ACE Behind the Wheel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just did ACE Behind the Wheel in November. The instructor was great. She had about 30 hours of driving under her belt and still had two more months until she was eligible for her license, but schedule wise, November worked best for us. She did her test on the last day, then her paper license was held captive at the Pimmit Hills ACE office until recently when we had to make an appointment almost 3 weeks ahead of time to pick it up. I found that kind of annoying, as with a private driving instructor for my other kid they just gave us the temporary license and said it is valid on such and such date.

Hi
Her driving partner had literally never sat in a drivers seat before. She only got to drive around the HS parking lot for the first 5 lessons and then went into the nearby neighborhood. Kind of a waste of "observation hours" for my kid. That student will have to make an appt to take her driving test in about 6 months or whenever she is eligible for her license (with ACE). So I don't really recommend taking it unless you are ready to at least take the test on the last day.

Nobody drove on the beltway or 66 in Behind the Wheel with either of my kids (the other used Aloha Driving school--do not recommend). I wanted to do iDrive Smart, but their schedule didn't work with ours, unfortunately. They do have a nice self scheduler on their website, but not many convenient options at the time I was looking.

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What school did your daughter go to for Behind the Wheel? I would like to sign my child up with that instructor rather than take a chance with a mediocre instructor. This is a very serious life skill, and yes, their lives are at risk. We all want the best for our children. I dont care if I have to drive 20-30 more minutes more to get great instruction.
Thx.

This was at Oakton. However- you can't pick by instructor. They hop around several schools. Plus the class starts right after school so that just wouldn't work. The true instruction comes from the parents. By the time they are taking the BTW it would be best for your child to be a confident driver, and you have confidence in your driver to be safe. At that point you should not be concerned about the instructor becuase your kid is competent.

[Anonymous]

My daughter took ACE with Danielle Powers this summer. She is awesome! They do list the instructor’s name but you’ll have to click on the various schools to find her. DD had almost all her hours. We were going out at night after it got dark to get the night hours so she finished during the week of the course.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to complete the full 45 hours before taking Behind the Wheel. In fact, you can count the driving time completed during Behind the Wheel toward the 45 required hours. My kids all did Behind the Wheel after about 30 hours' of driving with us. They all passed the driving test during Behind the Wheel and finished up their 45 required hours after Behind the Wheel before getting their provisional license. I would not sign up a kid with zero driving experience for Behind the Wheel.