Tibetan Driving Instructor

Negative experience: I debated whether to post this, but I believe people deserve to know. A few years ago, I booked my very first driving lesson with Sonam after seeing his car in my neighborhood. During the lesson, he acted extremely inappropriately. Since it was my first lesson, I wasn’t sure at first if his behavior was normal until it became undeniably unprofessional. I filed a police report immediately after getting out of the car, and he was arrested a few weeks later. To be in a car with someone who’s supposed to teach you, but instead violates that responsibility, is not only dangerous—it’s a betrayal of the trust and safety every student deserves. I chose not to follow the case further because I needed to focus on my life and healing. That said, I’m shocked to see he’s still in business. I stand firmly by my experience and hope this review helps someone make an informed decision. I genuinely hope he’s changed.

Negative experience: Update: He will bully you if you post a negative review. I am deleting my review.

Fantastic experience: Highly recommended. He is am very calm and positive person. He will motivate you a lot and gives you friendly environment.

Fantastic experience: I recommend coming here,my instructor sonam was responsive right away and also the price is reasonable with also being taught very well and he is very patient when coming to new comers i got my license in 3 months working with him,so thank you a lot.

Fantastic experience: Highly recommended! I passed my DT on first try because of all the learnings that Sonam, the instructor taught me. He is very patient and will teach you some techniques that is very useful during your DT. You will learn how to drive quick, defensively and confidently with Tibetan Driving Instructor.

Negative experience: Bad service you are on your own no support. Better you learn yourself with a friend than with him.

Fantastic experience: Good teaching technique and learned how to drive with proper training, very helpful and let me know what is necessary when driving Thank you Mr sonam

Fantastic experience: He is a great driving instructor. I had great time learning with him and he is very patient and calm and to the point always. I would recommend him to everyone who is trying to learn driving. P.S. I got my DL in first shot.

Fantastic experience: I totally 100% recommend driving instructor Sonam. He not only prepares you for the test, but also teaches you safe driving, and makes you feel confident in your driving skills. His teaching method is easy to follow, and not to mention—GREAT! I also felt safe driving the car with him beside me. Sooo glad that I took driving lessons from driving instructor Sonam!!

Fantastic experience: Highly recommend, he is very good driving teacher and helpful. Really appreciated, and thank you.

Fantastic experience: Sonam is a real professional! He is knowledgeable, patient, and an excellent instructor! He gave me valuable tips not only to pass the test but also to become a good/safe driver. I highly recommend Tibetan Driving Instructor!

Negative experience: Note: Two hours after I left this review he contacted me to schedule my son's 2nd session and he said he receives a lot of junk message and he has two cellphones number (which I was not aware) and I quoted him "One of this cellphones is always open therefore it showed text message were read" then went and say he will refund me (which I never asked for one) and I agreed but he changed and refused to give me a refund no even for the $50 one time fee I paid him. He wanted me to schedule a second session and said I had till 8pm to book it that day. I will not trust this guy or his lame excuses. He is not reliable and untrustworthy. He lied about not receiving my text and he lied about saying that I misunderstood him that he always reply to his students. Lets see what other excuses he comes up to now after updating my review. Be aware and I feel this driving instructor is just after your money. When I contacted him I wanted to first try 2 hours session and not the packaged that he has on line for $1k. My son had just one lesson the first week in April with him. When I first tried he was very responsive right away and we book our first lesson and he charged us total of $170 including the $50 one time charge when I asked he said it was the school fee. After that he told us it will be just $120 for 2 hours session. Then we booked right away his first lesson and paid in cash per his request. Once his first lesson was done he told my son he did good and that he was ready for the Next session to drive in the freeway since he had practices with us too. Then when I contacted to book next lesson he didn't reply via text but I could see that he read it. Then I asked my son to texted him and it took a while to replied but the only time he had available at 6AM on Saturday then my son told him that was too early for him but to book a different session either on weekdays or weekend even if it was going to be a littler further out in May/June but he never replied. I contacted him several times after that and he has completed ignored my message but I could see he read them. I am very disappointed, he is very unprofessional he could at least text me back if he was busy saying something but no one message. I asked my son if something had happened during the lesson and he said not that everything went well and he did like it. I found him because of his great reviews that he had on google but now I am thinking he just scam me wants to get that $50 one time fee. I was patient waiting for a reply but after several message I sent and no reply I feel the need to warm others about this. I will of course leave a Yelp review and will post on Nextdoor to see if someone else has the same issue as me. If he read this review he is welcome to contact me and perhaps explain to me why he has not reply to my text message.

Fantastic experience: I couldn't ask for a better instructor. He is excellent - patient, calm, gives clear instructions, encourages you with positive feedback and let you know that you can get better with some practice. When you are behind the wheels for the first time, you need instructor that are calm and patient. I passed the test. I felt like he taught me not just to pass the test but to become a good and safe driver. Thank you, Sonam la! I'm proud and happy to see that we have an amazing instructor from our own Himalayan community here in California. I highly recommend him for anyone looking to get their Driver license.

Fantastic experience: My son had a good driving experience at Tibetan. He took five early morning driver instructor sessions. Great communication between him and student(my son). Son passed his test, he now his DL. Thank you Tibetan, my daughter will be attending next.

Fantastic experience: Driving instructor Sonam La has incredible amount of patience and is inspirational. Charges are very reasonable and he is very flexible on rescheduling. I feel very comfortable learning from him, he never gives up on his student until they pass. Take his cdriving lessons, it is definitely worth it !

Fantastic experience: Instructor was truly professional and had no issue attaining my Driver's License with his guidance.

Fantastic experience: I was able to pass the behind the wheel test with no problem after his lesson. He thoroughly goes through the rules and regulation on how to drive. Calmly teaches you what you need to do in different situation. He knows the ins and outs of how the test will proceed. He has knowledge of what the instructor may ask. In short he exactly knows what you need to do in order to easily pass the test.

Fantastic experience: Very good instructor and nice person

Fantastic experience: friendly, patience, and professional instructor. I am happy to pass my test for first the attempt. Big thank you to his clear instructions and punctuality. Highly recommended!

Fantastic experience: Highly recommended for the beginners… thanks to his (Sonam La) sessions, I became more knowledgeable about safe driving and learned numerous tricks that aid in making the right moves.

Fantastic experience: Sonam was so helpful and so nice and a great teacher. his lessons were very helpful, and his instructions helped me prepare for the test.

Fantastic experience: Prior to Sonam I had a driving class taken from another instructor and I can clearly see the difference between them. As a new student driver patience is the key to feel confident about learning to drive and Sonam is a very patient teacher. No wonder I failed 3 times with the other instructor and with him it was a smooth experience and I passed at the first go I highly recommend him if you really want to pass the driving test. 5/5 period!!!

Fantastic experience: Sonam was a great instructor even though he was easy going. His tips are very very helpful in tests. I would recommend him. He will do his best to help his students pass the driving test. I passed the test thanks to his help. Thank you

Fantastic experience: Sonam is a great instructor, he is kind and patient. I like the way he taught, I learned different tips and the proper way to do certain maneuvers while driving in the street. He is everything you could look for a driving instructor. He’s passionate and will help you with anything you may not know.

Fantastic experience: Tenzin dechen I feel lucky myself to get learned a driving skill from him. Even though he had a tight schedule teaching back n forth to his students but he never failed to manage a schedule for me out from his busy schedule . I am so much thankful to him that I passed a driving skill test in the first attempt under his well guidance. I urge everyone to learn a driving from him because he is one of the best driving teacher you will ever get. No doubt you will get through your behind the wheel test in the first attempt .