Swerve Driving School of NORTHGATE

Negative experience: I'm very disappointed with the service at Swerve Northgate. Despite multiple attempts to resolve issues with my daughter’s enrollment, we were only offered a $400 restart fee with no clear explanation. The lack of communication and guidance from the office was frustrating, and the overall experience was far from what we expected. I hope the company improves its customer support and provides more transparency moving forward.

Fantastic experience: I went here for both the knowledge and skills exam test. I highly recommend Isaiah for the skills exam as he is an excellent instructor. Best experience overall.

Negative experience: Rude front desk and examiner, I arrive 10 mins early for the driving test. Accidentally left my document at the car in the parking lot so I told them that I’ll be back really quick w my ID. The front desk lady yelled at me and the examiner spoke really fast with tiny volume. During the test, examiner speech was small and instruction was unclear and seems like they’re fed up w me. Really upset with the service provided.

Fantastic experience: Very easy to apply for a road test, with simple steps to follow. The test itself was very straightforward, with an excellent instructor who gave genuine feedback while being respectful. Definitely happy to have passed my test at this driving school. Great experience all around.

Fantastic experience: I, an inexperienced driver, completed both my driving lessons and road test at this location, and I couldn't be happier with the experience. The instructor was friendly, patient, and made the learning process enjoyable. Special kudos to Isaiah for his exceptional guidance; he not only helped me gain confidence behind the wheel but also provided valuable insights that proved crucial during the road test. The customer service was also super helpful.

Fantastic experience: I waited a long time to get my drivers license, and had some anxiety about the test. After lessons with Isaiah, I passed my road test today! Couldn’t have asked for a better experience, or a better instructor. Seriously, Isaiah rules.

Fantastic experience: Excellent experience and highly recommended! I am an inexperienced adult driver who needed driving lessons and to take the road test. Isaiah was an excellent instructor, very nice, calm, and patient. He made excellent observations and recommendations when appropriate, had little reminders that would help me drive safely, and was always very calm. He inspired confidence on me for driving. The staff was very friendly and responsive. I highly recommend the Northgate Swerve Driving School and Isaiah as instructor.

Negative experience: Phil has a very bad temper and it is difficult to learn from him. I had to leave and go to a different driving school.

Fantastic experience: Marlina is awesome helped me from beginning to end, made my process very easy

Fantastic experience: Nice place welcoming official's made me alot more comfortable when taking my test and was able to pass in one sitting

Fantastic experience: Stress free experience.

Positive experience: This is a great driving school. I am an adult who needed to practice a lot before my driving test. Everyone at this the Northgate location was so helpful with everything. From the people in customer service who helped me reschedule some lessons to the instructors I had the pleasure of learning from. I particularly want to commend Isaiah, he was a wonderful instructor! He was very patient, always asked me questions and also answered every question I had for him. He taught me at a very appropriate pace and always made sure to add little reminders of things I tend to forget when driving. Eventually we had to practice for my driving test and then I took the skills test at this same location and passed!! I can say today I am a much better driver thanks to the service at Swerve. The only thing I would like for them to improve is the communications part; it was a bit hard to get a hold of the customer service over the phone and one time I didn't receive confirmation of a driving appointment so I was a no show and had to pay a fee. Otherwise I'd give it a five stars.

Fantastic experience: Marliena was so incredibly knowledgeable and helpful getting me set up to take the tests, she also had so many resources for me to help me pass, she truly is good at her job, ask for Marliena!!!

Fantastic experience: Good driving school. They provided good guidance on next steps . As a new driver in US it was a challenge to get used to the driving conditions . But Mitch was patient and provided all the information I needed .

Positive experience: I use the Northgate location and I have to say, I have never received better customer service. Mitch (who works at the front desk) is amazing. He's always so upbeat and friendly, I look forward to seeing him. Isaiah, an instructor, is also amazing. He's kind, patient, and helpful. I have driving anxiety and I feel so calm in the car with him! The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because this location is SUPER busy so it can be difficult to get scheduled in a timely manner. However, Mitch will do everything he can to get you in at a convenient time and with the instructor you prefer!

Fantastic experience: Great service, staff and prices. I took the written test (35$) and driving test ($70). Mitchel at the front desk was friendly, patient and explained everything in detail. Was able to schedule both tests really quickly, did the written test on Wednesday and driving test the following Tuesday, passed both without problems. The instructor who took the test was friendly and professional. Very fast, no stress, great price. Highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: Складав письмовий тест і тест на водіння. Все чудово, дуже привітний і адекватний персонал. Письмовий тест можна здати російською, водіння приймала інструктор яка теж розуміє російську, і навіть трохи говорить нею. Запис на тест за день, на тест з водіння записали через тиждень після складання письмового. Найнижча ціна яку ми знайшли на районі.

Fantastic experience: I went to take my knowledge test. Everything was in order, no complaints. They even gave me the result right away.

Fantastic experience: Took the test in their car and it was clean and good enough to feel confident. I feel like the instrctor (Phil) was fair with me, even though the test can be harsh. Overall a good experience.

Fantastic experience: As an adult who had very little driving experience and a lot of anxiety Swerve had my back from the get go. From Matt at the front desk cheering me on to my instructor. Phil was patient and supportive,. He had high expectations but always gave me the tools to meet them. Giving me lots of practical tips and tricks that helped me get passed my nervousness and trust myself. SMOG for life! Thanks Swerve!

Negative experience: Officer is nice. School car is super super dirty(you can notice dirt everywhere). I got allergy after using school car, even I put the mask on. Hopefully, after I reviewed this they will clean cars. For the driving test I am not quite impressed. There is details that I could not tell every single ones in one review.

Negative experience: Ballard location is totally horrible. That instructor just fails people without logical reasoning. Rules that aren’t in rule book like moving neck are cited as reasons. Narrow one way lane is chosen for parallel park when there isn’t distance enough for SUVs to park. If you check their pass records you will see that they are failing almost everyone. Wouldn’t recommend!

Positive experience: Swerve is a good school. But we have had the hardest time getting supervised drives scheduled. And communications with them are very difficult. They don't answer the phone. They respond to voice and email slowly.

Negative experience: Worst experience of my life, DO NOT DO SWERVE DRIVERS ED‼️‼️‼️‼️

Negative experience: We're still waiting 2 months after the classes for the drives. The communication from the office is non existent and they don't have the people to meet their obligations. This is basically a scam that takes your money.

Negative experience: As an adult looking to get their Permit, I was excited to be able to take the Driver Knowledge Test with Swerve. However, upon taking the test on 7/11/2021 and passing it I was informed it would be available for download that evening by 5:00pm. After two emails and two calls I finally got a call back a week later explaining "they'd already submitted it and I needed to contact the DOL." After reaching out to the DOL, I learned this morning that I have to go and physically pick it up at an office. The soonest appointment is August 19th....

Negative experience: Does not answer the phone

Fantastic experience: I got my drivers license as an adult at Swerve Driving School's Ballard location. I did my knowledge test, lessons and driving test there. Nothing but good things to say about the customer service even though they are extremely busy. I know their schedule is full because of the backlog caused by Covid-19, but Lisa went above and beyond to try to fit me in. My instructors Mike and Michael were very professional and easygoing. They always gave me clear instructions and highly valuable information about safe driving. I passed my driving test on the first try.

Fantastic experience: Took my driving theory and practice tests at Swerve Ballard. The stuff was extremely friendly and helpful. Driving instructor Michael gave me useful hints in preparation to the test, and made the test much less of a stressful experience than I expected. I recommend this school!

Positive experience: I have a few lessons here, the conductors are nice but the frontdesk service is not that good. Their staffs are not there all the time even though it's their office hour. Many times I went to the school in their normal office hour but there was nobody there. I try to call to figure out--which wasn't succesful every time because sometimes you just speak to the voice mail-thry said the staff was left somehow. If there is nobody in the frontdesk then the school is bascially empty because the conductor won't show up until somebody comes to have lesson. But in general, they are pretty nice, patient and helpful as long as you can talk to them. The cars are good, by the way. Not new though. ps* I purchased a 8 one-hour lessons at the first time, then i found out i might not need that much. So i asked if i can cut it a half, made it 4. Like i said, it took me a while to wait for their callback, but i still get my refund. Before the pandemic, i’ve taken 3 of 4 classes. After six months practicing, i’m confident to pass the road test. But at that time, it took me longer to make an appointment for the last lesson than make an appointment for the road test. And they literally refund the money of the last lesson. That’s a happy ending.

Fantastic experience: The swerve driving school of Ballard is a friendly and professional driving school. I did a 30 min warmup along with the driving test and I definitely recommend!. It's worth the money, especially if you are feeling nervous or have a phobia on driving like me. This will be the best choice to be more comfortable and confident.

Fantastic experience: Scheduling is super easy online they were fast on returning my calls I took a 30 mins + road test with Michael at the ballard location, he was awesome, personable and very kind he made me feel relaxed and gave great advice, now I am more confident in road thank you so much Michael!

Fantastic experience: Great experience. Took the written exam. And then a class before the driving exam. Thank you

Fantastic experience: Kramer was the best instructor. Made my swerve driving experience fun and entertaining while I learned all the skills I needed for driving. Someone should give that guy a raise

Fantastic experience: I'll go to take permit test nice

Negative experience: Horrible customer service, never answers calls.

Fantastic experience: This driving school is great with super friendly staff. Anytime I had a hiccup they would notify me well in advance and help me right then. If you want to got to a driving school and feel confident on the road this is the place to go.

Negative experience: They said I could re take the test the same day and that was a lie. They need more test dates as wel.

Positive experience: This a great place to learn how to drive. Staff is friendly and polite. It does seem to be difficult to call and make appointments. They are open Monday through Friday With staff to answer questions. On the weekends is by appointment only. DO NOT DROP IN. you won't find anyone to help you if you don't have an appointment. My suggestion is to book your appointment online. Super easy.

Negative experience: terrible and un organized testing procedure. 4/5ths of my class faild the written test.

Negative experience: I had gone into the driving school, and they confirmed that I was all good to get my permit. After waiting for three hours to get the permit, the DOL had said that they hadn't actually send anything to confirm I was enrolled in a course. After not picking up any calls, I'm going to have to go back to the school and tell them that they didn't send the DOL anything, and if they actually send it, I'll have to wait another 3 hours to actually pick up my permit that the DOL is required to withhold until the school sends what they were supposed to.

Negative experience: It’s not a terrible class. But their system is extremely flawed. This class costs over 600 dollars. And if you miss one day you have to come in another time and partake in a make up class. However these make up classes are not beneficial and they are terrible. I had to do a make up class, and the set up they had for me was an iPod Touch with a two hour video on it. I just sat in the back of the class for two hours watching a video, while a class was going on. So I could barely hear the video, the facts in the video were outdated and the set up was impossible to deal with. If you plan on taking this course then I highly recommend you do not miss any of your classes. For over 600 dollars I really expected a better learning experience.

Fantastic experience: Great driving school with great instructors!!

Negative experience: I signed up my son for driver training in March at Bellevue High School and they charged me $600. Two days ago I was notified that my son's class was cancelled. They blamed it on Bellevue High School, which I find ludicrous. Then I was told that it would be "2 or 3 weeks" to get my money refunded. Since I paid by credit card this is ridiculous. I asked for the manager to call me, but 2 days later.

Fantastic experience: So very good people was there. Instructor was nice and helpful​.

Fantastic experience: Did knowledge test, a practice drive and the driving test at this Driving school. Everything went smoothly, the instructor was super nice and knowledgeable and I was able to get a license in just a few days. Definitely recommended!

Fantastic experience: Great concept, nice teachers, small class size. Up front explanation of what's required of the little new drivers!

Fantastic experience: I didn't take a class here but took my road test here twice. I failed the first time, but the instructor was very specific and really helped me understand what I needed to know to pass. He walked me through afterward and even though I was frustrated, I was grateful. I took the test again one week later and it was a success. The service and time they put into learning drivers is really admirable. A good experience overall.

Negative experience: instructors are nice but front desk is terrible. Nobody would pick up the phone, tried three times in a row during office hour

Negative experience: Beware of these reviews! 4-5 years ago there were 23 reviews and 21 of them were five stars with blurbs that sound utterly fake. Don't believe them. In the past year there have been five reviews, 3 at 1 star, a 2 star, and a 3 star. The reality is this place is incredibly poorly run, scheduling drives relies on clunky, unreliable software. You can't call anyone directly to address a problem, or find the drive locations. These guys only seem to be good at cornering the market for driving schools.

Negative experience: I signed up for a class online and waited a week for any response from the school. Finally I called them to schedule a class and they said they would call me back within a few days but they didn't call back for another week. Finally, I had to call them myself. I called them for two weeks and left voicemails before they finally picked up and said I hadn't filled out a form. They never even sent me the form!! So again they said they would have someone call me within a few days to schedule a class but yet again, they never called. Horrible service and horrible system. Their website isn't any better, I wasn't able to find any of the information I wanted.

Negative experience: While my son's driving instructors have been great. Swerve's administration and customer service is atrocious. After being scheduled on Easter Sunday at their capital hill location, my son and I wasted an hour looking for the location only to be told that they had moved to Garfield High. We arrived at Garfield High and guess what? There was no swerve office to be found. A complete waste of time. Not sure Swerve's leadership reads these reviews as this isn't the only poor review out there. Get your act together ----you need customers to run a successful business.

Positive experience: Instructors are iffy-some are helpful and some are just plain a waste of time. My daughter went to her first driving test, she waited in the office where she was told to wait and the instructor never came to the office. He just took off with the other student and did the other students test!!!! And then they charged us for her missing the class!! Tried to call and after several attempts i did get a person-Karen-who was extremely helpful, kind and got our charge reversed. She also helped to get our next driving class scheduled. It's a good school, I don't know if it's the best or who is the best in the east Seattle area. But with Karen's help, she turned around my opinion of the school.

Negative experience: SWERVE has proven to be extremely difficult to navigate. In short, their customer service is non-existent. Specificallly, they have been overwhelmed this summer with the number of kids who have signed up for Driver's Ed, but have simply not been able to figure out how to respond to the demand. Their online scheduling system is being revamped and while it is under revision there is no online access to rescheduling. One would think that as a result they would staff up their phone lines and customers could simply call in to reschedule, but they did not. I have left numerous messages to try to reschedule, to no avail. If we can't reschedule the missed class my son can't take the final driver's test and can't take his Washington State DOL test to get his license; we could end up having paid for the whole class with no way to take the test so he can get his license - a bit frustrating after paying them close to $600.

Negative experience: The customer service is very poorly managed and the customer representative, if you can ever get a hold of someone, were quite hasty and rude. This is during the course of several scheduling's. The instructors are good though. They don't answer phones during the weekends or even let you leave a message. I truly don't understand how they can remain in business with such poor customer service.