The only reason I booked driving lessons with driving academy was because I was on a time limit and I had run out of time to book anywhere else. I regret my choice and I wish I had just waited a couple more months. The first driving instructor I had was Samson. He was alright. No real complaints there. The only problem was he only worked Thursdays and Fridays. The second driving instructor I had was Joe. I had about 9 lessons with him and every single lesson, he talked about how much he needed to use the bathroom (too much information) and how bad drivers are. One lesson, we actually had to stop so he could use the bathroom which was annoying because I had paid a lot of money for those lessons. Twice, the car had no petrol in the tank (the light was on) and he did nothing about it. The car was in need of a service. When we were marking off the u turn competency, I only go to do a couple of u turns. For all the others, he told me to let go of the wheel and did them himself from the passenger seat!! The worst thing he did, though, was when I was driving, we were about to go through a green light (travelling at 80kmh) , however the light turned yellow just as we were about to reach it. I had decided it would be unsafe to stop as we were WAY too close. However, he slammed on the brakes, saying we’d never make it. If there was a car behind us, they would have run into us! There is a reason the light goes yellow first. WE WERE WAY TO CLOSE TO DO THAT!!! The only reason I gave two stars instead of one was because I felt I wasn’t being fair to Samson, who was an ok instructor, just not available on the right days. Stay away from this place, and especially from Joe. I hated every minute of the lessons because of him. Read Less

Instructional standard apparently varies immensely with instructors. I have tried 2 of them and gave up. Joe Koren - Obviously drags out lessons, doesn't teach tips or summarize mistakes made, makes sweeping and not specific statements to fail each competency assessment, always late for lessons, wastes expensive lesson time to refill petrol or visit toilets. Apparently has a student with more than 40 plus hours and not yet done. Speaks a lot about the quality of instruction and how the students are being milked. After speaking to friends who were instructed by him, it turns out that he is one of the most unpopular instructors at the NDA. Stephen Jones - Had a couple of lessons and HE was driving most of the time. $78 dollars for him to drive me around Canberra is not a good deal. In the end, I re-learnt everything with a much more competent independent instructor who actually value-added my driving techniques with each lesson. Although, I had many bad habits that I learnt from previous NDA instructors to break away from. Frankly, it is not even about the money or time (though it counts), its about the eventual competence, confidence, habits and safety of the learner driver. I wouldn't even give a star if had the option. Read Less