West Coast Driving School

I STRONGLY recommend new drivers to take driving lessons at West Coast Driving School! I had a very pleasant and beneficial learning experience here.
I failed my first driving test last month. So I googled for driving schools around Oceanside and found WCDS.
I called their office during the holidays and left a voicemail. Soon Sarah, their office manager, called me back. For not being a fluent speaker I get dissed a lot, but this is wasn’t the case with Sarah. She is friendly and professional. She answered my questions patiently and clearly, told me what to expect in the lessons and what my instructor is like. Her patience and friendliness made it easy for me to choose WCDS.
I wanted to complete my lessons before school started. So Sarah had all my 3 lessons arranged in two weeks, which works very well for me.
During my lessons (which costs $ 245) with Mr Walter Cyz, I learned various things to ensure safe and smooth driving. Mr Walter is friendly, attentive, and clearly very experienced. He gave short and clear instructions, told me what I did right or what I did wrong. He intervened when my driving got dangerous. I also enjoyed small talks with him.
I just passed my behind-​the-​wheel driving test this morning, couldn’t have done it without lessons at WCDS. Overall, I am perfectly content with WCDS. I am very thankful for the help from Sarah and Walter.

The driving school was very flexible making an appointment for the first driving lesson and to collect the payment for three lessons. We have since issues scheduling the next lessons. If somebody answers the phone we are asked to call back at another time.

Walter is great at running the business and I can reschedule easily, but he is a terrible instructor with a crappy car. He yells at his students and doesn’t respect people. Sorry that’s how I felt about my experience. Maybe he doesn’t like woman of certain race or color.

If I could give less than one star I would. As a grown adult who waited a long time to get my license, I was pretty scared to drive. I called West Coast Driving School and scheduled a lesson with Walt. To begin with, he was late, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s probably minor, but first impressions are crucial and you run a business so be professional. As soon as I get in the car he tells me that he will probably have to answer his cell phone during my lesson, which is totally rude and unprofessional. And then he proceeds to tell me how one of his students had hit a car the day before and then tells me about the accidents his students have had. So if I was uneasy about driving already, he probably made it worse. The worst part was that he answered his cell phone numerous times while I was driving. By the third time he did that I just pulled over and told him I’d wait for him to finish his call. I did not feel at ease with him and if anything he made my fear of driving worse and I just didn’t feel safe while driving with him. As an adult I was extremely unsatisfied and I can’t even imagine been a teenager and taking lessons with him. When I called him originally I told him I wanted to schedule the 3 lessons he offered for $ 245 but once he dropped me off I told him I would most definitely not be scheduling anymore lessons with him and let him know how unprofessional and rude I thought he was. I chose this driving school because it was the cheapest but it was a huge mistake. It’s worth it to pay more! By the end of the lesson I had so much anxiety and honestly felt like I never wanted to drive again. I ended up calling Alliance Defensive Driving School and I’m so glad I did. It wasn’t as cheap as this school but definitely worth the money! I took 3 lessons with them and passed my driving test on my first try!