Safestway Driving School

Just took a two-​hour driving class with Brent in Walnut Creek this weekend. He arrived on time and was very professional and patient. I was very surprised by the negative reviews on Unilocal.Perhaps they changed after they saw the online reviews? At any rate, my experience was pleasant and he was very thorough. I can’t wait to be driving in the near future!

My daughter took Safestway’s online course last year and passed her written test with flying colors.
My review is about her instructor, Carlos, who was fantastic.
Safestway instructors come right to your house in the special car. We were able to schedule appointments on weekends and evenings, which was great. He was incredibly patient with her and gave her lots of great tips & confidence. Once I started the 50 hours with her, she already had tons of useful information from her lessons.
The only sad part is that they don’t offer stick shift lessons, which I guess nobody does around here!
Also, the current reviews are really spotty, but if you look at the «not recommended» reviews, you’ll see a lot more happy comments from past customers.

They cancelled our scheduled driving appointment 5 minutes before it was supposed to start. We had scheduled the appointment weeks in advance and had planned our entire vacation around that appointment since it was so hard to get. Not professional! I saw a new driving school car around town recently. I am glad there is driving school competition now in this area since Safestway has gone down in service.

I dont know what all the bad reviews are for, seriously. DO not listen to them. Safestway got me through the whole process, SUPER fast. They always helped me. Mr. B would always answer a question if I had one. Although it is pricey, the class teaches you what you got to know, you take tests everyday, and it’s sure as hell a lot better than doing it online. Ford Focus! Instead of a ratchet bug thing, sounds good to me, my instructor was interesting, but eh, who cares! He was nice and taught me what I needed to know. And even told me the general area my driving test would be… Who am i kidding he took me on the ACTUAL ROUTE MY DRIVING TEST WAS ON.
I highly suggest this class.
100 $ for the 4 day class
100 for EACH driving lesson, (you need three to get your license)
So its uup in the mid 400’s.
GREAT driving school.

Maybe I’m just getting less tolerant of these things, but when you get a snotty, rude attitude upon first contact with a business, I find a better place to send my kid. Sorry, my money will go elsewhere.
When I ask a question –even if it’s something you hear all day long – like «what is the process needed for my kid to get his driver’s license?» I don’t need snark.

My situation is a bit unusual. I learned to drive in my 40’s. I suffered from a life long driving phobia. I never wanted to drive and never needed to living in San Francisco. Then I moved to Walnut Creek and it became harder not to drive. My husband tried to teach me but that didn’t go very well. (It usually doesn’t).
Then I got a job that pretty much required me to drive. I was really upset and didn’t know what to do. I called Safestway and got Brent for my first lesson. I’m so lucky I got him. He was really wonderful from the get go.
He understood that I was afraid and had a wonderfully calming manner. He is also gives you lots of technical information which is very helpful. He got me driving on the road on my first lesson. After a few more lesons I was on the freeway too.
And then he prepared me for my driving test. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for his lessons I don’t think I would have passed. Now I’m a licensed driver. I still think I need to keep working to better driver but Brent made it possible for me.
Thank you Brent!

My son just completed driver’s training with these guys. He says the guy barely taught him anything. Just had him drive around. And for that we paid $ 360! There’s got to be a better alternative. Maybe the DMV should exercise better oversight on these driving schools.

If I could put a zero I would.
I took the drivers Education and woah.
First off the classes are 4 days each from 8:30– 3:40. There is a 25 dollar non refundable mail-​in fee and a 74 dollar pay when you attend fee. During class you are allotted two ten minute breaks and a half hour lunch.
Theres a small reception area, a medium sized classroom, two bathroom areas and a workers-​lounge. They sell cold soda, but the water is warm. The area in front is rickety and not big enough to seat all of the students but that is where they asked us to stay for lunch.
Now for the reason I gave it one star.
The class is tailored for underage students and the students are treated as such. Because I am not only over age, but very much so, I was offended at the treatment of myself and my classmates. (I took the class because I have never driven and wanted to get a better handle on the info needed) The teacher made inappropriate jokes, one about playboy magazines and routinely referred to us as dumb and stupid teenage kids who couldn’t even vote. He spoke fast and would make silly comments on the students work.
The first part of the class the teacher went over verbatim the DMV book we were given. We were shown 3 movies all of which were at best ten years out of date and given three completely useless tests. The six hours I spent there were very much an egregious waste of time.
I would send my child somewhere else. This is not a professional establishment in any sense of the word.