three point turn training, in whole or in part, if the following conditions are met:
1. Driver has memorized the steps for parking and three point turn, in whole or in part, well enough to quote them without hesitation or assistance and upon request before training for parking and three point turn during paid sessions. This means driver does not have memorize all the steps at one time. Memorize as much or as little as you want and we can practice what you have memorizes free of charge to you anytime you want. It only takes about 45 seconds to to a complete three point turn after steps are memorized and it only takes about two minutes to enter and exit a parking space in accord with State law once the steps are memorized. So, all I do is a two or three minutes to any existing lesson at no charge any time a driver wants to practice what he or she has memorized of the steps for parking and/or three point turn.
2. Before memorizing the steps for parking and three point turn, read the red and green print above.
3. Driver must have at least 90 General Safety Points before practicing parking and/or three point turn if using the Joda Collins Driving Acdy vehicle for parking and three point turn training.
ADDITIONAL OFFER
I (Joda Collins) will train any licensed driver to train any person how to pass the parking and three point turn part of the State driving exam for $1.94 per (in car) minute. Requirements:
1. This training must be added to an existing lesson of 75 or more minutes.
2. The training has to take place in the Client's insured vehicle.
3. The maximum training time per 75 -minute or longer lesson is 15 minutes unless otherwise arranged. Most experienced drivers can learn to teach parking and three point turn in 15 minutes.
ADDITIONAL OFFER
Any Client can ride during parking and three point turn training of his or her Student-Driver and learn from watching how to train for parking and three-point turn. Charge for riding and learning how to teach parking and three-point turn is zero dollars. Standard training fees still apply for Student-Driver training.
I will train any Client to train any student to do parking and three-point turn. Standard training fees still apply.
If you have any remaining questions, just ask!
SECTION TWO
This is for those directed here. If you have not been directed to this Section, it will not make sense to you.
THREE POINT TURN
Far right
Go slow
Look
Signal
Stop
Turn
Look
Coast
Stop
Reverse
Turn
Look
Coast
Stop
Drive
Turn
Look
Go
ENTERING PARKING SPACE
Get right
Go slow
Look
Signal
Stop
Turn
Look
Coast
Stop
Parking & transmission brakes.
EXITING A PARKING SPACE
Reverse
Look
Coast
Stop
Turn
Look
Coast
Stop
Turn
Look
Go
Turn steering full left when parked uphill with curb on right.
Moving vehicle must miss pedestrian by three feet minimum.
Put both feet on brake. Hold brake down with left foot. Move right foot to accelerator. Small acceleration. Remove left foot from brake.
One difference is turn lane is shorter than deceleration lane.
Know where horn, emergency flashers, bright and dim headlights are.
CLARIFICATION OF FREE THREE POINT TURN TRAINING
What follows was in response to a real email which read: "Mr. Collins, you said I would get some FREE three-point turn training today and I did not. Why?"
My Response: Free behind-the-wheel training is unusual for any driving school to offer. Unlike other businesses, such as grocery stores for example, that can offers something for free or at a reduced price and can make up the lost profit on the sale of other items, driving schools only have one product/service which is driver's training.
Eighty percent of driver's training is Cognitive/Mental only.
Ten percent of driver's training is a combination of Cognitive and Physical.
Ten percent of of driver's training is mostly Physical.
1. COGNITIVE/MENTAL ONLY (80%)
A. Learning the rules of the road and how to apply those rules of the road in traffic,
B. Learning the 12 General Safety skills and now to apply those skills in traffic and
C. Learning the 23 Defensive Driving Techniques and how to apply those techniques in traffic.
2. A COMBINATION OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL (10%)
A. Learning how the steering wheel influences the front tires.
B. Learning how the brake and accelerator influences the speed of the vehicle.
C. Learning when and how to use coasting.
D. Memorizing the steps for parking and three point turn.
Ten percent of drivers training is:
2. PHYSICAL (10%)
A. Learning the physical moves to safely operate the accelerator, brake and steering.
I give away FREE driver's training in the following ways:
1. The workbook which is all mental/cognitive.
2. These emails which is all mental/cognitive.
3. The written steps for parking and three point turn, which is all mental/cognitive.
4. Responding to any questions about driving presented in email format which is cognitive/mental.
5. Under specific conditions, couple of minutes at the start of each lesson devoted to free three-point turn and parking skills, which is a combination of mental/cognitive (memorizing the steps) and physical (doing the memorized steps behind the wheel).
Now, let's take the major points made in this note so far and put them together.
1. It is unusual for a driving school to give away driver's training whether it be cognitive/mental skill information, physical training behind the wheel or any combination of physical and mental/cognitive training.
2. FREE three point turn training consists of memorizing the steps and doing them. However, I only give away a minute or two free driver's training per lesson and only until driver can do the three-point turn and parking well enough to pass that part of the State exam.
Today, my FREE three point turn consisted of testing you while you were in the passenger's seat with me in the driver's seat to see if you memorized the steps for the three-point turn. In total it took only about three to five minutes to do so, which included driving to the location for the three point turn, providing instruction to you to state the steps from memory, and me doing them to show you what the steps looked like in real life and changing sides with you to begin the paid driving session.
You ACED the memorizing the steps. When the three to five minutes of FREE training was over, I changed places with you to begin the paid training. We started the lesson at 2:25pm and ended the lesson at 3:47pm; a total of one hour and 22- minutes or 82-minutes of training of which five was devoted to free three point turn training leaving 75-minutes of paid training and 2-minutes of additional free training. I always try to go a couple of minutes over to be fair.
At the end of the training you shared with me that you were not allowed to do any of the FREE three-point turn training. I shared with you that you did get the FREE three- point training. You seemed confused and I shared with you that I would clarify with an email. This is that email.
However, I know what you meant. What you meant was that you were not allowed to be behind-the-wheel of my car to do the three-point turn training for FREE. And that is correct. Before I put a driver behind the wheel for FREE three point turn training, I usually first verify the driver has memorized the steps well enough to quote them without hesitation, without error and upon request and show the driver those steps as they play out (are done) in real life. That is driver's training. Once I know a driver can quote the steps without error or hesitation, I put the driver behind-the-wheel to do those steps, which will be done the next lesson.
In contrast, if today, I would have spent five minutes driving to the three point turn location, clarifying what we were doing during the three-point turn, having the you quote the steps slowly so I could show them, then changed sides with you and then having you actually do the steps, the total amount of time I would have given to FREE training would have been closer to 15 minutes rather than five. Five minutes of FREE training is a about a $10 value. Fifteen minutes of free training is about a $29 gift. While I enjoy and want to give some free time, I seldom give $29 worth of my time for free in one lesson; not because I am negative towards giving the training, but because my lessons are often back to back, especially on Saturday and if I give 15-free minutes to every driver, that would mean I lost one full hour of training time every day (if I had four drivers), which is not unusual for a Saturday because Saturdays fill up first and fastest. That is too much free training to give and too much lost training (income) time.
Next lesson we will start the training with you behind-the-wheel to do the three point turn. The free training consists of everything relative to the three-point turn that you can do without unnecessary hesitation and without error. This limits my free gift to you to a limit I can give away and still make the most of my limited time I have to earn my living.
Thank you for your good question. I hope this clarifies and is a good answer to your good question.
Questions? Just ask.
Sincerely,
Joda Collins
SECTION THREE
SAVING MONEY!
OUR MOTTO IS "WE GO THE EXTRA MILE."
In the days of Jesus on Earth, any Roman Solider to order any person to carry anything the Roman Soldier was carrying and do so for up to one mile. Jesus said, if a Roman Soldier orders you to carry his gear (or anything else) for a mile, then volunteer to carry it an extra mile. In other words, do twice as much for the Roman Solider than is required and do it with a positive attitude.
In order to fulfill our motto, we have to give you the opportunity of progress through the training at twice the rate, therefore at half the expense. Drivers who:
1. Memorize the steps for parking and three point turn.
2. Memorize the assigned 10-words prior to the start of lesson one.
3. Do the assigned three hours of self-study in preparation for each lesson starting with lesson two.
4. Read and reflect on progress reports after each lesson.
5. Learn hand over hand steering on their own time.
6. Learn to let the wheel slide through hands to complete standard 90-degree turns on their own time
Progress twice as fast and at half the expense compared to drivers who do none of the above.
A. MEMORIZE
Memorize the following 10-words in consecutive order before the start of your initial driving session, "Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Move." Save $30.00 (not $30 off, but $30 less).
B. MEMORIZE
Memorize the steps (procedure) for parking and three-point-turn on your own time. Save $150.00. (Not $150 off but $150 less.)
C. FREE written report of your driving progress and/or needs after each or almost every lesson. Learn by reading. You have to ask for this report via return email. Mr. Collins pays a Secretary $15 to turn his coded notes into something you can read if and only if you want those notes sent to you email FREE of charge to you. Only about 30% of drivers and 70% of Clients want those notes, so Mr. Collins does not spend the money producing them if they are not valued. One request is all that is needed for notes after every lesson.
D. WORKBOOK
Read 15-pages of the study Workbook in preparation for your initial training session. That workbook is attached to your first email from us. Or, you can order the workbook on line at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joda-collins/joda-collins-driving-academy-course-workbook/paperback/product-24099355.html
Read for a devoted three hours (or less if so noted) from the study workbook in preparation for each lesson beginning with lesson two and turn in the self-study written work, unsolicited, at the start of each lesson. Save 30% to 50% of your tuition expense (not 30% to 50% off, but 30% go 50% less) because you will progress up to twice as fast and at up to half the expense compared to those who do not do the reading or written work.
None of the workbook is required reading. None of the reading is expected. The workbook is nothing like the Florida Official Driver's Manual. The workbook is optional reading for those who want to progress faster through the training, thus at a lower expense. Some find it very helpful and progress up to twice as fast and therefore at half the expense. Others find it tedious reading and of no value at all.
Learning to drive safely is 10% physical ability, 40% behind the wheel training and 50% mental. For example, if I gave an elementary school student a copy of the times tables on Monday and said we would study the times tables on Friday and I would charge the student's parents $1.68 per minute for every minute it took me on Friday to teach the times tables and between Monday and Friday the child spent eight hours memorizing the times tables, on Friday I would ask the child a dozen or so times tables questions such as what is 3 times 3, 6 times 4, 7 times 9 and so on. If the child got every answer right I would know in about a minute or so if the child had learned the times tables. If so, I would charge the student's parents about $2.00. However, if the student waited until Friday to study the times table with me as the teacher and it took him or her eight classroom hours to learn the times tables, the charge tot the parent would be $1.68 times 60 minutes times eight hours = $806.00. The savings for the first child is $804 ($806 minus $2). That is not $804 off, but it is $804 saved.
That is the way it is with driver's training. If you want me (Joda Collins) to explain during paid driving time the meaning and application of the 45 most common traffic laws, the meaning and application 10 most common traffic signs, the meaning and application of the 12 general safety skill and the meaning and application of the 23 defensive driving techniques, I can do that at a cost to you of several hundred or several thousand dollars (depending on your listening skills and learning speed). Or, you can learn them for free by reading the assigned homework.
The only reason I offer this savings opportunity is for the students who could not otherwise afford driver's training. However, if you can afford driver's training but want to invest half as much for twice the learning, you can do self-study also.
Only about 10% of students avail themselves to this savings opportunity. If most students did use the workbook, I could not afford to offer it.
Those who do not avail themselves to this FREE learning often say they learn by doing and not by reading. However, they never tell any other teacher that. For example, how many times does a person have to negotiate a four-way stop without instructions on the rules for a four way stop before they learn the rules of a four-way stop. My estimate is about 10 to 20 times. How many times must a driver read the rules to four way stop before the driver knows the rules to a four way stop? My estimate is about four times at a cost of zero dollars.
When a student is learning from me in the car, I am doing is telling the student how to apply what is in the workbook, but charging by the minute to do so. Use your behind the wheel time learning how to apply what you learned by reading, not learning what is in the 266 pages of reading material.
Sometimes a student tells me they cannot do the homework because they cannot read. Please see: https://donmcminn.com/2020/01/how-to-learn-from-reading/?unapproved=47797&moderation-hash=a5a7f3da1c5b26eed090089a2727ff1b#comment-47797
Most students who cannot read, can listen to someone else read it. If you do not have some one to read it to you, let me know and I will pay my secretary to read it to you and charge you nothing. Just call or email for details.
E. Follow directions during training and learn by doing rather than ask "why" before you will follow directions. Save $1.68 per minute for each minute Mr. Collins invests to answer your why question before you will follow his direction. (Not $1.68 per minute off, but $1.68 per minute less.) Once you follow the direction, you will experience why.
F. Shuffle steering slows training. If you want to know the details of why shuffle steering slows training (and adds training lessons), just ask.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/05/just-say-no-to-shuffle-steering/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ArlcIqmOg (Hand-over-hand steering)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/2748533/Bad-and-unnatural-steering-practices.html
There is no such thing as a perfect steering method. Every method has positives and negatives. You must determine which positives and negatives you are willing to live with. I teach the 10 and 2 hand over hand method because I think the positives of this method outweigh the negatives. In all other forms of steering I think the negatives outweigh the positives. If you are devoted to a form of steering other than 10 and 2 hand over hand, let me know and we will honor your wishes. Just let us know. Otherwise, we teach 10/2 hand-over-hand.
FREE TRAINING (PARKING AND THREE POINT TURN)
We do not charge for parking and/or three point turn training, in whole or in part, if the following conditions are met:
1. Driver has memorized the steps for parking and three point turn, in whole or in part, well enough to quote them without hesitation or assistance and upon request before training for parking and three point turn during paid sessions. This means driver does not have memorize all the steps at one time. Memorize as much or as little as you want and we can practice what you have memorizes free of charge to you anytime you want. It only takes about 45 seconds to to a complete three point turn after steps are memorized and it only takes about two minutes to enter and exit a parking space in accord with State law once the steps are memorized. So, all I do is a two or three minutes to any existing lesson at no charge any time a driver wants to practice what he or she has memorized of the steps for parking and/or three point turn.
2. Before memorizing the steps for parking and three point turn, read the red and green print above.
3. Driver must have at least 90 General Safety Points before practicing parking and/or three point turn if using the Joda Collins Driving Acdy vehicle for parking and three point turn training.
SECTION FOUR
SHORT CONTRACT
FINANCE
$145 per 75-minute in car and/or behind the wheel training session payable in advance. No refund once this payment is made. No rescheduling once lesson is scheduled unless the Joda Collins Driving Acdy does the rescheduling due to a National Weather Advisory for our Santa Rosa or Escambia County the predicts adverse weather within three hours of your scheduled lesson. Includes a 5% discount for not using Visa or MasterCard Credit card. If paying with Visa or MasterCard, please advise us immediately (now is good).
SCHEDULING
We do not schedule without payment made in advance. When we receive your payment we will contact you for scheduling.
LESSON START LOCATION
Door-to-door service is available. For a quote, just ask. If no door-to-door service is requested and agreed on, the start location is 3804 Garcon Point Rd, Milton, 32583.
VERBAL AGREEMENTS
No verbal agreements, ever!
LIMITED LIABILITY
When in the Joda Collins vehicle, you agree not to hold Joda Collins and the Joda Collins Driving Academy responsible for any physical, emotional or psychological damage, real or imagined, that occurs during training relative to but not limited to any steering, braking or acceleration that is not associated with a crash and said crash must incur, at least, $100 property/vehicle damage regardless of who is driving or who is steering, braking or accelerating. When, in a client’s vehicle, the vehicle owner assumes all liability including all liability that is over and above car owners maximum insurance limit.
SECTION FIVE
Note: This is a sample of an email we often sent, with slight variations as needed, to Clients. While 100% of the content of this email will may not apply to you, some of it will. The part that applies as well as the part that does not apply will be apparent. Thank you for reading this carefully.
Good Afternoon Mr. and/or Ms. Client,
Question: Do you want the driver to use our (Acdy) vehicle or your vehicle for the three-point turn for the upcoming lesson? Before answering that question, please carefully read this detailed email. Thank you.
See www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page, Section One, Colored print for details. Be sure to memorize the list of steps relative to the vehicle you are using for training for parking and three point turn.
If the driver has not memorized the steps for the three point turn well enough to quote them upon request without error or hesitation, then Mr. Collins will ask this question of the Client at the start of the lesson tomorrow,
1. Do you want to spend paid driving time at the upcoming lesson with the driver memorizing the steps for the three point turn. or
2. Skip the training for parking and three point turn today, memorize the steps for the three point turn on your own time for free between lessons, and go on today to General Safety Skills (driving in traffic)
Note: At the upcoming lesson, if you want the driver to memorize the steps for the three-point turn during paid training using the Acdy vehicle, that is done:
1. With the student in the passenger's side while Mr. Collins shows the three point turn. The student-passenger directs Mr. Collins from the passenger's side to do the three point turn until the driver has the three point turn steps in short term memory. Then,
2. Driver does the three point turn helping driver move steps from short term memory toward long-term memory.
Why doesn't the student begin the training for the three point turn in the driver's side of the Acdy vehicle? Because....
1. It takes longer because the student often does the steps out of order, thus frustrating learning as learning the wrong order is counter-productive and the more the driver does the steps out of order the longer the training takes.
2. Most new drivers think that, or have been taught that steering is done with the vehicle stationary. However, every auto mechanic will tell you and almost every car maintenance manual will state that turning the steering wheel with the car stationary is not recommended as it is very hard on (damaging to) the power steering, the front wheel assembly and the front end alignment. When I was allowing student drivers to turn the steering wheel with my vehicle stationary I had to get my vehicle front end (tire) aligned every four to six weeks, plus I incurred some costly and unnecessary front end repairs. Plus, my 40,000 mile tires only got about 24,000 miles when I did not often align the front end. I no longer allow drivers to steer in my vehicle with the vehicle stationary.
To dissipate the weight of the vehicle on the tires/front end alignment/parts, when steering, my car must be moving at least 1/100th of one mile per hour (the speed an ant moves). I have been mandating that for six years and have not had to spend one penny on front end alignment or front end repairs during the past six years. Most new drivers find it very difficult to regulate the brake pressure so the progress is slow and steer fast enough to do a three point turn in three points. That is one reason why I suggest using the driver's or client's vehicle for the three point turn and parking training. With the vehicle owner's permission, I do allow a driver to turn the steering wheel of his, her or the client's vehicle while that vehicle is stationary. I allow this for the following reasons.
1. It takes about 200 full turns in a stationary vehicle to cause the first signs of needed a front end alignment. Most students do not need 200 attempts to memorize the steps for the three point turn. However, since I work with many new students all of the time it does not take long for 200 three point turn, full stationary turns left or right to be made in my car.
2. I pay my vehicle repair bills and pass that expense on to Client's in the form of higher prices.
3. I do not have to pay for your vehicle repair bills.
Question: Do you want the driver to use our (Acdy) vehicle or your vehicle for the three-point turn for the upcoming lesson?
Questions? Just ask.
Sincerely,
Ms. Jackie, Scheduling
Joda Collins Driving Academy
850 981-3355 www.jodacollins.com
WHAT IS SATURATION?
What follows is a cut and paste from my web site. It is generic and intended for every driver who has reached saturation. No offense is intended by this generic cut and paste. What follows are just facts; facts of life and facts of learning.
Driver appears to me to have reached saturation. Saturation is not about a learner's character, disabilities, motivation or IQ. Saturation is just something that just "is."
CATEGORY ONE
Those with excellent character, no learning disabilities, higher motivation and normal IQ along with
CATEGORY TWO
those with poor character, learning difficulties/disabilities, low motivation to learn driving skills and less than normal IQ all face saturation sooner or later.
However, those in Category Two above reach saturation sooner compared to those in Category One (above).
Saturation = driver can not learn more new things at a reasonable progressing rate/speed of learning at this time until some of the things the driver is now learning becomes habit.
I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist nor a sociologist. It is not my job to diagnose why a learner has reached saturation but only diagnose to the best of my ability when a driver has reached saturation. My job is to be the best instructor I can be and provide as much motivation as I know how to provide to the student-driver to become as safe as the student-driver can be at this time in his or her life. There is only so much room in the human mind and emotional reserve for a person to deal with the quality of new things to learn. Otherwise, we would wait unit a person is 17-years old and send them to school for one year to earn their high school diploma rather than spread the learning of new things out over a 12-year period of time.
Some of the typical signs of saturation are listed below. All 12 signs are not needed, nor am I stating that driver has more than one of the following. Saturation is just a fact. It happens to every driver sooner or later for one or more reasons. Human beings are not created to learn a ton of new things in a short period of time. We all have our limit of new things. There comes a time when the material to learn is just too much for the present time and we need time, practice and experience (applying what we are learning and have learned) to turn what we are struggling to make good habits, good habits.
Like all good habits, it takes time, work and practice to develop good habits. Saturation is not about a learners character. Those with excellent character and those with poor character all face saturation sooner or later. Saturation is just something that just "is."
Saturation is just a fact. It happens to every driver sooner or later for one or more reasons. Some of the typical signs of saturation are listed below. All 12 signs are not needed, nor am I stating that driver has more than one of the following signs (evidences) of saturation.
1. Two consecutive lessons with loss of General Safety Points or General Safety Points considerably below drivers current real ability.
2. Three lessons in a row with less than two General Safety Points average for those three lessons.
3. Driver is forgetting to do the things that he or she has remembered to do well in past lessons.
4. Driver has lost a significant amount of interest and/or motivation to do the hard work it takes to learn more things relative to driving safer.
5. Forgetting to bring General Safety Scored card with him or her to the lesson for updating said card after the lesson ends, and showing no interest in driver's General Safety Score following the lesson.
6. Lack of attention in training to directions.
7. Passive attitude about learning (kind of an oh-hum approach to learning new things).
8. Emotionally neutral (or negative) towards constructive criticism about driving in an unsafe manner.
9. Lacking the ability or desire to do simple tasks.
10. Experiencing a degree of frustration or anxiety that is excessive or unusual for the driver when asked to do simple tasks.
11. Driver appears more excited and interested in the lesson being over than excited or interested for the training lesson to begin.
12. Driver walks away from the vehicle faster after the lesson is over compared to drivers walk to the vehicle to start the lesson.
CATEGORY ONE
Driver has the ability to learn to become a safer driver at this time in his or her life but lacks the internal motivation to do the hard work it takes to learn to become a safer driver; the longer the training lasts the more challenging the task as one moves into more challenging driving environments; driver will struggle to remember and apply driving skills learned due to lack of interest and/or internal motivation; expect considerable regression. If driver finds or rekindles ample internal motivation to do the hard work it takes to become a better-skill (safer) driver in more challenging driving environments, driver will benefit greatly from continued professional driver's training. Or....
CATEGORY TWO
Or, driver has the motivation to do the hard work it takes to become a safer driver in more challenging driving environments but lacks the ability to do so at this time in his or her life; thus, driver needs time to practice what he or she has learned until some of the things he or she has learned becomes habit, thus making more room in mind and emotions for continued learning of new material. Once learning becomes habit, this driver will benefit greatly from continued professional driver's training.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NOW?
Saturation does NOT mean the student-driver cannot learn any more new and challenging material regarding learning to drive with more safety. It does, however, mean the progress in the future may be painfully slow and may not be worth the expenditure of time, effort and finances. However, the decision to continue in training is not mine to make. That decision belongs to others.
REAL EMAILS
Mr. Collins,
My son has had four lessons devoted to safe lane changes. He still cannot make safe lane changes in traffic. How come?
Mr. Client
Thank you for your inquiry.
The short answer to your question is that he lacks developed the abstract thinking that is probably related to his severe autism. What follows is an email I wrote to another Client in response to a similar question he asked.
1. Safely changing lanes in traffic.
A. Right turn lane.
B. Right deceleration lane.
C. Left turn lane.
D. Left deceleration lane.
E. Right turn lane.
F. Right deceleration lane.
G. Left turn lane.
H. Left deceleration lane.
I. Merge lane
J. Right protected lane.
K. Right to left through lane.
L. Left to right through lane.
(1). The skill of changing lanes has not yet transferred via the abstract process in the driver's mind, thus each of the above is a new skill to the driver at this time.
(a). This is akin to a person that learned to read by memorizing words rather than via phonics.
(1). Example: A driver that reads by memorization of words might know that STOP is the arrangement of letters that is pronounced stop. But said person cannot pronounce nor read STEP, because the driver memorizes words, not phonetics. Said person does not sound out words, as in STEP is pronounce S as he sound ssssss, T as the sound of ta, E as the sound eh, or P as the sound puh. My older brother learned to read by memorizing words in school when they tried that form of teaching as an experiment. He died a few years ago not being able to read any word he had never memorized. In his entire life he never read a book! He could read the word "elevation" because he memorized it for a job where he needed the word for reports he had to make, but he could not read the word "elevate" because he never memorized it.
(b). Abstract thinking is the ability to take concepts learned in one situation and transfer some or all of those concepts to a different environment or situation.
(1). Example: When changing lanes from right though lane to left through lane I instructed driver to look in his outside left mirror and over his left shoulder before changing lanes to the left. Following this, I asked him to change lanes from left through lane to right through lane. Doing this, he looked in his left outside mirror and then over his left shoulder and then would have changed lanes to his right and crashed into a vehicle immediately on our right had I not stopped his lane change. Thus, each new environment, basically, starts the learning of proper and safe lane changes from square one. Several attempts had to be made with specific instructions to look in right outside mirror and over right shoulder when make a lane change from left lane to right lane for driver not to use left mirror or left shoulder look for right movement in changing lanes.
(2). Example: After spending a lot of time in the past lessons teaching a lane change in residential locations from parallel parking position to through lane on his left and helping him with step by step lane changes in traffic both left and right, on the way home last session I asked him to drive applying what he has learned, and he changed lanes from through lane to right turn or declaration lane three times and from through lane to left turn lane a total of six times and never used checked for traffic conditions in his outside mirror or over his shoulder. Until he can make the connection of a safe lane change skill in different environments, I will continue teaching lane changes by memorization with each new driving environment, but it takes a long time. Eventually, the abstract thinking dawns on a student for safe lane changes, but until then explaining it with words is like trying to explain traveling using a paper road map to a young child. It is to them, like speaking in a foreign language and the child can only understand routes of travel by memorizing landmarks. Drive two blocks and two turns out of the memorized area and the child is lost. (a). Example: I had a driver recently (age 36). We drove from Milton to Pensacola (17 miles, about 25 minutes) to get some Hwy 90 driving skill. In Pensacola, I had him drive in a residential area about two square miles, for about 35 minutes but never on the same road. I wanted to test his abstract thinking ability. After 35 minutes of driving, I told him it was time to head back to Milton. He said, "Aren't we already in Milton. We have been driving a long time." One of his greatest challenges was to get from his home to Hwy 90. There were three routes he could take. He could drive out of his driveway, and turn left, follow that road to the dead end and turn left, and that road dead ended into Hwy 90. Or, he could drive out of his driveway and turn right, make his first right or his second right (at the dead end), then make a left at the next dead end, and that road dead ended into Hwy 90. After 10 lessons taking a different route each time, I told him, that without my instructions, to take us to Hwy 90. He could not do it. At that point, I told him, the only way for him to get to Highway 90 was to drive out of his driveway and drive towards the yellow sign that marked a left curve. This would be a right turn out of his driveway if he drove head on into his driveway, or a left turn out of his driveway if he backed into his driveway (he did both). Then turn left at the dead end, then at the first traffic light (another dead end) that was Hwy 90. Given these directions and the only option, he was able to get to Hwy 90 without my further assistance.
Working Agreements/Service Contacts
SUMMARY OF INFO IN THIS COLUMN. You only need to read the paragraphs that apply to you or where additional info is needed; however, you will be rewarded if you take the time to read this entire column.
Welcome to
JODA COLLINS
DRIVING ACADEMY LLC
Behind-the-Wheel Training
Serving Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties since 2008!
SECTION ONE
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850 981-3355
Please read your Service Agreement (Contract) Carefully! Thank you.
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INTRODUCTION TO ALL CONTRACTS Thank you contacting me. I look forward to serving you. The most difficult part of my job is trying to serve those who do not read their Contract or who read it but do not understand it and do not ask for clarification. My contracts are written in good faith, that is, I try to be fair and reasonable to everyone involved. If you think anything in the Contract is unfair to you, let me know how you want that part of the contract changed and I will consider it. I am much less interested in keeping every detail unchanged, and much more interested in a meeting of the minds. The only thing I will not consider changing are my charges. I cannot charge less and stay in business.
......It is hard to serve those who do not know their contractual benefits and/or responsibilities. Please delay your association with me until you have a good understanding of your Contract. That will avoid unnecessary stress for you and me in the future. Thank you. I do not expect those I serve to memorize the Contact any more than a home seller expects the buyer to memorize the sales/purchase agreement. Long agreements are not for memorization. They are for comprehension and for resolving conflicts or misunderstandings that might arise. Each person agrees to be subject to the dictates of the Agreement/Contract. Do not enter into a Contract if you do not like the benefits or obligations because the Contract will be the final authority. Therefore, it is wise to know your obligations/responsibilities towards me, so you do not end up paying more money or receiving fewer benefits than you expected. When reading through any Contract ask yourself two questions: "Is this obligation (or benefit) fair and something I can live with?" If your answers are always "yes," then you have what you consider a fair and acceptable Contract even if you did not memorize every fact. If you want the Contact/Attachments changed in any way, tell me BEFORE you agree to it. DISCLOSURE: Your failure to know well your Contract will probably end up costing you money than you anticipated and receiving fewer benefits than you expected. Assumption is a dangerous road to travel. Do not assume I operate my business like you would if you owned it. I probably do not. If you knew what I have learned after 15-years in this business, I think you would operate it like I do now. ......My Contracts are long because they include a lot of Client and Student-driver benefits and options. If you find your Contract too difficult to read or too tedious to endure, let me know and for an additional $15 fee that is payable in advance, I will ask you a few key questions and prepare a Personalized Contract for you that is easier to read and considerably shorter. Otherwise, please scroll down to your designated Contract. The only way I can make a contract easier to read and shorter is to reduce Client and Student-driver benefits and options. ......In 2023, my total profit (salary) was $42,600. Divide that by an average 55-hour work week, that is as salary of $14.90 per hour before income taxes and with no benefits. Please, consider that and the expertise it takes to be a safe professional driving instructor when you consider my charges. All listed charges are based on 75-minute lessons. To calculate other than 75-minute lessons let me know the desired length of the lesson and I will provide the quote. Fees are itemized and detailed, so client's only pay for services they want. ......After the Client completes the Enrollment/Registration Section and the Student-driver (if not the same person) does his or her part as clarified in the Contract, I will provide a to the penny quote. After that to the penny quote is approved by the Client (financially responsible person), I will extend an a email invitation to pay for one lesson only. When said payment is received, I will extend an email invitation to schedule one lesson, or up to seven lessons but I will only accept payment for the first lesson to begin with.
CONTRACT FIVE (Removed) 1/12/24
CONTRACT SIX FOR 75-MINUTE LESSONS
Suggestion: Read the INTRODUCTION TO ALL CONTACTS, above, and this entire Contact before calculating any fees. I (Joda Collins) reserve the right to make changes in this document without notice as long as the changes do not alter any fact, service or financial reality. February 24, 2024
1. PAYMENT AND SCHEDULING INFORMATION ONLY The scheduling of a (or the first) lesson is a step-by-step process that is accomplished by email, voice mail and/or the US Postal System. I (Joda Collins) will direct you through each step.
(1). Read this Contact and submit the Enrollment/Registration asked for in this Contract. (2). Ask any questions via email about this Contact. (3). Read and approve the coming email Attachment by Date. (4). Make payment for a lesson (or lesson one, only, if more than one lesson is taken). (5). When I receive payment, I will respond, via email, with an invitation for the Client o request a date and time for the Student-driver's appointment / training. 2. CHARGES/FEES FOR LESSON ONE
Calculating a payment is somewhat confusing. I (Joda Collins) can calculate it for you and send you clarification of those calculations for your review and approval. A. Tuition = $145.00
(1). This is per 75-minute lesson charge.
B. Enrollment/Registration Fee = 119.00
(1). This is a one time fee (per Contract) and is non-refundable under any conditions. This fee is not charged for lessons two and following.
C. Scheduling/Reservation Fee = $14.00
(1). This is non-refundable and not transferable to any other lesson date or time.
D. Two or More Person Contract Fee = $25.00
(1). This a one-time administrative charge that only applies if the Student-driver and the Client (financially responsible person) are NOT the same person.
E. Vehicle Fee #1 = $20.00
(1). This fee only applies if the Student-driver is using the Joda Collins Driving Academy for the training lesson rather than his, her or another person's insured vehicle for the lesson.
F. Vehicle Fee #2 = $27.00
(1). This fee only applies to this lesson if the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle is used for three-point turning for this lesson. .....G. After Lesson Progress Report = $5 ..........(1). This is a mandatory report because it is important for the student's progress.
H. Door-to-Door Service Fee, if any, is shared with you in an email after I have your start address. ......I . Payment Method ...........(1). If you are paying with a cashier's check or money order, rather than a Visa or MasterCard Credit or Debit card, deduct 7% from the total.
If the above charges are acceptable, let me know and I will send you a Contract to review and approve.
After you approve the Contract, I will contact your for payment.
After I receive your payment, I will invite you to request a scheduling day and time by going to http://www.jodacollins.com - Available Dates and Times Section.
3. THE CHARGE FOR LESSON TWO AND FOLLOWING.
Calculating a payment is somewhat confusing. I (Joda Collins) can calculate it for you and send you clarification of those calculations for your review and approval. A. Tuition = $145.00
(1). This is per 75-minute charge.
B. Scheduling/Reservation Fee = $14.00
(1). This is non-refundable and not transferable to any other lesson date or time.
(2). This fee is charged for one to six lessons that are scheduled and paid for up to two months in advance and includes all said lessons that were not missed, cancelled or reschedule for any reason, including reasons that are not your fault (aka, “Acts of God,” “fate,” or “unavoidable").
C. Vehicle Fee #1 = $20.00
(1). This fee only applies if the Student-driver is using the Joda Collins Driving Academy for the training lesson rather than his, her or another person's insured vehicle for the lesson.
D. Vehicle Fee #2 = $27.00
(1). This fee only applies to this lesson if the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle is used for three-point turning for this lesson.
E. Door-to-Door Service Fee, if any, is shared with you on an email once I have your start address. ......F. After Lesson Progress Report = $5 ...........(1). This is mandatory report because it is important to the Student's progress. ......G. Training on a Saturday = $10 ............(1). If training on a Saturday rather than a weekday, add $10.00.
H. From the total of the above charges, subtract 7% if you are paying with any method other than a credit or debit card (Visa or MasterCard. ......I. Rebate ............(1). This fee does not take into account any Rebate which ranges from zero dollars to $70.00. See the Rebate Section (below) of this Contract for details. ......J. Payment
(1). Unless otherwise instructed, lesson two and following is paid for in advance if paying with a credit or debit card (Visa or MasterCard), or at the time of service if paid for by any agreed on method other than a card.
4. REBATE
A. Rebates apply to all lessons of 75-minutes or over starting with lesson two. Rebates are per lesson and not prorated per minute or hour. B. Starting with lesson two, if you schedule two to six lessons with one email, pay for all of them with one payment, and do not missed, canceled or rescheduled any lesson for any reason, including reasons that fall into the category of acts of God, aka, "not my fault," or "unavoidable," your rebate at the start of the last paid for lesson in that series of prepaid lessons is: (1). $6 for two lessons. (2). $20 for three lessons. (3). $35 for four lessons. (4). $50 for five lessons and (5). $72 for six lessons. Missing, canceling or rescheduling a lesson or lessons does reduce the Rebate to the amount equal to the lessons not missed, canceled or rescheduled.
C. I (Joda Collins) do not initiate canceling lessons due to wind or rain (storm), however, I cancel all lessons that are scheduled to begin or end within three-hours of a United States National Weather Advisory without any financial loss to our client for that lesson. A scary forecast of wind and rain is NOT a United States National Weather Advisory. If, however, a client wants to cancel a driving session due to wind or rain (storm) that is below the threshold of a United States National Weather Advisory if at least a one-hour notice is given, said cancellation is honored with no loss of any funds to the Client.
D. I am often asked to provide the maximum Rebate when a student misses and/or a client cancels a lesson for reasons which are not his or her fault. I understand the emotional reasoning behind that request. After all, why should a client be financially responsible for something that happened that was out of his or her control? There are two things errant with this thinking.
(a). First, the Rebate is not a discount. I am simply returning some, most, all or a little in excess of my built-in administrative costs to schedule, reserve and/or collect, on average, for one lesson at a time. If a client misses and reschedules an appointment, not allowing the rebate or a full rebate is not a penalty fee, but a refund of some, much, most, all or a little more of the administration expense I incurred to provide an appointment, reserve my time and vehicle for the person, deny the date and time to others, appointments I might have lost because that reserved date and time is not available to others, clog up my calendar in the future by asking those who want your reserved time to schedule later and then cancel your reservation. Nothing I do for you, or others is cost or time free to me.
(b). Second, if something bad happens to me that was out my control that costs me time or money, it would be inappropriate for me to ask or expect you to pay for my time and financial expense for that bad thing. It would be childish of me to be upset with you if you did not pay. If my car quit running and I had to have it towed, I would not send you the tow bill. If I got a cavity, I would not tell the dentist to bill you for my filling. If I lost my job, I would not ask you to make my house payment until I was back on my feet, financially. If something bad happens to you so that you cannot keep your appointment and I had to incur extra administrative expense because of something that happened to you, it would be inappropriate for you to ask me to pay that expense for you. Everyone over 18-years of age that incurs time loss and/or expense for bad things that happen to us pay our own way in life rather than expect strangers or acquaintances to pay our way through life. Children expect others to pay for their hardships. That is part of being a child. Adults do not expect others to pay for their personal hardships. That is just part of being an adult. Right? (c). All lessons that are scheduled for a day when there is a United States National Weather Advisory for our area within three hours of the schedule lesson cancels automatically at no financial penalty to you.
1. You will be so advised.
2. A local forecast of scary weather (wind, rain, fog, storm) is NOT a US National Weather Advisory) for our area.
Note 2. Be aware, the more lessons you schedule in advance, the more likely you will need to reschedule. That's just life.
Note 3. A missed lesson does not negate the full rebate, but it does reduce the rebate to the previous rebate figure.
5. PAYMENT A. Payment for the first lesson, in full, must be made in advance unless another arrangement is requested and approved. If you are paying with a card, only the non-refundable fees will be immediately or soon charged to your card. The balance for lesson one will be charged to your card the day before the appointment. B. Unless otherwise informed, payment for lesson two and following can be made at the start of each lesson or any scheduled lesson(s) can be paid for in advance AFTER the completion of lesson one. After lesson one is completed, I accept scheduling and payment for up to six more lessons or two months in advance, whichever is less.
C. I do not accept prepayment for unscheduled lessons. I do allow scheduling for unpaid lessons as far at 30 days in advance for the first lesson and/or three months in advance for lessons two and follow.
D. To make your payment by US Postal Service, mail your money order or cashier's check to:
Joda Collins Driving Academy
4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, FL 32583.
In 15-plus years of service, I have never lost nor had anything lost in the mail; however, be sure to keep your proof of purchase just in case. Remember, also, that in most cases for lesson two and following Client's do not have to pay in advance, therefore, there is no need to send a money order or cashier's check to pay in advance for lesson two and following. I (Joda Collins) do not accept responsibility for anything lost in the mail. It is the purchaser's duty, as a responsible adult, to safeguard the proof of purchase to guarantee a refund. I will not accept anyone's word that they sent a money order or cashier's check in the mail and provide free service for the value of the claimed lost in the mail payment. No business would. Neither would you if you own or owned a business. Do not mail cash.
E. To make your payment by Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card), send the following information by email. If you are concerned about security, feel free to send some of the info email and some via voice mail (850 981-3355). (1). Name on Credit Card.
(2). Card Number.
(3). Expiration Date
(4). Security number on back of the card.
(5). Full address, including zip code, where credit card billing is mailed.
(6). You can provide your credit or debit card information by email, voice mail, US Postal Service, or any combination thereof. Your card may will be charged the non-refundable down payment. The remainder will be charged not sooner than the day prior to the appointment.
(7). Feel free to send all of the credit card info via email, emails, voice mail and/or US Postal System. Be sure to identify yourself if you provide any info via voice mail (850 981-3355). If providing your credit card or debit card information divided up between one or more emails and one or more voice mails does not provide enough security for you and you do not want to pay by money order or cashier's check sent to me in the US Postal System to:
Joda Collins Driving Academy 4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, Fl 32583
(This is mailing address only; not an office.) Then you can make an appointment with me to give me your card information in person if:
(a). The person who owns the card presents to me that card.
(b). We have an agree on Contract.
(c). No discussion about the Contract or any related facts of the service or finances are allowed at the meeting. If you want to know the many good reasons for this policy, I will cheerfully share them with you upon request. (d). You pay $28 for my time to schedule, reserve and keep this meeting. I do not work for free. "Time is money." Ben Franklin. All I have to sell is my time and my driving/teaching expertise. (e). There is a clear understanding that I do not schedule service at this meeting.
(1). When I receive all of the above information, your payment and all other prerequisites are complete, I will contact you for scheduling. 6. REFUNDS AND MISSED LESSON FEE
A. To secure a full refund of unused funds including any door-to-door fees, minus the contracted fees noted as "non-refundable" make your request for your refund with at least a one-hour notice.
(1). Non-refundable fees are for service already rendered, such as the Enrollment/Registration expense (phone calls and/or emails required by to enroll and register a new driver) and door-to-door fees for travel that has already occurred and/or time set aside for me to provide door-to-door service and given less than one-hour notice of cancellation. Bottom line is that I do not work for free, nor reserve my time and equipment for the use of others for free, and I have no desire to serve those who think I should.
B. If you (the Client) provided less than a one-hour notice of a missed lesson but more than a 15-minute notice, 75% of your fees paid in advance excluding door-to-door fees which are non-refundable when there is less than a one-hour notice of a missed or canceled lesson.
C. If you miss a driving session with no notice or with less than a 15-minute notice, 50% of the fees you paid in advance are refundable excluding door-to-door fees (if any) which are non-refundable when there is less than a one-hour notice of cancellation. D. Missed, cancelled, rescheduled lesson........$20
(1). With the exception of a National Weather Advisory for adverse weather within three hours of an appointment, lessons that are missed, canceled or rescheduled due to no fault of your (client and/or driver’s) own incurs this charge. Adults do not ask others to pay for the bad things that happen to us that are not the fault of said person.
E. If you did not get an email reminder between 12:01am and 8:30pm the day prior to your lesson, even if you received a reminder two or more days prior to your appointment, there is a scheduling problem. Please contact me (Joda Collins) immediately or I will not assume any responsibility for that missed lesson.
7. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
A. LESSON DURATION
(1). Each lesson is 75-minutes unless otherwise agreed and arranged. The first lesson might take up to 45-minutes longer and if so at no additional charge. The time I am behind-the-wheel showing and telling before driver gets behind-the-wheel is at no charge. The time I am behind the wheel showing and telling the driver AFTER he or she gets behind-the-wheel is paid training time.
B. HOW MANY LESSONS WILL IT TAKE TO REACH YOUR DRIVING GOAL(S)?
(1). If, and only if, the Client rides for the first lesson, then within 24-hours after the first lesson, I (Joda Collins) will answer that question via email to the best of my ability. An Estimate of Future Progress is not a promise, guarantee or a prophecy. There are too many variables out of my (Joda Collins) control to guarantee a rate of progress; however, I am seldom off by very much.
C. FREE THINGS AVAILABLE TO YOU BUT ONLY UPON YOUR REQUEST.
(1). I offer about $200 in free training and/or services. To secure a list of and conditions for those offers, just ask. I cannot stay in business if everyone takes advantage of this offer, so I do not promote this offer. This offer is primarily designed to help those that are struggling financially, although it is not denied to anyone. So far, no one that has told me they are struggling financially has taken me up on this free money saving offer. I find that unusual. It may be that many are not "really" reading this Contract? 8. ENROLLMENT / REGISTRATION Please provide the following information by return email. I (Joda Collins) will follow up with the next step that leads to scheduling. You do not need to retype the question, although you can copy and paste from this page if that is easier for you. Please do list, at least, the letters (A through M).
A. Client's (financially responsible person's) name:
B. Student-driver's name:
C. Student-driver's license or permit number:
D. What is the Student-driver's complete mailing address: E. Client's complete mailing address if different from above:
F. Client's telephone number:
G. Client's email address:
H. What is the Client's expressed goal or goals for the driver training?
I. If the Student-driver is not the Client, what is the Student-driver's expressed goal or goals for the driver training? J. Would you like a quote for door-to-door service? If so, what is the start and end location for training?
K. Attachment One follows Contact Seven, below. Do you, the Client or you, the Student-driver, have any questions about this Contract (Six) or Attachment One? (If you want a shorter Contract, read Contract Five above.)
L. Do you plan on paying with money order, cashier's check, credit card (Visa or MasterCard) or bank debit card? You can change your mind later if you want to. M. Will you be using the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for parking and three-point turn training or a private, insured, vehicle for parking and three-point turn training? You can change your mind later. N. Will you be using the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for over-the-road/in-traffic training or a private, insured, vehicle for over-the-road/in-traffic training? You can change your mind later. (1). It is illegal for anyone to drive without insurance coverage. If you use your insured vehicle, I must have proof that the unlicensed driver is covered by your insurance policy. Having an insurance policy does not prove you have added the student-driver to your insurance policy. You can provide that proof in one of the following ways. (a). Provide proof, in writing on insurance letterhead, from your insurance provider, that the student-driver is covered on your insurance policy. (b). Provide to me the following information and I will contact your insurance provider to secure proof that your insurance covers the unlicensed driver. (1). The name and telephone number of the person that told you that your insurance covers the student-driver. (2). Your policy number and policy expiration date. (3). The make and model of your vehicle and the VIN of the vehicle use for training. 9. ATTACHMENT ONE A. Attachment One is part of this Contract. You can find it immediately below CONTACT SEVEN as found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page, right column.
CONTRACT SEVEN
THREE-IN-THREE TRAINING for drivers who have had three crashes/ tickets in three years. Information (facts and figures) edited 2/25/2024.
Introduction: This Contract is undergoing some major editing. No fact or figure is changing, but the rearrangement of information is changing. Spacing and numbering will be out of wack until this edit is completed.
A. This Contract is not short, but it is simple if a person reads it carefully one concept at a time and takes his or her time doing so, understanding each fact, figure, responsibility and benefit clearly before reading more, as anyone should when reading a legal document that involves an initial investment and additional possible fees, and requires a signature. If this Contract is read quickly, like a novel or newspaper, just trying to get the general idea, it is nearly impossible to understand.
B. I do not answer questions about the Contract or Attachment One by phone or in person but only via email inquiry. Asking by phone does increase my workload as I have to confirm the conversation by email, thus increasing my workload does increase my charge to you by $10 per phone call. I do not work for free. Neither do you.
C. I am limited in what I can do for others for free. Before a client approves the Contract and Attachment One or states he or she does not have any questions about the Contract and/or Attachment One, I will answer any number of questions posed to me via email or voice mail about the content of the Contract and/or Attachment One. However, being required to state the same information more than three times (repeated twice) will incur this charge. Also, after a client approves the Contract and Attachment One, I do allow up to three emails or phone calls asking for a repetition or clarification of the content of this Contract, Attachment One or any previous email content, without charging the Excessive Administration Fee of $65, no matter how long the email is or how many questions are asked in said email. After approving this Contract and Attachment One, write any questions you have about the Contract, Attachment One or any email and put all those questions in one email rather than send one email for every question that comes to mind; after three of such emails, there is a or another $65 Excessive Administration fee. My time is worth money. I must limit what I do for free.
2. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE APPROVING THE CONTACT A. Charges/Fees. (1). What is your minimum and maximum fee? (2). What vehicle are you using for the training? (3). Where (location) does your training begin and end? (4). What can you do to avoid the maximum fee/charge? (5). Are additional fees, once charged, debatable? (6). What is the major purpose for additional fees? (7). Will you be held accountable for the content of this Contract and Attachment One even if you did not read them or even if you read them and do not understand them? (8). Are non-refundable fees refundable before you sign the paper Contract? (9). Am I, Joda Collins, obligated by law to serve you? (10). Under what condition or conditions are fees, once paid, non-refundable? (11). Will the Client be charged additional fees without warning to the Student-driver or Client? (12). What is your initial payment. (13). What is your maximum refund? (14). What is the maximum you might have to pay for a missed or canceled appointment. (15). Are you the Client (financially responsible person)? (16). When can the Client schedule? (17). How much will it cost the Client if the driver aggravates, antagonizes or disrespects (is not civil towards) me (Joda Collins)? (18). What vehicle ae you using for parking and three-point turn training? (19). What vehicle are you using for over-the-road/in traffic training? (20). Is a driver required to have a valid driver license or a valid driving permit? (21). Why is it not advised to agree to and/or sign this Contract if you cannot answer all of the above questions and/or do not have a good working understanding of this Contract and Attachment One? (22). What is the administrative charge if your credit or debit card payment is declined in whole or in part? 3. INTRODUCTION: A. If you have difficulty reading this on your device, you can copy and paste to another reading format or you can email me and ask you to do that for you. B. If you want a paper copy summary of this Contract mailed to you, just ask. C. After the initial call that yields this on line Contract to the caller, I do not discuss this Contact, in part or in full on the phone or in person; only by email or US Postal Service. It is too much detail to discuss verbally, and I do not have the extra hours needed every day to do that. And, I dislike anything that follows, "But, you said....!", whether it is said by me or to me. D. Please do not drop by my office or home unannounced or unexpected; my office is open by appointment only and I do not have people in or at my home for business. (1). Thank you for your patience in this tedious and time-consuming process. If I knew how to make it a shorter process without sacrificing effectiveness, I would. If you know to do so, tell me so I can do it. (a). Steps:
(1). Initial Contact
(2). Enrollment/Registration (30 to 45 minutes) not counting Contract and Attachment One Review.
(3). Contract and Attachment One Review (Two to three hours.)
(4). Contract Approval (10-minutes)
(5). Financial Agreement (30-minutes.)
(6). Payment (20 to 30-minutes.)
(7). Scheduling (10 to 15-minutes.)
(2). Total time investment from enrollment to scheduling is from three to six-hours plus the response time to emails, plus any inappropriate and/or non-responsive emails. I try to respond to emails as close to immediately as possible.
(3). Why do I take seven specific and individual steps to do this process that leads to scheduling?
(a). The question is asked, How do you eat an elephant? The answer is, "One bite at a time." Desmond Tutu, 1946. (b). How does one take a long journey? "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao Tzu, 4BC. (c). Most of us are overwhelmed when we are given several things to do at one time. We are all busy with the things of life, so we are tempted to walk slip-shod through our responsibilities as fast as we can. My recommendation is to wait until you have the time and energy to devote to this task, before trying to do it. Otherwise, undue frustration and confusion are reasonable expectations.
First Corinthians 14:33 states, "...God is not the author of confusion but of peace...." First Corinthians 14:40 reads, "Let all things be done decently (properly) and in order." This means that we should do things in the proper sequence...rather than in a haphazard and impulsive (careless) manner in order to avoid confusion. Like most things that are best for us, this goes against our nature, so we might be inclined to fight or disdain the decent (proper) and orderly process. Believe me, I understand. However, getting to scheduling in a peaceful and gracious manner, and with a good understanding of details is easier and better in the long run than getting there frustrated, irritated, discouraged, confused and in conflict. "Haste makes waste." John Haywood, 1546. "Rushing...cause(s) mistakes that waste more time than would have been
taken by proceeding more carefully." Author unknown.
3. WHY ARE YOU PAYING ME? A. Let us start with the reasons you are not hiring me. (1). You are not hiring me to provide a pass or a failure status for the training. No one fails. Everyone passes. Training with me is not a test; it is training to best ensure you pass your State test and keep or regain your license. (2). You are not hiring me to answer a never-ending list of questions you could or might be inclined to ask. You should not do that to me any more than you would inform a college teacher that you will be leading his instruction asking as many questions as you want and whenever you want during his teaching. When I take the time to answer many questions, I do not have the necessary time to do what the State requires of me for your training. If any questions remain after the training, ask them via email. I will answer for free. This does not mean that key questions needed for good understanding of the topic at hand are discouraged.
(3). You are not hiring me to tell you that I think you are a great driver orthat you are a terrible driver, although I might volunteer that information.
(4). At the most elementary level, you are hiring me because you are required to have four-hours of training in order to test for the purpose of keeping or re-securing your active status for your driver license. My assigned task is to make you as safe a driver as I can in four-hours of training and best ensure you keep or regain your driver license. I do this not by answering a string of questions but by watching you drive and give you as much training as I can to try to help you overcome your most dangerous driving habits. Four-hours will not be enough to do everything, but we can get a lot accomplished if you: (a). Are humble and mature enough to be teachable. (b). Do not spend your time arguing with me about the rules of the road you disagree with or the
safe driving skills I am trying to teach you that you do not like. (c). Allow me to lead the training by me doing the instruction rather than you try to lead the teaching by asking me questions about things that are not on my list of your most dangerous driving habits I compiled by watching you drive or not relevant to the topic at hand. (1). If, by the end of the lesson, I have not answered all of your questions, you can email me and I will answer them by return email free of charge as long as we are both alive and of sound mind. All of your questions do not have to be asked and answered in the four-hours of specialized training. You are not hiring me to answer your
questions during the four-hours of training. You are hiring me to use all of the four-hours for me to train you in the manner that I believe is most beneficial for you if you want that information. If you were in a classroom with a professor at the front teaching, would you constantly interrupt his teaching efforts by asking questions as questions come to your mind? Would you say to him, "Professor, I know you are trying to teach the assigned material and what you think is most important and most relevant in the limited time you have, but let's forget what you are trying to teach and put that off to the side and you will answer my never-ending list of questions I have for you. Of course, you would not. Do not try to do that to me, please. It is rude, disrespectful and counterproductive.
If you will let me lead the training and just pay attention, I will probably get to all of your questions. If I do not, I will get to the most important ones regarding my list of your most dangerous driving habits and that is the highest goal of this training. If not, ask via email. However, if you want to hire me to answer your questions in person, let me know after the four-hours of the 3-in-3 training is over.
4. ADDRESSING THE ELEPHANT THAT IS, TOO OFTEN, IN THE CAR.
A. The majority (not all, and hopefully not you) of three-in-three drivers, in my opinion (we all have a right to our opinions), have some psychological, emotional, social-adjustment, and/or behavioral issues. I am not stating that to be cruel or demeaning to you. I do not know you. I am stating it because of my 15-years of experience of doing this business and because such issues are an important and overriding safety factors. B. The majority of three-in-three drivers (not all, and hopefully not you) have passive-aggressive personalities, fail to assume responsibility for their own actions, and have an overriding sense of entitlement (everyone owes me whatever I say they owe me whenever I say it is due). The majority of three-in-three drivers are, in my opinion and in my experience, narcissists. The majority of three-in-three drivers I have had are not truthful people. For example, most say they carefully read Contract Seven and Attachment One but did not. Most sign the Contact providing their written word that they have carefully read Contract Seven and Attachment One, but they did not. They say they want to learn to be better and safer drivers, but most of them only act that way and, in reality, have little to no interest in learning because being better-trained means they have to accept constructive criticism, do the hard work to listen and learn, and most of them have little or no interest in those things. The majority are rebellions to authority and resistant to being corrected (largely
and for the most part, unteachable). Bottom line, most three-in-three drivers are not, in my opinion, good people. I did not state your name, and unless you prove me wrong, I will assume you are the exception to the rule, and you are a decent individual. C. Some three-in-three drivers are extremely dangerous drivers and did not know it until the training. Their sudden awareness that they are poor drivers upsets them and they become kind of mentally and emotionally unglued. I get it!
D. Most are hostile, argumentative, aggressive, passive-aggressive, or antagonistic by nature. Most do not listen well. Most justify their poor driving habit rather than change them and improve. E. Most do not accept constructive criticism (correction) well. "Never correct conceited (arrogant) people; they will hate you for it. But if you correct the wise, they will respect you." Proverbs 9:8. (Parenthesis mine, Joda Collins.)
F. Most believe I (Joda Collins) should allow them to drive in accord with their personal rules of the road and ignore the legal rules of the road everyone else drives by, and they (the three-in-three driver) become upset or angry when I will not allow them to do so. Making up personal rules of the road and driving in traffic by those secret rules is dangerous and puts my life on the line unnecessarily. I will not tolerate it.
G. In and of itself, being in driver training is a strain and to poor drivers it might be embarrassing. I understand that. A few are mature enough to handle the strain and embarrassment without getting mad at me; most are not.
H. Some are angry at the State of Florida for suspending their license and see me as a State paid employee and deserving if their hate; however, I am not a State employee. I am an independent contractor. I work on your behalf with the license-approval of the State. My only job is to help you keep your driver license and help you become safer behind-the-wheel if you want to be. It is not my job to put my limbs and life on the line for four hours while you drive dangerously.
I. Some refuse to follow my directions and put my life at unnecessary and easily avoidable risk. When I do not allow them to drive like maniacs, they resent it and take it out on me verbally.
J. The majority of three-in-three drivers do not read this Contract carefully or do not expend the time and energy to get their questions answered before agreeing to it and are, therefore, unprepared for the training appointment. Being unprepared for the training they tend to get frustrated and/or anger more easily. I did not call your name. I do not know you. I cannot nor will not prejudge you. I said, "The majority." Unless you prove me wrong, I will assume you are in the minority and have read this Contract carefully and understand it.
K. Be decent and respectful towards me and I will be decent and respectful towards you.Do not antagonize me and there is no reason for me to confront you for antagonizing me. However, if you antagonize me, I will confront you. I require a lot more money paid to me to endure four-hours of being antagonized and aggravated by a person with a bad attitude. I am not a spittoon nor a door mat. The training is not easy for student-drivers. I understand that. It is not easy for me either. If you do not want to learn to drive better, let me know so I can save my breath and energy and provide only the legal minimum effort on your behalf.
L. Please do not provide justification, rationalization or argument regarding why you drive poorly or in violation of traffic laws.Confronting or attacking me about your dislike of traffic laws just eats up time, creates a strained environment and changes nothing regarding your situation with your license status. M. It has been my experience that about 70% of three-in-three drivers are quite immature and treat me like arrogant, disrespectful, know-it-all teens treat their parents. Unlike many parents, I did not put up with that with my children. I will not tolerate it, now, from adults. I am not being paid to be spit on, so to speak. I hope you are part of the 30% that are not like that. If you are like that, try to fake adult level socially maturity/behavior for four-hours. I prefer fake good behavior to real, nasty, behavior. End of sermon. Thank you for reading.
5. CERTIFICATION AND RECORDING OF THIS TRAINING.
A. Certification of the completion of your training is accomplished electronically between me and the State. You will not need and will not receive a paper copy of a completion notice. You can contact your local driver license office and schedule your State exam. While the State does not promise when any recording of a completion will occur, normally if you train on Monday, you can schedule your State driving exam on Wednesday. Train Tuesday, schedule on Thursday. Train on Wednesday, schedule on Friday. Train on Thursday, schedule on Tuesday. Train on Friday or Saturday, schedule on Wednesday. Add to this any weekday National holiday. The State does not promise when your completion will be recorded.
B. You, the student-driver and you, the Client (financially responsible person) commit to checking your email and your voice mail for a contact from me no less than once every 24-hours from the date of your first contact with me and your conformation that your completion is recorded with the State.
6. SCHEDULING
A. When I am in possession of, at least, $300 plus any door-to-door fee and every other detail is in order, I will contact you for scheduling by inviting you to go to www.jodacollins.com and schedule in accord with directions in the Available Dates and Times Section. B. If paying by mail, mail your money order or cashier's check to Joda Collins Driving Academy, 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583. (a). BE SURE TO KEEP YOUR PROOF OF PURCHASE. While we have never had anything we mailed or anything mailed to us lost in the mail in the full 15-years I have been in business (or in my entire life), but there may be a first time. (1). I do not assume responsibility for the mistakes, failures or problems of others, including postal workers. 7. VEHICLE USE FOR TRAINING A. If you, the driver, are using the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for the four-hours of training, you can skip this section and proceed to Section 8. B. Some insurance companies will not extend insurance coverage for a Three-in-Three driver with an invalid driver license, to use his or her personal vehicle or another person's vehicle for the four-hours of training. It is crucial to consult with your insurance provider about the specific policies of your insurance provider.
C. I (Joda Collins) cannot accept an insurance validation that is dated prior to any driver date his or she lost his or her valid driver license. (1). The insurance certification must be dated, at least, the day after the driver's active driver license
is canceled, suspended or revoked, or --
(2). I have to have a letter from the insurance company stating that a driver has insurance for the four hours of training, or --
(3). After you call your insurance provider and verbally verify you have insurance for the vehicle you are using for the four-hours of training, you can provide to me the following:
(a). Year, make a model of the vehicle you are using for your training.
(b). The VIN number of that vehicle.
(c). The name and address of the registered owner of the vehicle.
(d). Your insurance policy number.
(e). The name and telephone number of the person you spoke to that verified your insurance coverage using your vehicle for the four-hours of training. I will contact them to double check. (1). If you use this option, there is a $22 charge for my time and efforts on your behalf.
(4). I can no longer accept a training request for a driver using someone else's vehicle unless there is written evidence that said driver has insurance coverage for that vehicle. Said evidence must be in
written form and dated after your driver license changed from active/valid to invalid.
(5). If your insurance company does not extend converge to a Three-in-Three driver, you might consider asking the driver license office for a temporary driving permit in order to provide that to your
insurance company to sway your insurance provider to extend your coverage for the length of time approved for your temporary. (6). I will not schedule an appointment without valid and verifiable proof of current insurance that postdates a driver's date of loss of active/valid driver license.
8. FINANCES
The US economy is in shambles due to the governments mishandling of taxpayer money, the runaway inflationary printing of money and/or other unsound financial practices, to cover the Congressional and White House unending spending sprees, ten to twelve million illegals flooding into our Country in the last seven years and being placed on government cash grants and welfare rolls at tax-payer expense. As a result, we are all in trouble/suffering. Nothing I use in my business is free to me and I do not get any discounts. My expense for doing business is skyrocketing. If I am going to stay in business, I have no other option than to pass the expenses on via my charges. I wish I could charge less and stay in business. Definition of Client. The Client is the person that is paying for the training. By law, the Client must agree to Contract Sevenand Attachment One as well as any Attachments by Date and sign a paper copy attesting to that fact. That paper copy is presented at the start of training. If the Client (financially responsible person) will not be at the first meeting at the start of training to sign the paper copy of the Contract let me know so we can make other arrangements for signing. Your total Minimum Charge is $599.00 Your total Maximum Charge is slightly over $1,500.00. Please know this Contract and Attachment One well enough to avoid as many additional fees as possible. Like most companies in this economy, I have had to increase my charges to stay in business. However, I opted to increase my charges, mostly, to those who use additional service(s) and/or are not wise enough, do not care enough or are too lazy to carefully read this Contract and thus create additional and unnecessary work and stress for me. Ignorance, willful or otherwise, of this Contract and Attachment One can be costly. If you have questions, ask! Ask via email (jodacollins@aol.com) or voice mail (850 981-3355).
A. STANDARD BASE SERVICE IF PAYING WITH VISA OR MASTERCARD CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD. (1). Registration/Enrollment Fee...................$100 (a). As of May 1, 2024, this fee increases to "$150 plus $15 for every phone call that I (Joda Collins) have to make or email I have to create, prior to the Client receiving a confirmation of his or her scheduling appointment request, wherein I have to ask for or repeat/retype the same information, again. (b). If the student-driver is not, also, the Client (financially responsible person), there is a $25 additional admin fee because it takes more admin work and time to coordinate between two people compared to one. However, this fee will only be applied to Contract dated May 1, 2024 and after. (2). Scheduling Fee and/or Rescheduling......$15 (a). This fee applies to all and every kind of scheduling and/or rescheduling (appointment time, date, location and door-to-door service changes).
(3). Time Reservation and/or Re-reservation Fee.................................$25 (a). The above fees of $100, $15 and $25 are non-refundable and non-transferrable to any other date or time unless there is a National Weather Advisory in effect for Escambia and/or Santa Rosa County within three hours of the appointment.
(4). Tuition (Other expenses and 7% Profit)............$400 (5). Additional Fee on Account...................$100 (a). This fee (at my, Joda Collins, discretion) will be refunded in full if there are no Additional Fees as clarified/itemized in the remainder of this Contract. It is possible that additional charges beyond the $100 will apply as clarified in (7) through (20) below. (b). I charge this fee in advance because $100 is the average additional fee of the average three-in-three driver. It is easier for me to charge this fee in advance and refund it if not used, rather than add it to the total if it is used. (6). Insurance Verification Fee ......................$5 (a). If the vehicle used for training is not registered in the name of the student-driver and/or if the student-driver does not have a valid driver license, I am required to verify that the student-driver is covered by the insurance for the vehicle the student-driver is using for the training. (1). This can be done in three ways and must be done before I will receive payment or payment information (such as credit or debit card info) (a). The registered owner of the vehicle can provide written proof. This is MORE than proof that the vehicle has insurance. This is proof that the student-driver is covered by the insurance policy. This can be accomplished by showing me the insurance policy that states something like this: "Any licensed driver or driver with a valid permit that is authorized to by the vehicle owner, to drive this vehicle, is fully covered by the insurance policy." Or, typed on the letterhead of the insurance company any of the following statements either word-for-word or any statement that means: (b). "The following licensed driver, _______________, is covered by the insurance policy for vehicle VIN# _______________. Or, (c). "The following unlicensed driver, _____________, is covered by the insurance policy for vehicle VIN#___________. (7). Door-to-door Fee, if applicable........$_____ (a). This fee is provided to you via email after the Client provides to me the start and end address for the training. (8). Using the Joda Collins vehicle for a fee rather than your (Client's) or another insured vehicle for no added fee, for parking and/or three-point turn training.................................$25 (a). If we use any other vehicle besides the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for training. (9). Using the Joda Collins vehicle for a fee for over-the-road / in-traffic training rather than another insured vehicle for no added fee .....$120 (1). This fee does not cover my expense (wear/tear and insurance charge) or strain for accepting liability. For example, imagine asking a taxi driver, owner of a chauffeur service, any business owner with a vehicle registered in the business name, or any stranger with a personal vehicle to let you drive his/her vehicle for four-hours and assume all liability for $120.00. B. What is the total of (1) through (9) above?................................................................$____
(10). Failure to follow written instructions.............................................$10 per failure. (a). Said failure must cause me (Joda Collins) added administration work. (b). The total of this fee cannot exceed $65.00. (c). The combination of these fees and the fees in (11) below cannot exceed $65.00. (11). Excessive Administration Fee..............$65 Increased to $70 on May 1, 2024. (a). The combined fees of this provision with the provision of (10) above will not exceed $65.00. (b). "Time is money." Benjamin Franklin,1748. Certainly, we all do things for free when doing so benefits us or someone whom we want to serve or help for free. However, when it comes to making a living by one's service, talent, education and/or ability, none of us are prone to work for free. When I do my job and someone fails to do their part in my attempts to serve them, and their failure costs me time, energy and effort, I charge that person money. For example, I asked a client for her credit card information; Name on card, card #, expiration date, CVV Code on back of card and zip code where the billing for that card is mailed. She emailed back the name of another person after agreeing to pay with her personal credit card. I noted to her that, in accord with contract law I have to have a contractual agreement with the person who is paying for the service. She wrote back and said she changed her mind and would use her credit card, after all. I sent her another request for the card information by email. She sent an email with only the card number. I sent another email stating, again, I needed, also, the expiration date, the CVV number and the zip code. She emailed back with the expiration date only. I sent another email stating I still needed the CVV number and the zip code. She emailed back only the CVV number. I emailed back, again, stating, I needed the zip code. She emailed the zip code. Because she did not read the entire email, but only the first item needed on the list, I invested a lot of time with reading extra emails and sending extra emails. Time is money! I do this job for a living and I do not work for free. I am assuming that whatever you do for a living, you do not do it for free, either. If you do anything that cause me additional work, time and stress, that is related to you changing anything, failing to follow simple directions or asking me to do for you what the Contract notes or assumes you are to do for yourself, you will be charged between $10 and $65 for each extra effort on my part. I will clarify what you did or did not do to cost me extra time, but you will be charged. Again, time is money, and I am not contracted to work for anyone for free, when the added time is due to the failure of the other person. If I make a mistake or do something poorly that costs you time and effort, I will correct my error at my expense and reimburse you in accord with my Contact specifics. Your time is a valuable as mine! If you make a mistake or do something poorly that costs me time, you are expected to pay for your own mistakes or failures. That is part of being a grown-up. I simply do not have the time, money, interest or inclination to pay for the mistakes of others. I make enough of them on my own to pay for. Do not expect me to pay for your mistakes or failures. I will not expect you to pay for mine. Fair enough? You will get a notice of each event that causes me extra time, so this charge or $1 to $65 will not be without warning/notice. (12). TELEPHONE RETURN CALL AND/OR TEXT REQUEST FEE..............$10 per call and/or text. (a). The maximum charge for this is $100.00. (b). Some people strongly prefer telephone calls or text messages rather than emails. I understand and respect that. However, telephone calls and sending text messages cost me more time and effort than emails because I have to transcribe or document all text messages and all voice mails to email format so I can have all info in one document. Often, I return calls and get voice mail or the recording "The voice mail is full." I have no verbal agreements so everything that is service of money related I confirm with an email (if I have the callers email address). About 15% of adult Americans comprehend words (written or spoken) at or below a 3rd grade level, about 15% a 4th grade level and about 25% at a 5th grade level. In the USA, the average contract involving more than $500 in fees/charges is written at a 9th grade comprehension level, as is this Contract. That means that about 55% of adults cannot read nor understand some of my contractual concepts, whether written or spoken. There is nothing I can do about a person's reading or listening comprehension skills, nor I can I write a legal document that covers all variables at a third-grade reading level. I am sorry. Some things are impossible. I offset this by allowing, before the Contract is approved, unlimited emails from and/or to the Client about any contract question, as long as the questions was not already answered in a previous email. When I am asked to make a return call and give information that requires a 9th grade listening/comprehension level to persons with a 3rd to a 5th grade listening/comprehension ability, that is a formula for confusion. If I have a person's email address, I will only communicate with that person by email with two exceptions. First, just before, during or just after a training session. Second, within 24-hours before any appointment. Otherwise, there is a $10 charge per phone call I make in response to being asked to "call back." This includes calls made to full voice mail boxes and calls made to voice mail where I leave a recording. Emails I respond to via email, unless otherwise noted herein, are free. Emails protect me from the dreaded comment, "But, you said....", when I never said it. (13). Contract Alteration Fee....................$30 (a). Any change in Contract fees, due to any change not related to my (Joda Collins') action, after Contract fees are approved but before the training begins, incurs this fee. E. 7% CHARGE REDUCTION FOR PAYING WITH MONEY ORDER OR CASHIER'S CHECK. (a). Add all of the fees noted above.......$_____ (1). This is your deposit charge if you are paying with a Visa or MasterCard Credit or Debit Card. (b). Multiply the amount in E(a) above by .93 (point 93) ................................................$_____ (1). The figure above on line E(b) is your total cashier's check or money order deposit required before you will be invited to schedule. (14). Training in two, two-hour sessions rather than one four-hour session.......................................$55 (15). Partial Payment Fee.............................$20 (a). Not paying in full within 96-hours of the completion of training. (b). This is not an interest fee or a penalty fee. This fee covers the average bookkeeping expense to create, carry and close a charge. (16). Training on a Saturday.........................$25 (a). On May 1, 2024, this section is changed to, "Training on a Friday or a Saturday.....$35" (17). Credit/Debit Card Charge Denial Response AFTER the Training is Completed.......,...$18 (a). This charge covers the admin expense for running the charge attempt twice, notifying the card owner by email of the failed charge, making another or a second attempt for payment, taking and recording that other or second payment, the added credit card fees for this individual $18 charge, preparing and sending a second notice regarding that payment; the first being a rejection notice from the card company, altering the Contract to reflect this additional charge, notifying the Client of the change in the Contract, advising the Client to read and approve the new Contract (with said changes), and requesting, receiving and recording Clients acceptance of said new or altered Contract. This $18 fee contains no profit, and in every case incurs for me an administrative expense in excess of this $18 charge. The difference between my actual expense and this $18 is a gift to the Client. This charge is repeated every time a Client provides false or inaccurate information that leads to a declining of a charge; however, the maximum charge is $54.00.
I, the Client, give Joda Collins the authority to charge (after the training is over) for all items noted below and to do so without my (the Client's) further approval. I do request that he attempt to give me ample warning for me to change any behavior in order to avoid any of these charges.
G. EASILY AVOIDABLE PENALTY FEES I (Joda Collins) am always happy when I have no need/cause to impose these penalty charges. I much prefer the benefits afforded to me when no penalty fees are due than the collecting of said fees. Any or all of these fees are charged at my (Joda Collins) discretion. These charges may, also, be charged in advance, at my discretion and refunded if not used. Penalty Fees do NOT enjoy the 7% discount for paying with cashier's check or money order. If you want to pay for these charges by cash at the end of the lesson, bring as much cash as you think you might need.
(18). Aggravation Fee..................................$55 (a). Treat me, in my opinion, with a reasonable degree of respect/courtesy and common decency and avoid this fee. Do not argue with me, ignore me, refuse to follow my directions and/or tell me why you will not or did not follow my directions, or waste my energy telling me why you disagree with traffic laws and prefer to make up your own rules of the road to replace State and Federal traffic laws. Do not tell me, directly or by insinuation, I am wrong, and you are right. If I ask you a question that can be answered by "yes" or "no," have the courtesy to give me a "yes" or "no" answer rather than provide a discourse or monologue. Keep casual conversation about home, work, school, money, jobs, family, favorite _____ to a bare minimum as that eats up time, makes it harder for me get done for you what I am assigned by the State to do in the limited time I have to do it, and takes my mind off the task -- all of which is unkind and irritating to me. Know, also, that this fee is not conditioned on your opinion if I was aggravated by your behavior or not, but solely on my subjective evaluation. I know when I am being aggravated, even if others do not; even though they should know. Also, some people have the ability to aggravate others even while smiling or even while doing so with a sweet-sounding voice. Sometimes driver's say to me, "Well, that is just my personality!" as if to say that because they have a personality of aggravation, I should overlook it. I do not. Just be a kind, considerate and decent person rather than obnoxious, confrontational, argumentative, degrading, unteachable, and/or filling four-hours with justification of doing wrong rather than be teachable and learn to drive better. It isn't hard for normal people to do that. It has been my experience that the majority of three-in-three drivers have significant psychological and/or social and/or cognitive and/or behavioral problems; I am entitled to my opinion. My opinion is credible because it is based on 15-years of experience. I hope, in your case, I am wrong, and you are the exception to the norm.
(b). Hints: (1). If I say something like, "You did not come to full stop at the stop sign," do not say, "Yes, I did! you lying ignorant fool!" Don't even say, "Yes, I did!", because I will assume you intend (are implying) the latter also. (2). If I tell you that you broke a traffic law, do not tell me why you violated the law and/or why your rules of the road are better than the legal rules of the road everyone else has to follow. Making up one's one rules of the road is one of the major habits of many three-in-three drivers and one of the main reasons for crashing, thus putting my life in danger with you behind the wheel. (3). If I tell you a traffic law that you did not know, do not justify your displeasure or disagreement with the traffic law by telling me that you think the law is stupid. Traffic laws are not subject to your approval or mine. What you or I think of them is meaningless. (4). If I instruct you to do something, do not tell me why you refuse to do it. I am putting my life in your hands and if you are going to view my instructions as mere suggestions that you will follow only if you agree and approve, then I am only as safe as your decision-making ability, so I quit. (5). When I am providing instructions, do not interrupt me. I find rudeness aggravating, especially for four-hours in a row in a trapped/closed environment. (6). Do not try to lead the training by plummeting me with questions; just listen and learn. This is not a four-hour Q and A session with drivers asking the questions they think they need to know or feel I am obligated to answer because I am being paid. I am obligated to attempt to train you in accord with State standards, not yours. Allow me to lead the training by giving the training I think you need to know. I cannot teach everything about safe-driving in four-hours, so allow me to use your time to teach you the most important things I think you need to know. If I have not answered your questions by the end of training or any question about safe-driving that might arise in the future, you can email me the questions and I will respond via email at no charge to you. This offer expires in 10-years. (7). Do not argue with me. (8). If you have no interest in learning anything, have the decency to tell me rather than aggravate me non-stop hoping I will shut up, and I will meet only the bare minimum standards required by my contract with the State and say no more. (9). If you are mad at the police department, the DMV, your husband, wife, boss, parents, kids or just generally an angry person, take out your hostility on someone else, not me. I am easy to get along with as long as I am not treated like a spittoon. If you have been diagnosed with some kind of mental or physical abnormality that causes you to be angered easily or have a confrontational or argumentative personality, tell me in advance so I can try to work around that personality flaw. I will not be judgmental. I know such conditions exist. I will do my best. (a). "Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life characterized by...(being) gentle, reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings...not two-faced...doing the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor." James 3:17-18(MGS Version). (19). Excessive Acceleration Fee.................$40 (a). Accelerate slowly and gracefully, in a manner that does not through my head back (no g-forces) upon acceleration more than three times in the training session and avoid this fee. No matter how fast you drive or how fast you accelerate, we will end up at the start location at the designated time. Jackrabbit (aggressive) acceleration causes me to pull muscles in my neck and back. It is painful and if severe enough may cause me to cancel your lesson and reschedule at YOUR expense. Accelerate as your great, great grandmother might. Accelerate as if you just picked me up from the hospital with a neck brace on after neck surgery and the doctor told you to drive without hurting my neck. If I have to ask you to accelerate less aggressively more than twice, you can assume this fee is lost. If you are aggressive with the accelerator, I will try to remember to remind you often. However, the primary responsibility to remember to accelerate gracefully is yours. As an experienced driver with normal IQ, you should be able to accelerate gracefully without constant reminders to do so. (20). Chatterbox Fee...................................$20 (a). If I have to ask a student to stop talking more than twice so I can teach, this fee will apply. While I want to be sociable, it is important to remember this four-hour session is, primarily, for me to teach you as many of the 35 specific safe driving skills as you need and as many of the traffic laws as I can that you do not know. I am held accountable by the State for the quality and effectiveness of my teaching. If I fail to do a good job, the State does not accept my excuse of, "He/She would not stop talking long enough for me to teach!" Also, is a better use of time for you to listen and learn rather than question me along the way with questions with answers that are less relevant to your most dangerous driving habits. Or questions I intended to answer later in the training. This is not a four-hour Q and A session. I cannot get to everything in four hours. That is not my job. My job is to help you with your most dangerous driving habits. If I do not get to all of your questions by the end of the training, as long as I am alive, you can email me any questions you have, and I will answer them free of charge. (21). Interrogation Fee................................$35 (a). Interrogation does not have to be violent, forceful, or include the infliction of physical pain. A five-year old can interrogate an adult simply by asking, "Why," after every sentence an adult utters! "Interrogation...refers to the act of questioning someone or something in a formal...manner... (or setting), (or) the process of asking someone a lot of questions for a long period of time in order to get information...." Webster's Dictionary. The goal of this training is not for drivers to interrogate me for four hours. (b). The goal of this training is for you to become a safer driver in only four-hours and to drive crash free the entire four-hours. To do that I focus, first on safety and second on making it my priority to help you overcome your most dangerous driving errors. I cannot do those things if I am concentrating on hearing and answering a ton of questions. We will not be able to do everything, so let me lead the training by teaching rather than you lead the training by interrogating me. If, after this State mandated training, you want to hire me to answer questions in person, call for an appointment. (22). Poor comprehension of how to avoid the penalty fees found in Section G of this Contract..............$35 (a) If a student-driver or the client (if not the same person) does not exhibit, in my opinion, sufficient evidence that he, she or they know how to avoid the penalty fees noted in this Contract that, almost always, creates a major source of difficulty when teaching. I mandate a small token remuneration for that added unnecessary and easily avoidable stress. If the driver does not know how to clarify, verbally, at the start of the training, how to avoid the fees in Section G of this Contract, this fee will be charged with no notice of said charge. (23). Lack of Memorization Fees (a). Lane change procedure.......................$35 (1). Before the start of training, memorize, "Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal, Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Move" well enough to quote it without hesitation or error and upon request before the start of the training to avoid this $35 fee. Memorizing during training eats up valuable training time and puts more pressure on me to get the things needed to be done in less training time. Getting it right some of time is not memorization. This fee, and the fee in (b) below, helps reimburse me for the added pressure. If you are not good at memorizing, I can and will put you in touch with my secretary who will work with you for up to 45-minutes on the phone stating each word and you saying it after her. One hundred percent of drivers, with an average I.Q. and no learning disabilities have memorized these steps within 45-minutes. It is a real shame that those who are not good a memorizing and do not memorize the steps on their own time for free, often invest an excessive amount of their training time learning how to change lanes safely and do a safe and legal three-point turn! Because of that extra time for memorization, I often do not get some of the important over-the-road training a driver needs. I try but is difficult. This $35 fee is for my added difficulty.
(b). Three-point turn procedure..............$45 (1). Before the start of the training, memorize, "Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Reverse. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Drive. Turn, Look,................Accelerate."
well enough to quote it without hesitation or error and upon request to avoid this $45 fee will be refunded, if it is charged in advance. Getting it right some of the time is not memorization. Almost no person memorizes the two lists of things noted above before the start of the training. I hope you are the exception to the norm and do memorize them rather than eat up much, most or all of your time memorizing these things during training. Please be. It is not good enough to do a three-point turn without crashing any more than it is good enough to drive through a red-light intersection as long as you avoid crashing. There are things I am obligated by State law to teach. However, it is impossible to keep or regain your driver license if you cannot do a safe and legal three-point turn and it is impossible to do a safe and legal three-point turn unless you know the steps in proper order, just like it is impossible to make a telephone call successfully if you do not know the numbers in proper order. When a student takes hours to memorize the steps above during paid training it puts a great deal of pressure on me to try to get everything done I am supposed to do, and for enduring that added pressure (stress), I get paid $45.00. (24). Reading Assignment Failure.................$35 (a). If the Student-driver is younger than 25-years of age and does not read the following short article --
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051
prior to the start of training, this fee applies. If clicking on the above link or touching it on your screen does not work, you can copy and paste it to a search engine. (25). Failure to follow safe-driving directions and/or traffic laws......................................................$75 (a). The following things should be understood before the start of training. (1). I am better-qualified to keep us safe on the open road than the student-driver is. If the student-driver only follows the directions and instructions I give when he or she wants to or agrees, then we are only as safe as the decision-making ability and the driving skill level of the student-driver. If the student-driver follows my directions and instructions even when he or she disagrees with me, then we are as safe as my decision-making and my diving skill. Student-drivers that believe they are authorized or welcome to override my directions/instructions are invited no to take lessons from me. One mistake on the open road can cost everyone, everything. Driver training is not a game. The goal is not having fun. (2). One of us has to be nervous when I give driving directions that the student-driver disagrees with or is uncomfortable following. Either I have to be nervous because the student-driver does not follow my directions and we crash or the student-driver has to be nervous and follow my directions and we do not crash. I opt for the first scenario. (3). Sometimes drivers do not follow my directions because: (a). They think they are better-qualified drivers than me and feel obligated to ignore my directions if they disagree . (b). They blame their reflect action, thus attempt to excuse that they are not following my directions on the bases that it is impossible for to do so because of their reflexes. (c). Overriding fear. (d). Arrogance towards or defiance of authority. (No one is going to tell them what to do!) (e). Anger issues. (f). Distrust (g). Hatefulness. (h). Cognitive (mental) or emotional problems that are not their fault. (i). Narcissistic, sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies. (j). Dislike or disagreement with the rules of the road and a commitment to dishonor those rules and replace those rules with and a commitment to honor the student's personal rules, thus mandating by word or deed that I honor their personal rules and not traffic laws or safe driving skills. (1). Whatever the reason for failure to follow my directions, we will be in the same crash and, if crippled or killed, just as crippled or dead. Therefore, the reasons for failing to follow my directions are immaterial to me. The level of training will be below the level of commitment to following my directions, including the directions the student does not like, does not understand or does not agree with. Safety first. I get paid $75 extra to spend four-hours with a driver who, for any reason, is committed to do as they want, not as I ask. I am putting my life in the hands of a person that is, according to the State of Florida unfit to keep his or her driver license at his or her current driving safety skill level. No offense is intended, but it is what it is. When my life and limb are in greater, unnecessary and added danger because of the shortcomings of others, I charge more. My life and limb are valuable; at least worth $75.00. The stress the student-driver puts me under by riding with a dangerous driver for four-hours, who is committed, come Hell or high water, to driving dangerously, or who is emotionally or psychologically unable to drive safely and/or in accord with my instructions is worth at least $75.00. (26). Credit/Debit Card Charge Denial Response AFTER the Training is Completed...........$20 (a). This charge covers the admin expense for running the charge attempt twice, notifying the card owner by email of the failed charge, making another or a second attempt for payment, taking and recording that other or second payment, the added credit card fees for this individual $20 charge, preparing and sending a second notice regarding that payment; the first being a rejection notice from the card company, altering the Contract to reflect this additional charge, notifying the Client of the change in the Contract, advising the Client to read and approve the new Contract (with said changes), and requesting, receiving and recording Clients acceptance of said new or altered Contract. This $20 fee contains no profit, and in every case incurs for me an administrative expense in excess of this $20 charge. The difference between my actual expense and this $20 is a gift to the Client. This charge is repeated every time a Client provides false or inaccurate information that leads to a declining of a charge; however, the maximum charge for this is $60.00. H. WHEN IS YOUR PAYMENT DUE? (a).Unless otherwise arranged and agreed, the payment in full is required before scheduling.Mail your payment to: Joda Collins Driving Academy 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL. 32583, or send your credit card info to JodaCollins@aol.com. Be sure to keep your proof of purchase for your cashier's check in case it is lost in the mail. In 15-years of service nothing has ever been lost in the mail, but there could be a first time. I accept Visa or MasterCard credit or debit cards. When I request and then receive your payment info, and down payment is received, I will contact you for scheduling. (b). If not paying in full, you can pay the amount in E(a) or (b) above. After paying a total of $300 and all other things done, you can train and pay the balance any time after that, interest free. Your completion will not be turned in to the State until the full payment is received. Partial payments will NOT be automatically granted and will never be granted to any second or later scheduling.
(1). To make your payment by US Postal Service, mail cashier's check to:
Joda Collins Driving Academy
4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, FL 32583.
I have never lost nor had anything lost in the mail in my 15-years of business but be sure to keep your proof of purchase just in case. Do not mail cash. (c). To make your payment by Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard credit card or any bank debit card), send the following info by email, phone and/or US Postal Service IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. 1. Name on Credit Card. 2. Credit Card Number. 3. Expiration Date 4. Full address card billing where card billing is mailed. 5. CVV Number aka Security Number found on the back of the card: 6. Total amount you are charging to your credit card at this time. 7. You can provide your credit or debit card information by email, voice mail, US Postal Service, or any combination thereof. (a). Feel free to send all of the credit card info via one or two emails or one email and one voice mail. Be sure to identify yourself if you provide the info via voice mail (850 981-3355). If providing your credit card or debit card information divided up between one or more emails and one or more voice mails does not provide enough security for you and you do not want to pay by money order or cashier's check sent to me in the US Postal System to Joda Collins Driving Academy, 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, Fl 32583 (mailing address only; not an office), then you can make a personal appointment with me to give me your card information if: (1). The person who owns the card presents to me that card. (2). We have an agreed-on Contract. (3). No discussion about the Contract or any related facts of the service or finances are allowed at the meeting. If you want to know the many good reasons for this policy, I will cheerfully share them with you upon request. (4). You agree to pay $60 for my time to schedule and reserve time for this meeting. (5). There is a clear understanding that I do not schedule service at this meeting.
(a). When I receive all of the above information, your payment and all other prerequisites are complete, I will contact you for scheduling. 9. DISCLAIMERS A. I (Joda Collins) may not offer another door-to-door service if the Client cancels, misses, reschedules training or is not able to take the training due to no fault of mine. B. Please understand that those I serve are in a position to ask me to do anything for them, however, those I serve are not in a position to tell me what I will do for them. C. It is my responsibility to verify your license is valid or you have the valid letter from the State that serves as your temporary permit for the training before providing training. (1). Errors or expense to you of any and every kind due to you not knowing if your driver license is or is not valid are your expenses, not mine. D. I make zero profit from door-to-door service. I am not obligated by any law or moral code to provide door-to-door service. If a driver schedules door-to-door service and I show up for service but the driver, through no fault of mine, does not or cannot take the driving lesson, I will not supply additional door-to-door service unless the Client pays in full for the door-to-door service for the missed lesson. E. I (Joda Collins) reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. F. I (Joda Collins) reserve the right to require a signed and notarized paper Contract and full payment in my possession before scheduling any service. 10. ATTACHMENT ONE IS A PART OF THIS CONTRACT. You can find Attachment One immediately below this Contract. 11. Questions? Just ask via email (JodaCollins@aol.com) or voice mail (850 981-3355). Thank you. 12. THIS SECTION TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY CLIENT(the financially responsible person). A. If there is a missed, canceled or rescheduled appointment/lesson, there are negative financial repercussions for me (Joda Collins) that I pass on to you, the Client, in part or in whole. B. Know how to avoid the following fees: (a). Excessive Administration Fee? (b). Aggravation Fee? (c). Excessive Acceleration Fee? (d). Chatterbox Fee? (e). Lack of Memorization of Lane Change Procedure Fee? (f). Lack of Memorization of the Three-point Turn Procedure? (g). Interrogation Fee? (h). Contract Non-Poor Comprehension Fee? (1). If the Client and the Student-driver (if not the same person), cannot explain how to avoid all eight charges above in (a) through (h) to my (Joda Collins) satisfaction, the Contract Non-Poor Comprehension Fee will be charged without apology or hesitation. (a). Ignorance of other responsibilities can also trigger this charge. (b). If I (the Client) am not paying with a card (credit or debit) and I want my account paid in full by the end of the training session, I will need to bring additional funds in cash to cover the maximum charge for the non-negotiable additional fees/charges incurred during the training session. (c). Otherwise, if additional fees/charges are incurred I (the Client) will be billed for those fees. (d). Completion of training will not be recorded with the State until I (the Client) have paid my debt in full. 13. ENROLLMENT/REGISTRATION Please provide the following information via email. You do not need to retype the question if you are reading this off the web page but do include the numbers. I can tell from the question number what question you are responding to.
A. Student-driver's: (1A). The Enrollment/Registration has been moved to the bottom of this Contract. (1B). Name as it appears on driver license or State ID.
(2). Driver license number or State ID Number (same number) license or permit number. (3). Date of birth.
(4). Last four numbers of driver's Social Security Number: (5). Third citation number if you know it. (6). Email address. (7). Telephone number. (8). Complete street address including zip code. (9). Mailing address if different from above. (10). Is your driver license valid? (a). If so, when does it become invalid? (b). If you do NOT have a valid driver license, before scheduling with me, you must have a letter from the Department of Highway Safety in Tallahassee that states in some form or another that said letter serves as your permit or driving authorization during the four-hours of driver's training. If your license is not valid and you do not have this letter, call 850 617-2598 any non-holiday weekday as near as you can between 7am and 7:05am (to avoid a long wait) and ask for that letter. (11). If your driver license is invalid, what is the date of your temporary driver permit? This is the letter from the Dept. of Highway Safety in Tallahassee that denotes you must have said letter with you during the four-hours of training. Write N/A if your driver license is valid and will be valid and you anticipate it will be valid when you train? (12). Do you, the Student-driver, have any questions about this Contract (Contract Seven) as found at www.jodacollins.com - Agreement page, right column immediately following Contract Six? (13). Do you, the Student-driver, have any questions about Attachment One as found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page, right column, immediately following Contract Seven? (a). If you, the Student-driver, have questions about Contract Seven or Attachment One, please ask via email (jodacollins@aol.com) or voice mail (850 981-3355). My response will be by email so be sure I have your email address if you ask by voice mail? (14). Do you want a quote for door-to-door service? If so, what is the start and end location (address)? (15). Do you think you will be using your vehicle for the training? You can change your mind later. (a). If your driver license is not valid and use your vehicle, I (Joda Collins) must have verifiable proof of insurance that postdates the day you your driver license became invalid. I will not accept scheduling request without that. (16). Do think you will be using someone else's vehicle, whom you know personally, for the training? You can change your mind later. (a). I (Joda Collins) must have verifiable written proof of insurance that post-dates the day your driver license became inactive informing me that the insurance covers you. If you are not specifically named in the insurance papers as a covered driver, you can: (1). Provide a letter or email from the vehicle owner's insurance provider or an email specifically denoting the Student-driver as covered by the insurance. (2). You can provide to me the name and phone number of the person that told you that the Student-driver is covered on the insurance policy. I will call that person as ask for an email confirmation of that fact. There is $35 fee for this service if make this call. (17). Do you think you will be using the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for the training? You can change your mind later? (18). Do you think you will be made with a Visa or MasterCard Credit or Debit card? You can change your mind later? (19). Do you think your debt will be paid with a Visa or MasterCard that belongs to someone else's Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card? You can change your mind later. (20). Do you think you will be paying with a cashier's check? You can change your mind later. (21). Do you think someone else will be paying your debt with their cashier's check? You can change your mind later. (22). Will you be training in one four-hour session of two, two-hour sessions? You can change your mind later.
IF YOU ARE THE STUDENT-DRIVER AND ALSO THE CLIENT (FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE PERSON), YOU DO NOT NEED TO ANSWER (23) THROUGH (28). HOWEVER, DO READ (29). (23). Do you, the Client (financially responsible person), have any questions about this Contract (Contract Seven) as found at www.jodacollins.com - Agreement page, right column immediately following Contract Six? If you are both the financially responsible person and the Student-driver, skip (24) through (28) and go to (29). (24). Do you, the Client, have any questions about Attachment One as found at www.jodacollins.com - Agreement page, right column, immediately following Contract Seven? (a). If you, the Client, have questions about Contract Seven or Attachment One, please ask via email (jodacollins@aol.com) or voice mail (850 981-3355). My response will be by email so be sure I have your email address if you ask by voice mail?
(26). What is your complete mailing address? (27). What is your telephone number? (28). What is your email address? (29). After I receive all of the Enrollment/ Registration information, I will contact the Client and invite him or her to go to www.jodacollins.com - Available Dates and Times Section to request an appointment or appointments for training.
ATTACHMENT ONE
POLICIES AND PROCEDURE 4/17/23
Joda Collins Driving Academy, LLC. MY MOST IMPORTANT RULE: I (Joda Collins), as an honorable, truthful and responsible person, will keep my contractual word/responsibilities towards you including my responsibilities you did not understand or did not read before you agreed to the Contract. If I have integrity, your ignorance of your contractual benefits does not excuse me from giving them to you. You deserve your contractual benefits. You should not have to beg me for them or expect I will throw a childish fit when I am expected to honor my word. MY SECOND MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If a person is not an honorable, truthful and responsible person, and will not keep his/her contractual word/responsibilities towards me, including all of the responsibilities he/she did not understand or did not read before agreeing to the Contract, I prefer that such a person not do business with me. If a person has integrity, their ignorance, willful or otherwise, of my contractual benefits will not be used as an excuse to withhold them from me. I should not have to beg anyone for my contracted benefits or endure childish tantrums when I call on others to honor their word.
I am, mostly, a one-man operation. I do all of the training and about 95% of the admin work. My Contracts are long. They have evolved over my 15-years in this business and continue to do so. Every time I have a recurring problem or question, I provided the solution in my Contract or the answer to the question to best be sure that recurring difficulty/confusion never happens again. Also, according to most who know about such things, about 50% of Americans age 16 and over comprehend written and verbal content at a third-grade level (not you because you are above average). That means many less complicated words have to be used in place of or in conjunction with a more complex/complicated word or phrase. For example, "Client," is defined as "the financially responsible person," and "under any condition" is expanded like this, "under any condition even if the condition was unavoidable by the Client or Student-driver." No one likes to trudge through long contracts, including me. However, brief contracts are good for simple commitments for a few dollars, such as, "I will mow and trim your lawn for $60.00." However, all contracts with multiple variables, like mine, for more than a tiny fee, when written with brevity leave too much to assumption and always creates confusion over details that, had they been clarified in the contract would not be a source for disagreement. I do not expect anyone to memorize any contract. Contracts exists so a person can determine if he or she wants to do business and for the mutual protection if confusion arises that can be resolved by reference to the Agreement (Contract). I do not bait and switch. I do not have any small print designed to take advantage of you. I do not hide things in veiled language so I can spring something negative or hurtful to you, on you later. I am honest, open and sincere. I have never been charged with being dishonest or secretive. I have been charged with being detailed. I confess to that. I am detailed because I dislike confusion and I hate confrontation. When Jesus was confronted by others, Jesus often said, "It is written," and that immediately ended the questioning or confrontation on the subject. "It is written" -- is a wise response to "How come?" "Because I said so," or "Because I thought you should have known." Those are insulting responses that degrade the inquirer to the intellectual level of a child and have no place in business dealings between adults. I (Joda Collins) reserve the right to make changes in this document for the purpose of clarification if doing so does not change any facts or figures. If you want a summary paper copy of any Contract or this (Attachment One) mailed to you, just ask. A contract is a list of agreed on boundaries and protections wherein each party gives their word of honor, in advance. If I trespass against you, you have a right to confront me about violating your legal boundary and protections. If you violate my boundaries and protections, I have a right to confront you about trespassing my legal rights and protections. I will be honorable and do my best not to trespass against you and if I do, I will do my best to correct that violation gracefully. If you will do the same for me, let's do business together. If you will not do that for me, please do not employ me. Thank you.
"In Escambia County, 358 of 38,865 crashes involved a fatality, or about 0.92% of total crashes, which is 14.1% higher than the state average. That puts Escambia County No. 49 (most dangerous County to drive in) on the list of 67 Florida counties.
Escambia jumped to No. 30 on the list when comparing the number of crashes involving injuries. According to the data, 16,672 out of 38,865 crashes involved an injury, which is 4% higher than the state average.
Santa Rosa County reported slightly more fatal crashes than Escambia, clocking in at 124 out of 12,769 total crashes, which is 20.3% higher than the state average. Similarly, it also had slightly more crashes that resulted in an injury, with 5,534 out of 12,769 crashes involving an injury, 5% higher than the state average."
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/these-are-the-10-most-dangerous-florida-counties-to-drive-see-where-yours-ranked/ar-BB1ikR2w?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=14f8e250f3e64a84ad1cecc44e7523bc&ei=13
1. THE PROCESS (accomplished by email). A. Enrollment/Registration submitted by Client. B. Meeting of the minds with Client (financially responsible person) regarding services and fees. C. Approval of Contract and Attachment One for all involved parties/persons. D. I email an Attachment by Date for all involved parties. The Attachment by Date includes the most important details. E. All involved persons approve that Attachment by Date. F. I receive verifiable proof of insurance if the Student-driver is using any vehicle that is not the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle. (1). I (Joda Collins) must have to have written proof that would stand up in a court of law, that the student-driver is covered in the vehicle used for training.
G. Agreed-on payment received from Client. H. I send an email invitation to request a training date at time for lesson one only, as found at www.jodacollins.com - Available Dates and Times Section. I. Scheduling Request is received, and I confirm it. 2. MANDATORY READING A. Failure to carefully read your Contract and Attachment One almost always is a major contributor to unnecessary stress, confusion and hard feelings that would have been easily avoided with a careful reading of these Documents before agreeing or signing. Thank you. B. Please read this five or 10-minute read (link) before signing or agreeing to this Contract if you are under 26-years of age or a parent, guardian or the spouse of the Student-driver under 26-years of age. https://ppsimmons.blogspot.com/2019/09/most-people-prior-to-age-25-lack-good.html .
3. VEHICLE SELECTION FOR THREE-POINT TURN: LIMITATIONS.
A. I (Joda Collins) will use your insured vehicle for the three-point turn training with the driver behind-the-wheel. For several good reasons I will gladly share upon request, I do not use my vehicle for parking and three-point turn training with the student-driver behind-the-wheel. I use my vehicle for the three-point turn training with me behind-the-wheel in a show and tell fashion.
4. START AND END LOCATION A. If no door-to-door service is requested and agreed to then the start location is 3804 Garcon Point Rd, Milton, 32583 which is less than one-tenth of one mile off of Exit 26 and Interstate 10, Milton, 6.5 miles East of Pensacola (the second exit after crossing the Escambia Bay Bridge). This (3804 Garcon Point Road) is not our office addresses. This is a gas station, Circle K, truck stop and restaurant. Please park in the spaces at the side of the building (Manager's request), enter the front doors, turn left and take about 10 steps. I will be seated immediately on your left. My (Joda Collins') photo is at www.jodacollins.com . My cell phone number is 850 304-1870.
(1). For additional lessons, if any, and no door-to-door service is asked for or provided, the start location is across the street, 3815 Garcon Point Road, at the Dollar General Store. Please park in the spaces that face and are the closest to the side road (Manager's request). I use the same parking spaces and will be in my car there. My cell phone is 850 304-1870. (2). If door-to-door service is wanted or needed, the fee is $2.42 per round trip mile (no per minute charge) from my home office located just off of Interstate 10 at Exit 26, Milton, minus 7% if paying with a money order or cashier's check rather than a credit card (Visa or MasterCard) or bank debit card. Provide to me your start/end location and I will provide to you a quote for the door-to-door service.
B. FIRST LESSON TRAINING OR THE START OF THE ONLY LESSON IF ONLY ONE LESSON IS TAKEN (1). Proper steering. a. This includes proper hand-over-hand steering and allowing the wheel to slide lightly through the driver's hands to complete standard right and left turns. Most crashes in driver training vehicles are the result of poor steering, so I mandate proper steering first unless student-driver is enrolled in the Pass the State Driving Exam ONLY Course with no expectation of being better-trained by me than to pass the State exam. C. Proper braking. (1). Stopping without jolting the vehicle or throwing the head of passenger's forward. a. The ability to use minimal brake pressure to drive at up to 2mph on flat land or a slight decline for 30-consecutive seconds which replaces unnecessary, aggravating and (more) dangerous stop and go, stop and go, stop and go in very slow-moving traffic. D. Proper acceleration. (1). I teach super slow acceleration unless traffic/safety conditions warrant jackrabbit acceleration. I teach super slow acceleration for many good reasons I will share upon request. (a). If, after training with me, a driver wants to increase his or her acceleration rate, that is his or her decision or the decision of the vehicle owner. Faster acceleration than I teach, as long as the acceleration rate is within reason, is not in and of itself bad or unsafe driving. 5. VERBAL AGREEMENTS, OPERATING BY ASSUMPTION, EMAIL INFORMATION, TEXTING AND CLANDESTINE-BASED MEETINGS
A. I have no verbal agreements, ever! I never attempt to hold others hostage, nor will I allow others to hold me hostage to anything that follows, "But you said....", "But I said....", or "But I thought (assumed)...." The best speakers sometimes say things poorly and the best listeners often mis-hear the best constructed sentences. If it is important, get it in writing. I do! If it is not in writing, it was never said, and no one will be held accountable/responsible for what someone wrongly assumed somebody said or for what the other person said poorly. I do not discuss, debate or clarify Contractual matters regarding service or money. I use email and place the final authority in the written Contract. B. I do not do business on a handshake, by verbal agreements or assumption. If it is not in writing, for all practical purposes, you nor I ever said it. I will not attempt to hold anyone hostage to anything that follows, "But, you said...! Nor, will attempt hold anyone else accountable or responsible for anything I say that follows, "But, you said...!" C. Assume, as facts in evidence, only what is written in the Contract and Attachment One.
D. No content of any email can override any content of our Contract or this Attachment unless the email contains the following exception clause: "What follows is contrary to the content of the Contract and/or Attachment One on purpose," or words to that effect. E. I do not text nor respond to text messages. Communicate with me by phone, email or US Postal Service. If you want to know why I do not use text, just ask. 6. CONTRACT CLARIFICATION
A. This is a legal document. If you do not understand something in this document, please ask. If I believe you have given me every reasonable opportunity to clarify this document to you and you still are confused, at your request I will consider directly paying your Attorney to explain it to you. Contact me for specifics. This does not give you rights to incur debt on my behalf.
B. My contracts are the product of 15-years of trial and error. They are long because they are comprehensive. They are confusing when read carelessly, casually and quickly like a novel rather than carefully like a legal document should be read. In the overall scheme of things, the clear, detailed contracts serve invaluable benefits for me and for those I serve.
(1). No one I serve is uninformed of what to expect or can claim that I was dishonest, shady, or unclear. My detailed contracts not only protect the rights of those I serve they protect my reputation.
(2). Detailed contracts have set me free from unjustified accusations against me.
(3). People who do not like the way I run my business as clarified in my contracts or think poorly of me for the way my contracts read opt not to do business with me before engaging in business with me. Doing so saves them and me stress. I consider this, maybe, the greatest asset of all for detailed Contracts. I am not a fighter. I do not like confrontation, especially if confrontation is easy to avoid. Nothing can make it easier to avoid confrontation than having full revelation of all important details in print. The devil confronted Jesus over and over, and Jesus responded in return over and over, "It is written." Jesus confronted the religious rulers of his day calling them uninformed because they did not know the written scriptures.
(4). Because of my clear and detailed contracts, I no longer have to spend 30 to 40-minutes per prospect answering the same questions over and over that each previous prospect asked or exchange a half dozen to a dozen extra emails per prospect answering questions easily understood with a careful reading of the Contract.
(5). Some say they read the Contract but did not. When they are unhappy about something, I remind them that I am functioning 100% within the boundaries of the Contract they said they read, understood, accept and signed the paper copy attesting to those things. At that time, they confess they did not "really" read the Contract. That takes the credibility out of their complaint and the confrontational-accusatory tone out of their voice when they realize that I am operating as an open and honest participant in our business association.
(6). Every time (100% of the time) that I try to streamline/reduce Contract content, that deletion of information causes me and my client's difficulties that were non-existent before I streamlined the Content.
(7). My contracts confront nameless and faceless people in print about boundaries in an effort to try to avoid the need to confront people directly about them violating my boundaries in the future. (8). The longer contracts allow me to provide many benefits to drivers and clients, clarify those benefits and create safeguards (limits) so the less scrupulous cannot take unintended or extreme advantage of my generosity. (9). If there is no signed paper copy of a Contract within two weeks of a client's email approval of the Contract and/or if there is no appointment completed within three weeks the client's email approval of the Contract, then I reserve the right to declare all emails exchanged as considered null and void all commitments to or from all parties. (10). Removed. (11). The post-script (what follows the signature block) in every or almost every email is an Attachment by Date to your Contact. It NEVER changes. However, it is often deleted from previous emails that are a part of the continuing emails from me. (12). If a client and/or student-driver misses, cancels or reschedules the first appointment of more than one appointment or misses the first of only one appointment due to no fault of mine (Joda Collins) or I miss, cancel or reschedule a lesson due to a contractual failure of the client and/or student-driver, all previous emails are null and void, the Contract is null and void unless otherwise advised by me, and all funds paid in advance minus all non-refundable funds for services already rendered will be refunded unless other arrangements are made/approved by all parties involved.
(13). Many contracts in life are long and cumbersome, such as my contracts and contracts for the purchase of a home or vehicle. Generally, the more money that exchanges hands, the more benefits, responsibilities and variables denoted in the documents, the longer the contractual commitment and the more liability on the part of any party, the longer and more detailed the Contact and Attachments must be.
My contracts:
A. Do not involve the amount of money exchange incurred in the purchase of a home or vehicle; however, the amount of money is significant.
B. Involve a considerable number of Client/Student-driver benefits, responsibilities and variables (options).
C. Can be long in duration. The Contract extends 90-day beyond the most recent paid for and completed lesson. This means a driver can take a driving lesson every 89 days and the Contract would never expire as long as I am in business.
D. I, Joda Collins, incur a great amount of liability and responsibility. Literally, to some significant degree I put my life in the hands of the person behind-the-wheel. Literally, the Student-driver puts his or her life in my hands. The probability of crashing in Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties is getting higher every day: 1,600 more vehicle crashes reported in Northwest Florida compared to 2020 (weartv.com) . In 2003, in Santa Rosa County there were 5.8 crashes per day and 8.4 crashes per day in Escambia County (reports vary).
Several things are contributing factors to the steadily rising danger of driving everywhere, including Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties.
(14). No one, when dealing with a long, detailed and cumbersome contract expect either party to memorize the content of said documents. There is a general good faith assumption that the creator of the documents is presenting a legal document that is fair and reasonably considerate to all parties involved and those documents are the final authority for any disagreements or disputes that may arise in the future. It is not the client's responsibility to memorize the facts and figures of those documents. It is the client's responsibility to read them over carefully and be sure that all of the content reflects fairness and acceptable consideration to him or her on the part of the creator of those documents and to challenge/question anything in those documents that the client believes puts him or her at an unfair disadvantage, and to do so before signing or agreed to said documents. Upon said challenge or questioning the creator of the document has the option of changing the content of a document, offering a compromise to any question or challenge to the fairness of said document, or declining service.
7. CONTRACT APPROVAL A. The Contract and/or Attachment One cannot be signed electronically, because this is not a PDF. Paper contacts must be signed, and that is usually done at the start of training unless other arrangements are made in advance. I am not allowed, by law, to provide any behind-the-wheel service or enter into any binding agreement/contract with any person or persons other than enforcing the payment of non-refundable fees as clarified in the Contract, until all parties have read, agreed to and signed a paper contract. This includes the client (financially responsible person or persons), the student-driver even if not yet an adult (18 or younger), the responsible adult for the minor (under 18 years of age) student-driver and the owner of the vehicle used for training.
B. Nor, am I allowed to take someone else's word that another person agrees in whole or in part to any contract or attachment(s). C. A paper contract must be signed by the person legally representing the student-driver, the client (financially responsible person or persons), the student-driver even if not yet a legal adult (18 or over) and cannot be legally held accountable for anything, and the owner of the vehicle being used for the training. D. No Contract or Attachment is considered binding, in force or authoritative until the paper copy of the Contract is signed by all parties, or until money has changed hands, whichever comes first. The life of a Contract is 45-days from the date the paper copy is signed by all parties, 45-days from the date money exchanged hands or 45-days from the date of the most recent paid for lesson, whichever comes last.
8. PAYMENT AND SCHEDULING
A. Initial (first) scheduling is a step-by-step process that is accomplished by email or US Postal System. (1). Enrollment/Registration. (2). A written statement by each person involved, including any minor, of understanding and acceptance of the Contract a, if applicable, Attachment One. (3). An agreement (meeting of the minds) regarding: (a). Training goal(s). (b). Payment method and fees (charges). (c). What vehicle is going to be used for training. (4). Payment and possession of payment for lesson one. Then, scheduling. (5). SCHEDULING. After 1 through 4 are accomplished, then I (Joda Collins) invite the Client (financially responsible adult) to go to www.jodacollins.com, Available Dates/Time Section to schedule. (a). Only the Client (the financially responsible person) can schedule, cancel or reschedule unless other arrangements are made. When I (Joda Collins) invite you to schedule, go to JodaCollins.com and follow the scheduling directions in the Available Dates and Times Section. (b). I accept scheduling, cancelations and/or rescheduling requests only by email or voice mail for excellent reasons we will be happy to share upon request. (c). If you do not receive a confirmation of your selected and/or requested date and time for training by 5pm the next day, your selection/request is NOT confirmed. Please recontact me. I probably missed in among the 300 to 400 emails I get each day in my in box and spam. If your email address ends in gmail.com, many of them go to my spam. I don't know why so many gmail.com emails go to spam. While I try to be careful about deleting important emails, sometimes I make a mistake especially where there is one in a hundred or more among the spam.
B. PRE-PAYMENT. The first training session has to be paid for and in my possession in advance of scheduling because I have never failed to provide a refund in accordance with the Contact, but I have provided service in advance of payment and the client refused to pay me. (1). I no longer provide service for lesson one on the promise to pay after service is scheduled or completed. (2). Additional lessons, if any, have to be paid for in advance of the training session, but not in advance of scheduling unless otherwise directed. (3). When paying with a money order or cashier's check please mail payment to Joda Collins Driving Academy, 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583. Do NOT mail cash. While we have never had anything lost in the mail in the 15-years I have been in business, there may be a first time. I do not accept responsibility for what others place in the mail. It is the sender's responsibility to keep his or her proof of purchase. (4). When paying with Visa or MasterCard Credit or Debit card, I charge the card for non-refundable fees, soon, then I charge the balance agreed upon on the day prior to the training, unless another arrangement is made, or I notify the Client of the full charge coming sooner. (a). If a charge fails for any reason, there is a $11 additional service charge to cover the added admin expense of notification and recovery of the payment. (5). I do not do business with anyone without an agreed-on Contract. If you, the driver, are not also the client (financially responsible person), then I need the client to send me an email from his or her email address stating the name, physical address, email address and telephone number of the financially responsible person. (6). Telling me (Joda Collins) via phone, voice mail, email or via the US Postal Service (Joda Collins) what day, date or time you want training is not the same as me reserving that date/time for you. You must have a confirmation from me to have a valid/scheduled reserved date and time. 9. OPTIONAL MEMORY WORK FOR STUDENT DRIVER FOR LANE CHANGES AND THE THREE-POINT TURN.
A. THE LANE CHANGE PROCEDURE (1). Ahead, behind, mirror, shoulder, signal. Ahead, behind, mirror, shoulder, move. B. THE THREE POINT TURN (1). I (Joda Collins) teach the three-point turn under the following conditions: (a). In someone else's insured vehicle with the student-driver behind-the-wheel. (b). I teach any licensed driver how to teach the three-point turn so he or she can teach any student-driver how to do the three-point turn. It takes about 20-minutes to teach this to the average licensed driver. (c). In my vehicle, with me behind-the-wheel, after the driver has memorized the following well enough to quote it without error or hesitation and upon request. (1). Slow, right, look, signal, stop. Turn, look, coast, stop, reverse. Turn, look, coast, stop, drive. Turn, look....accelerate. I do not use my vehicle for the three-point turn with the student behind-the-wheel for reasons I will gladly share if requested to do so. However, so far in 15+ years of training 100% of student drivers that have memorized the steps and learned the three-point turn from me with me behind-the-wheel have passed the three-point turn part of the State exam. So will you.
(2). Sometimes people, young and older, who have memorized their name, birthday and address, their cell phone number, the names of relatives and friends, how to use a cell phone and TV remote, how to get on and access info on the internet, the date, time and channel of their favorite TV shows, and memorized the rules of the road, pavement markings and street sign meanings well enough to pass the State exam for their permit, claim they cannot memorize. That simply is not true. 10. CONTRACT INFORMATION
A. If you do not like something about this Contract, tell me and I will try to work with you to adjust this to your liking.
B. The only things I will not consider changing are the things that cost me time or money. I cannot serve for less or do more for FREE and stay in business. C. I reserve the right to require the Contract and/or Attachment One and/or a summary of said Contract and/or Attachment One to have a notarized signature of the Client (financially responsible person) and said document or documents in my possession before scheduling any future service. 11. EMAILS A. REMINDER FOR YOUR LESSON (1). If you do not get an email reminder of your driving session between 12:01am and 8:30pm the day before your driving appointment EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REMINDER/CONFIRMATION EARLIER, there IS a scheduling problem. Please call 850 981-3355 or email to discover the problem so I can try to resolve the difficulty. Without your phone call or email, I will not be able to resolve this difficulty and will not assume any responsibility or liability for this missed lesson. This need covers an occasional glitch/weakness in my scheduling system that I cannot overcome without your assistance. I place this burden on you because I have to. If you want to know why, just ask. B. CHECK EMAILS ONCE EVERY 24- HOURS (1). Part of this Contract is your word that you will check your emails (including SPAM) at least once every 24-hours. I (Joda Collins) will do the same in search of your emails. Doing this will aid communication and avoid difficulties that sometime arise due to mistakes or changes. Thank you for this commitment. (2). Part of this Contract is your word that you will check your emails (including SPAM) one-hour before every lesson for last minute details. I (Joda Collins) will do the same in search of your emails. Doing this will aid communication and avoid difficulties that sometime arise due to mistakes or changes. Thank you for this commitment. Yes, this section is twice stated for emphasis on its importance. C. TIMELY RESPONSE TO EMAILS (1). I (Joda Collins) respond to every email as close to an immediate response to as possible. If, however, you do not receive a response within 24-hours, I MISSED your email. That does not happen often, but it does happen. You recontacting me will avoid unnecessary delays and unnecessary confusion. Please resend. Thank you. D. PRIVACY RIGHTS AND EMAILS (1). Because of privacy rights, I do not send emails to drivers that are not my client (the financially responsible person) without the expressed written (email) permission of the Client. (a). This does not mean that I cannot or will not share some information with a driver that is not my client, even if that information is in an email to the client, if that information is needed for teaching or motivation purposes. A client has the option and my permission to forward anything I write in an email to anyone including the student-driver. (2). I am not able to invest the admin time to send some emails to some people and only some emails to others at the specific request of anyone. It is all or none and/or all or some, at my discretion.
12. YOUR RIGHTS AND OUR RIGHTS
I understand that you reserve the right not to be served by me at any time with or without explanation. I, also, reserve the right to refuse service to anyone at any time with or without explanation. I have only refused service to eleven student-drivers to date, out of more than 2,200 applications.
13. SIGNERS AND APPROVERS.
Both the Student-driver (even if still legally a child, that is, under 18-years of age) and the Client (financially responsible) person are required to read the Contact, this (Attachment One) and sign a paper copy at the start (initial meeting) of training. If you want to know why, just ask.
14. DURING TRAINING PLEASE DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING. A. No one is expected to memorize this list. Just read it over carefully and retain what you can with one devoted and careful reading. Thank you. The goal of this document is to make it easier to work together by not surprising you or overloading you, with details never read before. B. Do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by exiting the vehicle and opening a back seat passenger's door. (1). Do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by exiting the vehicle and opening a back seat passenger's door. (2). Do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by exiting the vehicle and opening a back seat passenger's door. This is written three times because it is important.
C. Please do not take it personally when I correct driving. It is not personal. It is professional.
D. Do not use your cell phone while you are in the driver's seat unless the vehicle is stationary and not in traffic. E. Do not use your cell phone while you are in the vehicle front passenger's seat or back seat unless the vehicle is stationary other than to answer the phone and ask the caller to wait while I pull over and out of traffic. Then, use your cell phone for your conversation. However, the time on the phone does delete that time from the training time.
F. If you have any questions about this Contract, you can call 850 981-3355 and leave a message or ask via email (JodaCollins@aol.com) or US Postal Service (Joda Collins, 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583 which is our mailing address and NOT our office address) BEFORE signing this. I have very good reasons for this request / procedure that best serves us and you. If you want to know why, just ask via email or US Postal Service.
G. Do not bring foods, snacks or drinks of any kind the car for consumption during training. Please do not chew gum or use candy. If you want to stop for any of these things, just ask. The time it takes you to buy them and consume them will be added to your driving time, thus no loss in training time to you. Water in a container with a screw on cap is okay. If you need the reasoning for these restrictions, just ask.
H. Some believe I (Joda Collins) should allow student-drivers to drive in accord with their personal rules of the road and ignore the legal rules of the road everyone else drives by. Making up personal rules of the road and driving in traffic by those secret rules is dangerous.
I. I try to be easy to get along with. Be decent and respectful towards me. I will be decent and respectful towards you. Driving is easy. Driving safely in traffic is a lot of hard work and can be taxing; I understand that. If you get overly frustrated ask for a break. Teaching not easy either and I may need a break.
J. Only about 15% of new drivers and 40% of experienced drivers need this admonition. Ignore it if you do not need this. This is not intended to be personal to everyone but only to the small percentage of people who do need this admonition. Please do not provide justification, rationalization or argument regarding why you drive poorly or in violation of traffic laws. Confronting or attacking me about your dislike of traffic laws just eats up time, creates a strained environment and does nothing good for either of us. K. Please do not accelerate in a manner that throws my head back or stop in a manner that throws my head forward. If you need training to accelerate and/or brake gracefully, I will provide that. I had a very serious water-skiing accident when I was 13 and did some damage to my neck. I can handle quick stops and quick turns, but I need graceful acceleration and braking in order not to cause neck pain. Accelerate in a manner you would if you were a chauffeur, and you have passengers drinking champagne in the back of the vehicle. I can take a few quicker starts per day but not dozens per hour. If your acceleration is too abrupt, I will let you know. Thank you for not getting upset with me for letting you know. Remember, the driver knows when he or she is going to accelerate so the driver can (pre-act) preset so his or her head is not thrown back at the instant of acceleration. Passengers do not know exactly when the driver is going to accelerate or how abruptly, so a passenger cannot preset or pre-act. A passenger can only react after his or her head is thrown back after the acceleration occurs. L. Please do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by opening a back seat passenger's door. (1). Thank you for not reaching into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by opening a back seat passenger's door. (2). Do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Place in the back seat and retrieve from the back seat what you want by opening a back seat passenger's door. If you want to know why, just ask. M. If I tell you that you did not do something correctly, do not respond with, "YES I DID YOU STUPID IDIOT!" even if you do not say the implied, "YOU STUPID IDIOT!" N. If we are using my car for training, please do not wear dirty clothing or clean clothing that looks dirty. I do not smell a person on purpose or touch a person's clothing to see if individuals are actually as dirty as they look. The vehicle is a closed small area and smells are trapped. Thank you for taking a shower and being clean of body and clothing before the lesson begins. Please do not wear dirty-looking clothing and expect me to take your word for it that your clothes only look dirty, but they are really clean.
O. Please do not wear flip flops, crocs, sandals, boots, high heal shoes or slippers. Rather, wear tight fitting shoes such as tennis shoes or dress shoes.
P. Please do not eat, drink, smoke, chew or suck during the driver's training. If you want know why, just ask or go to:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/joda-collins/selective-soft-sound-syndrome/paperback/product-18785296.html . If you want to do any of these things, let me know and we can stop for a few minutes while you do these things. However, water in a container with a screw on lid is permitted in the vehicle. Just do not drink and drive.
Q. Please do not reach into the back seat from the front seat. Access the back seat from the outside of the vehicle via the back seat passenger door.
R. During training, please do not answer yes or no questions with long answers. For example, if I ask you if you see the red light, do not answer by telling me what a red light means, just say yes or say no. Quick, clear, crisp communication is a key benefit in driving safely in fast moving and every changing conditions.
S. Please do not slap my vehicle controls. Treat them gently. Thank you. Do not mistreat my equipment and I will not toss your cell phone around the car.
T. If I am standing at your door when you get into the vehicle please do not close the door. Allow me to close the door. When I am sure you are not a door slammer, I will feel better having you close my car doors.
U. Please do not complain to others about me or my business policies without giving me a chance to make amends, make changes in an effort to make you happy. I do my best, but I am not perfect. I won't bite. I want to make you happy.
V. I (Joda Collins) do not expect you to memorize the above things. I do hope people will be gracious towards me if I graciously remind them of these rules.
15. MISC. INFORMATION
A. Communication via email (JodaCollins@aol.com) or voice mail (850 981-3355) is better for me and better for you in a number of ways when dealing with service, benefits, responsibilities and/or money as it relates to Contract issues. Because of this I, often, do not answer the phone, but allow it to go to voice mail. I do respond to voice mail via return call or email. I do not text nor respond to text messages.
B. This Contract has a lot of information and covers many variables. If you have a suggestion how to improve this Contract, please let me know. I am open to and thankful for any constructive advice.
16. ASSISTANCE.
A. If you have any questions about this Contract or Attachment One (above), please ask via email. If after giving me a reasonable chance to answer your question or questions, if you still do not understand any part of this Contract, let me know how much your attorney would charge to explain this Contract to you and I will consider paying it.
B. Please do not sign or agree to this Contract if you do not understand it and accept all of the benefits and responsibilities in it that apply to you. I will hold me to this Contract. I will hold you to this Contract. Honoring a contract (a form of giving one's word) is one of the best was to identify an adult (mature person). A child's (immature person's) word is, basically, worthless.
17. SOME KEY FACTS OF THIS CONTRACT
A. I accept any questions or statements about this Contract via email and we will respond via email. I do not verbally clarify, discuss, debate or negotiate legal documents (Contracts). B. Those who do not read this Contract but try to work with me by assumption always face difficulties and obstacles others easily avoid.
18. STUDENT DRIVER'S RESPONSIBILITY
A. Wear tight fitting shoes such as tennis shoes or dress shows and not crocks, sandals, boots, slippers, or flip flops.
B. Be clean and wear clean clothing. My car has cloth interior and absorbs odors.
C. Do not wear anything that will snag cloth seats.
D. Have your permit or license with you.
E. Carefully read every email I send.
F. ACTIVE/VALID LEGAL DRIVER LICENSE, PERMIT OR LETTER. Driver must have a current active/valid/legal driver's permit, license or a letter from the Dept. of Hwy Safety specifying said letter has to be with the driver during training. 19. CONFLICT/CONFUSION RESOLUTION
A. If you are ever unhappy with me, signing this Contract is your word that you will tell me of your concerns and give me a chance to resolve your concern(s) before you share your negative opinion of me with anyone else.
B. All Clients commit to read (or look for) my emails at least once every 24-hours and one-hour before any scheduled lesson. I hold myself responsible to look for your email every 24-hours and one hour before all scheduled lessons.
(a). Only about 50% of Clients and Student-drivers need this admonition. Please ignore it if you do not need this admonition. Please do not become upset with me if you fail to read your Contract, Attachment One and/or your emails and that lack of awareness causes difficulties or service delays. One of the hallmarks of maturity is accepting responsibility for one's actions or lack of same. Thank you!
C. Anything in an email is considered null and void (in error) if it is in contradiction to the content of this Contract. D. MAXIMUM WEIGHT LIMITATIONS (1). The maximum legal and/or recommended maximum combined passenger weight for my training vehicle is 800 pounds with no more than 400 pounds on each side of the vehicle and no more than 280 pounds per power/hydraulic seat (front seats). (2). This does not mean I refuse service to anyone due to body weight. It does mean that if anything is contrary to the weight limits noted above, I can only train in an insured vehicle that is not mine. (a). Privacy rights do not allow me to weigh anyone for verification of weight. I will use my best judgement on weight. If I am wrong, I do carry a foot scale in my vehicle and I will allow any student driver to use it in my presence. Any student below 280 pounds will receive my heartfelt apology for my error in my estimate, and be welcome to use my vehicle for training if that is the only reason I had for declining to use my vehicle for training. That said, (b). I make my best estimate just like a grocery store owner/employee makes his or her best judgement on age before selling tobacco products and just like a bartender makes his or her best judgment on age before serving alcohol to a person. In both cases the observer asks for proof of age if the individual is deemed by the observer to be anywhere close to the age requirement. "Better safe than sorry," is an old saying that has been around for almost 175 years because it is true. If I decline anyone due to any weight limit, I mean no offense. Please do not take offense. Good weight guessing is not one of my special abilities. Unlike the carnival man that stares at people's bodies all day long, for a living to guess weight, such staring is not part of my personality make up, so I am not the most talented weight guesser. "Better safe than sorry."
20. USUALLY, I DO NOT TEACH THE FOLLOWING DURING DRIVERS TRAINING because any experienced driver can teach these things and I am focused on teaching safe and crash free diving. A. Put the parking brake on hard enough that when you are parked and in drive with no acceleration or braking, the car will not move. B. Fueling. C. If a red light appears on your dash or your car makes loud unusual noises while driving asap pull of the road, turn your car off asap, and call someone to come and assist you if you do not know what to do. D. The mechanics of a car beyond the brakes, the accelerator and the steering. E. Anything under the hood. F. Rules of the road that are not employed during our driving time. There are just too many to try to teach all of them. (1). However, if you want any of the above done during training time, let me know.
21. PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS A. I return emails with emails once I have your email address. B. I return voice mail with email once I have your email address. C. It is not my responsibility to call you on the phone to ask you to check your email. It is your responsibility to check your emails, including your spam, for my email in response to your email or voice mail, plus at least once every 24-hours and one hour before any scheduled meeting. D. After the initial conversation with a prospect or a third party associated with the prospect, I do not discuss this Contract, or anything related to my business, in part or in full, on the phone or in person. All of my communication, after the initial phone conversation with a prospect or any third-party associate with the prospect, about anything related to my business, in part or in full, is by my email response or US Postal Service response to an email, voice mail or via US Postal Service inquiry. I have this policy for some very good reasons, which I will happily share with you via email upon written request. Any question or concern that can be asked on the phone can be asked via email or voice mail. Any response that I give to any inquiry that I can voice person-to-person on the phone, I can type in an email. I try to respond to emails or voice mails quickly. E. I do not return voice mail or emails from minors if I know the person inquiring is a minor. F. I try to return emails and voice mails via email as close to immediately as I can, but if I am more than 12-hours in responding to your phone call or email for which you anticipated a response, I missed your email or voice mail. Please forgive and try again. I do not, however, miss very many but I am not perfect. Those I miss are usually in June, July and August - the busy months of my business.
22. ADDITIONAL INFO
A. If you are a client (financially responsible person) or a student-driver under the age of 26, please read online the following brief article before your first lesson: https://ppsimmons.blogspot.com/2019/09/most-people-prior-to-age-25-lack-good.html B. After lesson verbal report. Most Clients do not want an after lesson verbal report because they are anticipating an after lesson written report. The verbal report is just a short version of the written report. However, if you want a one-minute verbal report, just meet me at my vehicle when I return from the lesson, be on your way to my vehicle when I return and in the process of saying goodbye to the student and changing sides, so I can see you coming. I do not, however, go to your door or car for the report, unless you request that of me in advance, as my training day is often back-to-back lessons.
23. OFFICE HOURS A. My administrative office is staffed for eight hours between the 12-hours of 8am and 10pm. However, the office is open only by appointment. I do everything by email, phone or US Postal Service if possible. I am seldom out the office more than two or three hours at a time. Delays in responding to emails or voice mails may be due to this, or the workload during staffed hours. If you do not get a return response from me within 12-hours (excluding 9pm to 9am hours), please contact me again. Thank you. 24. CONTRACT FACTS A. Whenever I (Joda Collins) have any questions about money or service that are asked and responded to verbally, I try to always back that verbal conversation up with and email denoting contract specifics just to be sure there is a meeting of the minds. I do not have nor honor any verbal agreements. Verbal agreements are anything about service or money that can logically be included in this sentence, "But, you said...." or "But, I said...." It is easy to make a mistake verbally. No one says one hundred percent of all words perfectly. No one hears 100% of all words perfectly. So, I attempt to back up verbal conversation about money or service with Contract realities just to be sure we have a meeting of the minds. B. This is a sad reality. According to many public records, today about 50% of Americans age 16 and above have a comprehension/retention level and verbal (hearing) comprehension skill level of third graders (8 or 9-years-old), about 25% of American age 16 and above have reading and verbal and comprehension/retention level of fourth-grade to seventh grade level (ages 10 to 12-years of age), and about 25% read at a 9th or higher grade level (age 14 or above). It is amazingly difficult to write a legal document at a reading level the average reader can comprehend it easily. My contracts are my best efforts after taking advice for contract writing/content from many sources and people.
C. I am about openness, honesty, honoring contracts, transparency, cooperation, accepting personal responsibility, reasonable compromise, mutual respect (the Golden Rule), respect for authority, no small print designed to take advantage of people, commitment to task, and client/customer service. People call me, "old school." If you have questions just ask via email. The only print in any of my Contracts that can possibly work to the surprise and/or dis-advantage of those I serve are those that do not read or those who read but do not understand and opt not to ask.
D. Because my Contracts are not online in a PDF format, before the training is scheduled, I must have a signed paper copy of a contract with:
1. The Client (financially responsible person)
2. The student-driver
3. The owner of the vehicle use for training. Normally, this signing occurs at our meet and greet time just before the training lesson begins. If you are the Client or the owner of the vehicle that is being used for training and you will NOT be at the start location to sign the Contract, please advise me immediately.
Questions? Please ask via email or voice mail.
25. FREE THINGS
For all training that is required for drivers that have or are scheduled to lose their driver license, I provide about $200 worth of free training. If you want to know how to access this free training and the conditions of the free training, just ask via email or voice mail.
26. AN ESTIMATE OF FUTURE PROGRESS
With the exception of those using Contract Seven, I provide an estimate of future progress denoting how many more lessons I think might be need for the student-driver to reach his or her driving goal(s) if it is requested and, if and only if, the Client (if not the driver) rides during the first lesson.
27. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE WITH THIS PROCESS. The 2019/2020 Wuhan Virus (aka Corona2019 and/or Covid19) closed our office and inflation has keep it closed. I cannot re-open the office and incur that expense again without going up on my charges, so I now do all things one step at a time via email, voice mail or US Postal Service rather than charge more. This has become the new norm for many businesses including mine and will last as long as too many of the politicians in charge continue to damage our economy.
28. DISCLAIMERS
A. Nothing in any advertisement or email is valid if it is different from the facts and figures in any Contract found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement Page unless specifically stated as exempt in that email. It is easy to make a typing or mental error in an email while every fact and figure in this Contract has been carefully worded and triple checked for accuracy by four individuals and tested by years of use. Emails are often typed late at night after a long stress-filled day by a weary mind. It is especially easy to make typ3ing mustake or a math error. Six times six might seem more like 66 than 36 to a weary mind.
B. I reserve the right to make changes in wording and format to any Contract or Attachment without issuing a new replacement Contract as long as said changes do not affect benefits, obligations or charges. C. I (Joda Collins) reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason, at any time, with or without notice. D. Never send anything in the mail to me that you cannot afford to lose. I do not accept responsibility for lost mail. If you send a personal, business or cashier's check or a money order, keep your proof of purchase. If you send your proof of driver license or driver permit, send a only a photo copy. In my entire life, I have never had anything I mailed lost anything in the mail or had anything mailed to me that was lost in the mail, but there may be a first time.
E. FINANCIAL MATTERS
(1). Double check my figures with your Contact especially when finances are convoluted with cancelations, missed lessons, any combination of paying with credit card and non-credit card payments, changes in payment amounts due to changes in service requests, paying for less or more lessons than a previous payment, and/or paying in advance. I try to be accurate, but the more complicated the payment schedule the more likely I will be less than perfect. I want you to check and double check my charges. (2). Any factual or financial error that is discovered before the above service is rendered will be corrected. (3). Financial mistakes found after service for said service are completed will not be corrected (for that past service) if doing so is to the disadvantage of the Client but will be corrected for service not yet rendered and not carried forward to future lessons. (4). If you (the Client) pay any amount with Visa or Mastercard or credit or debit card, my merchant account is charge $25 for any refund. If that refund has nothing to do with any error or shortcoming of mine (Joda Collins), that $25 fee is non-refundable even if the reason for the refund is not your (the Client's) fault, with the exception of a National Weather Advisory for Santa Rosa and/or Escambia County that forecast extreme weather within three hours of your appointment. (5). REPEATED INFORMATON CHARGE. For every inquiry of every client and/or student-driver that requires me to repeat information, by phone, voice mail, text or email that was already provided in the agreed-on Contract or a previous email, there is a $15 charge. There is a limit on what I can do for free. (6). In 2023, my total profit was $32,600. Divide that by an average 50-hour work week, that is a salary of $12.54 per hour before income taxes with no benefits. Please, consider that when you consider my charges. (7). CERTIFICATE FEE...............................$30 (a). The fee for receiving a Certificate of _____________ (anything) is $30 no matter how it is delivered (US Postal System or email). It is payable in advance, minus 7% if paying with a money order or cashier's check rather than a mastercard or visa credit or debit card. Please contact me to make arrangements for payment. 29. RE-SCHEDULING 1. Rescheduling due to adverse weather conditions. (a). I (Joda Collins) do not reschedule due to adverse weather conditions that are short of the severity that requires a National Weather Advisory. A scary forecast of wind and rain (storm) is NOT a National Weather Advisory. (b). However, if you (the Client and/or the Student-driver) are fearful due to adverse weather conditions beyond some rain or wind (such as a strom), I do allow cancelation and rescheduling, with no financial ramifications (penalties/charges), if you provide to me, at least, a one-hour notice by email or phone (voice mail). 30. DISCLAIMERS A. I am the first one to admit this service is not cheap. I have done my best as a private citizen to fight the financial polices of our Government that cause our money to become worthless; open borders, printing billions of dollars to give to countries that hate the USA, the election of politicians that sell out America for personal profit, the tax and spend policy of our Government, the constant Federal attack by socialist and communists on the best economic system that made America the richest nation in the world, the failed policies of our Government that has lead this world into unnecessary war, and more. I did not raise my prices from September 2010 to July 2023, but I had to in order to stay in business during this time of our failing economy. It costs me 55% more to operate my business than it did in 2019.
B. The life of this Contract is thirty days from the date of the first email that invites the Client and/or Student to read this Contract. After sixty days, if training has not occurred for any reason this Contract and Attachment One (a part of this Contract) is null and void. C. I was stricken with the Wuhan Virus (aka Corona2019 and Covid19) on December 28, 2019, and was deadly ill from December 30, 2019 through January 10, 2020. I almost died. It left me with what is called "Long Covid." I have, what appears to be, permanent damage to my vocal cords. When I have to use my voice a lot, I sometimes begin coughing with notice of that coughing coming on. When that happens I will put a cough drop in my mouth and not speak for a few seconds. The cough drop stops the coughing. I tell you this because today, if someone starts coughing, some become concerned of said person having something contagious. I am not ill. I just have damaged vocal cords. You cannot catch damaged vocal cords from a cough. D. Restricted Use of the Joda Collins Driving Academy Vehicle. (1). I do not allow others to use my vehicle for training if the Student-driver is: (a). Too dangerous to drive with reasonable safety, no matter the reason. (b). Is non-chalant about following my directions/instructions. (c). Rude or argumentative. (d). Disrespectful or dismissive towards me. IF YOU ARE A THREE IN THREE DRIVER YOU CAN SKIP SECTION D IMMEDIATELY BELOW AND YOU CAN SKIP TO #31. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT A THREE-IN-THREE DRIVER IS, THEN YOU ARE NOT A THREE-IN-THREE DRIVER. CONTINUE READING. THREE POINT TURN DETAILS.
D. I do not use my vehicle for practice for the three-point turn for drivers that want to memorize the steps in a moving vehicle. If you want to know why, continue reading. If you do not want to know why, skip to Section 31 below (a lot of blue print makes it easier to identify/see while scrolling). It takes 30-minutes to two hours for the average person to be able to do a three-point turn without thinking (as a habit) about the steps (procedures) when doing the three-point turn over and over and over and over and over....
The three-point turn is accomplished with all steering done while my vehicle is stationary because my car will not accomplish a three-point turn in three points unless the steering is done with the car stationary. My car has wide tire rims thus the turning ratio is less than other cars the same size as mine. Dry steering (steering with the vehicle stationary), if done often, is damaging to the vehicle in many ways. If dry steering is done often it damage to the rack and pinon, the power steering pump, tie rods, bearings and will reduce the life of tires by 50%. Reference:
https://triangletiresph.com/news-and-events/what-is-dry-steering/
When I taught the three-point turn by allowing my vehicle to be used over and over until driver's memorized the physical movements, I got about 20,000 miles out of 40,000 mile tires and had to have my front-end tire alignment accomplished every 1,000 to 1,500 miles instead of every time I bought a new set of tires. When I allowed my vehicle to be used for dry steering three-point turns, I averaged between 20 and 40 three-point turns per week. I learned that it took about 200 three-point turns before my vehicle tire alignment began to be in need of repair. The expense and the time off to take the car to have the tire alignment recalibrated every month or so became too much for me to endure. Here are the steps and the clarification for the steps for the three-point turn:
(1). Slow = Slow down to about 5mph.
(2). Right = Get far right in your lane.
(3). Look = Be sure no one about to pass you.
(4). Signal = Signal left.
(5). Stop = Stop far right in your lane about six inches off the far right curb.
(6). Turn = Turn steering wheel full left.
(7). Look = Be sure no one about to pass you.
(8). Coast = No acceleration and no brake.
(9). Stop = Stop before any part of the vehicle including the bumper goes off the road or over the curb.
(10). Reverse = Put transmission in reverse.
(11) Turn = Turn steering wheel full right.
(12). Look = Be sure no one is about to pass you.
(13). Coast = No acceleration and no brake.
(14). Stop = Stop before any part of the vehicle including the bumper goes off the road or over the curb.
(15). Drive = Put transmission in drive.
(16). Turn = Turn steering wheel full left.
(17). Look = Be sure no one is about to pass you.
(18). Accelerate = Gently accelerate into your lane.
These steps to memorize, in abbreviated form, are: Slow, right, look, signal, stop.
Turn, look, coast, stop, reverse.
Turn, look, coast, stop, drive.
Turn, look....accelerate.
When they are memorized well enough to quote them without hesitation or error and upon request makes doing the three-point turn easy because every driver that has passed the Basic Vehicle Control Course, can do the six things needed for a safe and legal three point turn, which to (1) go slow, (2) know right from left, (3) look, (4) use the brake to stop, (5) put transmission in drive or reverse, and (6) accelerate. The only need is to know them in order, and that can be memorized without damaging up my only training vehicle.
I do not allow drivers to use my vehicle for the three-point turn. Here are the reasons I do not use my car for the three-point turn.
1. Most new drivers cannot steer fast enough to do a three-point turn (in three points) when steering with the vehicle in motion. Dry steering (steering in a stationary vehicle) many times (as I used to do) reduced the life of my tires by 50%. My vehicle tires cost $300 each, mounted and balanced. That means it costs me twice as much for tires to teach the three-point turn in my car over and over while drivers use that repetition to memorize the steps. That means every 40,000 miles I have to buy two sets of tires at $1,200 per set of four = $2,400 in tires rather than one set of tires at $1,200.00.
2. Dry steering for repetitious attempts requires me to have a front-end alignment every three weeks rather than every two years. Each front end alignment cost me $126.00. At $126 every three weeks that is 17.3 alignments every year = 17.3 times $126 = about $2,200 per year for front end alignments rather than $126 every two years which is $63 per year. The difference between $2,200 and $63 = about $2,100 extra expense per year.
3. I have to take a half day off every three weeks and drive to Bob Tyler Toyota to have my vehicle front-end re-aligned. It takes about four-hours of my time to drive there, wait for service, receive service, pay and drive back. I must earn no less than $40 per hour with my time to stay in business; time is money. At $40 per hour for four hours, is $160 in lost income possibility. One hundred sixty times 17.3 trips per year = about $2,800.00.
4. Driving my car is deemed to cost about $1 per mile when all factors are considered such as depreciation (cost for replacing vehicle later), cost of car, gas, oil, maintenance). It is 35 round trip miles to Bob Tyler = $35 in vehicle expense per trip times 17.3 trips per year = about $600.00.
The total the extra expense for me teaching the three-point in my vehicle by adding all of the above expense is $1,200 + $2,100 + $2,800 + $600 = an annual additional expense of $6,700.00. Add to this the cost of the power steering failing which will vary depending on how many times it fails, and the parts needed to fix it, the estimated additional expense is between $7,000 and $8,000 per year. That is an expense I do not want or need. And, these expenses go up every month due to the economic condition of our Country (out of control inflation).
Add to this is the fact that when my front-end alignment begins to go bad, the car pulls to the left or the right and increases the chances of crashing until I get it car alignment fixed. That is a serious safety issue. In short, it is not worth it. My driver's manual for my vehicle warns against excessive dry steering (steering with the vehicle stationary). My vehicle has wide tires for safety (road grip, better traction on wet roads and a smoother ride). The wider the tires the more damage that is done to the vehicle alignment, rack and pinion, power steering system, and the tires when dry steering.
A hundred or so dry-steering three-point turns will not hurt a vehicle, but a thousand will. I will do, on average, a hundred three-point turns every month in my business if I allowed every driver to memorize the steps for the three-point turn while actually doing the three-point turn in my vehicle during training. 31. THREE POINT TURN Here are the options for Student-drivers and Clients relative to three-point turn training.
Option One: After I train the driver, by me showing and telling the three-point turn, in my vehicle to the best of my ability, if the driver or the client believes more training is needed for the three-point turn, I will train the driver further in the three-point turn using the insured vehicle the driver will use during the State driver license exam or any other insured vehiclewherein the driver is insured (other than mine). Most students
Option Two: The Student-driver can use any insured vehicle, other than mine, and practice the three-point turn as often as he or she wants to.
Option Three: The Student-driver can use paid driving time to memorize the steps in my stationary vehicle.
Now, for the elephant in the room. What about the person that says, "I can't learn anything unless I do it physically so I have to do the three-point turn otherwise I will not be able to memorize it, because I can't memorize." What is your home address? How many times did you have to physically do your home address to memorize it? None. You memorized your home address by repeating it, verbally. It is impossible to physically do a home address. What are the last four numbers of your Social Security? How many times did you physically do your Social Security number before you memorized it? None. No one can do a Social Security Number. It is memorized by repeating it. How is the first day of the week spelled? How many times did you have to physically do the first day of the week before you could spell it? No one memorizes the spelling of the first day of the week by doing that day over and over. It is memorized by saying it over and over, hearing if over and over and/or seeing it over and over. You have memorized much in your life so far without physically doing those things. And, that success proves you can memorize without physically doing it.
It takes more time to memorize the three-point turn by doing the three-point turn over and over and over, because it takes longer to do the steps than to say them. Anyone can repeat the steps for the three-point turn, at least, 10-times in the time it takes to do one three-point turn. The elephant in the room is a figment of the imagination. It is not really there. Still, however, I am happy to use any vehicle but my own for as many repeated actual three-point turns as the any student-driver needs to memorize the procedure (steps).
32. LIMITED LIABILITY CLAUSES
A. When in the Joda Collins vehicle, you agree not to hold Joda Collins and/or the Joda Collins Driving Academy responsible for any physical, emotional or psychological damage, real or imagined, that occurs during training relative to but not limited to any steering, braking or acceleration that is not associated with a crash and said crash must incur, at least, $100 property/vehicle damage regardless of who is driving or who is steering, braking or accelerating. When, in a client's vehicle, the vehicle owner assumes all liability including all liability that is over and above car owner's maximum insurance limit.
B. If you would not ride in roller coaster, do not ride or be in a driver's training vehicle and/or during driver's training; in both cases (roller coaster and during training) you are taking an assumed risk at your own risk.
C. If you (the Client) do not get an email reminder of your driving session between 8am and 8pm the day before your driving appointment EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REMINDER OR CONFIRMATION EARLIER, there may be a scheduling problem. Please call 850 981-3355 or email jodacollins@aol.com to discover if there is problem. If you do not contact us by email or phone at least two-hours before the scheduled lesson we will not assume responsibility, financial or otherwise, for that missed lesson. This need covers a glitch/weakness in our scheduling system that we cannot get rid of without your assistance. We place this burden on you because we have to. If you want to know why, just ask.
33. QUESTIONS If you have any questions about your Contract or Attachment One, just ask via email.
END OF ATTACHMENT ONE
ATTACHMENT TWO OPTIONAL READING Removed
CONTRACT EIGHT 1. Purpose A. Less expensive per lesson. B. Shorter lesson 2. Training Dates and Times A. First and third Saturday of every month starting the first Saturday in May 2024; 2:30pm to 4:30pm 3. Start and End Location of Each Lesson A. Arbys, located at the Love's Gas Station located at 3840 Garcon Point Rd, Milton, FL 32583 just off of Interstate 10 at Exit 26. 4. Charges A. Enrollment/Registration.....$99, a one-time fee. (1). Any Enrollment/Registration fee already paid for any other Contact that is still active, counts. B. $14 per lesson non-refundable and scheduling fee. C. $86 per lesson tuition with 50% refundable if Client provides at least a one-hour notice of cancelation. Subtract $6 if paying with a money order of cashier's check rather than a card (Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card. 5. Organization. A. Up to three students. Each student receives 30-minutes behind the wheel with up to two students in the back seat that are committed to learning from the training provided to the driver. 6. Additional Documents A. Contract Six, excluding everything all financial matters. B. Attachment One, excluding all things that are in conflict with this Contract (Eight).
SECTION (CONTRACT) NINE SERVICE CONTRACT FOR EMBRACE FAMILIES Nov 3, 2022
If you want a paper copy of this mailed to you, just ask.
1. On April 9, 2022 our Attorney suggested the following things:
A. Be sure the Embrace Families Representative understands and accepts the benefits and responsibilities of this document before any money exchanges hands and before any service is scheduled or promised.
B. Have a Contract Summary just before the Signature section of the Contract to put the most important responsibilities of the client and driver.
C. We have all of student-drivers and their adult care-giver sign a paper copy of this Contract before we provide service. His reason for that is, "Things have changed in recent years. It is estimated that 85% of all persons who agree to contracts that appear on line only, either do not read them or do not read them well enough to understand their responsibilities and liabilities. This opens the door for future problems that could have and should have been easily avoided if the paper copies were signed. Approximately 90% of all signers read carefully contracts of three pages or less before signing. In our efforts to foster the best working relationship between us and those we serve, beginning January 1, 2022 we are adopting our Attorneys recommendation and requiring a signed paper copy of all Contracts for agencies and agencies representatives at the higher levels (for Embrace Families that would be all persons residing outside of our service area of Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties), and beginning November 18, 2021 we are requiring a signed Contract with all persons we serve that reside within our service area (Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties). Thank you for your assistance in this matter
A. FINANCES: All fees are charged to / paid by Embrace Families.
(1). $720 for six-hours of training. (Does not include door-to-door charge.)
(a). ADMINISTRATION EXPENSE: Within the $720 noted above, there is a $32 scheduling & reservation fee for one scheduled day/time and a $24 charge for admin expense for one scheduled day/time. When more than one lesson is provided, add $32 and $24 ($56) per additional appointment (starting with lesson two). We serve several agencies as well as individuals. We charge the same fee for everyone and every agency. No agency receives our service for less or more than any other agency or individual. However, no other agency has this $24 admin fee because there are additional admin responsibilities we incur when serving Embrace Families. This $24 covers only a portion of that added expense to us. For clarification of the additional admin efforts, just ask via email. In addition, there are many factors in our service to Embrace Families clients/customers that are significantly different from any individual or other agency we serve which makes calculation comparisons like apples to oranges, so we have done our best to keep these charges as close to our charges for everyone else.
2. PAYMENT: We accept money order, cashier's check, business check and Visa and MasterCard Credit cards (no debit cards accepted). We understand that payment is always in the form of a Visa or MasterCard CREDIT Card (no debit cards accepted). Reduce the total due by 7% if paying by any other method than credit card (Visa or MasterCard). No debit cards accepted.
3. DOOR TO DOOR SERVICE: Door-to-door service is $2.15 per round trip mile from our office located at 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583 plus reimbursement for toll charges. (Does not include tuition charge.)
(a). We understand that door-to-door pick up service is always requested. If door to door is NOT requested, our start location is in Milton, FL. Please contact us for the start location address.
(b). If Mr. Collins provides door-to-door service and the student is not there or for whatever reason or reasons, including acts of God against the student-driver (otherwise known as "not my fault" or "unavoidable"), does not take the training at the scheduled time, Embrace Families incurs 100% of the charge for the door-to-door service and to reschedule another door-to-door service fee is charged; however, Mr. Collins will continue to incur the loss of six-hours of scheduled time and the financial expense of scheduling the appointment and reserving our vehicle for the absent driver. If there is at least a two-hour notice of cancellation, there will be no door-to-door charge.
(c). If the student driver is not present to take the lesson when Mr. Collins showed up as scheduled (regardless of the reason), or for whatever reason did not take the training when Mr. Collins showed up as scheduled, the charge is the door-to-door fee (if any), the $32 scheduling fee and the $24 admin fee. Mr. Collins will incur the expense of scheduling and the loss of six hours of training time.
(d). If the student-driver quits early or if Mr. Collins quits early, the actual charge will be the $32 scheduling / reservation fee, the Admin expense of $24 and a pro-rated per minute charge of (six hours = 360 minutes divided by $664 = ) $1.84 per minute.
(e). DISCLAIMER: To guarantee no door-to-door service and no door-to-door charge a minimum two-hour notice is required; if you want to know why, just ask
3. NOTICE/REMINDER OF LESSON DATE/TIME. If the Student-driver or Care-giver does not get a phone call or email one or two days in advance reminding the Care-giver of the appointment there IS a scheduling problem/mistake/oversight. Please all 850 981-3355 24/7 (do not email) to resolved the confusion / mistake / problem / oversight. If the Care-giver does not get a phone call or email one or two days in advance reminding the Care-giver of the appointment there IS a scheduling problem/mistake/oversight. I (Joda Collins) will NOT assume any responsibility, financial, ethically or otherwise for that missed lesson. Thank you.
4. SCHEDULING
A. Training is Tuesday through Friday Only, 10am to 4pm start time.
B. We (the Joda Collins Driving Academy) accepts scheduling requests ONLY from the adult care-giver of the student-driver regardless of __________ (fill in the blank with anything); however, if the student-driver is self-sustaining (has no legal care-giver) we will accept a scheduling request from the student-driver. We will contact you for scheduling when we receive your signed Contract in the mail. To validate a student-driver's self-sustaining status in life (it that is a reality), please provide a copy of a rent or house payment receipt or a utility bill (photo copy is acceptable, or mail it to 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583). If you want to know the reason for this, just ask.
C. We accept scheduling date/time requests by email or US Postal System (paper request). We will NOT schedule training date(s) or time(s) on the telephone. If you want to know why, just ask via email or US Postal System (letter).
D. Unless otherwise approved by us, we must have a signed paper copy of this Contact in our hands from the Caregiver and Student-driver (if not the same person) before we schedule any driving/training session. When we get it, we will contact the Caregiver or self-sustaining student driver for scheduling.
E. If there is a National Weather Advisory in effect for Santa Rosa Okaloosa or Escambia County, the Joda Collins Driving Acdy will cancel the driving lesson with no additional charges and no loss of funds to Keys/Embrace or the Care-giving agency. A local forecast of scary weather is NOT a National Weather Advisory.
F. All six hours of training must be provided in one lesson unless other arrangements are made. Other arrangements will include an additional financial commitment of $32 (Scheduling and Reservation Fee) per appointment starting with the second appointment plus an additional door-to-door fee per appointment starting with the second appointment.
(1). Said additional fees can be paid by Embrace Families or the caregiver of the student-driver. That decision is between Embrace Families and the student caregiver and has nothing to do with the Joda Collins Driving Academy. However, the Joda Collins Driving Academy must be informed who is paying for these additional fee BEFORE scheduling can occur and if the additional fees are paid by the student-driver's caregiver or student-driver if self-sustaining, said fees must be paid in advance are are non-refundable under any conditions unrelated to a National Weather Advisory noted to occur in Escambia, Okaloosa, or Santa Rosa area within 24-hour before or 24-hours after the scheduled lesson and are non-transferable to any other lesson under and any all circumstances unless the Joda Collins Driving Academy cancels, reschedules or misses the lesson. The Joda Collins Driving Academy does and will cancel the lesson if there is a National Weather Advisory noted to occur in Okaloosa, Escambia or Santa Rosa area within a 24-hour period before or a 24-hour period after the scheduled lesson. Note: A scary forecast of wind and rain is not a National Weather Advisory.
G. The Joda Collins Driving Academy does NOT make our vehicle available for a driver's personal use including but not limited to allowing student-driver to use our vehicle to take the State Driving Exam.
H. If you (the Client) do not get an email reminder of your driving session between 12:01am and 8:30pm the day before your driving appointment EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REMINDER OR CONFIRMATION EARLIER, there may be a scheduling problem. Please call 850 981-3355 or email jodacollins@aol.com to discover if there is problem. If you do not contact us by email or phone at least two hours before the scheduled lesson we will not assume responsibility, financial or otherwise, for that missed lesson. This need coves a glitch/weakness in our scheduling system that we cannot get rid of without your assistance. We place this burden on you because we have to. If you want to know why, just ask.11. I. Removed. J. SCHEDULING FE
(1). No charge. There is no Scheduling Fee if you schedule using our online Calendar / List of Available times and in accord with the directions found there.
(2). If you schedule by telephone use (with a live person or via voice mail), there is a $10 charge per event (per phone call for scheduling). If you want to know why, just a
5. ROAD TEST: We do A(1) and A(2). We cannot do A(3) and/or A(4).
A. Road Test means different things in different areas of Florida. It can mean a driving school:
(1). Tests the driver's skill level in traffic and advise Client. We do this.
(2). Attempts to train the driver to pass the State Driving Exam for his or her driver license and/or train driver to be a safer/more responsible driver. We do this only if requested in writing (paper or email); if you want to know why, just ask.
(3). Provide the State Driving Exam and if the student passes recommend to the local driver license office that the driver be granted his or her driver license. We cannot do this.
(4). We provide the State Driving Exam and if the student passes provide State Driver License. We cannot do this
6. CONTRACT APPROVAL/ACCEPTANCE
A. We (Joda Collins) will mail you via US Postal Service two copies of this Contract; one for your records and one for ours. Please sign either copy and mail it back to us in the self-address envelope we will provide. We will contact you for scheduling when we receive your signed Contract. It is estimated that approximately 15% of all people who approve/sign Contracts electronically never read or only casually read the Contract. We have found this true in our business and that has caused a great deal of difficulties. It is estimated that approximately 85% of those who sign a paper copy of this length give a good effort to carefully read a Contract before signing. To best avoid confusion and misunderstandings before we provide service this Contract must be approved in advance of service provided and we (the Joda Collins Driving Academy) must have a signed copy of this Contract in our physical possession from:
(1). A representative of Embrace Families with a signing date that is within three-years of any service provided. Said representative is not personally liable for anything but has the authority of Embrace Families to incur financial debt on behalf of Embrace Families.
(2). The Student-driver under the age of 18 and who has a caregiver, even though there is no enforceable provision in this document for that Student-driver. If you want to know why said signature is required, just ask.
B. No one says everything perfectly and no one hears everything perfectly, therefore, we do not have any verbal agreements, EVER! We will not hold you hostage to or be held hostage by anything that follows, "But you said...." If it is not in writing and signed by or accepted via email notification all relevant parties, it was never said by you or us. Protect yourself. Get it in writing. We do. We do not and we will not discuss contractual issues verbally for good reasons we will share upon request.
C. We do not engage in or participate in three-way or more way conversations by phone or email for very good reasons which we will cheerfully clarify upon request.
D. Nothing in any email that is in opposition to this Contract is valid. It is easy to make a typing, expression, or statement mistake in an email. To change anything in this Contract requires a dated a signed by all parties paper copy of an Attachment. Questions? Just ask!
E. Anyone who signs or approves this Contact reserves the right to terminate this Contract, in writing (email okay) at any time and for any reason as long as a notice via email or telephone or no less than two-hour is provided. If a notice of less than two-hour is provided all services already provided are due.
F. Alterations to this Contact, in writing and signed, can be made by mutual agreement with any person the alteration effects as long as said person has the legal right to approve the change.
G. The only course (commitment / training) asked for by Embrace Families is the "Time Only." Parking and three-point turn (needed to pass the State driving exam) are not provided unless requested in writing (email is acceptable) at least 24-hours in advance; there are really good reasons for this that we will gladly share upon request. If parking and/or the three point turn is requested and taught with the driver behind-the-wheel, they must be taught in a private insured vehicle with the owner's written permission and NOT in the Joda Collins Driving Academy Vehicle. If parking and/or three-point turn is requested and taught by show and tell only with Mr. Collins behind-the-wheel, the Joda Collins Driving Academy can be used for parking and three-point turn training. We are happy to share the reasons for this limitation/stipulation if requested. Not reading this Contract is insufficient reason to hold Mr. Collins responsible for the Caregiver's or the Client's responsibility to ask for parking and three-point turn training if said training is desired.
H. The Joda Collins Driving Academy does not make our vehicle available for the Student-driver's personal use, including but not limited to using our vehicle for taking the State driving exam. There are good reasons for this which we will share upon request.
I. Removed.
J. If you struggle to understand this Contact you can.
(1). Email jodacollins@aol.com and get as much clarification as you need or desire at no charge.
(2). If you attempt (1) above and still have unanswered questions, you can secure a charge amount from your attorney for your attorney to clarify the details of this Contract to you; if the charge is reasonable, pre-approved in writing and signed by Mr. Collins, we will pay that expense.
K. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone with or without explanation
7. WE MUST HAVE SIGNED CONTRACT IN HAND BEFORE SCHEDULING. Signing and returning a paper copy of this Contract before any service is provided, including scheduling service. When we receive your signed copy of this Contract we will contact you for scheduling. 1 8. ATTACHMENT ONE and Two are a part of this Contract.
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
SECTION (CONTRACT) TEN
SERVICE CONTRACT BETWEEN VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND
THE JODA COLLINS DRIVING ACADEMY.
January 4, 2023
If you want a paper copy of this mailed to you, just ask. Or, you can copy and paste to another format.
1. COMPLICATED CONTACT This Contract / Service Agreement is complicated but I do not know how to make it simpler without deleting important information that resolve problems before the occur by replacing assumption with clear statements and/or deleting legally required information. If you do, let me know; I would prefer a shorter Contract that does the job well.
2. NOT WRITTEN IN STONE My Contracts are not written in stone. If you want to change something, add to it or delete something, just let us know. I am less concerned that this Contract remain unchanged and mostly concerned that all I serve have a meeting of the minds with me so I can avoid unnecessary disruption and disheartening results that often result from assuming or confused/
poor wording. The only things I cannot do are to serve for less money or do more for free.
3. TO AVOID CONFUSION AND FRUSTRATION allow me to direct you through the process via email one step at a time.
4. FINANCES: VR AUTHORIZATION SUGGESTED STATEMENT FOR FIRST FINANCIAL AUTHORIZATIONS A. The following, if acceptable, needs to be printed in the VR Services Authorization and Billing Notice "Comment Section" and/or the "Service to be Provided" Section as a prerequisite to service for tuition. (Feel free to replace the "5" lesson number with any number of lessons you prefer and adjust the total accordingly.)
(1). "Five (5) weekday 90-minute driving lessons @ $193 per lesson ($965 total) minus any rebate as clarified in Contract Eleven, Section 9C(a)(1) at www.JodaCollins.com , Agreement page. or
(2). "Five (5) weekday and/or Saturday driving lessons @ $200 per lesson ($1,000 total) minus $7 for each weekday lesson and any rebate as clarified in Contact Eleven at www.JodaCollins.com , Agreement page, Section 9C(a)(1).
(3). Door-to-door charge is $2.42 per round trip mile plus any toll fees plus toll bridge charge. (a). Provide me with the pick-up address if door-to-door services is wanted and I will tell you the fee or you can calculate if from the start location of 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583 plus $5.50 for the Garcon Point (Gulf Breeze) toll bridge if used. B. Sending us the Authorization is the same thing as approving this Service Contract/Agreement. Please do not send us the Authorization if any content of the Contract us unacceptable with you. This Contract is not written in stone. If you want to change, add or subtract anything in this Service Agreement, just ask. The only things I cannot do and stay in business are to serve for less money or do more for free.
5. REMOVED
6. THE PURPOSE OF TRAINING A. The purpose (goal or goals) of the training is (are), first, enroll driver in the Basic Vehicle Control Course, then the Pass the State Driving ONLY Course, then in the General Safety Course, then in the Defensive Driving Course. VR will determine, based on several factors, if more or less than five lessons will be paid for, in whole or in part, by the VR.
B. Here is the typical response to the question above. "The goal of the training is for the driver to become as skilled and safe a driver as he or she can become at this time in his or her life." If this typical statement is not reflective of the VR's goal or goals for the driver and/or the VR Clients goal or goals for the driver and/or the student-driver's personal goal or goals for him/herself, please state the proper/correct goals. Hint: It is nearly impossible to train a driver beyond what the driver wants to learn. I always suggest asking the Student-driver what his or her goal or goals are for training and using that answer as the official training goal or goals. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Student-drivers typically have much smaller (less challenging) goals for themselves than others have for them.
7. WHAT IS THE TYPICAL TRAINING REGIMEN? (See Section Six for Rebates.)
A. Enroll driver in the Basic Vehicle Control Course where the driver learns the proper of the brake, accelerator and steering wheel. This includes proper hand-over-hand steering and allowing the wheel to slide through the driver's hands to complete standard right and left turns rather than manually steer out of turns. Poor/dangerous steering is the #1 cause of crashing during driver's training, so I do NOT allow a driver to pass the Basic Vehicle Control Course until the driver has good control of and understanding of the steering wheel. Upon graduation from this Course, if the driver has not reached saturation (the inability or unwillingness to learn anything more that is new at this time in his or her life until some of what the driver has learned has become habit or until the driver makes a decision to do the hard work needed to learn more) then enroll driver in:
B. If the Student-driver does not yet have a driver license, then he or she is enrolled in the Pass the State Driving Exam ONLY Course as the test is typically given at the Gulf Breeze or Warrington (Pensacola) driver license office. That way, if the driver quits or if funding ceases, the driver can at least secure his or her driver license. Upon graduation from this Course, if the driver has not reached saturation, enroll driver in: C. The General Safety Course where driver learns 12 very specific driving skills that keep the driver from being the cause of crashing among driver that honor the rules of the road. This Course has three levels of proficiency. Upon graduation from Level Three of this Course, if the driver has not reached saturation, enroll driver in: D. The Defensive Driving Course where 23 very specific driving techniques are taught to keep the driver from becoming involved in crashes that crash prone drivers cause. This Course has three levels of proficiency. Upon graduation from Level Three of this Course, if the driver has not reached saturation, enroll drive E. The Advanced Defensive Driving Course where five reasonably difficult defensive driving techniques are taught.
8. CONTRACT / SERVICE AGREEMENT IS REQUIRED BY LAW State law requires the Joda Collins Driving Academy to have a contract and/or service agreement with everyone I serve and everyone with standing. I am required to have a separate contract/service agreement with the VR Customer/Client; that Contact/Service Agreement is found at www.JodaCollins.com , Agreement Page, Section Eleven. While that Contract/Service Agreement does not have to be approved by the VR, I (Joda Collins) welcome any input from the VR about said Contract/Service Agreement. Also, being aware of that Contract I have with the VR Client/Customer and Student-driver will better prepare VR Reps for possible inquires from VR Clients/Customers. If you (the VR Rep) wants anything changed, added or removed from this or that Contract, let me know and we will seriously and sincerely consider your request. The VR is our Client and we want to please you.
9. DISCLAIMERS A. Missed, canceled or rescheduled lesson carry the following condition/understanding/ consideration: The missed, canceled or reschedule lesson is for any reason, including reasons that are not the fault (otherwise know as "unavoidable" or "an Act of God) of the VR Client/Customer or Student-drive) other than the existence of a National Weather Advisory that predicts adverse weather present in Escambia or Santa Rosa Counties within three-hours of the lesson start time. A scary forecast of wind and rain or a fear of wind and rain is not a National Weather Advisory. If we allowed missed lessons for no financial remuneration to us for that expense, on the condition that the person testify that the missed lesson was 100% their fault and completely avoidable, that open door would probably guarantee we would never be compensated for our added admin expenses for missed lessons. B. The maximum legal and/or recommended passenger weight in the driver side power/ hydraulic controlled seats are 280 pounds per power/hydraulic seat (front seats). This does not mean I refuse service to anyone due to body weight. It does mean that if anything is contrary to the weight limits noted above, I can only train in an insured vehicle that is not mine. Privacy rights do not allow me to weigh anyone for verification of weight. I will use my best judgement on weight. If I am wrong, I do carry a foot scale in my vehicle and I will allow any student driver to use it in my presence. Any student below 280 pounds will receive my heartfelt apology for my error in my estimate, and be welcome to use my vehicle for training if that is the only reason I had for declining to use my vehicle for training. That said, I make my best estimate just like a grocery store owner/employee makes his or her best judgement on age before selling tobacco products and just like a bartender makes his or her best judgment on age before serving alcohol to a person. In both cases the observer asks for proof of age if the individual is deemed by the observer to be anywhere close to the age requirement. "Better safe than sorry," is an old saying that has been around for almost 175 years because it is true. If I decline anyone due to any weight limit, I mean no offense. Please do not take offense. Good weight guessing is not one of my special abilities. Unlike the carnival man that stares at people's bodies all day long, for a living to guess weight, such staring is not part of my personality make up, so I am not the most talented weight guesser. "Better safe than sorry." (1). The VR does not have to inform a driver of the weight limit unless you, as a VR Representative, wants to do so. It is acceptable to provide the financial authorization as my contract with VR customers/clients clarifies the weight limit and offers to provide training in any insured vehicle but my own.
10. TRAINING GOALS Unless otherwise stipulated in writing by the VR in the Comments section of the VR Services Authorization and Billing Notice, Student-driver is to be trained to be as skilled and safe a driver as possible, funds permitting and financial/service Authorizations forthcoming, at this time in his or her life. However, unless otherwise directed, training starts with passing the Basic Vehicle Control Course and passing the State Driving Exam if the student-driver does not have a driver license. Parking and three-point turn is taught as soon as the driver has basic control of the vehicle. 11. CONTRACTS (Part 2):
A. AVOIDING UNNECESSARY CONFUSION AND CONFRONTATION AND HONORING PRIVACY LAWS: We will not communicate with third parties with vested interests (this is anyone but the VR Client and the VR) and/or respond to their communication efforts with us because, "Too many cooks spoil the broth". We will not assume any responsibility for any confusion, discomfort or irritation experienced by anyone that refuses to honor this requirement.
B. VERIFICATION: Every VR Representative that does business with, is part of or oversees business with the Joda Collins Driving Academy should reproduce this Service Agreement/Contract, Section Ten, and the Service Agreement/Contract, Section Eleven, to insure content relative to facts and figures does not change on this web site without VR approval.
C. CONTRACT TERMINATION: This Service Agreement/Contract is subject to change at any time by mutual agreement. Any party can end this Contractual Agreement with or without notice or with or without stated reason.
D. CONTRACT REVIEW: We do ask VR Representatives to review this Contract before sending us their first client/customer and every year thereafter between January 1 of that year and producing the first Authorization for that year. This avoids confusion, misunderstandings and errant assumptions that cause, otherwise, easily avoidable difficulties.
E. A SEPARATE CONTACT WITH VR CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS: By State law we are not allowed to provide service without a Service Contact/Agreement with those we serve including the VR Client and any third party with vested interest (such as a parent, spouse, or guardian). That Contract can be seen at www.JodaCollins.com, Agreement Page, Section Eleven. Among other requirements said Contact does have financial commitment components. VR Representatives have the legal authority granted to them by the VR to approve said Service Contract/Agreement. Any business we do for a VR client/customer is provided with the understanding that the VR Representative requesting said service has a read and approves of the Contract we have with VR clients/customers and his or her representative (if any). If this is not the case (reality) please advise us immediately.
F. If after a careful reading of this Contract and an attempt to allow us to clear up any confusion, you determine this Contract is whole or in part is too difficult to understand, let us know what your Attorney will charge to explain it to and we will consider making arrangements to pay him or her for that service to you.
12. SCHEDULING
A. I schedule training in increments of five lessons at a time unless deemed otherwise by VR. VR Clients can schedule any lesson date and time except for Saturday mornings. Caution: Please be aware of the contractual obligations and/or limitations that apply when scheduling:
(1). Includes or is on a Saturday.
(2). If less than all VR approved lessons are scheduled with more than one email request.
(3). When a lesson is missed, rescheduled or cancelled.
B. I do not make phone calls to schedule for several reasons.
(1). I have discovered if I make phone calls to schedule, I often put the Client in a position where he or she is scheduling blindly because he or she has not had or taken the time to carefully consider future commitments. This leads to multiple rescheduling preceded by the statement, "I forgot about another commitment we had on X day when you called me to schedule, so I will have to reschedule." Each rescheduling costs added administrative expense, loss of scheduling time, puts others we could have served earlier further down the scheduling calendar causing us to delay their training or causes us to lose business if clients or student drivers (such as the military) will not be in this area later for training.
(2). The irritation factor for rescheduling is a consideration.
(3). Rescheduling does incur an increase in fees to the VR Customer/Client by $15 to cover a small percent of my admin expense to schedule, cancel and reschedule, and make up a very small amount of the business I sometimes lose because a desired time was not available to others. This charge, I prefer t avoid because it is distasteful to VR Clients/Customers and to me (Joda Collins). In addition, said charge does not cover all of our expense for a rescheduling.
(4). When I initiate the telephone call to schedule five lessons, the conversation usually goes much like this, "Yes, let's schedule X date and time, however, I am not sure if that is an after school activity day (a work day or whatever) but I will let you know (or you can contact us to confirm)" and such as that. Lessons become "tentative" based on investigation, thus rescheduling is the norm for many of those tentatively scheduled lessons. That kind of conversation is expensive as we now have to wait for confirmation and / or invest a lot of time and energy in remembering and making multiple calls to confirm. When we forget to call to confirm, that puts all the pressure and responsibility on me and frees the VR Client/Customer from any responsibility, accountability or involvement for their own schedule. That is unfair and unkind to me. It is wrong.
(5). Usually, when I make the phone call to schedule, the Client and / or Student-driver has not read the Contract and / or does of two things.
(a). They state they have read it when they have not and the lack of awareness of the Contract content causes disruption, hard feelings and /or confusion in the future. When we hold clients and / or student-divers responsible for commitments they say they knew about but did not, that always ends poorly. Sometimes clients tell us they are "not responsible to keep their contractual commitments because they did not REALLY read the Contract." That ill-logical justification for lying baffles me, but unfortunately, that is the kind of world we now live in.
(b). The Client and / or Student-driver has not read the Contract and ask us to call back later, which usually leads to multiple calls from us or the situation as noted in A above.
(c). Sometimes, I have to make many phone calls to schedule, in effect, almost begging the a client to schedule. When we have to beg a client to schedule, that usually means I am put in a position to beg the client and / or student driver to show up for every lesson. That is costly and irritating. It is unfair and unkind to me. It is wrong. I offer a high quality, valuable and life-saving service. I am not a salesman. I do not sell anything. I do not beg people to let me serve them. Some people, that are not begged to show up for training, simply do not show up and that is bad or everyone, especially us. So, I avoid that negative scenario and such people by allowing those who need to be begged to schedule and begged to show up to simply let our service pass by. I do that by simply not begging such people to schedule.
(d). Some people become too busy to take lessons. Not calling them to schedule allows them a graceful way to bow out of taking lessons.
(e). I am required by law to have a Contract with everyone I serve. Some people after reading the Contract determine they do not like something about the Contract or they make a decision they would rather not take lessons than inquire about altering the Contract to fit their desires (a conversation and an option I would, however, welcome); the client and / or student-driver having made such a decision is allowed to gracefully opt out of training by simply not initiating a scheduling request.
(f). About one in twenty take offense to being held to a Contract for reasons of their own. They would rather not take driver's training than read a Contract. This is their right and we honor that right. Because they refuse to read and agree to a Contract of any kind and agreeing to a contract is a prerequisite for scheduling, they never contact me to schedule. This allows them and us to gracefully avoid an awkward one-to-one conversation where they aggressively let me know they will not be held to any contractual commitments. Such a statement to me always ends with me wishing them a good day and informing them we will not and cannot serve them. This negatively worded ending is avoidable if I just avoid calling them.
(g). Everything about me calling unannounced to schedule or reschedule lessons screams it is a poor, ineffective, unprofessional, irritating, awkward and embarrassing (for all or someone) business practice. That is why I graciously invite clients to schedule but do not pressure or beg them on the phone to schedule driver training.
(6). If you (the Client) do not get an email reminder of your driving session between 12:01am and 8:30pm the day before your driving appointment EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REMINDER OR CONFIRMATION EARLIER, there may be a scheduling problem. Please call 850 981-3355 or email jodacollins@aol.com to discover if there is problem. If you do not contact me by email or phone at least one-hour before the scheduled lesson I will not assume responsibility, financial or otherwise, for that missed lesson. This need coves a glitch/weakness in our scheduling system that I cannot get rid of without your assistance. I place this burden on you because I have to. If you want to know why, just ask.
SECTION (CONTRACT) ELEVEN
SERVICE CONTRACT BETWEEN
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION CLIENTS, STUDENT-DRIVERS AND THE JODA COLLINS DRIVING ACADEMY May 8, 2022
If you want a paper copy of this mailed to you, just ask. If you want assistance with anything, please requested assistance via email to JodaCollins@aol.com . I am not able to provide service without an agreed-on service Contract.
The process is: Step 1. Read and understand this Contract. Questions. Please ask via email to JodaCollins@aol.com .
Step 2. The person who is financially responsible for all charges for services the VR does not pay for but are specifically requested services by anyone other than the VR, reads and approves our Contract and sends us an email from his or her email address that states,
"I _________ ________, accept the benefits and responsibilities as they apply to me as found in Contract Eleven and Attachment One as found above immediately after Contract SEVEN." Step 3. The VR Student-driver reads and approves this Contract and Attachment One (if not the financially responsible person for all charges for service not covered by the VR), and sends us an email from his or her email address that states,
"I, _________ _________, accept the benefits and responsibilities as they apply to me as defined in this Contract Eleven and Attachment One."
Step 4. Anytime after both of those emails are sent, the VR Client/Customer (only), with no additional prompting from me, goes to www.JodaCollins.com and from our Calendar / List of Available Times, schedules one to six (as directed by the first email we sent to you) 1.5-hour lessons via one email request. (No phone calls to schedule, please.) All dates and times listed are available to you except for Saturday mornings unless otherwise noted on the first email we sent to you.
2. CONTRACT
A. As a responsible, honest and mature person, I will honor my contractual commitments to you even when it does not benefit us, and ask that you as a responsible, honest and mature person honor this Contract even when doing so does not benefit you. Otherwise, there is no value or purpose to a Contract. B. This is not a novel or a newspaper where a quick reading is sufficient for a good overall general idea of the content. This is a legal document with specific obligations and benefits. This document commits many hours involvement and hundreds of dollars. "I did not know!" is not accepted as a reason for me (Joda Collins) not to hold anyone accountable for responsibilities as outlined herein. Please do not do business with me if you "do not know your obligations." Ask via email. I am happy to take all the time and effort needed for you to clearly understand your responsibilities as outlined herein. C. Read this Contract and Attachment One with a pen in hand and write down, in your own words all of the obligations this document, once signed, commits you (the Client) and the Student-driver to.
D. Who are the parties to his Service Agreement/Contract?
(1). Everyone that signs this Contract including:
a. The Student-driver.
b. The person who is responsible for charges paid to the Joda Collins Driving Academy that are not covered by the VR. It may be or may not be the student-driver.
c. Third party with vested interest such as parent, spouse or guardian. This is any person whose has standing (decision-making power or decision-making influence) with or over the Joda Collins Driving Academy. (1). Under normal circumstances, I do NOT communicate by email, phone or in person about this Contract or the driver's progress with third parties. The VR Client and/or the financially responsible person have our approval to share anything we write with anyone they like.
E. Driving Academy Contractual Commitment (1). Student-driver is to be trained to be as skilled and safe a driver as possible at this time in his or her life, with the funds allotted unless we are otherwise directed by the VR. (2). However, training begins with learning how to pass the State Driving Exam if the student-driver does not have a driver license. (a). Unless otherwise requested by the VR Client in advance of agreeing to this document, the VR Client agrees (gives his or her word) to use the vehicle the driver will use for the State Exam for parking and three-point training with us. There is a $27 fee per lesson for using the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle for parking and three-point turn training that the VR does not pay. That $27 per lesson charge belongs to the person that is financially responsible to us for all charges the VR does not pay. If you want to know the reasons for this charge, just ask. (b). Drivers who memorize the steps for the three-point turn require five to 15-minutes to learn the three-point turn and five to 15-minutes to learn parking. (c). Drivers who wait to memorize the steps for the three-point turn require five to 15-minutes to learn the three-point turn and five to 15-minutes to learn parking plus the time it takes to memorize the steps for the three-point turn. (d). Drivers who cannot or will not remember (memorize) the steps cannot pass the State exam to secure a driver license. (3). Parking and three-point turn are taught at the start of lesson two or three if the driver has not learned these skills before the start of lesson three and if I (Joda Collins) believe driver is reasonably safe training for these skills in a vehicle without a second brake pedal. Unless I, otherwise, inform the Client, parking and three-point turn will occur during lesson four and carried over to lesson five, if more than one lesson is needed. The vehicle owner must have vehicle insurance and assume all liability.
F. Student-driver Contractual Commitment:
(1). Unless otherwise directed by an email, the student-driver is asked to give his or her best attempt to memorize the following before the start of lesson one:
Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal,
Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Move.
(2). Unless otherwise directed by an email, the student-driver asked to give his or her best attempt to memorize the following before the start of lesson two:
Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop.
(3). Unless otherwise directed by an email, the student-driver asked to give his or her best attempt to memorize the following before the start of lesson three: Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop.
Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Reverse. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Drive.
(4). Unless otherwise directed by an email, the student-driver asked to give his or her best attempt to memorize the following before the start of lesson four: Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop.
Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Reverse. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Drive. Turn, Look, Accelerate. If student-driver has not memorized the above procedure by the start of lesson four, as much time as is needed to memorize these steps by the end lesson four (and five), will be devoted to this task during session one as needed before any additional training is provided.
(5). Drivers who struggle to memorize the steps in this Contract on their own time for FREE and want help memorizing the steps, let me know and I will pay one of my secretaries for up to three one-hour sessions to tutor you one-to-one (by phone) at no charge to you and no charge to the VR. Just ask. She will just say the words one at a time and you will repeat them one at a time for up to an hour for one to three boring hours. Memorization is boring for everyone. So far, 100% of all students that have done this have memorized the steps within three hours effort. (6). If you have any questions about this Contract, please ask via email. If after giving us a reasonable chance to answer your question or questions, if you still do not understand any part of this Contract, let us know how much your attorney would charge you to explain this Contract, in whole or in part, to you, and I will consider paying it. I have NO verbal agreements, ever. I do not do business by assumption. Please do not sign or agree to this Contract if you do not understand it and accept all of the benefits and responsibilities in it that apply to you. I will hold ourselves to this Contract. I will hold you to this Contract.
(7). Attachment One as found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page are considered part of this Contract. Do NOT agree to this Contract without reading and knowing that agreeing to this Contract is also agreeing with Attachment One and Attachment Two as found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page. G. Unless otherwise stated or clearly stated, the "I" of this Contract is Joda Collins.
4. FINANCES: Please read this section even if you have no money due to us from you (the VR Client/Customer) at this time.
A. I (Joda Collins) do not give discounts but the VR Clients and Student-drivers can save money for the VR which will allow the VR to serve more people. B. VR Clients/Customers can pay less by honoring the conditions under which additional services that are not contracted by or paid for by the VR not paid by the VR, are charged to the VR Client/Customer
C. CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS FOR ALL SERVICES THE VR WILL NOT PAY FOR....
(1). All quoted prices are non-credit card (Visa/MasterCard) prices and include a 7% discount for all payments in excess of $30.00. If you are paying with Visa or MasterCard, please advise us immediately. If you, the VR Client, stays within the service agreement (your covered benefits) we have in agreement with the VR, there will be no extra charges to pass on to you.
(2). We accept any or all payments by cash (however do not send cash in the mail), money order, check (personal, business or cashier's) and/or credit card (Visa or MasterCard credit card; no debit cards accepted).
(3). If paying with a Visa or MasterCard credit card, please provide to us (by phone, email or US Postal Service. Feel free to send info in various communication methods if you desire to do so:
(a). Your credit card number.
(b). Expiration Date
(c). Name exactly as it appears on the Credit Card. We will not accept someone else's credit card for your debt without a notarized statement they are paying a specific debt for you.
(d). Full mailing address where the billing for that card is mailed.
(e). Three-digit security code as shown on the back of the card.
(4). All quoted prices in this document are non-credit card (Visa/MasterCard) prices and include a 7% discount. If you are paying with Visa or MasterCard, please advise us immediately for a re-quote.
(5). If you, the VR Client, stays within the service agreement we have with the VR, there will be no extra charges to pass on to you.
(6). All payments made with money order or check (personal, business or cashier's) are received by US Postal Service ONLY. Please mail to Joda Collins Driving Academy, 4033 Buttonbush Drive, Milton, FL 32583. This is not our office or business address. It is our mailing address only. Be sure to keep your proof of purchase. While we have never lost anything in the mail nor had anything mailed to us that did not arrive, there is often a first time.
(7). We accept cash payments. Please contact us to make arrangements for cash payments. Do not send cash in the US Postal System
D. VR CLIENT FEES/CHARGES. (1). Fee for missed lessons belongs to the VR Client/Customer, not the VR.
(a). For every lesson that is missed, canceled or rescheduled, including lessons missed, canceled or rescheduled that were not your fault (otherwise known as unavoidable or acts of God), there is a re-scheduling fee of $30.00. The VR pays $17 of that fee and the VR Client/Customer pays $13 of that fee and that $13 must be paid in advance of rescheduling. Exception: If there is a NATIONAL adverse weather advisory in effect within three-hours of the driving lesson that predicts adverse weather in Escambia, Santa Rosa Counties or Okaloosa Counties within three-hours of your lesson all Missed Lesson Fees (aka Scheduling/Reservation Fees) are waived for that lesson. Predictions of or fear of rain and wind or a forecast of scary weather is NOT, in and of itself, a National Weather Advisory.
(b). If door-to-door service is provided, if there is less than a one-hour missed lesson notice provided we have not contracted with the VR for them to pay for the door-to-door fee. That door-to-door fee or $50 (whichever is less) belongs to the VR Client or the person who signs as the financially responsible person and must be paid before any additional service is provided.
(2). Schedule all VR approved lessons with one email or the additional fee of $15 per request belongs to the VR Client/Customer, not the VR.
(a). Please schedule all VR approved lessons with one email request. If you do so there is no scheduling fee charged to you.
(b). If you schedule less than all VR approved lessons with one email request, there is a $15 fee per scheduling request. This fee must be paid in advance of scheduling by the VR Client. Having that payment in the mail is considered paid in advance as long as we actually receive the payment. Our mailing address (not our business address) is:
Joda Collins Driving Academy
4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, FL 32583
We accept money order, cashier's check or credit card (Visa or MasterCard; no debit cards accepted). This fee only covers a portion of our actual expense for the added admin expense for additional scheduling effort on our part. Keep your proof of purchase for your money order or cashier's check as we do not provide free service if an envelope (payment) is lost in the mail. We have never had an envelope lost in the mail, but there could be a first time.
(c). All scheduling dates and times are available to VR drivers except for Saturday mornings.
(3). Schedule from our web site (www.jodacollins.com) and not via phone or voice mail or the additional $15 fee (as clarified below) belongs to the VR Client/Customer, not the VR.
(a). No charge. There is no Scheduling Fee if you schedule using our online Calendar / List of Available times and in accord with the directions found there.
(b). If you schedule by telephone use (with a live person or via voice mail), there is a $15 charge per event (per phone call or voice mail for scheduling). If you want to know why, just ask. We do not ask the VR to pay for this because it is an extra service. We do not collect in advance for it because almost no one opts for this. We bill those who opt for this.
(4). Unless otherwise requested by the VR Customer (Beneficiary), parking and three-point turn training is accomplished in the vehicle the driver will use for his or her State exam. There are good reasons for this that we will cheerfully share upon request. If using the vehicle the student-driver will use for his or her State exam to do the three-point turn and parking training is not possible or unacceptable, please let us know. (a). There is an additional charge of $27 per lesson where the Joda Collins vehicle is used by the student-driver for parking and three-point turn. That fee belongs to the VR Client/Customer, not the VR and at least $27 must be paid in advance of any and all scheduling. (5). VEHICLE USED FOR PARKING AND THREE POINT TURN TRAINING (a). If the VR Student-driver or VR Client's insured vehicle is used for parking and three- point turn training, there is no additional charge. (b). If the Joda Collins Driving Academy Vehilcle is used for parking and three-point turn training there is an additional charge of $27 that has to be paid by the person who is financially responsible for the VR Student-driver. (1). In addition, the steps for the three-point turn have to be memorized by the driver before my car can used by for three-point turn training. I you want to know why, just ask. Those steps are: Slow, Right, Look, Signal, Stop. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Reverse. Turn, Look, Coast, Stop, Drive. Turn, Look, Coast. Often people, young and older, claim they cannot memorize. However, they have memorized their name, birthdate, address, last four numbers of their social security number, parents and friend's names, school locker location and combination, class schedules, and all the driving rules, regulations, pavements markings and traffic controls signs/lights needed to pass the State exam and secure their driver license or permit. They have memorized how to use their cell phone, the days, times and channels for their favorite TV programs, words to their favorite songs and much, much more. They have memorized the travel route to all of their favorite places to go. After memorizing all of those things, when presented with 18 words to remember in order, of which 11 are identical, they moan, "I don't know how to memorize." Many people confuse "I don't know how to...." with "I don't want to...." So far, in my business of 16 years and over 2,200 students 100% have memorized the three-point turn procedure. Some of them memorize it on their own time for free and some of them memorize it during paid driving time at their financial expense or the financial expense of others. It does not matter to me if you memorize the procedure on your own time for FREE or during paid driving time, but it may matter to those who are paying by the minute for your training. The FREE offer is yours, if you want it. You have memorized a lot and that proves you can memorize if you want to give the effort.
5. RIDERS
A. Anyone approved by the vehicle owner (age 12 or older) is allowed to ride in the back seat if the training is accomplished in any vehicle that does not belong to the Joda Collins Driving Acdy.
B. For reasons I will clarify upon request, with very few exceptions I do not allow anyone to ride in the back seat of my car during VR funded training; there are exceptions, but few.
6. SCHEDULING
A. Unless otherwise agreed on and arranged, all scheduling is done by email. See www.JodaCollins.com , Homepage (Welcome) page, SCHEDULING CALENDAR aka AVALILABLE DATES AND TIMES, for additional scheduling directions. VR Clients or the financially responsible person can schedule any lesson date and time except for Saturday mornings
B. Who can schedule lessons? ONLY the individual who is financially responsible for all charges the VR does not pay and/or his/her designated representative that is 18-years of age or older can schedule, cancel or reschedule lessons. Said individual must be designated in writing and said copy signed by all named therein; this is done on the appropriate signature line of the Contract.
(1). Unless otherwise arranged and approved, the start location for lesson one is 3804 Garcon Point Road, Milton, FL 32583. This is a Shell Station/Truck Stop/Circle K Store and Restaurant. I (Joda Collins) will be inside seated alone in the restaurant. My photo is at www.jodacollins.com. If there is any last-minute confusion call my cell at 850 304-1870.
(2). Unless otherwise arranged and approved, the start and end location for lessons TWO and following is 3815 Garcon Point Road, Milton, FL 32583 which is across the street from the start location for lesson one. For lesson two and following Mr. Collins will be in his car, immediately to your left as you enter the only parking lot entrance to this little store.
C. VR approval and paperwork must be in my (Joda Collins) hand and client and driver approval of this Contract has to be received before we provide any driving lesson.
D. You will be notified by email if the VR approved training Tuesday through Friday or Tuesday through Saturday (excluding Saturday AM). If you want Saturday training, YOU must request it from the VR before you are approved for any VR funding because the VR receives a discount for VR students not training on Saturdays.
E. Driver must have license or permit for more than 90-days to be able to legally drive at night.
F. VR agrees to pay for a package of services. Additional service charges belong to the person who is financially responsible for all charges not covered by the VR.
G. For several reasons (listed below), I do not make phone calls to schedule or reschedule.
(1). I learned that if I make a phone call to schedule, I often put the Client in a position where he or she is scheduling blindly because he or she has not had or taken the time to careful consider future commitments. This leads to multiple rescheduling preceded by the statement, "I forgot about another commitment we had on X-day when I scheduled the driver's training, so I will have to reschedule." Each rescheduling cost me (Joda Collins) added administration expense, loss of scheduling time, and puts others we could have served earlier further down the scheduling calendar by delaying their training or causes me to lose business if clients or student-drivers (such as the military) will not be in this area later for training.
(2). We do not initiate telephone calls to schedule or reschedule lessons. When we initiate the telephone call to schedule or reschedule lessons, the conversation usually goes much like this, "Yes, let's schedule X date and time, however, I am not sure if that is an after-school activity day but I will let you know of you can (or will) call us to confirm," and such as that. Lessons become "tentative" based on investigation, thus rescheduling is the norm for many of the scheduled lessons. That kind of conversation is expensive for us as we now have to wait for confirmation and / or initiate multiple calls to confirm. Sometimes, we have to make many phone calls to schedule, in effect, almost begging a client to schedule. When we have to beg a client to schedule, that usually means we are put in a position to have to beg the client and / or student driver to show up for every lesson. That is costly and irritating. We offer a high quality, valuable and life-saving service. We do not beg people to let us serve them. Some people, that are not begged to show up for training, simply do not show up and that is bad or everyone, especially us. So, we avoid that whole negative scenario and those kind of people by allow those who need to be begged to schedule and begged to show up to simply let our service pass by. We do that by not begging such people to schedule or reschedule.
(3). The irritation factor for rescheduling is a consideration.
(4). Some people for whatever reason or reasons opt not to take lessons. Not calling them to schedule allows them a graceful way to bow out of taking lessons. 7. DISLCAIMERS A. WHO IS THE CLIENT? The Client is the financially responsible agency for my fees. My Client is, in whole or in part, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR). As my Client, the VR has the right to know about the progress of the student-driver, therefore, the VR will receive email updates on said progress. B. TRAINING REGIMENT
(1). Unless otherwise directed by the VR, the training is in this order. (a). For unlicensed drivers, training to pass the State Driving Exam at the Warrington Driver License office in Pensacola, if driver lives in Escambia County or Gulf Breeze Driver License Office if the driver lives in Santa Rosa County. (b). For licensed drives and for unlicensed drivers that can pass the State Driving Exam, as noted above, the training is: (1). General Safety Course, Level One (a). Learning four of 12 General Safety Skills. (2). General Safety Course, Level Two (a). Learning eight of 12 General Safety Skills. (3). General Safety Course, Level Three (a). Learning 12 of 12 General Safety Skills. (4). Defensive Driving Course, Level One (a). Learning eight of 23 Defensive Driving Techniques. (5). Defensive Driving Course, Level Two (a). Learning 15 of 23 Defensive Driving Techniques. (6). Defensive Driving Course, Level Three (a). Learning 21 of 23 Defensive Driving Techniques. (7). Advanced Defensive Driving Course (a). Learning 23 of 23 Defensive Driving Techniques.
PS. These are two real email exchanges included as a clarification: -----Original Message-----
From: Joda Collins Driving Academy <jodacollins@aol.com>
To: Vocational Rehab Client Ms. B.
Sent: Sat, Nov 21, 2022 11:36 am
Good Morning Ms. B,
Thank you for your email request for scheduling only one lesson at a time. Before I schedule that date and time, I do want to be sure you are aware of our contractual agreement with you and the VR regarding scheduling one lesson at a time. Nothing I do is free because everything I do cost me time or money and time is money.
A portion of our agreed-on Contract with you is reproduced below for your review, which reads: "(b). If you schedule less than all VR approved lessons with one email request, there is a $15 fee per scheduling request beginning with the second request. This fee must be paid in advance of scheduling by the VR Client. Having that payment in the mail is considered paid in advance as long a we actually receive the payment. Our mailing address (not our business address) is:
Joda Collins Driving Academy
4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, FL 32583
....F. VR agrees to pay for a package of services. Additional service charges belong to the person who is financially responsible for all charges not covered by the VR." Paying for the added charge of multiple scheduling is not part of the package we have with the VR. We place a high priority on being sure we have all things stated as clearly as we can at all times because miss communication and missed communication is the source (cause) of most difficulties and misunderstandings; all of which we seek sincerely and work hard to avoid. Such things are most easily avoided when information is repeated, double checked to assure good comprehension (a meeting of the minds) and a commitment to the contract is made and honored at the beginning of service. All of that said, we realize the contract is wordy. It is wordy because we have a lot of benefits for drivers, VR Clients and the VR that have to be, by law, clarified in detail. Those benefits depend on us keeping our admin expenses as low as possible.
Our approved, by all parties, Contract with you reads in part:
"(3). Schedule all VR approved lessons with one email or the additional fee of $15 starting with the second scheduling request that belongs to the VR Client/Customer, not the VR.
(b). If you schedule less than all VR approved lessons with one email request there is a $15 fee per scheduling request beginning with the second request. This fee must be paid in advance of scheduling by the VR Client. Having that payment in the mail is considered paid in advance as long a we actually receive the payment. Our mailing address (not our business address) is:
Joda Collins Driving Academy
4033 Buttonbush Dr.
Milton, FL 32583" Would you rather schedule all five VR approved lessons with one email to avoid the additional $15 scheduling fee starting with the second scheduling request. That belongs to you, the VR Client/Customer, not the VR. Either way is good for us. Just let us know which option you are selecting so we are sure we have not only our agreed-on contract, but a meeting of the minds about the agreed-on contract.
Thank you!
Questions? Just ask via email.
Sincerely,
Joda Collins
Joda Collins Driving Academy
850 981-3355
-----Original Message-----
From: Vocational Rehab Client Ms. B.
To: Joda Collins Driving Academy <jodacollins@aol.com>
Sent: Sat, Nov 22, 2022 1:54 am
I have a work schedule that changes every week. I do not know my work schedule for the next week until the previous Friday. Why should I have to pay an additional $15 per lesson for scheduling one lesson at a time when it is not my fault that I do not know my work schedule in advance?
-----Original Message-----
From: Joda Collins Driving Academy <jodacollins@aol.com>
To: Vocational Rehab Client Ms. B.
Sent: Sat, Nov 21, 2022 5:26 pm
Ms. B.....,
I understand your work schedule dilemma and I am not without empathy. I have faced the same kind of difficulties in my life, also, as I am sure most people have. Nothing that I do for others is free to me. Everything I do for others costs me time and money, and time is money. With no intent to be confrontational, accusatory or demeaning but only a desire to get to the heart of the matter, please permit me to change slightly your reasoning and re-present it to you like this: "It is not my fault that you do not know your work schedule in advance. Why should I (Joda Collins) have to pay an additional per lesson administration expense from my own pocket for you scheduling one lesson at a time when it is not my fault that you do not know your work schedule in advance? As responsible-mature adults we all assume responsibility for our own dilemmas rather than ask or expect others to pay the price for our less than perfect life and/or work circumstances. I am sure after considering your work schedule difficulties from my point of view that you agree with my decision that you, and not I, incur the financial disadvantage of your life situation.
SECTION / CONTRACT TWELVE
Removed.
SECTION (CONTRACT) THIRTEEN
NON-BINDING ESTIMATE OF PROGRESS 8/26/19
If you want a paper copy of this mailed to you, just ask. Or, you can copy and paste it to another format.
If you are ever unhappy with me, my staff or our service, please let us know before you share your negative opinion with anyone else and give us a chance to resolve your concern. The best way to best insure we have a good working relationship is to read this Contract carefully and only sign it if you agree. If you find this Contract overwhelming, let us know by email and we will direct you through the process via email one step at a time. Thank you. Sincerely, Joda Collins
I am often asked, "How many lesson will the training require?" That s a good question. It is, also, hard to answer. For example, if I asked you, "How long will it take my son to become educated?, what would you say? If I asked, "How long will it take for me to be financially well-off?, what would be your answer? If I asked you, "How many lessons will it take for me to be a good piano player?" Can you tell me that now with any degree of accuracy? You cannot answer well because you do not have enough information.
Provide the following information BEFORE THE FIRST LESSON and after the first lesson I can give you a fairly accurate estimate of how many more lessons, if any, I think the driver will need to reach his or her driving goal. Fill out as many of these forms with varying criteria that you desire.
1. Are you only seeking to pass the State Driving Exam? If yes, do not complete this form. I will provide an estimate after the first lesson.
2. At what maximum speed do you want driver reasonably safe? _______ mph
3. In what traffic congestion do you want driver reasonably safe?
A. Mild B. Mild to Moderate C. Moderate D. Moderate to Congested. E. Congested
4. In what weather conditions do you want driver reasonably safe?
A. Good Weather (no noticeable wind or rain)
B. Mild wind but no rain
C. Moderate wind but no rain
D. Much wind but no rain.
E. Mild rain but no wind.
F. Moderate rain but no wind
G. Much rain but no wind.
H. Mild wind and some rain. (Mild Storm)
I. Moderate wind and moderate rain? (Moderate Storm)
J. Much wind and much rain. (Severe Storm but under level of national weather advisory)
5. Do you want driver reasonably safe after sundown? _______ (yes or no)
6. In what driving environment do you want driver reasonably safe?
A. Memorized by driver.
B. Well-known to driver.
C. New to driver but common to our area.
D. New to driver and much different from our area.
7. Do you want driver reasonably safe driving directly into rising or setting sun? _____ (yes/no)
8. Do you want driver reasonably safe among:
A. Excellent (defensive drivers) only
B. Excellent and good drivers only (good drivers keep the major rules of the road but are not defensive drivers)
C. Excellent, good and bad (crash prone) drivers.
9. By whose/what standard do you define "reasonably safe?"
A. Joda Collins' standard that teaches 12 General Safety Skills (that keep a driver from causing crashes) and 23 Defensive Driving Techniques (that keep a driver from becoming involved in the crashes that bad drivers cause). This estimate will be higher because Mr. Collins standard for "reasonably safe" is higher.
B. The Average Driver who employs three to six of the 12 General Safety Skills and two or three of the 23 Defensive Driving Skills. Note: The Average Driver considers him or herself safer than 80 to 85% of all other drivers, therefore, the Average Driver would also include the Above Average Driver.
C. The Poor Driver who employees one or two of the 12 General Safety Skills and zero to one of the Defensive Driving Skills.
Things are always changing and that is especially true in the arena of communication. Email was once new and now it is old. We are informed that the new rage for communication is texting because it allows for a faster and easier response. However, texting does not provide a record of previous communication, promises, directions, questions, answers or proposals. For personal communication texting is fine, but for business communication, texting has severe and costly limitations. Our primary mode of communication is email because it is the most effective for keeping a record of communication progress. If you do not have an email address or if you do not check your email at least once every 24 hours, let us know and we will communicate by US Postal Service all relevant facts, figures, promises, expectations and responsibilities. We do not have nor do we honor any verbal communication of facts, figures, promises, expectations and/or responsibilities; thus we have three methods of communication open to us: texting which we do not do for reasons clarified, email or US Postal Service. To use email, we do require that you promise to check your emails at least once per day. If you do not or can not do that, please let us know so we can communicate facts, figures, promises, expectations and responsibilities via US Postal System. Covid has closed our office except for receiving mail and the administrative business work of staff that cannot be done at their homes.
SECTION (CONTRACT) FOURTEEN
FOR DRIVING COMPETENCY/SAFETY Edited 11/1/21
If you want a paper copy of this mailed to you, just ask. Or, you can copy and paste it to another format.
If you find this Contract overwhelming, let us know by email and we will direct you through the process via email one step at a time.
1. DRIVER INFORMATION
___________________________________
Name
___________________________________
Mailing Address
___________________________________
City State Zip
___________________________________
Email Address
___________________________________
Telephone Number
___________________________________
Driver License Number or State ID (Same number)
2. MEDICAL INSTITUTION OR DOCTOR INFORMATION, IF ANY.
___________________________________
Name
___________________________________
Official Representative of Same
___________________________________
Mailing Address
___________________________________
City State Zip
___________________________________
Email Address
___________________________________
Telephone Number
3. WRITTEN EVALUATION
A. If the Evaluation has to be accomplished by a Florida State Licensed Driving Instructor that is also a Florida Licensed Medical Doctor I (Joda Collins) cannot provide this Evaluation. If the Evaluation has to accomplished by a Florida Licensed Driving Instructor that does NOT have to also be a Florida Licensed Medical Doctor, I CAN provided this Evaluation.
B. The Evaluation answers the following questions.
(1) . Is the driver currently safe behind the wheel?
(a). If not, does the driver have the capacity to become a safe driver?
(1). If so, how much additional training do I (Joda Collins) think the driver will need to become a reasonably safe driver?
C. Unless we have the written approval and permission of the Client (the person or agency that paid us) we are not allowed, by law, to send the written results of a Evaluation or any follow up documents and/or written information about or related to Evaluations to anyone except our Client. Our Client is the person or agency that paid us.
4. VEHICLE USED
Unless otherwise requested parking and three point turn are NOT part of this evaluation. This evaluation is focused on driving safety in traffic. If parking and/or three point turn are to be part of this evaluation, please notify us in advance so we can provide you with an Attachment to review, approve and sign at least 24 hours before the start of this appointment.
5. FINANCES
A. Safety evaluations are two-hours including a five-minute break for safety if needed. Thecharge is $250 if paying with a money order, cashier's check or if pre-approved a personal or business check or $268.96 if paying with a Visa or MasterCard Credit card (no debit cards accepted). There is a 7% discount if not paying with Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard). Mail your payment (no cash) to Joda Collins Driving Academy, 4033 Buttonbush Dr., Milton, FL 32583. The same day we get your payment we will contact you for scheduling. Be sure we have your phone number, email address and mailing address. If you desire door-to-door service the charge is $2.25 per round trip mile from our office very near the intersection of Interstate 10 at Exit 26, Milton, FL 32583; this includes a 7% discount for not using Visa or MasterCard Credit card (no debit cards accepted). If you are paying for door-to-door service with a Visa or MasterCard credit card the per round trip mile charge is $2.42 per round trip mile for our office which is very near the intersection of Interstate 10 at Exit 26, Milton, FL 32583.
B. Fee includes the option for a written Evaluation of results. Drivers that decline the written evaluation are no refund in whole or in part. Payment is tacit approval of this Contract. Read and understand it well before paying. Once we receive your full payment, you can schedule by calling 850 981-3355 or from our scheduling calendar on line at www.jodacollins.com .
C. The over the road evaluation and training is accomplished in the Joda Collins Driving Academy vehicle. If the over-the-road evaluation and training is done in a private vehicle, it must be done in the vehicle owned by the driver or we must have written permission of the vehicle owner to use the vehicle. Said written permission must in a paper format, signed by the owner and notarized unless the vehicle owner is present. If the vehicle owner is not present for the use of his or her vehicle, contact us for the proper form to fill out and have notarized. There is an additional charge of $25 to use any vehicle other than the Joda Collins Driving Academy Vehicle for over-the-road evaluation and training. If you want to to know the reasons for this additional charge, just ask.
D. If Student-driver misses the lesson for any reason with less than a two-hour notice, including a reason that is not his or her fault, the charge is $75 plus 25% of door-to-door fees (if any). If you want the Student-driver to share in any or all of this financial liability (for missed lesson), please advise is before signing.
E. If there is a National Weather Advisory that predicts adverse weather for our area within three-hours of the scheduled lessons, Mr. Collins will cancel the lesson and there is no charge for the canceled lesson or to reschedule. A local forecast for adverse weather is NOT a National Weather Advisory.
F. One hundred percent (100%) of all funds paid in advance are refundable if we are provided at least a two-hour notice of cancellation.
G. Financial Disclaimer
(1). When we give you (the Client) a payment figure, double check our figures with your contracted price and if you find an error, please forgive our error and notify us of your findings. Any contractually factual or financial error that is:
(a). Discovered before the above service is rendered may be corrected.
(b). To the benefit of the client and is discovered after the above service is rendered will be corrected and the missed benefit provided to the client.
(c). After the above service is rendered that is to the detriment of the client will not be corrected.
(d). Discovered before or after the service above is provided will not be carried over to any additional service.
H. The Joda Collins Driving Academy does guarantee that an adequate list of driving needs (if any) can be provided to the Client (whoever is paying for this service) in the two-hours set aside for this evaluation; however, we cannot guarantee a driver will understand the reasons for any corrections or be able to accomplish any corrective action within the two-hours set aside for this evaluation, explanation and corrective results accomplished by the driver. We will make a full written report of the realities.
6. SCHEDULING
A. When we receive your payment we will contact you for scheduling.
B. If you (the Clent) do not get an email reminder of your driving session between 12:01am and 8:30pm the day before your driving appointment EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REMINDER OR CONFIRMATION EARLIER, there may be a scheduling problem. Please call 850 981-3355 or email jodacollins@aol.com to discover if there is problem. If you do not contact us by email or phone at least two hours before the scheduled lesson we will not assume responsibilIty, financial or otherwise, for that missed lesson. This need coves a glitch/weakness in our scheduling system that we cannot get rid of without your assistance. We place this burden on you because we have to. If you want to know why, just ask.
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