Driving past the Raad Plaza, 1105 Lakeview Avenue, home of Gorman Tax Service, the office of Dr. Marie Salvas and other businesses, he saw there was an empty space. What he didn’t know was that the space in question had recently been vacated by another auto school, Future Drivers of America.
“By the grace of God, I was driving through town looking for a spot, and I saw a sign -- ‘vacant space,’” Richard said. “So I stopped in and talked to the man who was here and I asked him if the space was still available. He said, ‘Yes, what are you planning to open?’ I said a driving school, and he said, ‘Well, I just closed a driving school here.’”
Dracut Economic Development held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 9 to welcome for Richways Auto School to town.
Abdou Abou-Raad, owner of Raad Plaza, said it was fortuitous that Richard drove by the plaza when he did. Swapping one driving school for another made for a smooth transition.
Richard opened his first Richways office in Worcester in 2014 with one car. Today, he has six. Between Worcester and Dracut, he has eight instructors. He’ll be running the Dracut office for now, with three other employees, including two instructors. He said Richways, in just a few weeks since opening, has already attracted some would-be drivers.
In case you were wondering how one becomes a driving instructor (as Dracut Economic Development was), Richard said, “It wasn’t easy.
“I started by training my wife,” he added. “She didn’t want me to train her, but she failed the test four times. Then she let me train her, and she passed. She started spreading the word to her friends, so I trained them, and they all started getting their licenses. I thought, ‘I see a potential future here.’”
But one can’t just put up a shingle and call oneself a driving instructor.
According to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, to becoming a professional driving instructor, you must:
- Must complete an online application.
- Have no criminal record.
- Be subject to a check of your driving record.
- Be at least 21.
- Have at least 24 months of driving experience in the same license classification under which you’ll be instructing.
Before opening Richways, Richard worked for Canto Auto School in Lowell and with Central Mass. Safety Council Auto School, or CMSC.
For more information, call 978-677-2959, or visit www.RichwaysAutoSchool.com.
CAPTION:
Richard Karathi, owner of Richways Auto School, cuts the ribbon as Dracut Economic Development holds a ribbon-cutting May 9 to welcome Richways to Dracut, in the Raad Plaza, 1105 Lakeview Avenue. Help to welcome Richways and its employees to town are Selectman Jennifer Kopcinski, third from right, who is also co-chair of the Dracut Economic Development Committee, and plaza owner Abdou Abou-Raad, second from right. (DRACUT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PHOTO)