Canal Driving School

This two stars are for the instructor Mr.Huo. He keeps criticizing your driving and giving commands without explaining. Today during our class, the road conditions were sometimes hard for me to make the best judgement as it required breaking the general rules. Then he would spend the time criticizing me for not making the best judgement instead of explaining to me why breaking the general rules would be the best decision based on the conditions. When I talked back to him saying that he should explain instead of merely criticizing, the discussion unexpected leveled up into a quarrel. Then he said that if I don’t like him, I shall switch to the other instructor Mr. Chen. I didn’t even think about switching at that point of time and he suggested. Plus the quarrel happened when I was driving which was distracting, unpleasant and dangerous! So I decided to switch!
Then I talked to the girl working at the front desk about switching to another instructor. She was helpful enough to book all the rest of my classes with Mr. Chen.
I will update my rating after experiencing classes with Mr.Chen.

Watch out for these not-​so-​smooth operators. I paid for the package of five 45-​minute lessons as an introduction for my son. They immediately tried to double up the lessons. I agreed to make the first one an hour and a half, but specified that the rest were to be the 45 minute length. So what did they do? Changed every single lesson time repeatedly, and then informed us after the fact that the extended return to Canal Street sitting in rush-​hour traffic of the 4^th lesson had in fact been another double «lesson,» even though we had again specified 45 minute lessons very clearly AGAIN when they changed the time yet again.
Let’s be clear — driving practice is not a driving lesson.
The instructor also took five minutes out of each lesson to go to the bathroom in a neighborhood building.
I sat my test with these guys but I had been driving for thirty years already. The two guys who sat with me both failed.
(However the door-​handle trick for parking is pretty great.)

TERRIBLE HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! Told me that I have to be at the school by 7AM for the exam, otherwise they won’t wait. I got here at 6:50am, stood in freezing winter wind from complete dark to light, for AN HOUR, NOBODY WAS HERE!!!’ The door was locked, no one picked up the phone… Made 10 calls already. Serious advice: Do NOT come if you know any other driving school. I don’t know where those 5stars come from.

Mr. Lin was really nice. He taught you tips that are useful on the road test. I took the 10-​lesson + 5 hr video course package and passed the first time. Recommend this school to Unilocalers~! Good luck everyone.

I passed as well just yesterday, like many of the other Unilocalers, after taking lessons here. I did the $ 480 package, which is 16 driving lessons (45min each), 2 road tests, and a 5 hour pre-​licensing course (available Saturdays only and given in fluent English as a 2 – 3 hour powerpoint). I have never driven a car in my life — I have no experience with cars, I didn’t even know there were two pedals to begin with (on an automatic at least), and I definitely did not know how to turn on the air conditioning, so this says a lot about what this school has taught me.
I took my lessons with Huo, which is great if you’re fluent in Chinese (he says he’s from Guangzhou so his first language is Cantonese). He knows REALLY REALLY basic English, so if you speak Chinglish, you’re fine. If you speak English, and English only, you may not want to take courses with him. He enjoys talking about reckless drivers you will see in Chinatown and LES while you’re driving and tells you not to follow their example. First day (two lessons a day) was learning how to operate a car and how to control it (such as braking and turning). Second day was continuing to practice these skills and towards the end, introduction to parallel parking and broken U-​turn. After that, it’s practicing everything you learn, and learning your street signs, when to stop, when to turn, blah blah. Basically training your judgment and observation skills on the road for the remaining 6 days.
The day of the road test (I took mine in Fresh Meadow), I was scheduled a lesson right beforehand (totally recommend you to do this because the receptionist thought it would be a good idea for me to get warmed up). At this point, Huo began to tell me funny stories about his past students as a way to finish my 16 lessons with him. When we got to the site, he knew about how every examiner graded and told you, which ones you should be afraid of. I passed with flying colors with a woman whom he said was a bitch.

I did the 15 lesson with 5 hr course and 2 road tests package for $ 490. The receptionist added an extra lesson for free so I ended up with 16 lessons. They schedule you 2 lessons at a time (1.5 hr) with one of two teachers: Mr. Huo or Mr. Chen.
My first 2 lessons was with Huo. He spoke to me in Cantonese and when I didn’t really understand him he would say it in English. His English is really good so I don’t know why he kept talking to me in Chinese when I asked him to use English with me. The rest of my 14 lessons I scheduled with Chen because I wanted someone who would just speak to me in English. I know Cantonese but the road test is going to be in English so I wanted English only.
Huo talks more and critiques you on how you drive. He also likes to go to places with stop signs and stop all ways so you know the difference. Chen gives directions and only says something when you do something wrong like (no dont cross into bike lane). He also likes left turns and parallel parking a lot. One time I did like 5 parallel parkings in a row on the same block.
The receptionist on Thursday Friday and Saturday is young and speaks good English. She emails you a day in advance of your appointment. The receptionist on the other days is with this guy and they’re fluent in both canto and mando. Their English is okay. These two call you in advance of your appointment. I prefer the calls because sometimes your appointment time changes like 1015am instead of 930am (this happens when someone’s road test takes too long).
I passed on my first try. Would recommend.

I passed my driving exam about 2 weeks ago and I’m still smiling from it! Ha! I found Canal Driving School through Unilocal and studying countless reviews and comparing prices to different places. This place had the best package which included 5 Lessons, the 5 hour certification course, and 2 tests (just in case you failed the first time) for $ 275 (This includes them scheduling the test for you, renting their car for the test, and setting everything up for you so all you have to do is show up). Compared to other places that were charching $ 400 I considered this a bargain. I was really nervous about failing and having the option of having 2 tries really takes the edge off! Mr. Chen is a great instructor and understood that I already had previous experience drving, so he only really focused on the parking and turning. He gave me very short but clear directions on how to parallel park and do 3pt turns. He didn’t say much to me during my lessons unless I made a mistake, which I really appreciated because I don’t like when people overload me with information. The receptionists were always friendly toward me and worked with me to fit the lessons/​test into my schedule. They even called me the day before to remind me and wrote it down on a card so I wouldn’t forget. I give it ⁴⁄₅ stars because there’s a slight language barrier, which I didn’t mind too much. And the fact that every lesson I had to drive through chinatown back to the school which was a little intimidating the first 1 – 2 times, especially during rush hour.

Just passed my exam so I felt obliged to express my thrill in a review. There are so many driving schools in China town, and it’s hard to pick the right one. I compared a few (visiting their offices) before I landed with Canal Driving School.
First of all, people are really nice here. It may not sound that relevant to a driving school but it does matter, cuz they really accommodated my schedule for class and test and made some effort to fit my time.
Second, book with Mr. Chen. I tried other instructors in the same school but they are not as nice. Mr. Chen spoke good English and is gentle and experienced. I passed this time cuz I took all the classes with him. He shared all the dos and donts for the road test of different locations, which were great help.
Third, don’t get frustrated if you failed and practiced as much possible. Mr. Chen truly wants everyone to pass, so follow his instruction and relax is the way to go.

Very convenient experience, got my license within 1.5 week! I have driving experience in Europe, just wanted to take one lesson and do the exam. Mr Chen told me about important points in the exam, I easily passed.

I usually don’t write reviews but had such a good experience with Canal Driving School that I felt I need to share this. I got my permit on ¹²⁄₁₉ and passed road test on ¹⁄₂₉ (first attempt). I had never driven a car before, and without Canal Driving School I would never be able to get my license within 40 days.
My friend and I looked up places to take driving classes in Manhattan as soon as we got our permits. Chinatown was the obvious choice given convenient location and cheap price. I checked out Leung’s Driving School first because of the good reviews on Unilocal but was extremely disappointed — the front desk was rude, the office was dirty and filled with cigarette smells, classes are very expensive and the package they offer only covers one road test. Next day I went to Canal Driving School and had a much better experience — the lady in the office was patient and nice, she explained everything in great detail, packages are much cheaper than Leung’s and cover two road tests. I immediately signed up and scheduled first class in two days.
Classes are 45 minutes each and you usually take two classes in one session. I bought the 15-​class package (which comes with one additional class, equaling eight sessions, the safety instruction presentation and two road tests). I had good experience with both instructors there, and in fact I found it extremely helpful to have classes with both of them since they would point out different things. After my eight sessions, I added 10 more classes because I still had some time until the road test. My road test was scheduled on a Thursday in Staten Island, and on the Sunday right before that my instructor took me to my road test location in Staten Island and practiced there (it would cost 3 classes). It was extremely helpful to drive at your test location and I highly recommend doing so. Then it snowed very hard on Monday and Tuesday. The whole city was shut down on Tuesday because of «Winter Storm Juno». I was worried and heard a lot of people rescheduled, but eventually decided to go forward as I thought I was ready. On Thursday morning, I took one more class and particular practiced parallel parking because the curbs were covered by the snow. Then my instructor drove me to Staten Island. When we got there, my instructor told me about the style of lady who will be giving my road test. I drove as usually and passed
I am going to take two high-​way classes this weekend with Canal Driving School. It has been a great experience — the office is very easy to work with and you can schedule /​reschedule classes easily. Instructors are good, although you will need to speak either Mandarin or Cantonese. If you speak the language, I would say this is the No.1 place to take your driving classes in Manhattan. Hope this is helpful.

Good price, good instructor.
My wife is from China, wanted a Mandarin instructor which limited our school search. She also is very price conscious, wanting to save money wherever we can (I am so lucky =)).
Bad news is saving money didn’t work out that way when she took classes at cut rate driving schools in Flushing and Brooklyn. Those instructors would say she was doing great, but then she would bomb the road test, and then bomb the road test, again, and again. And with pretty much the same penalty points each time. Couldn’t chalk it to bad luck. But she would keep saying her teachers told her she was a proficient driver, she must be driving different during the test since she drove so well during classes. (ie, such excellent pupil they have nothing left to teach, *rolls eyes*.) At best they are incompetent teachers at worse they are sabotaging naïve students into flunking to take more classes to make up for the cheap prices.
Her driving license situation was getting ridiculous, so before her latest road test I looked up Unilocal,and sent her to Chinatown’s Canal School where she took a double class with Mr Chen. Mr Chen is very patient but also teaches the correct way to pass the test. He is overly picky about signalling on a K-​turn, but I told my wife to disregard it, as she never got penalized for how she was U-​turning in the many times she flunked the road test. The main thing Mr Chen added to her driver education was proper OBSERVING the road for the test examiner to see you know to look EVERYWHERE, and also helped to smooth out her short braking. Unlike her other instructors who just had her drive around for 1:30 hours, Mr Chen focused on and corrected her road test flaws.
She passed with only 20 points.
The final insult to injury… she took the roadtest car from cheapo brooklyn driving school … the instructor wanted a «red envelope» tip for her passing. I’m thinking if they want extra for passing, they should have gave a discount for not passing all the other times.
I highly recommend Mr Chen of Canal Driving School with confidence, after trying out 4 other driving schools and too many road test failures to make public.

I have been putting off getting my driver’s license for years and i finally decided i might as well. I knew i had to take a lot of driving lessons since i was not comfortable with a car. I was unsure of taking driving lessons with Canal Driving School, but the price made it affordable to take lessons. Every call I made to the school, the person who answered could barely speak English. Because of the price, I decided to at least try. I went directly to the school and made an appointment. The lesson was okay. Yes, the instructor does not speak English well, but i could slightly understand him enough to learn how to drive. After twenty lessons with the same instructor, I had my road test in Staten Island. I passed the test on the first try. I was very excited to mark that off my list.

Went to this school to try it out after reading the good reviews (and the good price!). Took a 2 hours lesson, the i structor (cant recall his name) barely spoke English, he took me to a quiet street and let me practice, which was nice. Unfortunately though, when I had a question I could not understand the answer … So I think it’s pretty useless if you don’t speak Chinese.
The instructor also had me pull over so he could use the restroom, time taken out of my paid lesson, not so cool.
Update: Ended up going to Learn Rite, took 5 lessons and passed first time.
Learn rite has offices in Queens and Manhattan, they were great!

I lived in NYC my whole life, so I really don’t need to drive but it was just time for me to get my license. It was hard picking which driving school to chose but I decided to go with Canal Driving in the end. The Receptionist is around her 40’s, pretty easy going, speaks fluent cantonese/​mandarin so communication was not a problem for me, she was able to accommodate to my tight schedule and I always had Mr. Chen as my instructor. After my 10 lessons that came with the package, I got additional classes (recommended if you never driven in your life) After the mandatory 5 hour class, I took my first driving lessons & everything went well. Mr. Chen was not intimidating, he’s super attentive and cautious, I would treat him to cup of lemon tea :) I realize that I had to ask him lot of questions of what it’ll be like on the day of the driving test, what is expected, etc. I kept asking to practice my parallel parking & U-​turn during the last 2 sessions before my test and he was fine with it. I definitely suggest to have him take you to the actual driving test site in Red Hook and practice.
I failed the first time within 2 minutes because I was suppose to make a right turn but didn’t immediately move into the right lane :(Its these things that get you so be very attentive but same time calm!
All the best!

My Chen is great but the other instructor Mr Zhang is terrible. He was totally inpatient and when I waited to start the car until the adjacent car moved out of our way he grabbed the keys out of my hand and tried to start the car himself from the passenger seat. I wasn’t about to stay in his car so I leave and requested a refund. Apparently I wasn’t the first person to complain about this teacher and everyone asks for Mr Chen so is is usually fully booked. There are enough other good schools in the area so I would steer clear of this one until all the teachers are safe.

This place is a must MUST go if you want to ace your road test the 1^st time. I highly recommend Mr. Chen (like the person mentioned below, he is really tall). My first impression of him was that he was very laid back and super NICE. Unlike other instructors (based on stories my friends tell me) he will tell you every single minor detail you need to know.
He tells you EXACTLY what to do and HOW to do it so there are no questions left to ask. He is an instructor that really wants you to pass– unlike other instructors who want you to fail so you’d come back and pair for extra classes.
I paid for 4 lessons, $ 25 for one lesson just so I could get used to the car and learn techniques I otherwise wouldn’t learn from my friend. The secretary who answers phones there is SO SO nice too. She answered all my questions and would always call me the day before to remind me that I have classes at whatever time. If you want to pass, look no further, I guarantee you will NOT be disappointed.

I hardly leave any reviews on any websites but I just registered on Unilocal after using it for 5 years to rate this school 5 star.
Mr. Chan communicates the rules very clearly and makes things very easy. He is also extremely kind. I would recommend him to any friend of mine.

So, what non-​driver writes a grant to make a cross-​country road trip across literary America? That’s right, this one.
I was in a right pickle, so something had to be done. Norman at the Canal Street Driving School to the rescue!
After perusing web sites and making calls to almost all of the driving schools in the white pages, I found Norman’s prices to be THE best. Think you have to pay 40 — 50 dollars for a 45 minute driving lesson? Well, usually, you do. Guess how much you pay in Chinatown? That’s right, $ 20. Even out of the Chinatown businesses, this one was the cheapest, selling a 10 lesson package at $ 190.
Unfortunately, for my first lesson, Norman was 45 minutes late. He took some girl to her road trip on Staten Island and couldn’t beat the traffic.
Despite this, I really did like Norman. He has 30+ years of experience as a driving teacher and has a daughter of his own who just learned how to drive (he won’t teach her how to drive on the highway yet… cute). He always yelled at me to «slow down little bit» and once he had me stop so he could pick up an arrangement of flowers for his wife. I found these things endearing.
Also, learning to drive in Chinatown is certainly a trip. It’s like playing real life frogger all the time: dodging people, cyclists, kids, trucks, cars and dogs. They say that if you can drive on Canal Street at rush hour, you can drive anywhere.
After some prompting, Norman also took me on the BQE, the LIE, The Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. I was really proud of myself and actually feel confident to take this cross country road trip.
Beware, you have to pay in cash. Also, the list of prices on the wall is in Chinese. However, the secretary there speaks English well, as does Norman. Vroom Vroom…