I wish I could review him in negative stars.I will definitely not recommend any one for this school. Driver is unprofessional in so many ways.I got a class scheduled for today from 11:00Am to 1:00 pm.He didn't show up. I called him more than 20 times he didn't respond. After one hour finally he picked up my phone and his response surprised me. He said "I will find my keys and call you back at what time I will be there". Then he calls me back after an hour and changed his excuse to why he couldn't make it. It was clear to me that he had just forgotten about the class and instead of owning up to his mistake and apologizing, he kept giving one lame excuse after other. If he was unable to make this class on time due to his personal emergency he could at least leave me a text. Such a waste of time. I will never ever recommend anyone for this unprofessional school. Read Less

I had a lesson with Paul as a refresher since I'd gotten my license a while ago and had no driving experience since taking the test. He was very relaxed and put me at ease, calmly narrating the rules and giving helpful tips as we drove around. I'll definitely use him again if I want another lesson—no complaints. The school I used to study for my test a few years ago was the Brookline Driving School. They were a mixed bag, with some good teachers and some bad. Paul from Friendship Auto School was definitely at least as good as the better ones I had with Brookline. Read Less

Friendship Auto School is a great school for inexperienced drivers looking to start, meaning getting out on the road, learning rules and regulations, and becoming comfortable with the driving on the road. I have taken numerous of lessons over the past few months and I appreciated the friendliness and patience of Dominique (the owner and instructor). He took the time to teach me how to drive, u-turn, and do a three point turn. However, his technique regarding parallel parking became challenging for me to master. His technique was to place the car at a "45 degree angle" and when I did not get it right, instead of teaching me how to fix it, he would sometimes become frustrated and take over the wheel, by stating "pull out and do it again." Needless to say, I became frustrated with continuously paying someone who couldn't teach me how to parallel park and take over, as opposed to fixing it. Therefore, I chose another auto school in Waltham and I was taught within 5 minutes of my lessons with this school on how to parallel park.Here's the technique:  The Waltham school's technique consisted of lining the car mirror to mirror, turning the wheel once towards the right, reversing the car until your passenger side view mirror was aligned with the beginning of the taillight of the car you're parking behind, then turning the wheel completely all the way to left while continuing to reverse. If you are too far from the curb, simply turn your wheel completely to the right all the way and reverse until you're close enough to the curb, then turn your wheel completely to the left, to align the car to be parallel and straight.  This technique proved to be beneficial and helpful, as opposed to the technique taught at Friendship Auto School. In addition to switching schools, I was given the opportunity to drive on routes and the expressway. Today I passed my road exam and became a licensed driver. Overall, Friendship Auto School is a great start, but when it comes to parallel parking, you're wasting your time and are only going to become frustrated with his instruction and lack of support when teaching you. Stating "you need to have a 45 degree angle" and reaching over to maneuver the wheel, as opposed to teaching you how to simply fix the car, isn't helpful. Read Less

I, who's never touched a steering wheel in my life came to USA. Here in USA driving is mandatory. I Called friendship auto school and Paul contacted me next day. I started taking classes on weekends. Paul is a great guy. Just listen to his instructions. Take few classes depending on your driving skills and that's the key to clear the exam. Best thing is Paul takes his classes in Cambridge and Somerville area where roads are narrow, 2 way traffic, lots of board signs. It helped me to develop my skill of reading the sign boards :) Exam day went smoothly as well. and i got the permit on my first attempt. Thank you, Friendship Auto School! Read Less

Paul is fantastic! I hadn't driven in 20 years (yep, 20 YEARS) and was so nervous but Paul was wonderful and helped me feel relaxed and confident. He helps you get good driving habits in place, and he is so calm and supportive. Highly recommended! Read Less

I hired Friendship Auto School to sponsor my road test. Initially Paul was not very responsive, but he reached out to me when he had an opening for his Saturday road tests. This school costs considerably more than other schools in the area, but being tested sooner was worth the expense to me.Although he technically offers in car instruction, it is very cursory on the ride to the testing location. It is definitely not enough to refresh your technique before the test, so the sponsorship charge is purely the car rental, and sponsor. As long as you know what you are getting though, Friendship Auto School is a good deal, and I encourage others to get out there, and get licensed. Read Less

I was so mad to let my wife to go to this school to take the road. Before signing up for this, I asked them that my wife needs an hour practice before the road test.  Paul, the sponsor who takes my wife to test said yes yes. I will do that. When it comes to the test day, he took 2 more people with him and my wife to take the test and he did not give anyone any practices. The first thing he asked was you guys need to give me 120 dollars for the fee and took all of them straight to rmv to take the road test. Too bad, my wife failed. I was so disappointed. Please people avoid going to this school, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money on this guy, Paul. Read Less

Was driving behind one of these cars today. I was shocked to see the driver talking and looking at his phone and ended up making a dangerous right turn. Safe driving isn't something you decide only to switch on when a student is in the car. There was a passenger, I hope to God it wasn't a student. Read Less

I probably would have gone two more decades terrified of driving if it weren't for Paul!  I had had bad experiences both on my own and with other schools, so I started my block of ten lessons feeling very apprehensive.  However, Paul immediately put me at ease, and I feel like I truly learned how to drive properly at the same time.I can see why some people call Friendship Auto School unprofessional; it IS more "casual" than some of the other schools like Brookline and Bay State.  However, this casualness can work to your advantage when it comes to scheduling lessons and the test; they will work with you instead of hindering you with arbitrary rules.Paul does talk on the phone during lessons, so if that's going to bother you, then I would encourage you to find a different driving school.  Somehow, I didn't mind, even though I was a nervous wreck--he will NOT leave you in doubt of where you're going, and, after all, he has a business to run!  Pick ups and drop offs were always relatively timely (i.e. +/- 5 minutes), and exam day went smoothly as well.  Thank you, Friendship Auto School! Read Less

I was happy with the lessons but the conduct on the day of my exam left me really not wanting to ever come back. I had a good time at my lessons and really felt that I mastered parallel parking, the only think I was struggling with. On the day of the exam, Dominique was nice and got me to the place of the exam. I was there moved to a different car, which was VERY different than the one I had practiced in (now, I get that you should be able to drive any car at all, but there is something to be said about taking a super stressful exam in a car that you know). I failed the parallel parking on the grounds of parking "too far" once and "too close" the other time, which I thought was idiotic, but the instructor didn't say anything. After I left the exam, the school never followed up and I ended up feeling really ripped off and used just for the $120 I gave for the Saturday exam. I would not book with them again - it is clear that they cannot guarantee anything, but following up after I paid over $200 for 2 hours and an exam would have been the least decency expected. Read Less

Okay, so I've been thinking a while about writing this review.This thing is, Dominic does seem to want to be helpful, and I did get comfortable behind the wheel after 10 hours with him.But. I think Dominc's wanting to be helpful does not translate into actually being helpful. He would go off on long tirades when I was driving which often didn't have to do with any mistakes I was making at the time. For example, he was on the phone once when I passed a stop sign, after duly stopping of course. When he got off the phone, he turned to me and said 'Why didn't you stop at the stop sign?'. To which I replied, 'But I did stop. I waited till the speedometer went to zero.' He then said 'Oh, you stopped? I must've not noticed then. Because you often forget to stop at stop signs. You're very careless and never watch where you're going...'  Do you get the drift? He has a way of turning even a simple conversation into a long tirade attacking the student for characteritics they may or may not display. For what its worth, stopping at stop signs is something I *never* missed doing. I would turn into the wrong lane, back up crooked and make other mistakes, but always, always stopped at stop signs. After a while, I started giving him feedback ('I'd prefer it if you could keep your comments to anything I'm currently doing wrong or right') but that would lead to another diatribe. I think it has something to do with my being a woman, and also my being a different race. I noticed Dominic was a lot friendlier with the male students. Read Less

I need to write this review, as my experience with this school was disappointing and frustrating. My instructor was Paul H.Let me start off by saying: ok, Paul came on time, he did seem to sincerely be trying to teach. Those are my 2 good points about him. I am trying my best to be fair, and I don't think he had bad intentions.What I did feel was that he wasn't showing respect/understanding for me as a student and the flexibility/ability to teach to my needs. We could not communicate well, because he tends to go off on long spiels by himself. Problem being, he just starts saying a ton of stuff to explain things he thinks I have problems with, and he doesn't let me get a word in otherwise. A lot of things would have been a lot easier had I been allowed to just ask what is on my mind first, and then, if he could have responded with some simple, concise answers. I gave him some pushback on this, and he basically responded, that he's the teacher, he's the one with the experience, and he can only explain it one way. He doesn't want to answer your question in a different way if you cannot understand what he is saying the first time around. This was an issue for me.For example, on a 2nd class, I was taking a previous student back to wherever she lived. As we neared a highway, I was getting nervous, since I wasn't sure, are we getting on the highway? I wanted a yes/no, because I was definitely not prepared to go on the highway, and should that be where we were headed, I would refuse to do it, because I wasn't ready yet. He went into a kind of sarcastic spiel of "Do you think I don't care about my life? Or about (student in the back)'s life?? Or about my kids???" etc. OK, just tell me, am I going on the highway YES or NO? Please.. I don't have time for this when we are driving--just need clear answers from you.End of story is I discontinued my lessons after my 3rd class. I'm sorry, but even good intentions are not good enough sometimes, given my disappointing experience. Read Less

I need to write this review, because many of the reviews here are so positive. I was seriously mislead. My experience with this school was extremely disappointing and exceedingly frustrating. I don't know why I was PAYING someone to aggravate me every week. That someone being Paul H. Let me start off by saying: ok, Paul came on time, he does seem to sincerely be trying to teach. Those are my 2 good points about him. I am trying my best to be fair, and I don?t think he has bad intentions. What he does have however, is way too much attitude for a driving instructor and not enough flexibility/ability to customize to each student. We could not communicate well, because he tends to go off on long spiels by himself when we come across a driving issue I may (or may not) be having difficulty with. Problem being, he just starts saying a ton of stuff to explain things he thinks I have problems with, and he doesn?t let me get a word in otherwise. So sometimes I am listening to him explain things I already know, and God forbid, should I try to say yes, he feels interrupted. Then when I do have a problem, he also will not let me talk, and insists that he has to take 5 or 10 minutes to say everything in HIS way first before I can ask about my question. A lot of things would have been MUCH MUCH easier had I been allowed to just ask what is on my mind first, and then, if he could have responded with some simple, concise answers. I gave him some pushback on this, and he basically responds in a kind of arrogant way, that he?s the teacher, he?s the one with the experience, so basically?be quiet, just do whatever he says, and he can only explain it one way. He doesn?t want to answer your question in a different way if you cannot understand what he is saying the first time around. When he did listen to my questions finally, he would do so in a very pissed off way, and I felt disrespected as if I am SO SO stupid for asking. Seriously? Is that how you want to treat your students, who by the way, are basically your customers? I felt like we were in some sort of back and forth attitude battle, and normally, I don?t give people attitude ever? I aim to be appreciative of good customer service and understanding of poor customer service (as I am sure it is very difficult), but Paul just really rubbed me the wrong way. To give him some attitude back seemed like the only way to get a little respect, which was just a sad and frustrating experience for me. For example, on a 2nd class, I was taking a previous student back to wherever she lived. As we neared a highway, I was getting nervous, since I wasn?t sure, are we getting on the highway? I wanted a yes/no, because I was definitely not prepared to go on the highway, and should that be where we were headed, I would refuse to do it, because I wasn?t ready yet. He went into his little rant of ?Do you think I don?t care about my life? Or about (student in the back)?s life?? Or about my kids???? etc. OK PAUL?just tell me, am I going on the highway YES or NO?? Please.. I can?t believe I have to put up with his sarcasm and indirect answers, I don?t have time for this when we are driving?just need clear answers from you. Another example is: multiple times when I was turning left, he said, ?YOU NEED TO LOOK LEFT. I DIDN?T SEE YOU LOOK LEFT.? I said, ?I did look left, I am looking left, THERE ARE NO CARS.? I look left, but apparently I don?t turn my head enough so that he sees, and then he yells at me after the fact in his distrust. It?s one thing to remind me, but it?s another to keep trying to give me a hard time after. It really causes unnecessary aggravation. End of story is I discontinued my lessons after my 3rd class. I?m sorry, but sincere intentions are not good enough if you are unwilling to teach to the student and very willing to dish out attitude. I didn?t pay for attitude-- I paid to be taught in a respectful manner. Bottom line is that I felt disrespected. Everything else I Read Less

Jean is very greedy person and very immature is teaching. He made me cry while driving.He wants his students to take atleast 10 classes.I learnt parallel parking, 3 point turns in second lesson itself so he got frustrated and started scolding me that I am not doing good. He is not genuine teacher, he scared me and made me to loose my confidence in driving even though I was learning fast. I left him after 3rd lesson and directly gave driving test and passed not from Jean's driving techniques but by my own I learnt Read Less

Dominique explains everything very well and encourages you as you make progress. Yet, if you repeat the same error several times (e.g. don't stop completely at a Stop sign) - he'll readily scold you.I've taken 7 classes w/ him & then passed a road test from the first try in quite unfavorable conditions. Dominique was kind to drive two test takers 10miles to Lynn, after we figured in the morning that the road test location in Melrose was closed for the day for the unknown reason. Yet, after both of us took the tests, and Dominique was driving, he was breaking the rules of the road to be on time for his next student.The instructor was going 40mph on streets w/  25mph limit, not stopping completely at the stop signs, not signaling lane change - exactly same errors, he'd scold his students for... That's pretty bad, so two stars are subtracted...A piece of advice to test takers: if you want just a sponsor for the test and not the lessons, then you're in a pretty bad shape - you'll likely fail the road test, as this happened to that second person.Make sure to schedule a class a week or more in advance of the road test, so that you can work on your technique with the instructor - he'll tell you what you need to fix and how. At least a month of lessons is needed, if you never drove before. Read Less

Paul is fantastic! I booked an hour driving lesson with him before my driving test and he totally was the reason why I passed.I've been driving since I was 18(now im 24) but I was just always scared to get my license after failing once.   Since I have been driving so long I deffinatly had an ego and a certian way of driving,aka (stubborn b*$&¿ Syndrome lol) he,in a very nice way made me focus and prepared me for my test (because it is very different from everyday driving.) He had me completly prepared and laughing,which was good because the guy who gave me the test nearly had me in tears.....BUT I passed! ;) thanks paul!..Hes awesome and im sending my bf to him asap.paul totally knows what hes doing so if you dont pass its your own fault lol LISTEN to him :o) Read Less

Well i've read the reviews and I disagree with all the negative reviews. I had a wonderful experience with friendship Auto School. I suggest you contact Dominic, he's a fantastic instructor! Everything I know I learned from him, and i practiced with him for about 1 Month. Parallel parking, three point turns, driving in general, rules of the road, parking on hills, hand signals, components of the car, EVERYTHING I learned, DOMINIC has taught me, I wont lie he did get on the phone a couple of times but the conversations were really short, and mostly consisted of other students calling and canceling lessons or setting up a date and time for a lesson. IT'S BUSINESS PEOPLE, THESE INSTRUCTORS MAKE THEIR LIVING TEACH PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW TO BE SAFE DRIVERS, IF U DONT PASS UR ROAD TEST DONT GET ANGRY AT UR INSTRUCTOR, ALL HE CAN DO IS TEACH U WHAT U NEED TO KNOW, UR IN CONTROL OF THE CAR, NOT HIM/HER. I FAILED MY ROAD TEST THE FIRST TIME DUE TO MY OWN FAULTS, I WAS A TERRIBLE PARALLEL PARKER AND DOMINIC KEPT IT REAL WITH ME AND TOLD ME I NEEDED TO PRACTICE MY PARKING MORE I IGNORED HIS SUGGESTION AND CONTINUED WITH THE ROAD TEST DATE I MADE AND FAILED, SO DOMINIC RESCHEDULED ME AND TWO WEEKS LATER I HAD ANOTHER ROAD TEST, AND DURING THE TWO WEEK WAITING PERIOD I PRACTICED WITH DOMINIC ONCE MORE, MY PLAN WAS TO PRACTICE AGAIN AN HOUR BEFORE THE TEST BUT I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH CASH FOR THE EXTRA HOUR. GUESS WHAT DOMINIC DID? HE STILL CAME AND PICKED ME UP EARLY BEFORE THE TEST AND LET ME PRACTICE FOR ABOUT 45 MINUTES FOR FREE! IN SHORT I PASSED, MY INSTRUCTOR DOMINIC IS A VERY KIND HEARTED AND HELPFUL MAN AND I WILL TELL EVEYONE I KNOW ABOUT HIM!! DOMINIC YOU ARE THE BEST AND THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!! I WILL DEFINITELY KEEP IN TOUCH WITH FRIENDSHIP AUTO SCHOOL AND RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE WHO IS LOOKING TO PASS THEIR ROAD TEST. IM TELLING YOU, CALL FRIENDSHIP AUTO SCHOOL NOW AND ASK FOR DOMINIC!! TRUST ME U WONT REGRET IT. HE WILL TEACH U EVERYTHING U NEED TO KNOW FROM DAY 1!! i SEE PEOPLE SAYING THAT THEIR INSTRUCTOR WAS RUDE OR AGGRESIVE OR JUST PLAIN OLE MEAN AND I CANT SPEAK ON THAT, ALL I CAN TELL U IS IF U WANT SOMEONE WHO IS PATIENT, KIND HEARTED, HELPFUL IN EVERY WAY, GENTLE, FUNNY, HONEST, AND MAKES U COMFORTABLE, THEN ASK FOR DOMINIC. OMG I GOT MY DRIVERS LICENSE!!!!! LOL! IT JUST HONESTLY FEELS LIKE A BIG WEIGHT HAS BEEN LIFTED OFF MY SHOULDERS, THE FEELING IS WONDERFUL!!!! PROS: LESSON/ROAD TEST COST ARE THE CHEAPEST, AND THEY ARE VERY FLEXIBLE CONS: NONE Read Less

Great for me.It is true that the instructor talks on the phone but he is absolutely the multitasking guy and never got me without a very good explanation for my questions and very patient. If you are doing something 'wrong' he will tell you also and make sure you do the right away.What I found great is that they pciked me up at home and were vey flexible with the schedule - if you call in advance in need of an extra class or cannot attend it, they find out a way to fit you in so that you will receive proper amount of practice.They also arranged my test for a Saturday morning and I passed first time.I do recommend it. Read Less

I had a great experience with Friendship Auto School. I took lessons with Paul, who was patient, courteous and extremely helpful. I passed my driving test on the first go, and he helped me not to be nervous, he identified my weak spots and we practised them several times before the test. He was punctual and reliable. I also took some lessons before finding Friendship School with Love Driving School, which I found very unsatisfactory. Although the online reviews for Love school are much better, I found the instructor - although friendly and pleasant - to be distracted, constantly on the phone, apparently uninterested in whether I was learning or not; forgetting from one lesson to the next what he had told me to practice etc. Most of the lessons were spent dropping back the previous client to their home and then driving to the home of the next client, rather than doing the kind of practice I needed. Friendship driving school, and Paul in particular, is much better in my experience. Read Less

I am still generous to give this school 1 star, because the system doesn't allow zero star. I read the reviews before I contact this school and sb says Paul Honore is good. ok, I took 3 lessons with him. He didn't teach me anything except for driving around. He says very bad things like ""if you die..."", ""they're going to hit you..."" Don't ever pay money for people who say things like that to you. When was tired with just driving around, I asked him to help me the U turn, he said he would instruct me whenever he wanted, not when I required. After 3 lessons, I didn't want to take any more lessons, then he began to call me... He REALLY WANT MONEY. One true thing is he is very funny, he laugh about family things, and even about you. So CONSIDER whether you want a funny person to laugh or a good instructor. Read Less

This is many years after I went to Friendship Auto School but I'm a fairly new yelper.   They are terrible! During the lesson the "instructor" (and I use that term so loosely that he can barely be counted in that category)  was CONSTANTLY on his cell phone scheduling appointments and trying to get new business.  Before Friendship, I had never driven before.  Ever.  So before I got onto an extremely busy intersection Mystic Valley Parkway (the one next to Ghetto Glen but coming from the other direction where there is the pizza hut) ... I requested "Do you think you could stop using the cell phone during the lessons?"He SCREAMED at me saying he wasn't a slave and that I couldn't tell him what to do. Needless to say, I canceled all future driving appointments with him.DO NOT USE THEM. Read Less

To be quite honest during my first lesson with Jean I felt insulted and incredibly annoyed at him (one of the teachers). Furthermore He has already canceled on me twice (out of 3 scheduled lessons) and appeared 45 minutes late to our first lesson. If that wasn't enough his accent is confusing to the point that I nearly crashed his car as he was yelling at me and I simply didn't understand what he was saying. But truth be told he's the best I could find. His manner may seem rude, and his accent is thick but neither of these things are intentional or malicious in any way, rather he simply can't speak english as well as most of us can and he was raised in a foreign country in a different time with different customs and practices. Also even though he canceled on me twice when I essentially ""bitched him out"" and threatened to find another instructor he acomodated me completely. Finally I need to schedule my road test asap as I'm leaving the country in a week and a half and he was the only instructor that could do that for me, as I contacted ALL the other schools in the area who just told me it was impossible. So yes, the drivers school is not the best and their customer service is miserable. But if you have a relatively laxed schedule (Im a college student) and don't mind being slightly aggressive and pushy then they're the best and the cheapest. Read Less

I took over twenty hours of driving lessons with Jean and passed my driving test with flying colors.  He's very patient, reasonable, and good-natured, and I saw him work well with people of all ages.  Definitely recommended. Read Less

I had a terrible experience with Friendship Auto School. I wanted to write this review because I picked them based on the one (positive) review I read here.  I hope yelpers become more active rating driving schools.For one, I was left stranded at the end of the first lesson and told to take the T home (they had initially promised to drop me off back at my house).  This was because the instructor had booked another appointment right at the end of my lesson and proceeded to pick up the next person without notice, in fact, while asking me to vacate the car! Two, I discovered later that I was ripped off (the cost of the RMV test) because I had already paid the fee. They charge $35/hour lesson and $100 for the RMV appointment. On the day of the road test, there was a weird dynamic between the examiner and the Friendship Auto School instructor (they definitely recognized each other and I got the sense that there had been some kind of a problem between them before) .  The examiner ended up failing me for backing up more than three times while parallel parking. Immediately after the test, and as if nothing had happened, the instructor just wanted to book another road test asking, on the spot, for another $100. If you want to go through them, make sure you discuss costs first and drop off arrangements. My honest assessment - They're only out for your money (which would be ok if they also delivered a good service) but I think they were extremely unprofessional. Research more schools, or go directly with the RMV -it's much cheaper and in my case, going through a school was a disadvantage and did not help my chances of passing! Read Less

Friendship auto school is a very good school for anybody that is nervous to go to.Specially with the help of instructor name MR Paul Honore, is very patient and never yell always keps his calm. When you nervous he always say relax its nothing you can do it. I advice anyone to go with him because I had a good experience. Read Less

I agree with many of the points made by previous reviewers. Jean was constantly on his cell phone, always stopping at convenient stores to see his friends and he has a very thick accent that is difficult to understand. He doesn't teach much - most of the time he's just ""along for the ride"" . I have been to another driving school and it seems to be standard practice to pick up one student and drop off the other - that's not a big deal. My biggest problem and the breaking point was that he was consistantly late and would typically call hoping I could rearrange my schedule to meet his lateness. The last straw was a request to meet 45 minutes later than the scheduled time. Does he think my schedule revolve around his?? I'm paying him! What a joke! DO NOT GOT THERE!!!! there are other schools reasonably priced that won't take advantage. Read Less

I completely agree with the first review.The instructor Jean is rude and arrogant. First thing is u cannot understand what he is saying and secondly he does not teach he yells. If only people already knew driving y would they go to the driving school. He wastes lot of classes by just dropping students and does not teach anything until u ask.I had a horrible time learning from him.So believe me avoid him. Read Less

I recently took my licensing road test through Friendship Auto School.  Jean took care of the paperwork, scheduled the test site with a MA state trooper, and picked me up at home.  They were flexible with scheduling on a weekend, and the test itself was relatively painless; I passed on the first try.It does cost more to go through a private driving school than to test directly with the RMV, but it saves some hassle.  For example, according to records on the RMV website, fewer driving school candidates are failed for vehicle conditions (the school provides a standard test vehicle) and thus avoid repeat tests.  Friendship's rates are competitive with other local schools. Read Less