After 56 years of not driving I decided to get my license. I researched a lot of driving schools in…read morethe Santa Cruz County area and I felt comfortable with Sterling Driving School. I spoke to a gentleman named Micheal who was very nice and understood that I was nervous. Micheal was very accommodating with me. He assigned me my driving instructor who's name is Stewart. Now I can tell you how nervous I was but unless you saw me the first time you wouldn't understand how nervous I was. Getting in the car the first time with Stewart I was very nervous and he understood that. So he drove us to a large parking lot to get used to the car. After about 20 minutes he said let's drive the streets. To be honest I wasn't scared at all because Stewart made me feel very comfortable, he understood how nervous I was and made it fun.By the end of our lesson I was driving the streets and felt very comfortable, I drove all the way home. I was so excited that I had overcome my my fear of driving in just one session. when I got home I asked my roommate if we could take a little drive. My roommate tried to teach me before in her car but I was quite nervous and ended up not driving.I got in the car and we drove around she was so impressed and asked me where her friend went, you know, that one that was so afraid of driving. I had about 3 to 4 more lessons with Stewart and each one of them was great. I learned so much like little secrets and little acronyms on remembering what I needed to do for certain situations while I was driving. I was very grateful that Sterling Driving School was able to place me with the same instructor, Stewart to help me with the rest of my driving lessons. On the day of my test Stewarts reminded me of some important things that needed to be remembered .So I really wasn't surprised when the DMV driving instructor asked me the first five questions and they were the same first five questions that Stewart asked me. Needless to say I passed the test!!!!! Woohoo Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks!!! Here I am a 56-year-old woman who was afraid of driving all of her life and now has a California drivers license. I will never know how to repay Stewart and Micheal but I do know that they've made this woman very happy. Happy enough to yelp and to let everybody know that is interested in a driving school that Sterling Driving School is the best!! You won't regret it!!

Stewart is amazing! He worked with me on my driving skills and nervousness with great patience,…read morekindness and humor. From my initial conversation with Audry, Sterling's receptionist, I knew that this was an experienced, competent driving school. She understood my situation and scheduled my driving lesson for best results with a wonderful positive approach. Stewart knows and teaches what it takes to be a skillful, safe and competent driver. He explains the driving rules: the why and how to accomplish them. He helped me calm my anxiety, too. All in all, it was a great experience and I passed my test :).

Great experience with the instructor Zed! Such a nice, funny and patient instructor! I started from…read morethe scratch and passed with a high score!! Do sign up for his courses!

Thank you so much for being so helpful and accommodating of our schedule! Really great experience!read more

If you need a driver instructor, then you should request Chuch Overly. He is the most patient,…read morefriendly instructor. Chuck is so experienced, he'll drive through the tricky streets, and point out places where students tend to fail the test. After only two hours of consultation, my daughter easily passed the DMV Behind the wheel test. Prior to Chuck's help, she'd failed the exam twice, after taking her 6 hours with a different instructor in Felton/Scotts Valley. That guy was pretty cold towards her. They didn't really talk much, and I felt she wasn't improving. I highly recommend asking for Chuck Overly. Had we gone with him the first time, we could have avoided all of the tears and anxiety.

I hope I pass this test. I respect the law and I'll drive more safely the laws of California drive…read moresafe and watch for pedestrians never drive under an influence keep a nice speed limit spent all the speedy limits. Drive safe in the freeway. Make sure Arnold cross any car may cause danger. Drive a safe distance from another car. Keep my eyes on the road. Don't have any music on loud to use my cell phone while driving Make sure I'm a good condition to drive where my seat belt and everybody in the car wear it too when I'm driving Make sure to stop driving when you feel tired take a rest from long distance driving have safety seats for toddlers if you have some Make sure you have your driver's license and registration when stopped and read the speed limit signs when you're driving​​​

I taught my daughter to drive on private roads. After she got her permit we signed on with Kristen,…read morewho is a wonderful driving instructor. Because we were about to move, she was flexible enough to do 2 hour lessons in a very brief period. After the lessons, my daughter started correcting my driving! (And she was right.) My daughter was very comfortable with Kristen, learned a lot, developed great driving habits, and is thoroughly ready for the on-the-road driving test. I cannot recommend 17 Mile Driving School enough.

We had Omar as our instructor. He was very flexible and responsive. The company did not charge more…read moreto pick up and drop off. He was willing to pick up m teenager from school and drop him off at home. He asked me to text him when my son passed! He did on his first try. Thank you.

Different Instructors with different cars and different way of teachings. Can't recommend it for…read morefirst time drivers like me. No check list of what to teach students and no endorsements of your progress between instructors (if you'll get different instructors which is most likely) Appreciated the lessons but teachings doesn't have structures

Our youngest daughter just completed classes with A-Z Driving School and we are -- as with our…read morefirst child that did it few years ago -- EXTREMELY HAPPY!!! :) Both Steven and Anita have been fantastic teachers -- big "thank you" goes to them!!! :) Thank you very much for helping her in her driving journey, Liza and Kirill

When I first contacted A-Z for my son's driving lessons, Erin was very helpful and answered all my…read morequestions and helped get my son set up for 3 lessons (6 hours). His first lesson was with Natalie. She was great. He was very nervous and she helped ease his nerves. After the lesson, she had wrote down the areas he needed to focus on. She went over it with both my son and me. He also got a checklist to prepare for the driving test. His next two lessons were with Steve, who was very professional and got him on the freeway and helped him with preparing for the exam including backing up. A few months later, we got two more lessons (4 hours). Erin again was a great help in helping schedule. He had another lesson with Steve. He also had another instructor Katie, also professional and helped him with parking and other areas he requested more practice with. My son passed his driving exam today on the first try. The foundations provided to him definitely helped. I've recommended A-Z to other parents looking for lessons.

Flip you guys!! I bought a 25 dollar course and ordered my certificate, and you guys lost it!! You…read moreforced me to wait TWO WEEKS for a piece of paper and then LOST IT IN TRANSIT!! MY APPOINTMENT IS IN FOUR DAYS! Now I need to pay FOURTY DOLLARS TO GET IT ON TIME!! don't do drivers ed from this place! they are irresponsible and just looking for money. Actually, frick you guys.

I had two issues with this company. 1. When my son completed the drivers Ed course, I received an…read moreemail that said the certificate was on the way. 5 weeks later, still no certificate, so I called and they told me I never ordered it! I explained that their email was misleading, it didn't say anything about needing to order it. The only option was for me to pay them $40 to express mail it. Wasn't happy with this as I felt I got swindled, but I paid it. 2. My son didn't pass his first permit test so I had to cancel the behind the wheel that I had previously booked. I canceled right away in the DMV parking lot with 24 hour notice. They tried to charge me $189 for the cancellation! The reason I booked the lesson before him passing the test was because their availability is very poor. I didn't want my son to wait several weeks to get behind the wheel once he passed the test and the day after his test was their only availability for weeks, so I had to take it. I'm cancelling the 6 hour driving lessons and going with a local company down the street that has better availability and better customer service. I'm not giving this company any more of my money. I will update this review once the refund is processed.

Lance was excellent! Highly recommend! He straight both my kids 4 years apart! I liked that I…read morecould text with him and use PayPal to pay!

I would give a zero star if I could. This review is NOT based on his teaching skill. My child is…read morescheduled a class to start on end of June. He cancelled his class on the very last moment, literally that day. Then he re-scheduled to today, and cancelled the class 50 mins before the lesson. I don't expect any professional teacher would do this. My son has a driving test coming up at the end of the month, and have to find ways to work around that.

Mr. Hui has an easy to understand process, easy to understand website, and is great at…read morecommunicating over text and email about lessons. He clearly understands teenagers (teenage boys being a special breed), and ensures the proper rules are being followed to keep safety top of mind. Highly recommend for summer lessons, thank you Mr. Hui!

I was hesitant to write this review on Google, fearing potential retaliation from Mr. Hui, who has…read moremy personal information. However, Yelp allows anonymous reviews, so here you go. I hope this helps someone else. Mr. Hui, if you're reading this, please reconsider how you handle first-time students during lessons. At one point, you buried your face in your hands, sighed loudly, and became visibly frustrated when I tried to explain that I was struggling to understand your English. This wasn't a personal attack--it was my reality because, on the road, with information overload, I really can't comprehend and react to your instruction. That is really dangerous. Mr. Hui, I can see how you can be great, because you did push me to literally drive through Palo Alto's busy area on a Saturday afternoon, 40 miles an hour (35 miles an hour speed limit though!) when I can barely tell break from gas. To me, it felt like achieving mission impossible! But I'm not looking to accomplish mission impossible or rush to get my driver's license. I want to learn in a constructive, supportive environment. I even made a point to explain to you I'm not looking to save money and can take as many lessons as needed. When I explained that I had real trouble understanding you because you say "line" and "nine" exactly the same, I didn't expect you to change, but I just hoped for some kindness and patience if I don't immediately perform OK. Instead, your reactions--"Ai-ya! You say nervous nervous nervous as an excuse to not listen to the instructor," or "You are scary, you are scary, you are scary, and you don't do xyz" (he meant "scared," and yes, this sentence doesn't even make sense), or "You are lawyer or accountant, you think you know everything" (when answering his question about yellow line)--were discouraging, unhelpful, unkind. Today, I felt like a real danger to anyone on the road in Menlo Park as someone who had held a steering wheel for the first time in her life for just 20 minutes. I strongly believe that learner cars should be clearly marked, but unfortunately, Mr. Hui's car was not, which only added to my anxiety. I've decided to continue my lessons with a larger, more professional driving school that uses marked learner cars. When I politely informed Mr. Hui of my decision and requested a certificate for JUST TWO HOURS of training I had completed, he texted, "No certificate to you!!" In conclusion, while Mr. Hui is not at all "a horrible person", his unprofessionalism as an instructor stems from his inability to understand and accommodate the need of students, particularly in terms of communication in English and managing nervous beginners.

I can honestly say choosing to go to this school was my best idea regarding getting my license…read more Mary Phyllis is a wonderful teacher and having deadlines helped me immeasurably in getting the course work done. Also having other people there pursing the same career was a good way to learn even more about the business. The online portal is really good as well as the hard copy books. Overall it has been a great experience. I look forward to taking my test and getting my license instead of being terrified that I could not do it! Thank you!