Hampshire Driving School LLC

Positive experience: I’ve noticed a lot of the negative reviews for this place have been from years and years and years ago, so I just wanted to post one that’s far more recent as a student who is currently taking and finishing their classes here. I can’t speak on the negative reviews from years ago and everyone’s experience is different, I’d like to say the overall experience as a student here was one that I found enjoyable and honestly valuable. That’s not to say this school doesn’t have its short comings hence the 4 instead of 5 stars. I’ll start with some of the cons. The room is extremely small, almost cramped. You feel like a can of sardines in there when it’s a completely booked class, and it doesn’t help that you have to sit in the tiniest most uncomfortable chairs and that the classes are 2 hours. It is in a “rough” area and there’s a bar next to the school so depending on the time your classes are you just hear loud music, people singing. It’s slightly entertaining but it is a little annoying in the middle of a class. However that’s outside the schools control so there’s only so much anyone can do about it. I do find it a bit odd that you can only miss 2 classes before getting kicked out without a refund I think that’s unreasonable especially when some students have jobs and can’t always make it to a class. The cars you drive are serviceable but you can tell they’re old, one of the cars I was in literally had one of the door handles broken in half. Now for the pros, and in my opinion the pros far outweigh the cons. If you are serious about learning to drive, and you want to learn, this place will get you there. The information you learn here is genuinely useful, and applicable which is the most important. It helps a ton that my instructor would have me apply what we learned in class on the road. My instructor was very patient, very kind, very constructive, and he was funny. It helped made me feel comfortable. I KNEW he was giving me useful information so it allowed me to trust my instructor. I can’t speak on all instructors and some people simply get along with different instructors, but Mr. Eckman was amazing. I went from someone who was sweating bullets, at just the thought of getting behind the wheel, someone who had never driven before in my life, to feeling more confident in myself and believing in myself at the end of each lesson thanks to him. You WILL learn by taking these classes. There is homework but as long as you’re on top of it, it shouldn’t be a problem it takes 15-30 minutes max to complete when you get home and you can submit it through email for convenience. If you don’t do it my teacher was really lenient and forgiving on people who had even been missing week 1 homework when we were in week 4. Don’t take advantage of that though, do your homework. In general, it’s not the most glamorous school, you don’t get the most glamorous materials or hardware, but the information you learn is valuable, it’s applicable, the instructors are patient and care about the students, they’re humorous so even when a class feels super dull you can tell they make the effort to make it interesting, and you will come out of this a better driver I think if you’re willing to push through it. I hope this helped someone!

Negative experience: litter boxes and cigarette stench.. if you’re allergic to cats i wouldn’t recommend because there’s a cat that comes in from time to time. for the price of drivers ed, you would expect more. especially after paying a non refundable $800+ deposit..

Fantastic experience: Great place to get your license! Wonderful instructors who care about what you learn !

Negative experience: I went here last year for my drivers education and the place was an awful experience for me. The building is so small and the classroom inside is like a preschool. They have those types of desks that are connected with a chair and so me being a tall person, it was so cramped and uncomfortable to sit in for two hours. The instructors are terrible and one of them smelt like cigarettes while I was driving in the car. One day I had trouble pulling a handle in the car and the instructor just laughed at me for 2 minutes straight without helping me. During the time I was in my class, the person who teaches the class made an uncomfortable conversation about politics and race. There is also a stupid limit that we can't miss class more than 2 times or we get kicked out even though I paid $700 for it which is unbelievable. All of my friends at NHSN say its not that good and honestly I believe that.

Negative experience: I went here in the early 2000s for drivers Ed, and per the reviews it seems that a lot of the same nonsense I experienced back then is still going on. A lot of the driving instructors were rude, disrespectful and obnoxious, and a number of them discussed how they had previously lost their drivers licenses for various reasons and/or were recovering alcoholics - not exactly the kind of people you want teaching kids, never mind doing in-car driving instruction. The “classroom” is dirty and run down. When I went there, there was some sort of dance club next door that was always blaring its music throughout the classes, which made everything even less pleasant. The cars we drove for instruction were all at least 10-15 years old, and not in the greatest condition. There were all sorts of extra fees and charges for every single little thing. They made it hard to schedule driving time, and god forbid you miss any of the driving hours because of scheduling conflicts etc. They get away with all of this because there’s not much other competition in town…but I would stay far away if I could.