A1 Driving School

Do not use this driving school! Thomas chan is the worst instructor ever. He is extremely rude and does not teach well at all. Do not let his low rates fool you. I have my driving test coming up soon and being a full time student and working two part time jobs leaves me low on money so I went with Thomas Chan because the rates he offered were pretty low. Never again. He kept asking me why no one else had taught me to drive and why my boyfriend didn’t teach me. I explained to him that he didn’t have it, and then he had the audacity to ask, «oh suspended? Suspended?» I literally wanted to snap and tell him how it wasn’t any of his business! I’m a customer expecting you to teach me how to be a good driver, not ask invasive personal questions. Also, he pushes on his brakes way too much even when there aren’t any cars around. I have since moved into a different driving school that I would recommend to anyone, even though their rates are higher the instructors are a much higher quality compared to Thomas Chan.
*I saw on a previous review on how Thomas Chan claimed to not have taught the reviewer, this shows proof on some level that Thomas Chan is to not be trusted.

I never drove all my life. Took 5 classes from Thomas Chan and it was perfect. He helped me taking out the fear and taught me drive with confidence. Was with me all the time at the day of my behind the wheel test.

Thomas Chan is an excellent instructor. I learned from him and passed my test in 1^st attempt. He starts from basics, covering almost all the driving rules, pointing out even minor mistakes and make me understand it well so that i won’t repeat the same mistakes again. He trained to get to the perfexion.
Highly recommended.

Thomas Chan was my driving instructor.
He was a very good instructor who started from the very basics of driving and CA road rules and made me understand them well.
He has his own easy ways of making you remember the rules. His instructions are easy to follow and he makes sure he is not coaching you just for the driving test, but to be a overall — good driver.
His tips and the through coaching helped me get my license in my first attempt with good confidence.
I am going to recommend him to all my friends.

I took a couple of lessons with Thomas, and I must say he’s really good. He’s very focused on what you need to concentrate on and identifies your weak points early on. He may come across as strict in the first few minutes, but he is, in fact, a really good-​natured and proactive teacher. He takes a very keen interest in improving your driving skills and I recommend him highly!

My son took his very first driving lesson from this school. We decided to go with a different school for rest of the hours as he had difficulty understanding the instructor. They refused to give us a letter saying that he completed the first 2 hours with them as requested by the new school. The man I spoke to suggested that I get 2 more hours from the new school to get a 6 hour completion required to take the behind the wheel driving test. When I threatened them saying that I will post this on Unilocal giving them a bad review, they hung up on me.
Please don’t waste your time with them.

Mr. Thomas Chan is a wonderful man who taught me how to drive safely and responsibly. His instruction was very clear and punctual, having everything make sense. I don’t understand the other reviewer here, and I agree with Mr. Chan’s rebuttal about his teaching. Of course, there were times when the steering wheel was controlled, as I was a completely new driver, but other than that I was driving on the highway at the third lesson and changing lanes with ease. I highly recommend Mr. Chan for driving instruction, especially if you’re a high school student in the bay area! There are more accurate reviews on

I have absolutely no idea why everybody is giving this driving school such high reviews. Thomas Chan was a horrible instructor — he was yelling ALL the time, he controlled the wheel very very often and kept using his brakes all the time. This made it very hard for me to learn. It was the WORST 1-​hour driving instruction of my life!

Thomas Chan from A1 driving school is a gentleman and very good instructor. My wife took 6 hours of classes from him right before her behind-​the-​wheel test and said that she felt more confident. When I interacted with Thomas and asked few questions to clarify my doubts, he answered patiently. He is knows his stuff.
He is always on time and willing to help you extra mile. I would recommend him to anyone who wants to learn driving.

I took 3 lessons with Matt and passed my behind-​the-​wheel test on the first attempt recently. I did a lot of research and spoke to many instructors before finalizing this school, and I’m glad I did that. Matt always gave me lots of tips and concentrated on making my turns smoother. He also took me to the freeways and taught me lane changing and merging in/​out of traffic — something that used to scare me initially. On my last class, he drove me to the actual test route and took a mock test himself — to ensure that I was not making any mistakes that could lead to a rejection. Whenever any sign confused me, he would draw it and explain it to me and it really helped me. The other thing that I would recommend about Matt is his professionalism — he was always punctual. All in all, a very good experience with A1 driving school and I would really recommend them to any one who wants to learn driving here and clear their drive test seamlessly.

I took my classes from Mr. Matthew. I had a great time during the classes and. He teaches very professionally and in a manner that you learn very fast. I cleared the test with ease and I credit it to his teaching abilities. The plus points of A1 driving school is that — you get personal attention, Matthew and other instructors are always very punctual and they give you dummy tests which really makes you aware of your potential mistakes and weaknesses. Overall I am very please that I took their services. I recommend others to do that too, it would onyl take a class to realize the benefits from their teaching