Online booking for driving instructors
Allow time for lessons and travel between customers. Online booking lets learners choose from times that fit your working day.
Sixty and 120-minute lesson event types with a thirty-minute buffer after, a pick-up address on the form, and a separate event type for 外免切替 support.
The travel is the schedule#
A two-hour lesson ending in one ward and the next starting in another is not two bookings — it is two bookings and a journey. Without a buffer, the calendar will happily sell the slot you need to get there.
The other issue is that foreign residents arrive with completely different needs. Converting an overseas licence is a specific process; learning to drive is another. They are not the same lesson and should not be the same event type.
Suggested booking settings#
Lessons run in one and two hour blocks with pick-up and drop-off at the student’s address, so travel between lessons is part of the working day.
| Duration | 60 or 120 minutes |
|---|---|
| Booking notice required | 24 hours |
| Time between appointments | 30 minutes after, for travel |
| Max bookings per day | Four to five lessons a day with travel |
| Location | In person, pick-up address from the booking form |
| Payment | Paid online, or in person against a prepaid block |
| Cancellation policy | Full refund 48 hours before, none inside 24 — the hour cannot be refilled |
Suggested booking questions: Do you hold a licence already, and from where? · Automatic or manual? · Pick-up address
Converting a foreign licence (外免切替) and practising for the Japanese test are different products with different students, and English-speaking instruction is the reason foreign residents choose you. Make them two event types and say so in each.
Build the journey into the booking#
Set Buffer after to thirty minutes. It is invisible to the student and cannot be booked into, so your schedule reflects a day you can actually drive.
Licence conversion is its own product#
A separate event type for 外免切替 practice, with the process and the documents in the description. It is what foreign residents search for, and it is the reason they will choose an English-speaking instructor.
Collect the pick-up address at booking#
Address and nearest station as a required question, plus whether they hold a licence already and from where, and automatic or manual. Three questions and you know exactly what the lesson is before you set off.
Getting started#
- Sign in at app.marubox.jp with Google or Microsoft. There is no credit card required and no time limit on the free plan.
- Create an event type with the settings above. Event types explained
- Connect your calendar so your lesson diary never gets double booked. Google · Outlook
- Set your working hours, and close Japanese public holidays in one setting. Availability
- Put the link in your bio, or the widget on your site. Adding it to your website
Common questions
How do I allow travel time between lessons?
Set Buffer after on the lesson event type — thirty minutes is usual. The student never sees it and nothing can be booked into it.
How do students give me a pick-up address?
Add a required question on the booking form. The address arrives with the booking and appears in your notification email and on the booking itself.
Can I offer licence conversion lessons separately?
Yes — make it its own event type with its own price and description, and explain the process there. It is what most foreign residents are actually searching for.
Start taking bookings online
The Free plan includes booking pages, Google Calendar and Outlook connections, working hours, Japanese holiday settings and booking on your website. No credit card is required, and there is no time limit. The Paid plan is ¥1,200 per month including tax and adds online card payments, team bookings and LINE integration. Business Box charges no booking commission; Stripe processing fees apply separately.
Last reviewed 16 October 2026.