Driving school -- is idrivesmart worth the extra $?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was way too expensive, especially when parents have to drive 60 hours with the kids and they only do 6—we are ultimately thr primary instructors. My oldest did Greg’s and my next kid will do Greg’s as well. I don’t think it ultimately has an effect on their driving either way.

My kids definitely learned a lot from this 6 hours. My own driving knowledge is based upon 30 year old technique. Maybe you had kids young but still a decade or two out from current recommendations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of this. We had a great experience with I Drive Smart, and not having to go to the DMV to get the license was the icing on the cake for me.

What? I am not familiar with IDS but how does that work? YOu still have to go to DMV and pass the driving test right? You know like parking and all other stuff.

Virginia allows the driving schools to give the test and you don’t have to go to the DMV. This is not an option in MD.

Seriously? MD sucks in so many ways.

[Anonymous]

I can’t compare because we have only used I Drive Smart, but I thought they were worth it because DS truly improved with every lesson. All his instructors were really good, I liked that we could choose locations out in Loudoun for easy drives at first, then Arlington so he could drive into DC and do city driving too.

Yes, taking them to the driving location was much less convenient than having them be picked up from home, but those drives were good additional practice.

[Anonymous]

We used McLean Driving School. I liked that we could coordinate with a friend and schedule the kids for all their sessions in advance. Plus they’re one of the companies that do pickup/dropoff at your house. I do enough driving around that shuttling my kid to and from a meetup location was a pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of this. We had a great experience with I Drive Smart, and not having to go to the DMV to get the license was the icing on the cake for me.

Any driving school will administer the road test at one of the last sessions so you don’t have to go back to DMV.

We’re in VA, and I used ACE for both of my kids. I have no complaints, and since you’re booking a specific session there are no scheduling issues…seven sessions over the course of ten days and we were done. I looked at other providers including I drive smart but couldn’t justify the extra cost.

He got his license after 7 driving sessions over 10 days?!? I don't care how good the instruction is, no one is ready to drive independently after that little practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of this. We had a great experience with I Drive Smart, and not having to go to the DMV to get the license was the icing on the cake for me.

Any driving school will administer the road test at one of the last sessions so you don’t have to go back to DMV.

We’re in VA, and I used ACE for both of my kids. I have no complaints, and since you’re booking a specific session there are no scheduling issues…seven sessions over the course of ten days and we were done. I looked at other providers including I drive smart but couldn’t justify the extra cost.

He got his license after 7 driving sessions over 10 days?!? I don't care how good the instruction is, no one is ready to drive independently after that little practice.

That was just the required BTW portion with a driving school. Which I scheduled to take place after DC had completed the required 45 practice hours with a licensed driver (and FWIW I made DC do over 60 hours, on all kinds of roads, in all four seasons). Trust me, my kid was very ready to drive independently at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was way too expensive, especially when parents have to drive 60 hours with the kids and they only do 6—we are ultimately thr primary instructors. My oldest did Greg’s and my next kid will do Greg’s as well. I don’t think it ultimately has an effect on their driving either way.

My kids definitely learned a lot from this 6 hours. My own driving knowledge is based upon 30 year old technique. Maybe you had kids young but still a decade or two out from current recommendations

That’s interesting, I never thought of it from this perspective. What kinds of things did they learn that we didn’t? Besides the backing into parking places and not having to learn parallel parking like we did.

[Anonymous]

We did 5 supplementals with them in addition to the BTW because of all the driving our kid was going to be doing for school/sports. Scheduling was a little dicey sometimes but I’m still glad we did it. The instructors were great, and they were willing to take my kid on roads we were not (helps to have your own brake and a bright yellow vehicle). In this area, where there are so many lanes on highways and aggressive drivers flying around at all times, the more practice your kid can get with someone who knows how to teach the current best practices and laws, the better! We spend a lot more on stuff that doesn’t matter as much as this. We will use them for our next kid, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of this. We had a great experience with I Drive Smart, and not having to go to the DMV to get the license was the icing on the cake for me.

What? I am not familiar with IDS but how does that work? YOu still have to go to DMV and pass the driving test right? You know like parking and all other stuff.

My son had lessons through ids in Montgomery county, md. They did not administer the driving test, nor was that option presented to us. Ids was worth the money, imo. We spaced out the lessons and received valuable feedback which helped us help our son. The final of the required lessons was used to clear him and prepare him for the test, which was easy because he knew how to drive and park at that point..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with all of this. We had a great experience with I Drive Smart, and not having to go to the DMV to get the license was the icing on the cake for me.

What? I am not familiar with IDS but how does that work? YOu still have to go to DMV and pass the driving test right? You know like parking and all other stuff.

Virginia allows the driving schools to give the test and you don’t have to go to the DMV. This is not an option in MD.

Are you kidding? I had no idea about this. Bummer for us in MD.

It's definitely worth the perk to avoid the DMV in VA for the test. Still have to go for the written to get your permit but avoiding repeat visit is great

[Anonymous]

I love IDriveSMart especially since it's taught by former police, it's great. It normalizes interacting with police and they get to know the kids, teach them essential skills plus defensive driving. I also loved that they file the paperwork in the DMV in Virginia for the license once they pass the test.

[Anonymous]

I had one kid do IDS and one kid who didn't. IMO, IDS was not noticeably better and not worth the increased price and hassle of their scheduling. Both kids passed on the first try.

[Anonymous]

Question about the process. DC currently at Agile driving school. The secretary at the school told us that when DC takes the exam, DC will have a copy of the DTS B but will not be able to drive alone until DC receives the DL from the DMV, which could take 3 months. DC has taken driver's ed at school, has the log of more than 45 hours, has already held the driving permit for almost two years and is beyond 16 and 3 months. The secretary is insisting DC's eligibility date means her DTS B form will be expired ans DC cannot drive alone. DMV was not clear when we went in person or on the phone. Can anyone explain this?

[Anonymous]

The instructors were excellent. I may even schedule a few sessions to teach me how to parallel park. The scheduling was a huge hassle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question about the process. DC currently at Agile driving school. The secretary at the school told us that when DC takes the exam, DC will have a copy of the DTS B but will not be able to drive alone until DC receives the DL from the DMV, which could take 3 months. DC has taken driver's ed at school, has the log of more than 45 hours, has already held the driving permit for almost two years and is beyond 16 and 3 months. The secretary is insisting DC's eligibility date means her DTS B form will be expired ans DC cannot drive alone. DMV was not clear when we went in person or on the phone. Can anyone explain this?

Which state are you in? When does her learners permit expire?

In VA, I was told that the yellow paper he received after passing his road test along with his permit was his valid drivers license and DS was allowed to drive alone.

His actual license didn’t come until about 5 weeks later.