A Driving School in France Hits a Wall of Regulations

From the NY Times. Excerpts:

"Alexandre Chartier and Benjamin Gaignault work off Apple computers and have no intention of ever using the DVD player tucked in the corner of their airy office. But French regulations demand that all driving schools have one, so they got one."

"The other driving schools have sued them, saying their innovations break the rules. Their application for an operator’s license for their school, Ornikar, has been met with total silence"

"getting a driver’s license here is so difficult and expensive that it has inspired books on the subject,"

"the myriad rules governing driving schools — and 36 other highly regulated professions — stifle competition and inflate prices in France.

The rules set up barriers to newcomers,"

"President François Hollande’s administration may finally take steps to tear down the tangle of rules that keep competition — and many young people — out of so many sectors of the economy."

"But there has been scant progress so far."

"the government offers only a limited number of exams each year, and these are doled out to the driving schools depending on their success rate the year before. That fact alone gives the old guard a virtual monopoly,"

"the written test, which he says goes far beyond making sure that a person knows the rules of the road. Instead, he said, it seems intended to trip students up with ridiculous questions,"

"the French are probably paying 20 percent more than they should for the services they get from regulated professions,"

"The failure rate for the French driving exam is about 41 percent,"

"barriers to getting a license are so high that about one million French people, who should have licenses, have never been able to get them."

"it often costs 3,000 euros, or about $3,900, to get a license. But others said the average was closer to 1,500 to 2,000 euros."

"Under the current system, would-be drivers register with a driving school. The schools offer instruction in their own classrooms (“often smelly caves,” according to Mr. Koenig) for the written test and on the road. They also determine when students can take an exam.

Since the school never has enough slots for all its students, it picks the best students first. The wait can stretch 18 months or longer. Although students are required to take only 20 hours of driving lessons, most end up doing double that while they wait for a chance to take the test."