It might be hard to believe, but I am solely speaking from experience. With that being said, I read the reviews before calling Allied Driving School. The reviews were good and bad. I decided to call them because, in my city and cities near by no one was offering stick shift lessons. I had plenty of friends and family members willing to teach me but I decided I wanted to learn from someone with patience and experience. I called and someone friendly picked up so I scheduled an appointment. I was nervous but went in with a open mind. Best believe my instructor Jerry was very friendly and had lots of patience. Little did I know Jerry had a 30 year history of teaching students to drive. I gave him a few scares while driving here and there, but Jerry remained calm and encouraged me to not give up. I remember reading the reviews and frequently reading that, that students felt like the instructors always wanted to push for more hours. I would make my appointments for 3 hours at a time, because it seemed logical since I was about 45 minutes away without traffic. I took 3 classes on 3 different occasions. After every course Jerry gave me feedback, which I needed and was open to criticism. On the 3rd class I was planning on taking another 3 hours but Jerry felt that 2 hours were enough. Jerry felt confident in what I had learned in the previous classes and how I was driving. What I'm trying to say is that it never felt like the instructor was pressuring me to take classes I didn't need. The instructor simply wanted me to be a good stick shift driver. I highly recommend Allied Driving School to anyone who wants to learn to drive and is hesitant. Trust me it's worth the drive, I learned a lot. Such a humbling experience. Read Less

I had overweight gentleman,  who did not help at all.  Before we even started, he suggested I needed more lessons.  He basically gave me  a 2 hr. driving test.  He even raised his voice at one point.  He only gave me critique after lesson.   I expected lesson not test.   Being the first lesson, I did not know what to expect.    I decided to try another school, I found on yelp.   Huge difference.  I would not recommend this person or school to anyone.It may be this person, as I see other positive reviews, but mine was not. Read Less

Signed my son up for the teenage driving couse, Customer service on the phone was polite. The scheduling of driving lessons was scheduled at our convinience and worked really well with our schedule. The driving instructor was Gary . According to my son he made just the right amount of small talk and had great advice and tips to share. After the third lesson we received the certificat of completion to present at the DMV once he is ready to take his driving test. The price was comparable to another driving school I has looked into. All in all the school is what we expected. You can't expect to walk away an expert driver. It takes practice. Read Less

The staff at this company are absolutely negligent! I received a phone call from who I now assume was the instructor around the time of my appointment but they asked for someone named Fiona and when I asked him to repeat himself he quickly said "wrong number!" And hung up. When I realized who it might have been who called me I checked outside and there was no car there. A month after speaking with a rude and disgruntled receptionist who grudgingly assured me that I shouldn't be billed I received a $160 missed appointment fee. I am disgusted by the unprofessionalism greed, and incompetence of the employees of this company. Please save yourself the stress and money and try a different driving school. Read Less

The staff at this company are absolutely negligent! I received a phone call from who I now assume was the instructor around the time of my appointment but they asked for someone named Fiona and when I asked him to repeat himself he quickly said "wrong number!" And hung up. When I realized who it might have been who called me I checked outside and there was no car there.A month after speaking with a rude and disgruntled receptionist who grudgingly assured me that I shouldn't be billed I received a $160 missed appointment fee. I am disgusted by the unprofessionalism greed, and incompetence of the employees of this company. Please save yourself the stress and money and try a different driving school. Read Less

i booked a car for dmv driven test and 1 hour lesson before my appointment start for feeling a car. this guys forget about me and come at dmv after my appointment time. it means, that i don't have an opportunity use to car and feel it. as result i didn't pass my test. and main reason why i didnt pass was not smooth acceleration and not smooth brake. it's was irresponsible. this school is a cause why i didnt pass. and also they charge me $60. i'm not recommend this school. avoid them. Read Less

Booked a lesson with Barbara for learning to drive stick. The problem with Barbara is, she teaches both NEW DRIVERS and drivers that want to learn stick. Now, drivers all have their own individual heuristics for driving. These are developed habits over years of driving that are very hard to correct. Don't get me wrong, bad habits need to be corrected. But there are many driving habits that are not bad, but neutral and ingrained in all of us driving for years. This is why learning to drive stick when learning how to drive in general is a great thing, since it's just "another" thing to learn while driving.But to teach stick to people who have been driving for years, the approach - even as a driving instructor - should be to TEACH STICK and nothing else.I've been driving for 8 years, and I'm very careful to correct bad habits. However, Barbara decided to treat me like a totally new driver and barked instructions at me, to do things the way she does them (such as brake 50 ft before coming up to a residential stop sign). I could barely focus on actually learning how to drive a manual, since most of my brainpower was split between focusing on driving, ignoring my instinctual driving habits, and trying to respond to her incessant questions and orders. She also ignored my requests to spend just 10 minutes in an empty parking lot to practice moving in 1st gear, since I kept stalling. Instead, I was forced to drive in heavy traffic (such as near Eastridge Mall).In the end, she recommended me to get another lesson as she felt I would not be able to learn on my own - well, she was wrong. Had a buddy with me to drive my new manual car home and learned enough to not stall in a day.I'd recommend anyone trying to learn stick as an already established driver to watch Youtube tutorials (trust me, they help much more than you think) and then learn in person with a buddy. Read Less

1.  Price Point: Excellent. Full $100 less than other schools I contacted first (Mountain  View, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park)2.  Availability of appointments: request for weekend and after-hour appointments  accommodated (7 AM onSaturday, 12 noon on Sunday and 6PM on Monday). The only school I contacted  with "Can Do" attitude3. Convenience: Instructor drives to your home4. Punctuality: excellent (3/3 on time)5. Quality of Instruction: excellent.  Gary is thorough, calm, anticipates possible problems, systematic. 5. Communication: office is easy to reach. Both office staff and instructor  straightforward, polite Read Less

Much like a Kettle Korn stand, traffic violation school is basically a license to print money...and you kinda sorta get the sense this could actually be a money laundering front based on the interesting characters running this place...BUT that said, I actually ended up getting a nice drivers ed refresher. The first hour is dedicated just to registration so even though they give strict orders to be there at 8am sharp, you could roll in 8:30am and jump in line no problemo if it's like what I experienced. Once the 'Better Call Saul' type money dude collected the cash money & signatures, the instructor (who reminded me of Cecily Strong's 'Girl at a Party' I'm not gonna lie) mumbled her way through the morning session to break time.PRO TIP: there are no bathrooms here for use (well there are actually, but it caused a big kerfuffle with the constant parade of customers demanding to use it all throughout the class so best to use it before arriving & hold it until the breaks.Hands down my fav part were the 1980's-era after school special-eque instructional videos...I'm searching YouTube for these gems as I type!And did I mention there's a 78 question quiz right after registration? No, oh...well no worries, it's only a practice quiz, so doesn't count...but they don't tell you that up front. 1 hr lunch break...Then more epic videos AND your final exam, which does count, and decides if you pass/fail...but don't you fret, IT'S OPEN BOOK?!?! Read Less

I took classes to learn how to drive a stick shift with Barbara and let me tell you she is great! Barbara has years of experience, lots of patience and a great wealth of knowledge. She will teach you all the fundamentals and instill good healthy driving habits. She has been very thorough, attentive, constructive, and instrumental at starting and getting me going. I can say with confidence that if you sign up for lessons with Barbara, you will learn how to drive well and you will learn quickly. Read Less

Office staff was very professional and timely in processing and scheduling, they were very accommodating when we had to change our established days. Instructor was on time accommodating to pick up at school and drop off at home. We completed as planned. Very orderly and as promised! Thank you Allied ! Read Less

No complaints and everything went very smoothly. This is the second time that my children have used Allied and I would very much recommend them. It would be nice to book online for everything, but that's my only wish to make it better. Other than that, we had good driving instructors for both times we have used Allied. Read Less

Somewhere between a 2 & a 3 for this one, just because my brother in law seemed to like my instructor, Gary. I think i'd have to agree with one of the previous reviews in saying that he did kind of bark out orders, and maybe that's just the way the guy talked, which made me even more nervous and self conscious about my driving.. & also because of that I would dread each 2 hour lesson (6 in total). His almost snappy attitude made it seem like he hated his job and I think the only reason why he didn't completely tear my head off was because I had someone accompany me each lesson (dad & brother in law).  I read up reviews on the school a couple days before my first, & despite the negative ones, I thought I would enjoy driving, but I definitely did not. If someone asked me where to go for lessons, i'd probably be better off saying I don't know. Read Less

Barbra was a great instructor she's very patient and she knows what she's talking about but I wish I had 2 more hours for my money I don't like the $207.00 for 3 hours I think it should be at least 4 hours for the price of $207.00 but other than that I enjoyed my 3 hour session and came away feeling better after my session but I still need a lil work Read Less

I've had 2 lessons from Barbara, in total 4 hours. She was very patient and friendly. She pointed out my mistakes, which was helpful and gave useful advices. She was also very interesting person to talk.Now I'm sure I'm improved myself driving shift stick cars, thanks to allied driving school. Read Less

I was recommended to come here for stick shift classes. I completed 2 sessions and Barbara recommended another one so I agreed. Unfortunately I was scheduled to work a double shift the day I had take my third session and I was not going to be able to make it. So I tried calling 2 days in advance from the 48 hour cancellation policy. I called during my lunch break at work at around 5ish when I got off of work for 2 days and NO ANSWER! So then I tried going on the website to see if there was a "contact us" link to send an email to cancel the session, but they don't even have that. So I tried again for the 3rd day (Friday) calling and finally get ahold of Jerry. I told him I had to cancel my Monday appointment due to my work schedule. He told me I was past the 48 hour cancellation policy. I then told him how I'd been calling for 3 days and even tried to reach them via email through the website. He said that they don't have either of this options that you have to talk to someone over the phone for cancellation. Which is understandable if you would answer the phone! Anyway I told him I am not paying for the session because I've been trying for days to cancel and that they should have an email or a voicemail. Needless to say they sent me to collections and now I'm in the process of disputing it. DO NOT come here for driving lessons! Read all the reviews and take your business else where please. Save yourself the headache! Read Less

my first yelp review - i had to write it because some of the reviews are not indicative of my experience.One of the very few schools that teach driving stick shift cars. IMO, one of the schools that teaches sound fundamentals.I took 5 hours of lessons with Barbara for learning to drive stick. Please don't mistake her to be rude (like some reviews say), truth is exact opposite. She really wants you to learn, hence is a good teacher. She is not afraid of repeating "brake, brake, brake" or "gas, gas, gas" - you have two choices - you can get all worked up or just comply - if you comply, you will learn quickly and the correct method of driving.I have been driving automatic for 15+ yrs and motorbike for 5+ yrs, and i not only learnt about stick shift, but also things that improve my general driving. With Barbara's help, i became aware of some of bad driving habits.Scheduling-wise, they do stick-shift lessons only Mon-Wed. Yes, their phones they don't have voicemail and hard to reach them during weekends. I think that is ok - any place you go will have some kind of restrictions - they have life outside of their work too.She gives fair unbiased feedback and does not push for more that needed lessons. At the end of each lesson, you will be given a progress card indicating the skills - so it is easy to see your progress.I had thought i will spend time in the parking lot first, no no.. the entire time i was in the drivers seat and on regular roads and a little freeway. Barbara as good a teacher she is - plans the class and makes you repeated do things, so that you can improve.100% worth the time and money !! Read Less

I would not recommend this driving school. I decided to use this driving school after learning that they were able to teach me how to drive stick, which I figured would be very helpful as a valet driver. It turns out, I did not learn very much. Barbara quickly threw me to the wolves on my first lesson, asking me to drive to downtown San Jose at about 8:30 in the morning on a Monday after maybe 15 minutes of driving stick for the first time in my life. Throughout this drive, she continuously harassed me about how she kept having to do the clutch for me in order to not stall, which to my understanding is completely counterintuitive to the whole process of learning how to drive stick. The icing on the proverbial cake was that she did not teach me how to shift into reverse. In fact, even a passing comment about it was not made. I would not recommend this service, and if I had the intelligence to look this company up on Yelp I would have absolutely taken my $128 somewhere else. Read Less

I would like to preface this by saying that I had Barbara as a driving instructor for my stick shift course, she was a good instructor and i was happy with her instruction. What I was not happy with was the way that the billing process was handled by this company. They have a 48 hour policy for cancellation and they do not have any voice mail or any online scheduling process such that if you have a Tuesday class and you have anything that comes up after 5PM on a Friday, that would prevent you from making your course you are basically just stuck paying for your class. I tried calling and having a conversation in order to rectify it, my situation was that I had a business meeting that got moved and as such could not make it because i was physically not in town. I called the company and wanted to cancel, they said call back in a few hours I did but got no answer and then the next day i got a call from my instructor saying that i would be charged for my time. I called back and then told them my situation and he offered for me to pay it forward and schedule a future class(but pay in advance). I would have been happy with this option except i did not know when my business trip would end and i did not want to pay for a course that i could also not make. I had a long talk with the guy and then said I have to go and said i would not be paying but i could reschedule for a future date when i was back in town. He said, "so you will not be paying for a future date but will call when you are back" to which i responded "yes." At this point he hung up, and i thought it was the end of it. Four days later i receive a billing invoice with an extra billing fee as well. Now understand their cancellation policy makes sense, but when they have no voicemail process over the weekend and most peoples work lives do not end at 5PM on a friday (where they may have work conflicts come up for the next week) and they have no online scheduling process and when you have a conversation with them that ends on the terms of, i will call back at a later date to schedule and they end it well enough. But then they send a billing invoice to your home address which includes an extra fee, I would say they are a very ruthless business which cares more about money than their customer experience. Not only did they lose my business, they lost my faith in them as a company. If you are reading this i implore you to choose a different service as they are not sensitive to the needs of a modern professional. Read Less

If I could give Allied Driving School a zero rating I would. We had a horrible experience with them. After setting up appointments for my son (a first-time driver) I talked to a friend who recommended that I look for another driving school because of her daughter's negative experience with Allied. I then went back and read the reviews on Yelp. (Read for yourselves, they seem to be pretty consistent with poor customer service and sketchy business practices.)After reading the reviews I called and cancelled with Allied. To tell you the truth I was concerned about how my son might be treated, and I want him to have a good first-time experience behind the wheel. They verified my cancellation over the phone. I thought we were complete with them.Today Allied arrived at my house as though we had not cancelled the session, claiming that they had no record of cancellation. Even though the driver was 15 min late to the (previously cancelled) session, he said that I would be expected to pay for it. I was caught off-guard so I let Gary, the instructor, go. I then looked for a confirmation or any communication from Allied and did not find any. I called Allied to clear up the misunderstanding. Jerry (the manager) told me that they never send confirmation emails for two-hour appointments (he later said that I scheduled three?). When I explained that I cancelled the appointments with them Jerry began to communicate with me in a very condescending and disrespectful manner. At the point where he began arguing and talking over me, I hung up. I called back 10 minutes later and spoke to Jerry to be certain that he cancelled all other (already cancelled) appointments. He said he had already done so. I am also sending him an email as proof of cancellation. Judging from other reviews I have subsequently read on Allied Driving School,  I expect there will be underhanded retaliatory measures from them. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. I will let you know if they do the right thing, if not, we will stand up for our fair rights as consumers. Enough of their bullying.I regret I scheduled with them prior to reading these reviews. I have learned to do my due diligence and to get everything in writing. Live and Learn. Read Less

The experience is not a great experience. It could be better. Here is my issue, they didn't push me and they kept taking my wheel and breaking for the most stupidest reason. For example they took me on the freeway, I was told to merge and I did everything correctly and noticed there was a car behind me, I turn my signal pick up speed and start merging and I can tell the car behind me was slowing down for me and the instructor took my wheel and told me "it's not safe because there is a car behind you" and then following up with the freeway, she only took me on the freeway once and it was just a few minutes on freeway. all I needed to learn was freeway but she insisted I take the regular roads first which was so boring and easy. and in the end a waste of my money.Another complaint is the cars are horrible and feel unsanitary The wheel of the car had no resistance the brake and gas pedals didn't feel comfortable. and the wheel is all gross from the many other drivers. At least wipe the wheels nice and clean instead of after the 2 hours having to wash my hands due to the weird oder and lastly for my last session I waited to be picked up and waited and waited for a full 2 hours after my last class and I called and they said my next appointment was in 2 weeks! which is ridiculous. Shows how unorganized there office is. Also there building isn't clean and office looks a little unorganized as well to add onbut for pros. I guess I learned a one or two things with a tip on judging distance to green light and backing up. thats about it. To add on my girlfriend Rose had Garry for her driver training (I had Cindy) and she had to call in to get her completion slip because Garry was not responsible enough to finish the paper work for her and to add on Garry was clipping his nails while she was driving! Gross! (speak about unsanitary much)I also called about all the complaints on yelp and there response was they have people pay to write bad reviews. Let me tell you I am not being paid to write this complaint, Allied Drivers School my name is Josiah Collinge and my girlfriend name is Rose Santiago. Feel free to search us on your old records and such so you guys no this is not a fake review. I had a first hand experience and same with my girlfriend. We both didn't enjoy the training and should of spent our HARD EARNED MONEY on other superior training Read Less

Cindy calls my daughter a moron during her lesson... WTF??? Need I say more.  The review would have scored the same before that happened.  I had to go there to once to pick up some paperwork and I stood there forever just waiting to be acknowledged, bad way to start the experience. Then she failed her written the first time so I'm not sure what we paid for because she definatley wasnt prepared and I believe their primary purpose was to prepare her for that test.  So they failed.  Then after this Cindy thing... UNBELIEVABLE!!! I think I'll stop there.  This place and places like it are the reason their are so many people out there that can't drive.  Wonder how many deaths they are indirectly responsible for???  Don't support businesses like this.  Cindy... You're a piece of Read Less