Bay Area Driving School

This driving school is amazing. I heard about the driving school from my sister who went with this school to take her driving test. So looking at the reviews online I decided to give the school a try. This driving school is a pricey investment for a cheap person like myself, but its totally worth it. I had about 5 lessons with Yona as my instructor she was a great, gave me all the skills needed. Today I passed my test !!!

Many moons ago my sister went here for driver’s ed and she recommended me to get behind the wheel training after I pass my permit. I had my first behind the wheel lesson last week and learn a lot as a rookie. For a two hour lesson is kind of pricey, I would recommended for someone that has enough savings to get training or even save a lesson in between if you want to get most training here. After you lesson they explain how well you do and depending how many lessons you need before you take the driver’s test. The instructor was Jonathan is very helpful and is good to get a reminder to read on what needs to be improved and to keep practicing. Wish I could give it another go but I’m a cheapskate. My sister told me when I had my lesson she spend her sweet 15 money for taking classes in order to drive. Well no wonder is pricey but hey is worth the lesson.
If you want to learn to drive and do well I definitely recommend these guys.
If you’re like me keep thinking about it and being be picky, go somewhere else.
Otherwise keep thinking about it more and take another lesson, if recommended to.

I had an overall good experience.
Pros:
–My instructor, Lily, was friendly and capable. She answered my questions, was good about reminding me to scan and SMOG when turning or lane changing, and left me feeling good about taking my test.
–We covered all of the things that will be on the driving test.
–Lily felt I was doing a good enough job that we went on the freeway a couple of times.
–Office staff was helpful and easy to work with. I was able to pay in advance on the phone with no problems.
Cons:
–The biggest issue: Even though I paid $ 150 for a two hour driving lesson, I only spent 1.5 hours driving.
–A student driver was driving when I was picked up at the BART station at 11:05. Although my lesson was scheduled to start at 11, they drove for 15 minutes to drive themselves home before my lesson actually started at 11:20.
–We picked up the next student at 1:05 and I then sat in the back seat while they started to drive me back to the BART station where I was picked up (del Norte). I had a 3pm appointment elsewhere so I was annoyed that I wasn’t even done yet by the original 1pm end time.
–At 1:25 we still weren’t back at the station I started at so I just asked them to do me off at the closest station (Ashby).
So the lesson was good, but the timing was awful and I didn’t feel safe with other student drivers.

I was supposed to write this last year! Yona was absolutely amazing. I had a bit of experience from driving in NYC with my permit so I only bought two lessons. I took them both in one day and had the test scheduled for right after and I passed with flying colors! Thank you YONA!

this is an update to my initial review. So i went back to the school and spoke with Erika who apologized and was very nice. I booked another class this time with a different instructor (John Alfaro). He was patient, and understanding and helped me the whole time. I took the test at the hayward DMV and i passed the first time. If you are looking for someone, John Alfaro is the person to ask for. I had never driven before and he helped me to the point that i passed on my first try

My daughter was so scared to get in a car! And I was worried who would be teaching her. After speaking to the office they choose Mr Moro as my daughters driving instructor. What a wonderful choose they made ! Plus the office was wonderful in answering all my questions and concerns. My daughter loved Mr Moro he was calm patient and spoke clear English so she could understand what he was teaching her. Mr Moro made her feel confident and kept her calm. After each lesson he would give us a review on how she did and what needed to be worked on. Along with talking to our daughter to ensure she understood what she did good and what she needed to work on. He was always on time picking her up and read her needs well. I highly recommend Bay Area Driving school and Mr Moro. In fact we will he hiring him again for our other daughter soon.
There are allot to shady businesses out there that I wouldn’t allow to take my child out in a car. This business ISN’T one on them you can feel your child is safe as the pull out of your driveway.

I’m super picky! I have high expectations, especially when my kids are concerned. Learning to drive. wow. this is huge! I mean, it’s important to learn to drive well, have good skills, think ahead, and understand the enormous responsibility.
After calling around to several driving schools and talking with other parents, I chose Bay Area Driving School to teach my 16 year old to drive. One friend told me the driving school they used would pick up the teen, and have her drive around so the «instructor» could do errands (pick up dry cleaning, etc.) and that the instructor would doze off in the car. This was NOT Bay Area Driving School and NOT one of the schools I called. However, this is a prime example of why it’s important to really do research!
I could not have been happier with Bay Area Driving School. My thousands of questions were happily answered over the phone. We set up times for the lessons. Wes was the instructor for all the lessons. My son liked him a lot. Wes is young enough to be cool, not old and annoying like us parents. Wes was on time to each and every lesson. He too answered my questions and heard concerns I had about certain driving skills that my son hadn’t quite mastered yet. I appreciated that he had the same instructor for each lesson.
When my son took his driving test at DMV he passed with flying colors. When it’s time for the younger sibling to learn to drive, we’ll be calling Bay Area Driving School. They are professional, helpful and got the job done well. My only complaint is that they don’t provide sedatives for the nervous parents to take while the teenager is behind the wheel practicing. Ha ha!

This driving school was so awesome! My instructor, Mr. Mora, was THEE best! He was super patient and he actually made conversation with me. It was an awkward experience at all! My last lesson with him was yesterday, and he took me through the DMV where I was going to be taking my test. So he tailors each lesson to each specific student and I thought that was awesome. Oh. And if you’re reading this Mr. Mora, I passed my license test today! Thank you so much!

I did their online driver’s ed class when I was in high school, which I didn’t have a problem with. One thing that was great about it was it had fairly frequent mini pop quizzes in the middle of the material so I wasn’t sitting there flipping though slides on my computer in a trance. I also used them for driving lessons, both for the initial 6 hours of lessons I needed before I was 18 and refresher lessons when I was back home on break from school (not a lot of opportunities to drive when I was at school). The first teacher I had for a majority of my lessons (her name was Yona I think) was good at first and really nice, but later on got a bit colder. The teacher I had for my most recent lesson was also nice and very helpful (I think his name was Mr Mora).
One thing they do is great is they have practice tests and other resources for studying for both your written and behind the wheel tests. After I finished their driver’s ed, they sent me a few practice written tests. Since I’m a person that learns by doing, this was very helpful for me. The last lesson I took before taking my behind the wheel test, the instructor gave me a practice driving test, which was great.
The only complaint I have about this place are the cars. Most of the cars they use for teaching are bare bones Toyota sedans (if you want to roll down the window, you actually have to roll it down the old school way by turning a crank. That’s how bare bones they are). Toyotas are fine cars, but these ones don’t handle well at all and are very sensitive. But of course, they have a second set of brake and gas pedals for the instructor to use in case of emergency. This is great if you are just learning how to drive.
So in general, I would recommend using them if you are learning how to drive!

Have only good things to say about this place. Although I have been driving for years in my home country — I still had to unlearn a lot of the bad habits that I was so used to. The instructors were always patient and kept working on the things that I was struggling with. I did jump a few red signals :) but I thought the instructors were remarkably composed about it :). Overall a good experience.

I am so happy I decided to take lessons at Bay area driving school. Everyone was so nice and helpful. Being 29 and not knowing how to drive, I was really nervous about getting my license (I have always lived in big cities so I never need to get one.) After getting a job offer outside of the city I only had 1.5 months to get my license. After reading Unilocal reviews I decided to go with Yona as my instructor. SHE IS GREAT!!! She was easy going, helped me get comfortable and get over my fear of driving and she was a great teacher!!! It only took me about 4 classes with her and I got my licenses today, which is amazing considering I had no clue how to drive a month ago. If you are an adult and are nervous about driving you should definitely ask for Yona as an instructor. Hats off to her because she is a great instructor :)

we bought a stick shift car before I knew how to drive stick-​shift. That was not a good idea… it was an even worse idea to think my husband could teach me how to drive it. He says that Yona, the Bay Area Driving school instructor who taught me to drive stick saved our marriage. I’d have to agree. A year later I still think it was the best $ 150 I’ve ever spent, and that’s seriously all it took — 1 two hour lesson and I was ready to go out on my own. I had to practice on small streets for a couple of weeks before I felt like I could really drive to a destination, but she taught me great ways to think about the process and tricks that impressed my husband — a lifelong manual guy.

I made an appointment for their permit program, When I arrived I was informed that they had «Lost» my registration card, so my appointment was cancelled. From what I saw of their office, it does not look like they use any sort of digital record keeping process. The receptionist spent a good 30 minutes thumbing through an ancient looking appointment book, she never found my card. Also they are not very classy when it comes to payment. When i called to inquire about what types of classes they offer, they were asking me if I would be paying over the phone before she was even done telling me about what they offer. I would avoid.

It seems crazy to write a review about traffic school… something everyone should supposedly loath… but I just had to.
About 6 months ago I got a ticket for going 74 on the 880! Not happy at all… I was glad that I could go to traffic school and wipe it off my record, but really not looking foward to throwing my day away.
After traffic school that night, I called a family member and informed that that attending traffic school was really fun… they replied that they thought I was losing my mind!
The instructor, whose name I no longer remember, was one of the nicest people I have come across in a long time. His class was focused on safe, defensive driving. He had a genuine concern for everyone in the class and really made me think about how getting in a car is such a serious thing and that I really have the safety of so many people held in my hands as a driver. I considered myself a pretty good driver before, but now I am extra concious about my driving because we talked about it in such practical terms.
The instructor was a Montesorri teacher at some point in his career and I think he really pays attention to the way he runs the classroom. He some how managed to make a community out of a large group of strangers from many different backgrounds… as a teacher myself, I thought this was a pretty daunting task and impressive accomplishment.
You should go here if you are ever in the unfortunate circumstance of having to take traffic school… you will walk away satisfied that you spent the day here… you will think about what you learned for months afterward… and you may even tell someone you had fun in traffic school!