Safestway Driving School

Negative experience: I was really disappointed with the customer service and overall experience we had with Safestway Driving School. The staff were very nice when I originally scheduled lessons, but the lack of communication with their driving instructor—and the outright lies they used as excuses for issues—was unprofessional and inexcusable. The instructor was a few minutes late to previous sessions, which I let slide. However, one session had major miscommunication about the date and time. When I scheduled the lesson, I wrote down and believed it was confirmed for 3 p.m. They did send a text reminder beforehand, but I didn’t check it. The instructor showed up at 1 p.m., and my son wasn’t ready. I immediately called and told him there was a mix-up, but my son would get ready quickly. He was outside within five minutes, yet I noticed on my Ring camera that they sat in the driveway for over 20 minutes. I called to find out what was going on and was told the instructor was waiting for payment. Since the lesson started earlier than expected, neither my husband nor I were home, and my son was trying to get payment info over the phone. If the instructor had allowed payment afterward, 30 minutes of driving time wouldn’t have been wasted. I admitted my mistake in not checking the text confirmation, but given the circumstances, it was unreasonable for them to refuse to make up at least some of that lost time—especially since most of it was wasted waiting for payment that would have been ready at 3 p.m. as we believed. Later on, I noticed on my Ring camera that the instructor was late again. I called the school, and they blamed traffic. He arrived about 5 minutes late, but what bothered me more was that my son was dropped off 15 minutes early. I reached out to Safestway, pointing out that 20 minutes of instruction time was lost. They said they would make up only 5 minutes of it and claimed my son had told the instructor he was “too tired to continue,” which is why the lesson ended early. I checked with my son, and he was shocked. He said the instructor told him they’d be arriving home a bit early and asked if that was okay—thinking it would be just a few minutes, my son said yes. He never once said he was tired, and the claim that the instructor asked him “several times” was a complete fabrication. On top of that, the instructor falsely told my son that I wasn’t returning their calls to reschedule an upcoming lesson, even though I had already called and rescheduled two days prior. After all of this, I contacted Safestway, explained my frustration, and requested a refund for the remaining lessons. They apologized and issued the refund. Two days later, while I was outside, the instructor pulled up to the house, apparently unaware that I had canceled the rest of the lessons. When I told him, he seemed surprised. This just proved how poor their communication is. Driving lessons are expensive, and the fact that they cut corners on time and then fabricated a lie to put blame on my son is unacceptable. My son even mentioned multiple times that the instructor wanted me to write good reviews for him. Unfortunately, given our experience, I cannot do that.

Fantastic experience: Safestway is great. 4th time using them for my kids. On time, well prepared vehicles, instructors who help anxious, uncertain teens gain the confidence they need. Youngest had a refresher and a go through for the driven test at DMV Concord two weeks prior. She passed on first attempt today. They are local, responsive and Steve was great. Highly recommend......but you've still got to survive the 50 hrs of driving witj your kid....buckle up.

Fantastic experience: Bob was the goat, helped me a lot

Fantastic experience: My instructor was AWESOME. I believe her name was Lynn. She was very helpful. I would recommend this driving school to anyone. Now that I took a class they will let me use their vehicle for my road test in March. Very very pleased. Thank you safestway!!

Fantastic experience: I took a driving lesson with Brent from Safest Way and would recommend Brent to other new drivers! Brent was kind, a very experienced driver and super helpful! If I could give Brent 10 stars I would!