If you are an adult driver, Get Jeremiah as an instructor. He is straightforward and extremely helpful. You will learn quickly and he will help you build your confidence as a driver immediately after the first lesson. Read Less

I had Marty as my driving instructor. Even though I'm not good at English, he always taught me clearly until I could really understand. He taught me everything I need to be a good & safe driver. Arigatou Marty! Read Less

Would recommend! I was looking to sign my kids up for a clean, well-run school -- I'm glad we went with Defensive Driving School at the UDistrict location/the Univ. Heights bldg. Good instructors. Classes were no-nonsense, but still fun for the kids, and classes were run on time. Driving appointments do fill up quickly, but email reminders are sent, so it's up to YOU not to procrastinate. Newer Prius-type cars used for driving instruction. On a side note, for comparison, I'm glad we didn't go with the 911 Driving School across the street. It's in a sketchy, old building and their driver's ed cars are beat-up. You don't have to take my word for it - drive past and take a look for yourself. Read Less

The school was excellent at teaching good driving habits to beginning drivers. The staff was very knowledgeable and helpful. I had Marty for my classroom instructor. I had a great time during my classes! Read Less

The class is good! We had Marty. My friend and I took it. The workbook is engaging. The room is too hot, you need air conditioning. It is hard to learn in a hot summer environment but that's not their fault. Read Less

I learned the rules of the road and how to drive here. They don't mess around at this school and it goes by quick, especially if you schedule your drives ahead of time. I had Marty as my classroom instructor and Jeramiah as my driving instructor. They were both great and I was glad to be learning from them. Read Less

My daughter spoke highly of the instructors and enjoyed the variety offered for driving opportunities and lesson instructors. She felt confident in her skills and how to continue developing them. We appreciated the class times as we were able to accommodate the class time easily into our work schedules. I recommend Defensive Driving School West Seattle for any family looking for a convenient and knowledgeable course. Read Less

MARTY IS THE MAN! Had an excellent experience taking the knowledge test with him so I came back to him for my drive test and he killed it. 2 for 2. Super knowledgeable and helpful, a real pleasure doing business with you sir. Five stars, would recommend to my friends. Read Less

I just passed my test last week, after 10 pleasant classes spent at Defensive Driving School. I would personally highly recommend this school to anyone. They have a broad range of packages, matching needs of students whose experiences of driving vary greatly. I personally had never driven before, 10 90-min classes were just nice for me to get started. There are certainly shorter packages and I could have stretched myself to get a license sooner, but that wasn't my goal. I really enjoyed my classes with the instructors, especially with Jordan and Bryan. They have different styles of teaching, but both are extremely patient and great at coaching students. After a full quarter of learning, I'm happy that I passed my test on the first attempt. Read Less

I asked some Chinese driving schools, $450 for passing guarantee. But I don't want to spend that much money on that. So I took 1-hour class + driving test with Christian at DDS U district. Christian is very encouraging, patient, and humorous. He taught me a lot of helpful & useful tips during that 1 hour. I did pass the driving test. After that he still gave me some helpful feedbacks. I spent $145 rather than $450. Totally worth it! If you've already practiced a lot, make sure to take their lessons, one hour is a bit of short, two-hour should be better. It's super helpful for driving safely. I highly recommend this school. Very professional. But make sure you purchase the right lessons or packages, they charge $15 for a order return. It's quite expensive. Read Less

I highly recommend this school. I found the teachers to be conscientious and professional. I have a license from another country and I found them to be fair in evaluating where I had adjustments to make and patient in explaining where the rules are different. Special mention for Jordan for his patient and calm approach. Read Less

I went to the DDS at U district and had 4 lessons with Christian and 1 lesson with Bryan. They are definitely great teachers and taught very well and patiently. I passed the driving test on my first try. Read Less

I recently finished a 10 class adult driving classes package with this school at this location. As a driver that is on the older side (20s), I just wanted to get some driving in and get my license. This school did that for me. Having a full time job meant that I could never quite get the same instructor each time. That was fine with me,  I did realize that I learned better from some instructors. It is really based on your preference and personality. I drove mainly with Brian and Jordan who were both great. They were patient and did not fail to make sure I improved my skills each time. I felt safe and found it rather enjoyable learning from them.A tip is to schedule your lessons in advance. They fill up real quick. Read Less

This is in regards to West Seattle location:Everything was very organized and the classes and appointments went smoothly. My son was able to take care of it all himself. Mostly because they send a million reminder emails. He needed that. Read Less

The location was convenient and the instructor, Jim, was great!  He kept the kids engaged in class and was very patient in the car.  My son really enjoyed him as an instructor and learned a lot....he made the kids understand the safety and responsibility issues surrounding new drivers. Read Less

Great driving school for teenagers. Think they made the classes as interesting as possible (no small task).My kid actually learned to drive and got smoother and more confident after every lesson.Main downside is that it's a bit difficult to schedule the drives before the good time slots fill up. Read Less

I did my driving test at U district and I passed it. I had Christian as my instructor. He is very experienced in teaching driving and explaining the driving rules in Seattle. He also gives you tips for the driving test. If you are taking your test at this location, be sure to have a warm up before your test, so that you get familiar with the road and the car. Good luck! Read Less

My son recently completed his drivers education class here.  Wonderful instructors who are patient and take the time to apply real world experiences of their own into the instruction.  My son commented several times how "un-stressful" the practice drives were (which if anyone has driven with a new teen driver its very hard to be calm!) so this is a credit to the great teachers there.  I definitely plan to sign him up for the skills and knowledge DOL testing here as well.  Highly recommend to parents with teen drivers!! Read Less

I didn't take class in this driving school, but I passed the test still. Jordan C is very easy-going and makes me less nervous when taking the test, which is very important for the performance I think. The location is very close to campus, that's why I choose here. Definitely recommend student to take test here if you are very familiar with U district. Read Less

I moved here from Denmark less than a year ago.Back home I have more than 25 years of experience driving but I still needed to get my Washington drivers license for a couple of reasons:1. It's the law.2. I need it in order to apply for driving jobs in the state of Washington.Through great guidance, excellent teaching and clear and concise instruction I was able to pass my driving test with a near perfect score.And I passed both the knowledge test AND the driving test in my first try.The instructor was an excellent driving instructor, very welcoming and straight to the point.It baffles me to see some users here complain that they have to get a Washington drivers license, when they have one from whichever country they come from.Don't you realize that different countries have different laws?That includes laws/rules of the road.Do you really expect that you don't have to learn and abide by these rules? Read Less

So, here I am, that awkward almost 30 year old who doesn't have a driver's license. In high school I didn't take driver's ed because I felt that my time was better spent doing homework for my plethora of AP classes, especially since I lived in Seattle and could walk to my school and take the bus just about anywhere else I needed to go. Plus, I was just plain scared of driving and didn't feel ready. In college, I halfheartedly tried to learn a few times; I took one lesson from the Sears Driving School and drove with my dad a few times. But it caused me a lot of stress, the people at the DOL gave me a hard time when I tried to renew my permit, and I eventually just gave up and got a non-driver state ID instead. To be honest, I'd still rather not drive; I'm a big fan of public transportation, and cars are expensive, with car payments, insurance, gas, parking costs, repairs, etc. I am also very anxious about the whole prospect. But faced with the reality that I may well need to drive for work, as well as wanting the freedom to travel and take road trips to places that aren't necessarily served by public transit, I've finally decided to focus on getting my license.Things have changed since my first permit 10+ years ago. The state has closed a lot of their licensing offices, and in those that do still exist, they no longer offer the written or drive tests. You now need to take those tests at one of the approved locations on the DOL website, which will report your scores to the DOL. You still need to go into the office to actually get the permit or license and get your photo taken. The path to getting a license for adults now is this: take the knowledge test, get an instruction permit, then practice driving until you feel ready to take the drive test. Then take the drive test, and if you pass, you can then go pick up your license at the DOL office. The first step was the knowledge test. I took the knowledge test at this location. You basically have to memorize the booklet that's available on the DOL website. Defensive Driving School has a practice test on their website with a lot of questions that it randomly picks from. I would definitely recommend taking the practice test many times until you can get all the questions correct, with the possible exception of the teen-related questions like at what age an intermediate license becomes a normal license. I didn't have any questions like that on my test, but there are multiple versions of the test so I don't know what was on everyone's test. The actual classroom where you take the test is located on the second floor of the University Heights Center. The classroom was rather dim and depressing, but for adult lessons I don't need to spend any more time in there. (For driving lessons, you just need to meet the instructor outside in the north parking lot.) The test is a paper test rather than the computerized test I originally took at the DOL when the tests were still offered there.They use a third-party website for scheduling that is kind of slow and clunky but is easy to use. They are pretty fully booked and the schedule for the lessons doesn't have much or any padding built in, so they are frequently late. Adult lessons are also mostly during the day (with teen classes in the evening) so if you have a 9-5 job you might be out of luck unless you schedule several weeks to a month in advance. Fortunately my job has a flexible schedule.I signed up for the 5-lesson package and due to the recommendation of other yelpers I have been taking my lessons with Christian. I've taken two lessons so far and I haven't actually found Christian to be very patient with someone who has a lot of anxiety and doesn't always pick up on how to do the maneuvers right away. It seems that at this school they have a set "lesson plan" of what they want to cover in each lesson and they want to stick to that instead of just going by what you feel comfortable with, and you will need to practice outside of the lessons. I am having trouble doing things like parallel parking without a more reflexive grasp on the basic controls of the car, but that's what he covered in the second lesson even though I said I wanted to just focus on the basics. He basically told me I was going to need to do some practicing on my own. I was hoping I wouldn't have to conscript my friends and family into helping but it looks like I have to. At this point I am probably going to wait to take any more of my lessons until I've had some more basic practice with driving on the street. I will update my review when I've taken more lessons and/or my driving test.Overall, I feel like the place is okay but I wouldn't really recommend it. But there aren't very many options for schools that offer adult lessons in the area. (NOTE: a few of the other reviews actually describe locations other than this one.) Read Less