09/08/08

Most disrespectful, unprofessional driving school experience

by Sandra799

As a business owner myself, it was very upsetting to be treated this unprofessionally. The scheduling of behind the wheel training began after the written permit tes. The 1st session came and went, with the trainer saying some questionable things in a "half joking" manner about being "paid on the side" to pass the student. That should have been a red flag. The 2nd session was scheduled on a specific date from 6:30 to 9:30 PM as that is all they had available for several weeks. We accepted the late schedule and rearranged our life to fit it. The trainer called at 6:30 PM (the time the training was to begin) to say he would be about 10 min late. At 7:10 PM (40 min after the scheduled time) he still wasn't at our house and this was a school night. I called him to tell him that we were concerned about the late hour, driving around Phx and having an early school day following. I was very calm and told him that we understood he was held up and we'd just reschedule. He responded by saying that we would be charged $50 for not cancelling within 48 hrs. I responded by saying we weren't cancelling, he was not able to meet the schedule and it was too late to start the training. He was not professional and would not repeat his name and repeatedly told me I would be charged. I contacted the office the next day to explain what happened and to reschedule. They would not reschedule the session until I paid this "cancellation" chg which I again explained to no avail. I requested the manager or owner to return my call to clear up this ridiculous communication but they never did. After paying fees and spending months with this company and my daughter was unable to finish her goal of obtaining her license, we requested our credit card company to refund the fees charge it back to the Institute. We can't recommend such a lack of professionalism and disrespect for customers over such a minor issue that could not be misconstrued as a cancellation.

07/10/08

Best driving school in the valley !

by ursulamom

I contacted driving schools throughout the valley for my daughter. From the moment one of the office staff answered the call at The Institute For Drivers Safety, I was impressed with their knowledge and professionalism. They answered alll my questions to my satisfaction and I signed my daughter up. My daughters classroom instructor was Larry F. She told me that the class went by quickly and the instructor was very knowledgeable, professional, funny and showed a true caring interest in the students so they would learn the proper way to drive and all the hazards they might expect. She was impressed that being a former police instructor he was able to relate to the younger kids today and was not demeaning in any way. She came away from the class with a new outlook and cautions of a teen driver. She hasn't driven with the instrucors in the car yet, but I expect that they will be just as proffessional. I would highly recommend this school and hopefully they will have the same great experience that I had with the staff and Larry.

• Pros: Very professional office staff and classroom instruction
• Cons: none

04/10/08

Best school in the Valley!

by pauldem

After doing much research on who would offer the best instruction for my son, I can truly say The Institute For Driver's Safety is the best! I talked with friends and neighbors who had some rather poor experiences with other schools. Their children had numerous accidents and tickets after obtaining their licenses and I thought this was not going to happen to my son. When I spoke to the staff at IDS, I got the right answers. They truly care about our children. The instructors all have law enforcement background. Now who would know more about traffic than a police officer?

My son attended their six hour classroom and took his permit test right there. When he got in the car with us when we picked him up, he was so excited. His watchfulness of our driving habits began right then.

He has been out for his first three hour session behind the wheel and we are very happy. The time we spent with his instructor was exceptional. He explained in detail what we need to do next to prepare our son to be a safe driver and to prepare him for his next time with an officer when he will be tested for his drivers license.

This experience, so far, has been very reassuring to us as parents. Driving here in the Valley is a challenge. We will continue to work at driving each day with our son and look forward to the day he obtains his license.

I recommend you give them a call!

01/29/08

Great Program

by bigbadnino

My son learn so much from the program, from the classroom to the driving, the intructor in classroom was informative and answered all questions, and when the driving intructors came and picked up my son, the gave him great tips and advise, as well as sitting down with me and letting me know how is driving is and what he needs to practice on. I recommed this program to all parents that are in need of a driving school, who whats to have the children to be a save and better driver.

• Pros: All staff memebers were very professional
• Cons: Parking very limited

10/23/07

Great driving School!

by josiew

My experience at The Institute For Drivers Safety has been exceptional. We are quite saddened by the negative review of Larry, the classroom instructor. He is a wonderful instructor and taught our son so much. He is straight-forward and to the point, just what teen-agers need. His ability to load our son with so many great tips helped us, as parents, as well. We can become " lazy drivers".

The in car instructors are absolutely great, also. The time they spent with us was, as parents, was extremely helpful. Their police background really does make a difference.

I look forward to enrolling my daughter soon in The Institute For Drivers Safety.

10/13/07

Do Not Use This Company for you Teen Driver Education

by mvalentine825

My daughter just came home from the one day instruction, and she passed the written test with 100! However the so-called "instructor", Larry F, was completely unprofessional, and for this reason I WOULD NOT recommend this program to anyone else. He had my daugher call me at the end of the session to report that she "was in trouble.' Now I know my daughter and she is not a troublemaker in any sense of the word in school or otherwise...she is a straight arrow! Come to find out, she had "been talking" once during the day to another student, and for this Larry F completely flipped out! Can you imagine a 6 or 8 hour day of instruction and not being allowed to converse, especially if you are a teenager? I absolutely will not let him be the instructor for my daughter's road experience, and in fact we are considering cancelling the check that we paid to this company today for the class. Larry F said to me that she was too immature to be driving based on the fact that she had a 20 second comment to another student after lunch! He was incredibly rude to me as a parent and disrespectful to both of us as customers in a business environment. We will be speaking directly to the company's President, Randall L Artman, and demanding a refund. Parents beware this unnecessary heavy handed approach to teaching driver eduction. Instructor egos should be kept in check and professionalism should be a primary attribute of these schools.

• Pros: My teen passed the MVD learner permit test with 100% accuracy.
• Cons: Unprofessional staff, rude, egotistical, unable to connect with teens in general.

05/11/07

Awesome Driving School!

by bendiam01987

I went to IDS to get my license, and the experience was well worth it. The basic driver's course consists of an eight hour class, and six hours in-car driving time with an instructor. The classes may seem boring to some but they are informative and provide tips and info you can't get anywhere else - even from parents. Some of the pictures that are shown are pretty gruesome, but they are meant to scare kids away from driving under the influence, be it alcohol, or anything of the sort. Nobody wants to see that, but it's better than having your child become part of that picture.

The driving portion is cut into two three hour sessions, and the instructor will pick your child up at school, work, or just about anywhere. The cars they provide aren't top-of-the-line road machines; then again, would you let your newly licensed teenager drive your nice car or one that's been around for awhile? But the cars are easy to drive and handle fine. My instructor was funny and he endeavoured to make my experience an enjoyable one. I went in with very little experience and came out more confident than ever.

All in all I highly recommend IDS to anyone who wants to become a better, safer, yet more confident driver, regardless how much experience you have.

• Pros: Highly experienced instructors, friendly staff, flexible schedules
• Cons: Some instructors seem like they don't know how to talk to teenagers

11/16/06

Institute for Drivers Safety

by sandee555

My son went to IDS with no experience. He said his instructors were, strict, smart and great teachers. He said he felt safe with them and that he learned more than he had ever hoped to. He was able to take his permit test at the end of the classroom which was easier than taking it at the MVD, which he had done twice and failed. They also road tested him on the last drive so he didn't have to test at MVD. It was so simple. They took him everywhere including 4 different freeways. His instructors were courteous and highly experienced police officers. My money was well spent. Thank you IDS.

• Pros: Professional and highly experienced instructors
• Cons: Not much parking available at classroom site

10/16/06

Institute for Drivers Safety

by iuhoosiergirl945

You first call and schedule your class times. There is a 6 hour long class that you must first attend. They verbalize the information in the book you can pick up at the DMV. Also, they show you an old drivers safety video as well as slides of dead people. The purpose of this seems to be to scare the students. After the class you can stay and take the permit test if you don't already have it. When it is your turn for your driving session an instructor will pick you up at your house and take you for a 3 hour driving "class". The cars are old and don't handle particularily well and the mirrors and such you must use a lever to adjust...very awkward. During my session the instructior and I barely talked, I mainly drove. He'd tell me when I was riding too far on the left of the lane and what streets I'd need to turn on but that is about it. Half way through there was a break for both my instructor and I so I drove to the school and on the way he had mw drive him to QT for some food for him. I had a 20 minute break and then he taught me to parrallel park and do 3 point turns. Afterwards I drove home where he gave my parent a report card on how well I did. I've yet to do my second drive but during it I will take the 10 minute long drivers test to determine whether or not I pass. Overall it probably wasn't the best school and they didn't teach me anything that my parents couldnt's have taught me. Besides parallel parking it was just an ex-police officer telling you where to drive to next and giving you a few helpful hints. The class was a complete was of time and made me, as a driver, less confident and scared me. Infact, the class instructor toldd one person in the class that who would never pass his test and that if he did he would end up being the type of person to get harmed in a car accident. I'd reccommend just driving a lot with your parents and other adults instead.

• Pros: Different driving experience than you would otherwise receive
• Cons: Old cars, unneeded class, poor intruction

08/11/06

poor instructors

by ksnydercpa

This is the worse place to learn how to drive. They have one instructor that under cut my son's and actually made him a poor driver. Avoid at all costs.

• Pros: nice cars
• Cons: poorly organized program