Joda Collins' Driving Academy

Behind-the-wheel training. Driver Training. Driver's Training.

I do not pay agencies to get rid of negative reviews, nor buy fake positive reviews from those who sell them in bulk, nor give discounts in exchange for positive reviews, or ask my friends to write bogus positive reviews.  When you see a business with 100% positive reviews, be suspect. Jesus was absolutely perfect, but even he did not get 100% positive reviews.      

Some web sites do not allow a business owner to respond in print!   The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the accused the right to know, face and cross-examine his accusers.  This fundamental right is denied business owners as anyone under any name or no name at all can accuse a business of anything without fear of repercussions to the accuser for misrepresentation.                                     

In 17+-years of service, training more than 2,300 drivers and working for more than 3,400 parents/spouses (6,700 people in total) I have, at last count, 18 negative reviews, an average of about one per year.  I usually get a five-star or a one-star review.  When a student drives in an unsafe manner, I correct them.  Those too arrogant to make an attempt to correct their deadly driving, receive strong confrontation from me to do so.  Those are, mostly, the one-star reviews.     

Yelp has 22 reviews.  Two are negative and 20 are overwhelmingly positive though Yelp did not grant any stars for the positive reviews. Yelp scored me one-star stating the 20 overwhelmingly positive reviews do not meet their criteria for consideration because, I was told, "Those people have not commented enough on Yelp to be considered trustworthy by Yelp standards!"  So, my Yelp star rating is artificially and wrongly, low.  Twenty, overwhelmingly positive (five-star I assume) reviews and two, one-star reviews is 4.6, not one.      

Elsewhere, four negative reviews use full names of people I have never met. I suspect they are the same people that criticized me but are lying about their names so they can take additional jabs at me.

I am sure one negative review comes from an impetuous man behind me in a hot-rod pickup at a stop sign honking his horn (it appeared the day after the event).  I did not make a right turn from a residential area into 5PM congested and fast approaching oncoming traffic on Hwy 90 quick enough for him.  I knew this from his incessant horn honking.     

One is from a woman who took offense because I attributed her son's very dangerous driving to his severe ADHD.  Her son posted his dislike that I was able to identify his severe ADHD that he tried to hide. Both the driver and the mother took offense in a highly childish manner.  I knew this immediately but finished the lesson anyway and added fifteen free minutes in an attempt to try to satisfy them.  Unable to do so, even with my best and extra effort, unsolicited, I returned 100% of her payment to her including a significant travel fee and toll bridge charges to another city.  No, "Thank You," followed from either of them.   All I got for the  1.5-hours of unpaid training and unpaid door-to-door service was a bad attitude from two childish people, a slammed car door by the driver at the end of training, and two negative reviews; one stating that I said I knew more about ADHD than all the doctors in the world, which I never said.  Some people are just nuts vailed in flesh.     

One negative report came from a teenager who appeared to be on drugs when we first met. She was argumentative and irrational from the start. I let her know she needed to calm down and quit verbally attacking me or I would not serve her nor allow her to be behind-the-wheel of my car. She ignored my request and continued in her out of control rage-behavior, so as gracefully as I could, I excused myself from that toxic individual.                   

That leaves eight negative reviews out of about 4,500 people I have done business with, as students, parents, or spouses, in my 17+ years of business. That is a negative review of one out of every 562 people.      

Part of my contractual agreement with everyone I serve is they promise to give me an opportunity to make them happy by telling me their concern BEFORE criticizing me on social media.  None of those who wrote negatively about me on social media honored their word to do so.  That makes their character, judgment, honesty and credibility suspect, not mine. Consider the source!     

By any business or personal standard, one negative person out of every 562 served is a highly respectable record. Also, some people only feel good about themselves when they slander, liable, ridicule and complain about others. We all know such people.

In addition to that, 4 to 6% of Americans, by the standards of the American Psychological Association, qualify as mentally unbalanced (narcissists, psychopaths, sociopaths and/or having Oppositional Defiant Disorder). Four percent of the 4,500 I have served is 180. By that standard, I am significantly successful at working, even, with mentally deranged people.     

I am a Christian man, served as a caring and gracious pastor for more than      22-years, and am a long-time affiliate with the BBB with a consistent A+ BBB rating for my business.     

I only ask for payment for the first lesson to start with. If you (the client or the student) find me repulsive or my teaching unacceptable, stop the lesson before the 30-minute mark and ask for your money back. You will get it mailed or charged back within 24-hours, excluding any door-to-door fees.  EXCEPTIONS:  No refund if training is State or Court mandated, or paid for by any agency, or the student-driver is enrolled in the Pass the State Driving Exam Only Course since I can often teach a new driver to pass the State exam in one lesson.  This offer is for lesson one, only. 

Most of my students are teenagers.  Some come to me mad at me, their parents and the world, because their parents are making them take driver training.  I am not always successful at helping young/immature people overcome their bad, condescending attitude.  Those that do not overcome their bad attitude rejoice to slam me on social media as fast as they can and with as much venom as they can muster because they are convinced they are great drivers when they are not, believe they have nothing to learn from anyone, including me, resent being told they drive in any manner short of perfection, and because I do not allow them to drive dangerously without correction.                              ​

Some of my students are deemed too dangerous, by the State, to be allowed to keep their license without professional safe-driver training and required to take four-hours of driver training in order to keep or regain their driver license.  Many of them come to me with a boiling hate for the State and for me.  Like the young immature, they have never matured and after four-hours of giving me a hard time, they love to go on social media and rant about me.     

When you read such rants of those who criticize me, thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt by realizing the source might be poisoned.                                       

I am easy to get along with as long as the student-driver is not determined to try kill me on the open road by ignoring my instructions for safer driving or treat me with obvious and unrelenting disrespect because I refused to be their personal spittoon.         

    12.  I (Joda Collins) do all of the training.  I drove bob-tail truck for 10-years, package delivery truck for UPS, 18-wheeler, 27-foot motor home with vehicle in tow, 15-passenger military transport vehicle (in the US Air Force), and as a chauffeur.  I have provided more than 10,000 hours of driver training instruction to more than 3,000 student-drivers covering more than 245,000 crash-free student-driver miles in my training vehicle except for one super light bump in the rear from a driver who tapped us when we were stopped at a traffic light while she (the other driver) was texting; no damage and not a mark on my car.                                                                    13.  I will not teach a student that is committed to not following my directions if they do not like them or disagree with me.  I will not put my life, the life of my driver or the lives of others around us at unnecessary and excessive risk just because a driver is convinced, he or she is the final authority behind-the-wheel with me in the passenger's side.                             14. I will not serve people that will not honor their contractual commitment to me.  

​You can copy and paste from this website if doing so will make the content easier to read.  I will mail (US Postal Service) a paper copy of anything on my website, upon request. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

CALENDAR OF AVAILABLE       START DATES/TIMES      1.  Up to two-hour lessons: Select any time in                   any color unless you are otherwise directed.

2.  This is for 3/3 Drivers ONLY. If you do not           know what a 3/3 driver is, you are not one,         so go to #3.  You cannot schedule sooner             than eight days after I receive your payment,         any other day but on a Tue, Wed or Thurs,             any start time other than an 11am time noted         in purple print, nor train for any period of time       except one four-hour session, if you want to           avoid additional charges.

4.  This is NOT an interactive page.  You                cannot click on a time or sign anything on this       web site.  Request via email to                               [email protected] your desired time and           corresponding date from the list below.           5.  The best way to learn to drive at night is to         train at night. 

​Please read everything above before selecting an appointment.  Appointments, once requested in accordance with directions above, must be confirmed.

Monday is my only day off.  I am a Baptist preacher, and I am in church much of every Sunday.  Sunday is not a day off for me. I will work on Monday to accommodate client's and/or drivers with no other good option, but there is a 6% surcharge for Monday appointments in an attempt to best protect my health.  Working on a Monday = 13 days without a day off.​​

Oct 14, 17, 18, 22, 24-29, and Oct 31 through December 23, 2025.            Tuesday:  10:30am, 11am, 12noon, 1pm,                                 2pm, 7:30pm.​            Wed, Thurs, Friday:  10:30am, 11am, any                             start time between 12noon and 8:45pm.            Saturday:  10:30am, 11am, and any start time                          between 12 noon and 8:45pm.  Must be                          finished not later than 10pm.

Disclaimer:  Because driving sessions can be                      between one and four-hours, this schedule may            not always accommodate every possible lesson            length.

Please read everything in this column before scheduling.  Questions? Just ask via phone (850 981-3355) or email ([email protected]).  Thank you!​​

​My Specialty is Defensive Driving.       I have driven/trained for 1.4 million miles, including 18-wheeler, bob-tail truck, six-by 15-passenger military transport vehicle, motor homes with trailers, UPS Package delivery truck, as a chauffeur and a driving Instructor and developed safe-defensive driving skills at the highest level.   

    I do all of the training.   I have provided more than 10,000 hours of driver training instruction to more than 2,300 student-drivers covering more than 250,000 crash-free student-driver miles in my training vehicle except for one super light bump in the rear from a driver who tapped us when we were stopped at a traffic light; no damage and not a mark on either vehicle.   

      However, I try to avoid serving narcissists, psychopaths, sociopaths, the super immature, and those with a psychological mindset of entitlement (everyone owes them everything because they consider themselves at the center of the Universe and everyone else existing only to praise and please them, no matter what).   

     I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.  So far, out of more than 2,300 student applications, I have only refused service to eleven.  I should have refused service to fourteen, but I learned. 

       Very few driving instructors have the vast experience behind-the-wheel that I have. And, driving instructors come and  go often.  Very few have trained 2,300 drivers!  ​