I'm probably not a typical customer for driver's ed. I'm a busy professional who managed to make it to my late 20s without a driver's license. And between early meetings, business dinners, and day to day errands, it was starting to catch up with me- everything just takes longer.
Then Uber came along, and let me defer the inevitable for a few years.
And meanwhile, Oregon state has made it an unprecedented pain in the ass to get a license. But who cares about all the time it takes, because you're just taking it from high-schoolers, right?
I looked around at driving schools. Most I called were downright rude: they're used to treating 16 year old 'captive participants' as poorly as they want.
I called 1st learn to drive, based on the reviews.
And thanks to derek, I was able to schedule a road test, at an inconvenient hour that just happened to work for me. Having deferred this life milestone for over a decade, and with my permit due to expire, I was nervous- and mistakes were made. The kind that no one would bat an eye at seeing on the road, but this is a test, and a strict one.
And rightfully, I failed by a small number of points.
I had taken the test a year ago at a different place and failed by a single point for nebulously explained reasons- after which I was aggressively sold expensive and time consuming driving lessons. derek obviously takes this very seriously, and explained that although I was in his opinion a safe driver, it's not subjective- I must pass the clear framework laid out by the DOL.
And then he sat with me, the hour getting far later than our planned appointment, to explain what I missed, and offered me the opportunity to retake it the same appointment. He even charged less for the retake.
And once again, we did the whole involved thing- light check, hand signals, the works. By the book. And I passed.
Procedural obligations like driver's ed are the kind of things that keep me up at night.
derek took time out of his schedule to help me get this done safely AND efficiently, and I owe him time out of mine to leave a glowing review.
As an aside, it is immediately evident that derek and 1st learn to drive treat their obligation to safety as a civic imperative- not a profit center. I would not hesitate to send my family here, and I have immense confidence in them to instill safety and judge objectively.
I arrived at the tail end of a class he was teaching, and the kids seemed to be having an absolute blast learning about what, to me, is one of the dullest- but most important- subjects on earth: road safety. read more