Top Driver Driving School

Negative experience: Buyer beware. Watch out for the "policies". I signed up my 15 year old for Driver's education and purchased the Gold package for $655! That includes 8 sessions BTW. But the problem the policy limits 2 a month to be scheduled. Taylor at customer service reminded me firmly about my contract and I had to fight to explain that their method of scheduling BTW sucks! The dates/times are released 1 time a month. So the parent gets online at noon like they are buying concert tickets in 1999 to schedule something they paid premium for their kid to drive with an instructor which is mandated by the state of Illinois for a driver under 18. I should look up that policy too. So if the parent or student (who's in school during that time) is lucky enough to score a spot in the schedule. Never mind that the student may have difficulty working around that 1 hour appointment. Because as a customer of Top Driver you get what you get and don't throw a fit. So, with this ridiculous policy of scheduling BTW that clearly shows Top Driver is selling too many packages and not caring about anything but their policy and oh well if you can't get your license in time! But you can buy an extension on the contract! Yeah, I call BS. You have been officially warned.

Negative experience: ⭐ 0 Stars – Avoid at All Costs! The classroom portion was fine, but actually scheduling a behind-the-wheel session has been an absolute nightmare. We've been trying for FOUR MONTHS to book a session—we paid for 10 and haven’t had a single one. Customer service is completely useless, offering nothing but empty promises and excuses. If you value your time, money, and sanity, go somewhere else. This place is a total scam—they take your money and then make it impossible to get what you paid for. Frustrating, disappointing, and a complete waste of energy. I was told by your customer service person a manager would be reaching out.....that was 9 days ago. Just give me my money back

Fantastic experience: My daughter loved Top Driver, fantastic instructors, they’re all so friendly! She also took her driving exam with them. I’m so glad they offer this, it definitely helped her nerves because she knew the instructor.

Negative experience: This place is a scam. The in class was easy and direct. My son did it over the summer without issue. The scam comes in where each student is promised 6 in car driving lessons. They tell you they will pick up and drop off or you can drive to the location for the lesson. They do not have enough drivers to facilitate the students. You will be driving your kid to Bartlett or Schaumburg an hour and waiting two hours for the lesson to end. I can’t believe we got suckered into this place. My youngest will NOT be taking lessons here and I will steer as many of my son’s friends clear from this disaster as possible. Save your money and go anywhere else.

Negative experience: DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! WARNING: The Crystal Lake branch is extremely UNDER STAFFED for DRIVES for the number of students they are taking in to this location. Approximately 3 hours from the schedule release (second Tuesday of month at 12N) for the next month drives there are ZERO DRIVES available for the entire upcoming month. The service reps suggest scheduling drives at the McHenry location. That would be 1 hour and 40 minutes round trip to the McHenry location plus waiting around time (PLUS GAS $$$). What busy parent wants to spend their time and money in that manner? I chose Top Driver based on location in proximity to my home. Over the last few months multiple customer service reps each told me they were going to hire more drivers for Crystal Lake because they have a shortage of drivers. They assured me this would not be an ongoing problem come January drive scheduling and it just happened again. My daughter attended driver’s ed at Joyce’s just last year. It was a painless experience and easy to schedule drives with zero issues. I very much preferred the experience with Joyce’s. Today I left a voice mail with Taylor, who is supposed to be the customer service manager for Top Driver, per the employee I spoke with today that also transferred me to her vm. Let’s see if I hear from anyone. I’m hopeful that they will be done with the empty promises to their customers and be able to schedule driving lessons that they sold me at the CL location.