Driving instructor recommendations?

Hi,


contact Nadi
he works within north York and the GTA, my whole family and extended family has gone to him.
PM and I can give you his number

young drivers. It is more expensive than a lot of other schools but they are one of the best schools out there. Highly respected and teach you skills beyond just the basics. I use the skills every day including S turns, scanning the ground around parked vehicles and was the only school that taught various techniques for emergency braking and emergency maneuvers which all help become a more confident driver.

I would recommend going to a reputable school and get a "ministry-approved beginner driver education courses", which includes 20 hours of class time and 10 hours of driving.
It will cost hundreds but will save you more than this amount when you get insurance.

I went to Toronto Central Driving School and enjoyed the class sessions.

cmackenzie93 wrote: ↑ young drivers. It is more expensive than a lot of other schools but they are one of the best schools out there. Highly respected and teach you skills beyond just the basics. I use the skills every day including S turns, scanning the ground around parked vehicles and was the only school that taught various techniques for emergency braking and emergency maneuvers which all help become a more confident driver.

+1
I don't know why some people cheap out on stuff like this....it is a matter of life and death if the driver isn't aware of his/her surroundings and his/her own vehicle.

I've already done in-class lessons with a certified school, got in-car lessons from one of their instructors and didn't get the level of instruction I needed. That's why I'm only looking for road test package now.

cmackenzie93 wrote: ↑ young drivers. It is more expensive than a lot of other schools but they are one of the best schools out there. Highly respected and teach you skills beyond just the basics. I use the skills every day including S turns, scanning the ground around parked vehicles and was the only school that taught various techniques for emergency braking and emergency maneuvers which all help become a more confident driver.

Thanks for the recommendation - I looked at their website - which location would you recommend?
I called their Newmarket and Mississauga locations and the price difference was $100 (!) between their road test packages - not sure why the difference - are they run by different people like franchises?

Vana3005 wrote: ↑ Hi,


contact Nadi
he works within north York and the GTA, my whole family and extended family has gone to him.
PM and I can give you his number

Big thumbs down for Nadi. Nice guy, cheap, and always punctual, but if you actually want to learn something and not just go through the motions, he's not your guy. We had him recommended from a family friend and my wife had several lessons with him. Then I went driving with my wife and I was shocked to discover that he had not taught her many of the most basic driving techniques and safety practices. Apparently he would always just take her on the exact same route, doing the exact same things lesson after lesson, so she became good at repeating that pattern, but learned little that was applicable to real world driving.

In the end we figured we just had to pay the piper and go with Young Drivers. Night and day difference in the quality of instruction. She only did a couple of lessons with them, but she learned way more than she had done in 10 lessons with Nadi (and some lessons with a previous driving school).

She now has her G2 after passing with flying colours at Downsview. Next step will be some advanced driver's training.

On a different note - do not ever attempt to teach your wife to drive. Guaranteed fast track to divorce court... We got through it and we're still together, but I was very relieved when she wanted to take lessons, even though that cost a bit. Well worth it.

Little Tim wrote: ↑ Apparently he would always just take her on the exact same route, doing the exact same things lesson after lesson, so she became good at repeating that pattern, but learned little that was applicable to real world driving.

This is the exact same problem I had with my previous instructor!! He always took me on the same route - every time I asked to go somewhere else, he would dismiss the idea. I spent 17 hours driving with him but when I did my first attempt at G1 test I got confused when I saw a turning lane (because where we'd been practicing, there were none!) and made a stupid turn (leading me to fail my test, of course). He also told me to never switch lanes unless the test examiner told me to after a left turn... which ended up being the opposite of what I was supposed to do. Frustrating experience overall, to say the least.

Thanks for the reference. I will check out Young Drivers - do you remember which location your wife used? Also, how did she find the test at Downsview? I've heard mixed things.

muffinx wrote: ↑

Little Tim wrote: ↑ Apparently he would always just take her on the exact same route, doing the exact same things lesson after lesson, so she became good at repeating that pattern, but learned little that was applicable to real world driving.

This is the exact same problem I had with my previous instructor!! He always took me on the same route - every time I asked to go somewhere else, he would dismiss the idea. I spent 17 hours driving with him but when I did my first attempt at G1 test I got confused when I saw a turning lane (because where we'd been practicing, there were none!) and made a stupid turn (leading me to fail my test, of course). He also told me to never switch lanes unless the test examiner told me to after a left turn... which ended up being the opposite of what I was supposed to do. Frustrating experience overall, to say the least.

Thanks for the reference. I will check out Young Drivers - do you remember which location your wife used? Also, how did she find the test at Downsview? I've heard mixed things.

I am sure your instructor is one of the few bad instructors as those problems you listed are very basic knowledge... You are better off finding a friend who is a competent G driver and accompany you driving. And read the driver's handbook more than once.

I am sure some will be against it, but Downsview is the hardest test location. Try somewhere with less cars.

I indeed do disagree with the idea of going to a test location that's different to what you're going to experience your actual driving. I used to think that way, but now I realize with experience it was better to go with the most local area no matter how tough. Pass your test in the location closest to you, because that's where the test is most effective. If you have to deal with heavy traffic in real driving, but you pass your test where there's so few people...you'll be so poorly prepared. I realize the anxiety because driving tests simply does that, but consider this, if you pass the test in that state think of how much better you'll be when calm without the examiner and the pressure of a test. Fortunately if you're going with YD, they don't allow this. I did the one on Morningside, turns out I ended up driving near that area today for work and I used the 401 an awful lot for my commuting and work driving. If I did the test in calmer(back then) Aurora, I indeed will be extremely poorly prepared for the aggressiveness that is 401 driving.

Driving brings up a lot of decisions you have to make. You perform the worst when you're ill prepared or don't know how to handle that situation. You never get to pick and choose these scenarios, you simply have to react to them, and handling a hard test with good driver training is the best preparation you can get. Lots of people simply do driving school to pass the test, unfortunately they aren't really taught how to drive rather how to pass that specific test. As a result they pick really easy places to pass the test then return to drive in their area. Sadly these drivers are so badly equipped it'll result in a lot of misery for everyone. Ever wonder why people don't like drivers in Markham? Its not dangerous in the usual sense, but you'll see an awful lot of scenarios where you're thinking "where did they get their license?". That is the result, you don't want to join them in further adding frustration to yourself and others.

Currently I am going with Peters Academy at Warden. Very bad experience (frustrating experience). I have my test next week. I am tolerating until my test.
If pass, never go to them.
If fail, tale new drive training center.

Not sure how/why they are ministry approved.

Update: I ended up going with Good Drivers in Mississauga - my instructor was great, gave me great pointers and really pushed me to improve my driving and parking. Would recommend! I only regret that I didn't do my full drivers course with this school as the school that I did do the drivers course with turned out to be not so great.

I did at peters at Warden not great experience. My instructor keep fooling and end up paying more. I had to change someone who is not ministry approved and they were good (again not great but better than peters).

My gf had good experience with amb driving school. She passed on the first try & did the test in north york