911 Driving School of Olympia/Lacey

Negative experience: Do not get your driving test done here. The instructors do not know how to give proper instructions. Which you would think is important when you are given a driving test. For example; Very first instructions, I was told to pull out to the right, which I proceed to do. But what he really wanted me to do was turn to the right and pull out to the left. So not so good to start. And the instructor would also give very little time to do his instructions. I was asked to do a left lane change, which I was told right when I had to do said lane change so points taken off for that as well. And lastly, when I was told the front desk cleark the issues I had with the instructions from the instructor, he didn't like the criticism and told me not to come back. So whatever you do, do not go here for your state testing. Go to the actual DMV

Fantastic experience: 911 driving school was a good experience for our 1st time driver. Awesome, friendly instructors and great customer service!! Our 1st time driver is a confident and attentive driver since he passed his skills exam. Highly recommended!!

Negative experience: Front desk woman too busy drinking her venti Starbucks to answer questions behind her screen . Say they take cash, but don’t have change if it’s not exact.

Fantastic experience: Highly Recommend 911 Driving School! Choosing 911 Driving School in Lacey was one of the best decisions we made for our daughter’s driving education. The unique approach of having former police officers and first responders as instructors provided her with real-world insight that goes beyond typical driving lessons. She not only learned how to handle a vehicle but also gained the skills to be a truly confident, defensive driver. Her instructor, Martin, is also amazing! He was patient, professional, and made both the classroom sessions and behind-the-wheel practice enjoyable and engaging. His ability to give constructive feedback while keeping the lessons fun really helped boost my daughter’s confidence and skill level. Thanks to his guidance, I feel at ease knowing she’s prepared to drive safely on her own. The front desk staff was also incredibly helpful—especially in explaining the process and timing of each step along the way, which made the whole experience seamless and less overwhelming for us. 911 Driving School is worth every penny for the peace of mind it provides, and I couldn’t recommend them more highly for any parent looking for top-quality instruction. We’re so happy with how Brooke is doing!

Fantastic experience: Clay is a great instructor! I enjoyed being in his class and hope others do as well.

Fantastic experience: Hi guys, am from 911 driving school in lacey, and I have passed my driving test. There is this one particular instructor know as Don, he is excellent in his training. If you need to have to pass your test, go there and sign in with him.

Fantastic experience: Very Helpful

Fantastic experience: Don gave very good advice and corrections needed to pass my test.

Fantastic experience: My daughter just completed the course via zoom classes on Saturday and Sundays from 10:30-12:50 this was perfect for her busy softball schedule! Her driving instructor Don Stevens was amazing she felt so comfortable and we could see an improvement after the first drive. He taught her so much in 5 drives we wish we could continue to see him every week! If you’re looking for a convenient class I highly recommend . And request Don for your drives you won’t be sorry!

Negative experience: Car head check engine light and transmission was slipping poorly maintained cars when I let the instructor know he started doing petty mark downs

Negative experience: I had a great experience with everyone there except the lady at the front, Michelle. I was skipped over and belittled. I was so thrown off by this. I’ve gone over it over and over. Being insulted unprovoked was so off putting and hurtful. Someone that would treat someone this way has no business working in customer service.

Negative experience: Scam

Negative experience: Knowledge gained there is fine, but there are some extremely unprofessional instructors. There’s a guy there who goes by “Spartacus” who loves to tell jokes about disabled people and whom also loves to belittle women by saying “don’t try to get out of a ticket by crying. I’m looking at you, ladies.” Don’t send your kids here.

Fantastic experience: as a current student in the basic course i found the curriculum to be thorough. i would recommend this course to new drivers with little to no experience driving.

Fantastic experience: Very good school! Love the energy it’s very aesthetic. People who are posting bad reviews on this place can cry bout it cuz it’s a VERY informational and over is a perfect school if your starting off driving.

Fantastic experience: Spartacus is an amazing instructor and 911 as a whole is amazing.

Fantastic experience: I had a great experience at 911 Driving School in Lacey with both instructors Spartacus and Don Stevens, they build your confidence, teach you important rules and driving techniques and most importantly prepare you for joe driving will be in the real world. I would recommend this school to anyone who is looking to get the best drivers education.

Fantastic experience: Spartacus is the best instructor I have ever had. I feel like I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. Everyone is super nice and super helpful.

Fantastic experience: Spartacus is one the best instructors that I’ve ever had the pleasure of being in class with, he makes sever lesson very entertaining and fun. 100% would recommend!

Fantastic experience: Very good! Martin(Spartacus) is an excellent instructor and he has an excellent sense of humor. Taught me everything I needed to know and before the class is even over I feel comfortable driving at night for multiple hours.

Fantastic experience: My daughter’s confidence level driving soared thanks to the driving instruction provided by Don Stevens at 911 Driving School! After each skills drive I witnessed her enjoy driving a little more. Today she passed her final skills test! I’m grateful for the time and instruction he provided her. Thank you again for everything, Don!

Negative experience: Instructor was rude from the start. While I was writing my information in the book he told me "Hurry up!", and he said it again while I was walking out to the car. He deducted points for visibility when I clearly checked my mirrors and windows. When I did make a mistake (which I did) I said "yes sir" when he told me about it. But when I knew I didn't make the mistake he said I did, I told him, "I did check thoe" (He told me that he was deducting for visibility), and he told me I was just arguing. The attitude and overall experience from the instructor causes a stressful environment. This is the reason I will not be returning to this location and do not recommend it to others. Go somewhere else, don't waste your money, seems like they want to fail you so they can make you buy another test.

Fantastic experience: I have had a great experience with the school, I really recommend it. It really helps you become a better driver. The instructors and teachers here are amazing, they really make the best out of it. You can see they do this for a reason and it really brings the whole driving school stereotypes to another level, In my class we had fun times while learning rules of the roadways and stuff like that. I would a 100% choose this school over any other driving school. While on my drives, I have learned the right and proper way to handle situations. If you are looking for a driving school I would recommend 911 driving school, It's worth every penny and you'll have a great experience.

Fantastic experience: I applied to this school because I was not accepted for my driving test at another school due to my poor English. At this school, a very nice woman signed me up with instructor Martin Dominguez. Before the exam, the instructor will clearly explain to me how my exam will be conducted. During the exam itself, he was very polite and calm. Martin Dominguez is a professional in his field! Great school, good attitude towards people, thank you very much

Fantastic experience: Great experience get Don as your driving instructor he actually teaches how to drive and makes you feel confident on the road, unlike the other driving instructors.

Negative experience: The employees seem nice enough but the entire process with this school is so painfully inefficient and drawn out. Test drives are usually scheduled during school hours, and you can only schedule 1 drive at a time. After the completion of that drive then you can schedule your next drive but they are between 2-4 weeks out, so our student has been "test driving" for 3 months now to try to meet the minimum required drives. Be prepared to make up any class missed with the NEXT scheduled group. While they issue an "excused absence" for the student, it is still required to make up the missed day ONLY after their group classes have ended, which is generally 6-8 weeks out, and they must have completed all in-person classes before they can schedule drives. If you are looking to get your teenager their license by 16, perhaps consider starting them right on their 15th birthday- it's a LOOOOOONNG process here.

Negative experience: Called to get a question answered. Was left on hold for about 8 minutes. I hung up, called back, no answer.

Negative experience: Horrible experience from day 1. Trying to get someone to answer the phone to schedule lessons was challenging. When finally getting someone on the phone, it was apparent she clearly hates her job. My son was taught by Don, an instructor with great reviews. He is the only bright spot with this company. Appointments are difficult to get, and can just be cancelled last minute via email. There was confusion with one of my son’s appts and the lady at the front literally LAUGHED at him and told him he was an hour late for an appt that THEY had rescheduled incorrectly. Then comes driving test time. We were told that we had to take the test in one of their cars, contrary to what we were told when we signed up with this driving school (and of course an up charge to $80). As other reviewers have said, we were met with the rude lady up front who didn’t say hello but to sign in on the white sheet. The examiner enters the building right at our appt time, hands my son the keys and tells him to get into the brown Kia and start it up. There was a silver Kia and a gold one. Immediately, I knew this wasn’t going well when he reprimanded him for trying to get into the wrong car. My son thought the test went well until the guy asked him who taught him how to parallel park. “Don.” Then the examiner goes “Oh, he must have taught you his Jedi skills of driving and that doesn’t work on this test.” Right then, my son knew he failed. This driving school needs to get their act together and teach what is expected on the test. And certainly not put down THEIR OWN instructors! Poor character and terrible attitudes there! Take your business elsewhere! Never stepping foot in there again!

Fantastic experience: I had Martin for my first drive and third drive then Don for my Second and my Exam, and ET for forth and fifth. Don was excellent! a great person to converse with. Et was super chill and helped me relax when driving. Don was amazing, super relaxed guy. And if your into knowing what cops used to do before, he’s a great guy to talk with. Don is a hard one to get so I recommend getting on the cancellation list for him!!

Fantastic experience: Super friendly and helpful staff!

Fantastic experience: Everyone was friendly and the process was fast.

Negative experience: I started the online class of this company and it cost me $700 yes $700 and you know what that got me a PowerPoint presentation with lessons that drag on far to long. It's 15 days long with three days actually driving. The thing is I won't be able to even take those driving lessons for 4 months AT THE EARLIEST! Don't waste your money on this at all it doesn't help also you can't get a refund at all after lesson 2.

Negative experience: Been trying change my daughters class since the beginning. After 8 classes they are still not getting back to us. Meanwhile we are missing classes due to her not being on the right schedule. Here come and extra charge out of what is already way too expensive. Thankfully the front office help was a great gal thank you. Sorry management is letting us all down.

Fantastic experience: I was instructed by Don. He taught me to become a more confident driver in 3.5 hours. I passed the test. I didn't have much time driving before I drove with Don. He was professional and pushed me to be a more assertive driver.

Negative experience: We came here on Saturday at 8 and no one was here. At 8:06 a man opens the door but doesn’t open the place for business. I told my kid to knock on the door, and this rude white guy tells her “we’re not open, there’s no admin!” and proceeds to slam the door shut. Update your website and leave a sign to let everyone know you’re short-staffed.

Negative experience: Terrible business, ended up having to cancel my appointment after I pre paid. After two months of back and forth with their office, and repeated attempts to contact management they informed me that they weren't going to refund my $80. Complete robbery, totally unprofessional. Go to Olympic Driving School, they are an actual upstanding business with people who care about the customer. If I could give 911 Driving School zero stars I would.

Negative experience: Waste of money. Go somewhere else. Very unpleasant. Starting with every phone call to their office. Staff was rude. I brought my daughter for her drive test appointment. The instructor was just showing up. No greeting, he just pointed at the sign-in sheet. No one else in the office and no lights on. He never introduced himself or gave any intro. Just told her to get in the car and adjust everything. He was very rushed and agitated. He spoke to both of us like he was angry for some reason. The test didn't go well as you can imagine. $80 for my daughter to be demeaned by this man. What a waste.

Negative experience: The instructor spoke to me like I was a five year old. He was extremely degrading!Basically spent $80 to get verbally abused the whole test. Definitely not recommended.

Fantastic experience: Love 911 driving school!

Fantastic experience: Awesome service thank you, very professional.

Fantastic experience: Easy to get in, friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: The employees are very helpful and polite

Fantastic experience: Super friendly, attentive, and helpful staff. I've never had to wait more than a minute or two when dealing with reception. The instructors are great as well. I had a lesson and driving exam with Don Stevens, and I can't recommend him enough ! I was a little anxious going into the driving test, but he tried his best to put me at ease. He is extremely professional, kind, patient, and really knows his stuff. Thanks again, Don !

Negative experience: I enrolled. Had a family emergency and had to leave WA. Cancelled before the first lesson and needed a refund. Only Leadership can do this apparently. So ive had to call and leave messages with the staff in hopes that the issue would be passed on and resolved. Lacey 911 never called me back, mailed a check without telling me (i paid with a credit card), and unfortunately sent it to the wrong address. Now I'm waiting for Leadership (the staff cant help), to see if the check was cashed before they can resend a new one. This was two weeks ago when I spoke to them last. Sonya said she would call. Never heard back. This all started in August. Still dealing with this in late October.

Fantastic experience: Kaylin and Martin are rockstars!! Today we came to Lacey from Vancouver for an appointment at the DMV expecting to have my son take the driving skills test. Come to find out they don’t do that there!! He was set on getting his license so we went searching for the closest driving school to take the test. 911 driving school was only half a mile away! They didn’t have any appointments, but Kaylin didn’t give up and called Martin and he agreed to come in early and do the driving test for my son. Wow!!!! So kind and gracious!!! And he passed!!!! Highly recommend 911 driving school and these great people!! Thank you so much!!

Positive experience: Best instructors!! Don Stevens took my anxiety about driving from 150% to 10% after 2 lessons! He is so knowledgeable about driving and gave very clear instructions. I took one star off because my drive test was cancelled without my knowledge but it was eventually fixed. Thank you!!

Fantastic experience: Best driver instructor I can't begin to explain how kind considerate the instructor was even more so extremely knowledgeable on teaching.

Negative experience: Arrogant staff and unprofessional

Fantastic experience: Great place the staff is so nice and so welcoming being a formal student at 911 has been the best thing, even though you might think it’s scary to walk in and feel like you have so much pressure on your shoulder they will always be there willing to help you no matter what, even during this pandemic they try to take care of everyone because they know that everyone deserves to have their license, also Scott will play hopscotch with you during this whole pandemic ( 6ft apart of course) but I would like to say that this is the best school to go to and I highly recommend everyone to go here.

Negative experience: The people are nice. However I find it highly obnoxious that the lady at the front desk tells my son there is only one instructor and 2 people doing the written so he will have to wait. That in it self is not the problem. We were fine waiting. The problem occurs when 12 other people proceeded to walk in to do the written, then are permitted to walce back and start their written, leaving my son waiting almost 2 hours! She said "2 people were finishing". Not "anyone who walks in will be allowed to go ahead of him". Some people even taking it twice! I'm glad he passed and got his license, eventually. But I fill like they need a different business practice. Or maybe dont say there are only 2 people in front of him! Long story short, plan on waiting. Definitely pack your patients for the day.

Negative experience: The staff was welcoming but that is sadly where good qualities end. Waited three whole hours for a 15 minutes test only for them to tell me that he was not going to be there and to leave. Place is actually a joke.

Negative experience: Instructors are great, that's the only redeeming quality, rest of the staff is incompetent, especially with scheduling and giving correct info over the phone. When we first signed up we were never told how drives were scheduled, then later we had drives scheduled that were canceled with less than 24 hour notice, other family member had there final driving test canceled 3 times. Yet the one time our family has to reschedule a single drive on short notice due to school issues we get charged a $40 fee. We weren't compensated when the situation was the other way around.

Negative experience: Came in with a SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT. They made me wait for two hours. When I went to take my drivers test, a wire came loose on my tail light and the instructor failed me in less than 30 seconds. It took my dad 10 seconds to plug a wire back in, and they wouldn’t finish my test after making me wait two hours because they “over scheduled.” We then went to tumwater (because the Lacey location refused to give me a refund for a test they hardly gave me a chance to take.) where we were treated much better, and the instructor treated my 20+ year old car nicely, and validated my feelings that the first instructor was awful about the whole thing. Needless to say, just go to the Tumwater driving school. Much more organized, and will treat you like a decent human being who is just trying to get their license.

Fantastic experience: My husband was referd to 911driving schooI while at Fort Riley Ks. We both need our Washington licence.From what I'm ununderstanding is the dmv knowledge test and driving test is not a convenational State ran Dmv?less stressful I'm hearing We look forward to using the service. Kudos for you many posative reviews.

Fantastic experience: Great experience, very kind and patient people, they treat you well and are concerned about your needs at all time. I would absolutely recommend this driving school although I only took the tests for the license. Keep up the great work guys.

Negative experience: I paid to take my written test I passed and they didn't update my score into the dmv database. They said it's because I am a persons with a disability which I explained to them BEFORE I took the test and I asked them specifically if I could do it, which they said yes. I called back for a refund and was given the run around for weeks and I never received the refund I was promised. I had to go to the dmv pay again and retake my test.

Fantastic experience: Great people great service! I would highly recommend this school to anyone who wants to learn to drive.

Fantastic experience: Great place to learn to drive! My three youngest children all went through this course and my oldest granddaughter too! Looking forward to sending my grandson through this course as well. Teachers are great - no complaints from my kids. If you are not sure which school to send your child to, I would strongly encourage you to call and talk to someone at 911. Again, great place to be if you need to learn to drive!

Fantastic experience: I hate seeing all the horrible reviews on here some I get but others it's like c'mon people!! Now having my son learning from them I am so thankful I pick and choose through my reviews always. My experience with them has been amazing thus far. I signed my first one up it was very simple to do. The communication with the staff has always been great I have even had a ton of questions never once have I been treated like I was asking something stupid when even after I was given my answer I was like...duh to myself. Got some incorrect information from my child about the needing of 50 hours (with what we thought was in a 30 day period) turns out we have almost a year till he turns 16 so we have plenty of time. Thanks to Michelle for talking this mom off a bridge as I was in meltdown mode trying to figure out how to squeeze 50 more hours out of myself somewhere this month to get this all done. From my sons point of view he is loving the class and learning things, he isn't much of a talker and he has literally chatted my ear off all the way home after each class about all he has learned. He is loving his instructor Rob who seems to engage with the students with stories to help them remember things and stay focused. These being actual law enforcement and retired law enforcement is one of the main reasons I chose this one for my son as I figured this would be how they kept the students attention and he would be able to learn more this way. So far my plan is working. Only bad thing I will say is that now every little thing I am doing wrong gets pointed out but hey at least the kid is listening lol. Thank you all and keep doing what you are doing I am so glad I placed my child in your hands to help him learn the roads. Now if you can provide support groups for the parents that would be great too...I do not know how you do it. I only have one...you are putting yourselves in vehicles with multiple a day!!! Bless you people!!!! Thanks, Sara

Negative experience: Update: Went into the office about a year later and the office is extremely disorganized. The owner was busy assisting a vendor who came to fix the air conditioning while a young lady had a line of folks to help by herself. The owners daughter seemed to be working, but it seemed she didn’t know that much about what was going on. Things were in several different locations and hard to find. Both girls had to, on several occasions go through every cabinet and to other rooms to find testing booklets and others, while the line waited and phone calls did too! At one point, the owner’s daughter disappeared and the young gal was answering the busy phones and a very long line of customers all by herself. The owner was no where around either. The owner seemed very unprofessional and unorganized. She was only at the front desk for just a few minutes, using her cell phone on speaker to call customers at the front desk. Never once did she ask what she could do to help this poor young lady or to find what her daughter was actually doing! I got the feeling that her daughter didn’t really work all that much and this one gal was the one keeping the office afloat. Not a good working environment, poor customer service, and shame on this owner! Get yourself together and make your daughter do the work by herself, train her so she could work just as hard as the other employees do. Organize the office so everything that is frequently needed is within the receptionist grip. If you had two highly trained professionals working, what an improvement it would make. It starts with management first! Lead the team and everyone should be accountable and share in the same duties. There should never be one person getting slammed and being left alone while two others disappear! Very unprofessional when you make customer wait fir what seems like no particular reason except for people missing who could be helping! Overall, good experience! It is costly, but I am glad that the instructors were ex police officers, from what I understand! There were Issues with the consistency of information given by receptionists. I put a comment online regarding my experience I had while registering. When I came into the office to ask additional questions about the program, the receptionist asked me for my email address because she said her and her boss had been trying to figure out who made the comments about their experience registering. She then proceeded to ask me further questions regarding my experience in front of my daughter and continued to insult another receptionist. Totally unprofessional and it was really none of her business! Comments or suggestions are to be confidential and the customer should not feel like they are being interrogated, especially by someone who only works behind the desk!! The owner/boss should not be openly speaking with her staff about the reviews of this particular school, UNLESS they somehow are in regards to a particular employee’s performance as a reprimand and for retraining. The online service that you use to schedule or reschedule is horrible. 911 driving schools should really retire this program that is unreliable, not user friendly, and requires you to call in anyways to find better appointments or class makeup!

Fantastic experience: Mostly busy and you may have to wait a while but great people and service.

Fantastic experience: Great program!

Fantastic experience: I liked the practice drive before the actual drive test. Made my daughter feel very at ease and comfortable. Also great to rearrange schedules to accommodate our busy schedule. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: My son just completed drivers ed. I really appreciated that the scheduling, the payment, and all the info you need can easily be found right in the portal / website. I was able to schedule my son’s drives and even cancel them if I had a conflict in my schedule. My son enjoyed the instructors and he said all of the driving instructors were “cool” and “way more patient” that I am. The way I see it, you can either send your kid to 911 Driving School or you can attempt to teach your teen (who already knows everything and won’t listen to their mom) how to drive and also deal with the anxiety caused by taking him/her on drives. My hats off to those driving instructors! They have a hard job! Thank you for making the process easy!

Fantastic experience: They were a big help! I came in prepared and was able to get the written and driving test taken care of in one week. Proximity to the Lacey DOL office is another plus.

Fantastic experience: Great staff. Awesome with the kids. Already had two kids go through here, and one more left. Wouldn’t go anywhere else!

Fantastic experience: Awesome place both my kids completed the course. Very knowledgeable staff.

Fantastic experience: they were very good helped me though questions ,considerate and friendly

Fantastic experience: I was very happy with the instruction my son recieved. instructors were knowledgeable adults and off duty police officers which was a big plus for me. My other sons will go here when they are ready, too! Thank you!

Fantastic experience: The tester was very calm and professional, he made the test very easy.

Fantastic experience: Amazing, had crazy Craig. Gives great insights to cops side, and very comfortable in instruction.

Fantastic experience: Had a great experience with 911 driving school I have come so far with all the skills they have taught me in the lessions that I took. I am now a great driver and feel very confident behind the wheel. The instructors were very nice and helped me with the skills that I wanted to learn that were on the test. And I pasted the test the first try. Thank you so much 911 driving school and I am so happy to have learned with you guys!

Fantastic experience: Both of my kids have used them and I would recommend them to anyone. They enjoy working with the kids and it shows.

Fantastic experience: Took my drive skills test here the instructor Scott was awesome. Would recommend.

Fantastic experience: Great staff, very helpful to my son, very clean place to hang out while waiting. Call first, they may be able to test even if it's not in the listed testing hours.

Fantastic experience: Excellent staff. Training was very informative

Fantastic experience: We now have our second teen going through 911 driving school Olympia/Tumwater. They have great instructors and staff.

Fantastic experience: 911 driving school is the best driving school around. They have concern for the students that attend and help them understand the rules of the road. I really like how personal they are and will help make you the good driver you are. I would recommend this driving school to any one, especially to a parent that wants to be sure their kid is safe and aware on the road.

Fantastic experience: I had a great experience, the staff and teachers were SO friendly and helpful. It was very clean and organized inside, compared to Cascade(YUCK). I definitely recommend going to 911, other family members of mine went to other driving schools and ended up going through 911 after going through the other schools, because they were unsatisfied.

Positive experience: An ok experience however I later learned I way overpaid. The other school in town was much less and since I had two kids to go I really could have saved almost half of what I paid here. I'm not sure everyone here teaching really had police experience and I don't think that was a overall plus.