Safeway Driving School

Negative experience: Unbelievably rude staff. I called before I came to confirm their hours. I showed up to register my 3 students and upon entry the man at the desk was attending a woman and her daughter. He didn't acknowledge us as we walked in, but I fully understood that he was busy. After they left, he called out "next." I approached the desk and said, "hi, I called earlier today.." he interrupted, looked at me rudely and said, "Yeah, you were supposed to be here 3 hours ago!" I said, "excuse me?"... He then repeated it, and I said "you must have me confused with someone else." He then said, "well whatever... What do you need?"... At that point, I had had enough. I beckoned my kids and we left and will NEVER return! I couldn't believe how absolutely unprofessional, brash, and unapologetically rude he was. Just unbelievable. I would NEVER recommend this place. Absolutely unacceptable AND he NEVER apologized for thinking I was someone that I wasn't.

Fantastic experience: I recently passed my road test, and I truly couldn’t have done it without Ms. Pam. From the very first lesson, she was patient, encouraging, and incredibly knowledgeable. What stood out to me most was how she explained everything so clearly—whether it was parallel parking, lane changes, or handling tricky intersections, knowing the right of way, she broke it down in a way that was easy to understand and apply. Ms. Pam also helped me build my confidence on the road. She never made me feel rushed or judged, even when I made mistakes. Instead, she calmly corrected me and helped me learn from them. Her positive attitude and dedication made every lesson a great experience. Thanks to her guidance, I not only passed my test but also feel confident and safe driving on my own. If you’re looking for an instructor who genuinely cares about your success and safety, I highly recommend Ms. Pam. Thank you again for everything!

Fantastic experience: I assume readers of this review are parents aiming to decide between Safeway and its competitors. So I hope this can help in that respect To summarize: my experience with Safeway has been phenomenal. I was incredibly nervous about driving, every staff member and instructor at Safeway approached my apprehension with great care, empathy, zero judgement, and a lot of support. Safeway's instructors, the lesson structure, and their overall friendliness and professionalism quickly bolstered my confidence in a manner NOTABLY superior to the other driving school I attended in the past. So I am very confident that for the vast majority of people, they will have a more effective, warm, and professional experience with Safeway versus any local alternative. The primary competitors as I can tell are as follows: The Driving Academy on Coldwater, Precision Driving, and the Black and Blue driving school on Jefferson Boulevard. Of those competitors, I only have personal experience with the Driving Academy. Regarding said experience, the most glaring difference between them and Safeway was professionalism. I will provide an example. To quote an email from the Driving Academy on Coldwater: "Hello, I have called you 3 times and listened to your long winded not so funny voicemail and it was full so I could not leave you a message. We have to schedule over the phone." While the exasperation they expresssed is certainly understandable, it is in my opinion quite unprofessional. I could never imagine anyone from Safeway conducting themselves like that, despite having even more justifiable reasons to do so with me. The significance of The Driving Academy's tone in that email is more important than it may seem. Since The Driving Academy expressed annoyance with me in such an oddly blunt way, a sense of contempt permeated all of the subsequent lessons. That, in turn, impacted my comfort level during the drive sessions - further compounding my nervousness. So, that is part of why I believe I progressed so much faster with Safeway versus the Driving Academy. Regarding Safeway's other competitors, I think the Google Reviews clearly indicate they are more effective. With 38 reviews, Safeway's 4.8 stars comes from a larger "sample size" then the ratings for any of their aforementioned competitors. With a sample of 27 reviews, Precision Driving has 3.8/5 stars. Knowing nothing else about Precision, that fact alone is enough for me to recommend Safeway over them. Likewise, Black and Blue driving school has a rating of 4.2/5, but with the smallest sample of only five reviews. So, to parents reading this, keep that fact in mind. Safeway has the most reviews, the largest sample size of feedback, out of all competitors in the area. This means they should arguably have a lower score as with more reviews, there are more opportunities to convey a bad experience. So, having the most reviews AND the highest star rating should on its own be a clear endorsement of Safeway's quality. And I hope this review can help contextualize why thats the case

Fantastic experience: Hey Josh lol this is Destiny but I just wanted to leave a good review & brag how exceptional this school is. Maddy did a wonderful job teaching the driving education class & Aiden, my instructor, makes me feel more than safe & comfortable while on the road. Josh always has good communication & calls very frequently to schedule lessons for me. The cars are clean & run very well! Everyone is always so nice & Josh stole one of my chicken nuggets yesterday. Nah I’m playing he asked, but yea definitely worth the $, & if I had children I would feel more than confident putting them through Safeway. 25 more hours to go! & I luckily get to take my licensing test through Safeway as well! Happy to learn how to drive here!

Fantastic experience: Pam and Josh were so amazing! I can say Pam helped me so so much. She was so sweet and genuine and she helped me progress a lot. I highly recommend Safeway! They also work with you financially.

Fantastic experience: With not many driving schools around Fort Wayne this company does the best they can. They are flexible with working around the kids school schedules as well. My daughter has been driving for 2 years safely, thanks to the two people that helped her feel comfortable behind the wheel! The owner is awesome! I did edit my original review after speaking with the owner and clarifying the events that took place years ago. Pam ended my daughter’s experience HORRIBLY! My daughter had two different driving instructors which were younger and closer to her age, so she felt like they were able to help her and made this experience enjoyable. Pam on the other hand, was horrible from the beginning to the end, and my daughter only had her once. They chose to give her someone she had never rode with the person to take her driving test with. Prior to the experience with Pam, I really enjoyed the place. But the unprofessionalism she displayed was unacceptable. I would recommend this place, if you can ensure that Pam is not the teacher for someone else’s 16 year old. My daughter passed, yet she came out in tears. This lady affected my daughter’s confidence with driving.

Fantastic experience: Pam is my instructor and she is very kind and I love having her to teach me she is very good at what she does and I highly recommend her ❤

Negative experience: Very unprofessional. Pam was the worst instructor I ever met. Josh didn't care of his clients. So if you ever need a good driving school, please don't enroll in Safeway. Go to other driving school if you are seeking professional and kind people and will teach you driving the proper way. Safeway is very terrible!

Fantastic experience: My daughter attended the class at Safeway Driving School. Betty does such an amazing job with engaging their minds and keeping them interested throughout the entire classroom program. My daughter now has driving lessons scheduled with Pam and she is absolutely AMAZING! My daughter was anxious at first to drive but Pam made sure she was relaxed behind the wheel while making the experience fun and interesting. I know that my child in great hands with Pam as her instructor. Pam has taught my daughter the fundamentals of driving with ease. She definitely feels comfortable and more confident after her first session. Thank you Pam for your professionalism and patience with her. I cannot recommend Pam and Safeway Driving School enough....I guarantee you will not find a better driving school in the area!!

Fantastic experience: The best driving school around. Everyone is very helpful and easy to work with. Pam Bohren was great with working around our schedule and very personable when driving with my son.

Fantastic experience: I really hope my daughter has this instructor every class. He gave me, the parent, feedback after class and told me how she did. My son went to this school and had it a figured out (he thinks) but my daughter wants instruction and hopes to have the same instructor. Pretty sure it’s the owner or one of them. She was impressed and so was I.

Negative experience: Great School

Fantastic experience: My son is feeling more comfortable on the road because of this marvelous experience ✨️ thank you

Fantastic experience: Josh & Pam are absolutely AWESOME!!!

Fantastic experience: I love it here, I've only had two lessons so far but I would recommend this place to anyone looking for driving lessons.

Fantastic experience: Great staff at Safeway driving school. Very knowledgeable and polite and professional. Would recommend to all people that are interested putting kids through driving school. Very reasonable price aswell.

Fantastic experience: I enjoyed the instructors they were very understanding and kind. And also helped me achieved my goal for 2021. Many blessings!

Fantastic experience: My Child took drivers Ed here. They were respectful and addressed my child by the name the choose to use rather than their birth name. They did a great job teaching and caring about my child. 10/10 would recommend.

Fantastic experience: Staff was pleasant! Service was wonderful!

Fantastic experience: I still intimidate friends & family with the driving skills/tips I learned from instructors @ Safeway Driving School.

Fantastic experience: I have a question and will be reaching out through email or by phone soon...I have a question, but let me start by saying I learned how to drive at a very old age, like 26 I think and they did great and great experience learning to drive and never learned....I also forgot the instructor name but the day I went to take the test and passed it was his birthday. But I still do not know how to drive on the highway. Can they teach me that? I paid to learn how to drive so I'm just wondering

Fantastic experience: Both of my sons have been through this school and had very good experiences with the place. It helps if your kids have had at least some experience behind the wheel before enrolling them (if possible) but even without that, they do a good job getting your kids out and behind the wheel.

Fantastic experience: Five of our kids have gone through Safeway. We have had nothing but great experiences with Safeway with all of our kids. The staff is friendly, flexible and have done a great job of teaching our kids how to drive. I highly recommend them!

Fantastic experience: They all are great people and are very polite. I am having a great experience learning to drive with them. Thanks for teaching me.

Fantastic experience: I loved the school.

Fantastic experience: Just passed my driving test 10 stars. Caleb

Fantastic experience: My daughter's experience was exceptional! Her driving instructor was laid back and wasn't hysterical like her mother, me, while taking a new driver out on the road. In the classroom they were able to be flexible whe she was sick.

Fantastic experience: Great school!

Fantastic experience: I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Safeway. The instructors are nice, patient, react well under pressure, and are personable! They take the time to get to know you, what you need to work out, and communicate to each other effectively to make sure you learn everything you need before your test. I took both the classes and the lessons through Safeway. The classes went by faster than expected, and they cover everything in your driver's manual in a concise way that doesn't overload you with information. There's a mixture of adults and teens in the classes, but for the most part the kids are respectful and don't goof off too much (guessing because they really want their licenses!). Basically- if you want to learn the correct and SAFE WAY to drive, this is the establishment for you. They want to see you succeed! Thank you Josh, Justin, Betty, Jim, Steve, and everyone that's a part of the Safeway Driving School team. You guys really helped me have a wonderful experience, calm my nerves, and actually enjoy driving! No more scared young lady on the road; Hello confident new driver! :D Again, cannot recommend them enough!

Fantastic experience: Everyone there from the staff to the instructors were great. Respectful, supportive, encouraging, everything and more. I couldn't have asked for a better school to have my son learn to drive. Also I must add that Denny, his instructor, was exceptional.

Fantastic experience: The teacher for the classroom is pretty lit.