The question should not be "is this teacher known?" The question should be "Is this teacher effective?"  Plenty of "unknown" teachers are quite capable of helping you make faster progress than you could make on your own.

Needless to say, you probably *are* better off learning on your own than learning from a *bad* teacher. Unfortunately there are a few of them out there, and you may not know how to recognize them at this stage.  

amalgamate in a comment to your original post on how to identify a good teacher and you might find it helpful to read it if you haven't already. The answers should provide a good starting point in identifying a good teacher:  http://music.stackexchange.com/q/2556/15535 .  You could also try to investigate that institute that is nearby by searching for reviews on line or talking to students who go there.  Don't forget to ask your guitar-player friends' opinions on any teachers that you try if you're unsure about them.

Also, it's never "too late."  Good luck.