Northwest Driving School Inc

Negative experience: writing this review late but as a recent review said, it was unclear where the car would be parked, after i finally found it i took the test, the driving instructor instructed me incorrectly, after i repeated his exact sentence twice to confirm i heard right he said “yes ?!???” as if i was being ridiculous, when i followed his instructions he then failed me for not “knowing better than to listen to his instructions literally” it’s your job to instruct literally. wasted my $75 because you can’t do your job right…

Negative experience: I did not have a good experience with this company. I arrived 5 minutes early to the appointment and looked for their car. The directions said the car would be “behind Jersey Mikes”. There was no company car behind Jersey Mikes so I went to the office which was closed and unstaffed . I called the main office and the lady said the car was on the north side of the parking lot and wouldn’t relay the message to the driver that i was trying to find him. I finally found the driver sitting in his car by this time I was late for the appointment and he was noticeably very frustrated with me for trying to use his company. He said “technically I don’t have to take you .” It did not feel like an encouraging environment to me. I live in Poulsbo but I’ll go somewhere else . I wouldn’t want to send my kids here.

Fantastic experience: I got my license easily after going through their program in 2019 and I was thinking recently about how I still use so many of the tips and tools that sam taught me to this day. Excellent program.

Fantastic experience: Did my Skills Test here, very professional and to the point.

Fantastic experience: Awesome classroom experience along with great drive instructors!

Negative experience: I signed up my twins last year to get a student discount but they did not honor that. In addition, we tried countless times to get ahold of them via phone and email and no response. And if that was not all, here a year later they are emailing my kids saying that we owe $350 each. Thankfully I have all my receipts that show we have no outstanding balances. Not only is this appalling but unethical to try to come back a year later to squeeze out money that doesn’t even belong to them. I Do Not Recommend them at all!!

Negative experience: Awful communication

Negative experience: Tester didn’t show up at the scheduled appointment time and there is no way to communicate with anyone who works here. Brilliant!

Negative experience: The driving instructors are fine, but the office does not communicate well to schedule driving appointments or tests.

Negative experience: Owner Tabitha is very unorganized. Company is ran very poorly by the owner Tabitha. Communication and filing is very poor. My daughter was instructed to take an exam at the Silverdale facility vice the one she’s registered in Poulsbo. Silverdale facility did not record her grade or file her parent documentation that was turned in. Tabitha booked my daughters drives on the wrong dates. This lack of attention to detail and organizational skills on her part led to my daughter and I have to take additional time off from work to complete a course that should of been finished 3 months ago. Tabitha has emailed and I’ve responded immediately to her when trying to schedule my daughters drives. Tabitha would then the same response stating that she deleted the email string and could I resend all previous requests. DON’T UTILIZE THIS DRIVIG SCHOOL! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!

Negative experience: Poor Communication and business practices. We had to withdraw from a class unexpectedly in July 2019 and called to confirm that our daughter could enroll in the next session. I was told that it was no problem, we have paid all fees. When I called to confirm times/dates for next session I was told that, though I’m fully paid, I failed to respond to an e-mail confirming enrollment and my daughter must be added to a waitlist. It’s January now, my daughter is 16-we show up for the January 2020 class and are told there is no room. She may come back in February and is still waitlisted. Classes for summer 2020 haven’t been announced yet, so can’t preemptively secure a spot for her there either, just in case we miss a third session. I cannot find any record of an e-mail, letter, phone call from NWDS informing me of any changes or further requirements to secure a spot in a future session after cancellation. This company has $500 mine since July 2019 and I will be lucky if my daughter is driving before she’s 17, December of 2020. There are no alternative options within 150 miles of where I live. It’s either NWDS or wait until she’s 18. Cool

Positive experience: Though I doubt you will find a more thorough and comprehensive driving school for teens, I was quite disappointed by one aspect of this school's curriculum. While I understand that the driver's education for kids' prime directive is to teach kids how to safely and legally navigate traffic and pass the DOL driving test, they lack in teaching kids how to handle the vehicle in every driving condition. What I am referring to, particularly, is that they do not in any way teach their students how to use side view mirrors to back the car up in reverse. While this skill may not apply to most conditions, my children (both of whom have just completed the course) are 100% completely unprepared to back a car up if they can not see through the back window. This condition exists when you have a station wagon with cargo in the back, a pickup truck with a load that obstructs the view, a panel van with no rear windows, a U-haul or other moving truck, the list goes on ad-infinitum. This issue became apparent when my now graduated and licensed daughter had difficulty backing up over a long distance in a straight line. I believe it is not reasonable to expect anyone to be able to perform such a maneuver without using the side view mirrors to be certain the car is aligned parallel to the driveway/alley etc. It baffles me how such a comprehensive school (requiring the kids to change spare tires, simulated tire blowouts, simulated hood popping open while driving etc. etc.) could miss such a crucial skill. To be fair, this school has a reputation among kids to be the toughest and most comprehensive school in the area, which I absolutely appreciate. I just wish it didn't require (after all that expense) supplemental education on my part in order for my teens to be able to simply back up a vehicle whose rear window is obstructed.

Fantastic experience: Very thorough with instructing in class and on drives, and they teach much more than other driving schools in the area.

Positive experience: Pros: Offers comprehensive drivers ed course, knowledge test, and skills test. Cons: Office does not pick up calls or return calls. Over a period of 5 hours I would call their office hoping to schedule an appointment, no one answered the calls and when I finally left a voice mail my call was never returned. I was only able to take my knowledge test because it is scheduled on a regular weekly basis. I scheduled my skills test in person, after taking the knowledge test.

Fantastic experience: Instructors were very nice and fun to be around. They were calm and didn’t get mad when you made a mistake, in fact one instructor always said, “don’t say sorry, oopsies!” Which always made me laugh. It’s a tough school but it’s good for us.

Fantastic experience: Teaches students the ins and outs of driving. Very welcoming environment with nice people on the job!

Fantastic experience: Great experience in the classroom and the drive car. I'm currently taking driver's ed here and the driving instructors are patient, approachable, very qualified and have a good sense of humor. Driver's ed is hard, but here they do everything in a good and professional manner. Though I would suggest you be semi-prepared with your drive schedules before scheduling with them. Rescheduling can sometimes be complicated and difficult to do. Overall a great driving school

Fantastic experience: This school gets you far more prepared for driving and passing the state tests than any other school around. Good curriculum and a lot of drive time, which is also easy to schedule.

Fantastic experience: Great driving school!

Fantastic experience: My daughter came to take her written test for the DOL. The administrator was honest, competent and relaxed. After she passed the written test, she was able to schedule a drive test on the same day. NDS is very flexible and much easier to work with than the DOL.

Fantastic experience: I had a great experience here. It's now ten years ago that I learned to drive at the Northwest driving School, and I still remember the good advice that Rick gave me. Also now that I'm a teacher, I can really appreciate how dynamic his classroom presence was. I was so afraid to learn to drive back in the day, but the people here were patient and confident with me.

Fantastic experience: The best driving school in Kitsap County by far.

Positive experience: My daughter is learning so much and is feeling more confident.

Negative experience: Driver didn't even show up for test

Negative experience: A huge lack of communication with this agency! They either cancel drives, or say your kid has to come back another time because some other kid misses a drive. They don't return phone calls and don't have any respect for anyone's schedule.

Negative experience: Have called a total of 20 times so far at varying times of the past couple of days and somehow they lack the professionalism to pick up any of these calls for the first couple of times and now their mailbox is full which is just great.