Local Driving School

Berkeley, United States

3.9

20 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 510-235-5500
Website:
localdriving.com
Address:
738 Gilman St, Berkeley, CA, 94710
b/t 4th St & 5th St
West Berkeley
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Today

Today 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Local time (Berkeley) –

Business hours

Monday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Thursday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Friday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Description

Specialties

We have over 15 years of experience in teaching driving skills. We have taught people starting at the age of 15 ½ to over 70 years of age.

Our specialization includes Driver Education and Driver Training (behind-​the-​wheel training) for teens (15 ½ +) and all adults.

Our school and instructions are Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) licensed and approved. Benefits that we provide to you are friendly and helpful staff, competitive rates and free pick-​up and drop-​off services. Local Driving School uses new 2007 Toyota Prius. They are dual-​controlled cars to ensure your comfort and safety.

Our school and instructions are Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) licensed and approved. Benefits that we provide to you are friendly and helpful staff, competitive rates and free pick-​up and drop-​off services.

History

Established in 2003.

Local Driving School started in 2003 in the East Bay Area including Yuba City & Sutter

Meet the Business Owner

Mani S.

Business Owner

Mani Sondhi, the owner and operator of Local Driving School has pursued this profession for fourteen years. Mani enjoys being able to help customers get their license, teach them about safety tips, and about the rules and regulations of the road. He studied at San Francisco State University and majored in business. His free time is spent enjoying time with his family. A few of Manish’s hobbies include traveling and playing tennis.

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20 reviews of Local Driving School

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Richmond, CA
Thorough! It’s just 1 way to describe Manny. I called another school and never got a call back after I left them a message. So I called, spoke to a very nice young lady who put me through to Manny. He not only answered my questions and concerns but made the process painless.
They offer different prices depending on the individual and Manny helped me with getting the right 1 for my daughter. I have the dates for the lessons ready and the test date also.
Thank you so much Manny
Place rating: 2
Oakland, CA
Pros: This driving school is great in terms of price. No one can possibly beat the great prices that they have, which made me go to the school in the first place. So if you want to save money on driving lessons this is the place to go. Another thing I liked is the evaluation that they send to you after the driving lesson to let you know what you need to work on. I also liked the online site that they have. Cons: The first is the driver instructor showed up in a unmark car, no logo, no nothing which is creepy. I think it would be better to let other drivers know that this is a student driver behind the wheel of a car rather than showing up with no type of signs on the car. Second the driver instructor I had was a little bit intimidating. For future reference you may not want to yell out things such as «You’re going to lose your neck if you don’t hurry» at a new driver with no experience. Making new drivers at ease behind the wheel should be apart of the job, instead of making them feel as if they are going to die. It was just uncomfortable. Plus the guy was on his phone the whole entire time which creep me out seeing it was my first time driving.
Place rating: 3
Emeryville, CA
Their web site and front office are a bit of a mess. I got charged three times trying to sign up my daughter. (easily fixed with the credit card company) because the site was broken, they got her name spelled wrong, and bungled one appointment.
My daughter had two instructors. Steve was awesome: helpful, friendly, and competent. The guy she got the day he was unavailable played Christian Rock (just as awful as it sounds) through the whole lesson and payed more attention to his phone than my daughter. Except when he was asking for local restaurant recommendations.
So moderate your expectations, allow time, and ask for Steve. It should work out OK.
Place rating: 1
Walnut Creek, CA
My wife is fairly new to driving and signed up for driving lessons with local driving school. She was able to pass the DMV driving test. BUT none of her classes included freeway driving. When I asked the owner about it, he simply treated it as a trivial question and said the instructor probably did not take her on a freeway because of safety reasons and he might have felt she isn’t quite ready yet to drive on a freeway! The instructor NEVER mentioned this to her during any of the classes and she also passed the driving test. So now, she is forced to go somewhere else and take lessons for freeway driving! Please ask and confirm what the lessons would cover before you sign up!
If that’s the case why wouldn’t you mention that to the student during the lessons? Nothing of this sort was brought up during the classes and you brought this up only after the completion. Is this fair?
Place rating: 1
Berkeley, CA
SIgned up with them and had my daughter take first lesson. Ricky played with his phone and gave little instruction, had her take him buy some Ethiopian bread. I called to schedule second lesson and informed woman on the phone that I did not want same instructor as before to which she replied «we have had MANY complaints about Ricky. Scheduled an appointment for Monday at 2:30… no show, no answer when I called. Next day they sent guess who? Ricky. Basically same effort despite my direct discussion with him about safe driving, freeway etc.
Place rating: 4
Stanford, CA
Passed my test on my first try at Walnut Creek DMV after taking two lessons with Steve.
Steve was friendly and patient throughout the lessons. It was easy to ask him any questions and he was very nice about accommodating my needs. I particularly appreciated being able to practice additional driving skills that wouldn’t be on the DMV test (such as freeway driving).
It would have been nice if the lessons started right on time as scheduled (I usually had to wait about 5 – 10 minutes). I guess this is understandable as it’s probably not uncommon for students to show up late so the instructor probably just factors that in.
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
Definitely ask for Steve!
I just had a class with Steve, and he is an outstanding instructor!
Steven is very patient yet very clear about safety, professional but also very friendly and he makes the whole two hours a truly enjoyable experience. He is also very knowledgeable about the different DMVs as well as their respective examiners. Steven gave me a run-​down of what examiners (at the Oakland Claremont DMV) would look for and the specific roads where the test might take place — I’m definitely less nervous about taking the test now.
I would have to say that your experience will depend greatly on the instructor that you get — and that might be obvious from the polar opposite reviews on this school. The first instructor I had (not Steve) spent more than half of the lesson on his phone, hardly answered any of my questions and just had me drive up and down very long roads — not useful at all!
So please make sure you ask for the best: i.e. Steve — I also hear that Vincent is a good instructor. The owner, Mani, is also incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, and you may have a chance to talk to him over the phone when you book an appointment.
Anyways, keep up the good work Local Driving School and thanks!
Place rating: 5
Pinole, CA
I was very nervous about driving, but my instructor was patient, supportive, and offered great advice. Going into my driving exam, I was confident and passed after my first try!
I highly recommend Local Driving School!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
I had such an awesome few weeks with Local Driving School! My driving instructor was patient, kind, and a great teacher. I highly recommend them!
Place rating: 5
Kensington, CA
I had Ricky today and he was marvelous. For my first lesson we covered a ton of ground and he even took me on the freeway. He’s a nice and interesting guy and you learn a lot while having a good time. I definitely recommend him.
Place rating: 5
San Pablo, CA
Great school. I really enjoyed the class I learned a lot. Manny was a great instructor he really knows a lot about driving. I would highly recommend this school to everyone
Place rating: 5
Emeryville, CA
I took my wife here for help to get her passed her driving behind the wheel test and we went to this driving school as our last I had given up after about a month of driving with her I could not teach my wife anything I kept blaming her as a bad driver but it turned out I was a bad teacher! Because after going to this driving school within two weeks she was ready to take her test and she passed without a problem.
The driving instructor was a awesome guy also with their prices were fair and their schedule also flexible what else could you ask for five stars all the way!
Place rating: 5
Rodeo, CA
Friendly, safe and professional. Goes above and beyond for their customers. Really appreciate your personalized service and would highly recommend to my friends and family. See you next time when my youngest starts driving :). Thank you!
Place rating: 1
Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA
Felt like my instructor was just trying to waste time. He was on the phone for a good quarter of lesson and simply had me drive in circles while he talked to his friend.
Would not recommend this place. Check out another driving school — they may cost more money in terms of hourly rates but you’ll definitely learn more. That in itself will save you money (you won’t need to take as many classes to learn how to drive.)
Place rating: 4
Hercules, CA
My twins just started taking lessons. We like the school. Our instructor John is great. Looking forward to the next lesson.
Place rating: 4
Berkeley, CA
Making the appointment in the beginning was a bit odd, few miss undersandings but since my lesson with steven every thing got better. He was professional and calm, followed my speed, didn‘t rush me or held me back.
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
I signed my teenage son up for the 3-​lesson package to prepare him for his driving test. We are just weeks away from the test date and I am confident, as is my son, that he’ll easily pass the test and be rewarded with his drivers license!
Manny who handled the scheduling is super-​friendly and always provided as close to the times we asked for as possible ~ and sometimes I only gave them a couple of days’ notice before scheduling. Ricardo and Steve have each worked with my son during the 2-​hour driving sessions and he’s come back glowing about having learned a ton in each session ~ and said the 2 hours flew by. Which is interesting for someone who doesn’t usually take to «strangers» that quickly. He felt completely comfortable with each teacher… both with their teaching styles and the amount of information and guidance they shared with him, as well as how easily and well they related to him.
I can’t say enough positive things about Local Driving School. Almost all of my son’s friends have signed up with them as well! There will be a lot of excellent, safe drivers on the road because of Manny, Ricardo, Steve and the rest of the Local Driving School team!
Place rating: 2
Albany, CA
I took 6 hours of driving school with local driving. My first teacher showed up in an unmarked Nissan Versa (very shady), but my other one showed up in a big Prius with Local Driving School marked on the side (better).
Good: the cheapest possible driving lessons in the east bay, and they give you a call reminder 24hrs before.
Okay: the teachers are selectively professional, tend to be hit or miss. websites are confusing. you have to call in to change your address if your billing address is different from your real address. you have to call in to get appointments sooner than 2 weeks in advance. their website doesn’t advertise weekend lessons, but saturday ones do exist.
Ugly: the website doesn’t default to ssl, so people spying on your wifi can steal your credit card details by default (you can fix this by prepending ‘https://’ to the beginning of the url). drivers all showed up in weird times, 30m early or late every time.
Place rating: 5
Woodland, CA
I had an awesome instructor!!! My instructor was Steven, who was very patient, friendly and more. I took three lessons and all of them were successful. Never had an instructor who was as calm and laid back as him EVER! He’s just awesome!!! Most importantly I learned alot!!! Thankksssssssss
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
I just passed my driving test, thanks to Ricardo from the Local Driving School! YAY
I had driving lessons before but had such a bad experience that I turned into a very scared and nervous driver.
My first lesson with Ric took all that away, he’s incredibly patient, friendly, laid back but most of all safe.
I had 6 driving lessons and in that time I was more than ready for my test.
They use a Toyota Prius, which is very safe and super easy to drive!
Anyway, I thoroughly recommend them!