Defensive Driving School of West Seattle

Negative experience: My wife took the knowledge test on her phone using the WiFi provided by the school. The internet was slow and my wife pressed the next button to go to the next question but the screen didn’t move. She pressed the next button again and the system finally caught up and skipped her ahead 2 questions. Personnel at the school DID NOT allow her to go back to answer the questions that were skipped and she scored a 78%. Unprofessional that a school would not allow for a test taker to make up for a clerical error that stems from their provided WiFi. If you read other reviews you will see that this place is greedy for money and it only makes sense that they would deny her the ability to answer every question so that the chances of us having to pay MORE money increases. Caution when taking your tests here!!! *Update* Wife went somewhere else (Roadsafe Driving Academy) within an hour and took the test again.. she passed with flying colors. Again, do not test here at DDS of West Seattle.

Positive experience: Pricey for sure, but a really effective way to learn all the things you need. You go on 5 instructor led drives, and take about 15 online sessions (2hours each) with a mid term test and a final test. There’s additional things like a collision avoidance course, and a sim training program. The instructors are well trained and know how to teach you and are very helpful.

Fantastic experience: good place

Fantastic experience: Nathan is a fantastic instructor!

Fantastic experience: Driving school is expensive, but if the cost is manageable somehow, this driving school does a great job helping teens learn specific rules of Seattle-area driving as well as all the national ones that parents who are veteran drivers would know. The instructors are calm, patient and to the point. The process of beginning the course and getting my teen set up with the learners permit was not completely straightforward, but that may have been my lack of understanding. The school does really try to make all the instructions cover details that families need to know to be successful in each step of the process. Driving school is a pretty big time commitment, as well, so temporarily your student will be very busy. My teen is definitely prepared for driving on her own in large part because of the driving school. I even had to call and speak to the staff that answer the phone whenever I had questions, and the person on the other end of the line was kind, helpful and knowledgeable—I did not have to be transferred to another, more informed person. That made a big difference, too, for me as a parent. It’s not just the student drivers who get support, but the parents, too, if they need it.