Q. How long has the school been in business.
A. The length of time a School has been operating is one measure of their effectiveness. This usually indicates the amount of experience and skill they will bring to teaching YOU. Consider of course that the DMV changes a license when a school goes from private ownership to corporation so it can skew the years factor.
Q. Does the school teach adults and seniors, as well as handicapped, disabled, and learning challenged people, or do they just teach teenagers?
BMW 328i
Equipped with Air bags, A/C, Side impact air bags and Anti lock brakes
A. Teenagers are for the most part the easiest to teach. They are always involved in learning, so they learn quickly. They are also highly motivated often fearless so they really work hard at learning.
Adults and seniors, who have been away from daily learning, are likely to learn more slowly. They are also more difficult to teach, since they often have their own ideas about driving. Handicapped and learning challenged are even harder to teach.
Schools that train their instructors to teach adults, seniors, handicapped, and disabled or learning challenged offer you a much higher level of skill, knowledge and experience than those who just can teach teens. These instructors are generally a world apart from the ones just teaching teens.
Q. Does the school have a formal driver’s education curriculum, or do they just have the students read the DMV Driver’s Handbook.
A. A thorough Driver’s Ed course goes well beyond the Driver’s Handbook. In this day and age of online education it is even hard to find a school that offers the classroom let alone can teach it. Nevertheless a school that does offer it with a licensed instructor teaching the class is a good sign again that they are a serious school. However find out about the class what is being taught is there a teacher teaching. Do they abide by all the hours required, 25 real hours must be offered.
Q. Does the school teach a full curriculum of the skills needed to drive and stay alive, or do they just run you around in the car.
A. There are at least 25 so called skills in driving required to drive and stay alive on today’s highways. Driving Schools may follow a detailed curriculum for teaching those skills. Or they may simply sit you in the car and let you drive around. Ask the school to explain, for example, exactly how they proceed, from the start, to teach you how to drive. Ask how they teach specific driving maneuvers, such as a left turn. How do they teach you to use your hands and position yourself in your seat. The use of your eyes and feet? Make sure that you are paying for learning something and not joy riding.
Q. Is the school licensed and insured?
A. Driving schools must have a State License, a city license or business license and Commercial Liability insurance. Ask about them and you may ask to see them if you are at their office.
Q. Will the school allow you to put the charges on a credit card?
A. A hallmark of a professional school should also be are they serious enough to accept Credit Cards. The protection offered by Credit card payment is often better for the client. Schools not offering Credit cards may not be able to qualify for the service or may have a problematic history, or just do not want to pay the extra fee. Do your homework.
Q. Will the school let you use their car for the drive test.
A. Schools that will not allow you to use their car are possibly improperly insured and if they took the car to the DMV they would have serious problems.
Certain insurance carriers do not allow the car to be used that way.
However any school that will allow you to go with their car for a drive test when you are not ready is a school that is more concerned collecting money than training you correctly. A good school will generally have a very high pass rate and that is due to training and saying no to a person that is not ready.
Q. Is the school a member of the Driving School association of California and or the Americas.?
A. Members of the Driving School Association of California pledge to provide quality services in a professional manner, and to conduct business in an ethical manner. It also means that school has met higher standards than required by the DMV.
Q. What is the price of your services?
A. After asking all the other questions this should be your last one not your first one.
I really appreciate these great pointers. Thank you so much. I will definitely be keeping these in mind during my search for the best driving school in Colorado Springs, CO.
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Thank you for outlining the requirements for a driving school’s state licence, local licence, or company licence, as well as for commercial liability insurance. My daughter has reached the legal driving age. I’ll track down a good driving instructor for her.
Thank you for mentioning that driving schools might adhere to a thorough curriculum to teach those abilities. My daughter is of age to obtain a driver’s license. I’ll arrange for her to take a driving course that follows the curriculum.