JoeyDrive Instructor Code of Conduct

1. Professional standards

• Be respectful and professional in every interaction: messages, calls, and in the car.
• Keep developing your driving and teaching skills, and adjust your approach to each learner's pace and ability.
• Turn up on time, honour confirmed bookings, and give as much notice as you can if something changes.

2. Running a lesson

• Deliver the full time a learner has paid for. A 1-hour lesson means 60 minutes of instruction, not time lost to breaks, admin, or chat unrelated to driving.
• If you have to cancel, tell the learner (and, for learners under 18, their parent or guardian) as soon as possible, help them rebook, and never leave someone stranded.
• Only mark a lesson complete, and only request payment, once you've actually delivered it.

3. Vehicle & safety standards

• Your vehicle must be roadworthy, currently registered, fitted with dual controls where required, and free of anything that could distract or endanger a learner.
• Tell JoeyDrive before you start using a different vehicle for lessons.
• Never teach while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or while too fatigued or unwell to teach safely.

4. Licensing & accreditation

• Hold a current instructor licence, authority, or accreditation for your state (for example, a Driving Instructor Authority, or DIA, in Victoria), and keep it valid for as long as you're listed on JoeyDrive.
• To teach learners under 18, you need a current WWCC (or your state's equivalent) verified by us, whether or not your state requires one for driving instruction. Renew it before it lapses. Submit it to us for verification, which we complete within 5 business days, and you can't accept a learner under 18 until it's verified.
• Tell us immediately if your licence, authority, or WWCC is suspended, cancelled, or under review. Don't wait for us to find out another way.

5. Keeping younger learners safe

Some JoeyDrive learners are under 18, usually building hours toward their Ps with a parent's or guardian's support. This section applies on top of everything else in this Code whenever you're teaching a learner under 18.

• Make sure a parent or guardian knows the lesson time, pickup, and drop-off details for any learner under 18, and has consented to the learner being taught by you.
• Keep all contact with learners under 18 limited to what the lesson needs: scheduling, location, and feedback on their driving. Don't contact them privately for anything else, on or off the platform.
• Never offer gifts, favours, rides, or contact that isn't part of the lesson. Only pick up and drop off a learner under 18 at the location agreed with their parent or guardian, and let a parent or guardian ride along if they ask to.
• Treat any sign of grooming, inappropriate interest, or boundary-crossing involving a minor, whether by you or by anyone else on the platform, as a serious safety issue. If anyone is in immediate danger, contact the police first. Either way, report it to us as soon as you can so we can act on the platform. We have zero tolerance for this, and will suspend any instructor involved immediately and remove anyone found to have been involved, and report it to police or the relevant authority.
• If a learner under 18 tells you something that concerns you, whether it's about home, school, or anywhere else, don't investigate it yourself. If they're in immediate danger, call 000. You can also contact your state's child protection service directly. Please report it to us as well, so we can act on the platform.

When something is reported, JoeyDrive investigates, and can suspend or remove an instructor's access on the platform, and refer the matter to police or the relevant authority.

6. Respect, fairness & anti-harassment

• Treat every learner fairly regardless of their race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other personal characteristic.
• Harassment, bullying, sexual comments or advances, and intimidating or aggressive behaviour of any kind are not tolerated.
• Keep clear professional boundaries with every learner, not just those under 18. Lessons are not the place to pursue a personal relationship.

7. Keeping your profile & reviews genuine

• Keep your profile accurate, including your experience, licence and WWCC status, vehicle, service area, and availability, and update it as soon as anything changes.
• Don't offer incentives for a good review, pressure a learner to leave one, write fake reviews, or retaliate against honest feedback.

8. Staying on platform

• Keep bookings for JoeyDrive lessons inside the app, so there's a clear record of what was booked on both sides. JoeyDrive doesn't currently process lesson payments; you and the learner arrange payment directly, in whatever way you've agreed.
• Don't move a learner you met through JoeyDrive off the platform to avoid being found or booked through it in future.

9. Communication

• Use in-app messaging for anything to do with a booking, unless you need to coordinate something urgent like a lesson running late. For a learner under 18, urgent contact must include their parent or guardian, not the learner alone.
• Reply to messages and booking requests promptly. Learners are often juggling school, work, or test dates.
• Keep your language professional. No abusive, threatening, or discriminatory language, in the app or in person.

10. Working as an independent instructor

• You're an independent contractor, not a JoeyDrive employee. You're responsible for your own tax (including GST if it applies to you), superannuation, insurance, and business records.
• Carry comprehensive and current motor vehicle and public liability insurance that covers you giving paid driving lessons.

11. If this Code isn't followed

• If you see or experience a breach of this Code, or have a safety concern about an instructor or learner, tell us straight away.
• We'll look into reports fairly, and may suspend an instructor's access while we do.
• We'll tell you what's been reported, unless that would put someone at risk, give you a chance to respond, and aim to decide within 10 business days. You can ask for a review of the outcome.
• Depending on what we find, outcomes range from a warning through to permanent removal from JoeyDrive and referral to police or a regulator. JoeyDrive doesn't currently hold or process lesson payments, so a payment dispute between you and a learner is between the two of you to resolve directly; we can still use the booking record and both parties' accounts to help decide on platform actions like a warning or suspension, and you can ask us to review that decision.
• Some issues will get an instructor suspended immediately while we investigate: a genuine safety risk to a learner, a safety concern involving a minor, operating without a valid licence or WWCC, or giving us materially false information.

12. Changes to this Code

We may update this Code from time to time. For a material change, we'll give you at least 14 days' notice in the app or by email, and ask you to actively confirm you accept it before it takes effect. If a change is required by law or by an urgent safety issue, it may take effect sooner, and we'll tell you why. If you don't want to accept a change, you can stop using JoeyDrive at any time without penalty; any confirmed bookings you already have stay as they are, and any amount a learner owes you directly is unaffected.