Funny, knowledgeable and understanding instructors! I can't recall a single moment where I felt anything other than empowered to learn and confident in my future driving skills. Marc is my hero. read more

Really great instructor! I'm a senior driver who needs to get her license renewed. Mark made me feel very safe and comfortable behind the wheel. it was a pleasure to work with him and he pointed out some of the things I needed to work on. The watching my speed and changing lanes safely, I definitely needed a refresher! Don't talk but pay attention to the road to drive safely. I'm confident now that I will pass the driving test, thanks to Mark from, "Roadrunner Driving School"!! I now have a brand new car! I have my license back and I'm driving solo. All thanks to Roadrunner Driving School! Great teachers!!! read more

Super helpful, multiple class/learning options, easy to work with & provides a much more in-depth education than we've found elsewhere.

My son attended the in class driver's education for 4 days and has had multiple behind the wheel instruction as well. I am so glad I chose this school. The owner Mark James has been working with my son and he has such a gentle, humorous and smart way of teaching driving. My son knows wayyyy more about driving than me and now corrects my driving, lol. I couldn't be happier with this school, the education and life saving skills learned here that will last for a lifetime. read more

My daughter did her behind the wheel training with them. We had two different instructors. You can have the same one but our schedules dictated availability. They were both awesome. Each with their own techniques so my daughter learned from each one different aspects and tips . The best part to me is the review they do after each lesson that you can read online and with your child / student driver. I highly recommend this driving school. read more

I have been driving for 55 years and went to Road Runner Driving School to check on my skills. I was nervous going in but Leslie was fantastic. She immediately put me at ease and was extremely professional. Driving techniques have changed since I first learned to drive and it was fun to hear and learn what's new. For instance having been taught the 10 to 2:00 hand position on the steering wheel, it was revelation to learn the "Shuffle technique". I feel as a result of only one lesson with Leslie that I am not only a better driver but a much safer one. HIGHLY recommended for experienced drivers and those just learning to drive! Kristine T. read more

Leslie was very sweet and made my daughter feel very comfortable behind the wheel. She is a great driving instructor and we couldn't be more pleased with the experience. She came highly recommended and I can see why. Thank you!! read more

Been reading all these comments, and I'm surprised to see what I read. Wonder how many privileged kid's parents are on here being keyboard warriors. Just bought a Miata, had little experience with manual, and was very nervous driving around. So I reached out to Leslie and she gave me a lot of confidence with the basics and more advanced techniques. She's not a race car driver but she definitely teaches you the fundamental tools. read more

Roadrunner Driving School - Driving Schools Near Me - Santa Rosa, California

When my oldest child was ready, I began calling friends to find out about driving teachers. Unfortunately my older child had already take her permit test by studying online, but at least she was able to take behind the wheel lessons with Leslie. She was nervous about her first lesson but Leslie set her fears at ease, and taught her how to drive safely. My younger child was able to begin the entire process in the Roadrunner Driving School classroom, which was much better than the online course her sister took. (And I didn't have to remind her to sit down and do her online lessons!) Then, for her behind the wheel lessons, Leslie and Brad taught her to drive. They are patient, helpful, and very knowledgeable about all aspects of driving. Teaching a teenager to drive is a difficult, stressful process, but with Roadrunner Driving School the process in manageable. As they say in movie reviews, I give Roadrunner "Two Thumbs Up!" read more

Thank you for kindly, calmly and intelligently guiding our son to become a better driver. You have been a wonderful influence on him, and we are beyond grateful for how and when you came into his life. Thank you!! Our daughter will be in your car within a year, and we know your skills, empathy, authority and compassion will give her the same outcome our son has had. Thank you for being you Leslie and for being a part of our family during such a big step in our kids' and families life! read more

I'm looking at some of these negative reviews and I'm a bit confused. My experience with the school and Leslie (the owner) was only positive. She was very nice and funny and made me feel very comfortable driving for the first time. I just passed my drivers test today (yay!) and it's all thanks to Leslie. She prepared me well and her practice test was more difficult than the actual driving test which I appreciated as I was then very confident on the real test. She also taught me how to parallel park with ease and that isn't even on the test but is practical for daily use. Thank you! read more

Roadrunner driving school taught me how to drive safe on the road ! My teacher Leslie was super nice, because of her I was able to pass my permit test and driving test !! read more

They were flexible, kind and quickly responded to all emails and voicemail messages. My son passed both his written and driving tests on the first try. read more

We had a really great experience with Roadrunner. My daughter took her first lesson with another driving school that closed without letting us know (after we paid in advance for the next two classes) and Roadrunner was very helpful and accommodating about giving her credit for the class she had already done. Leslie was warm and friendly and put my daughter completely at ease and she came back from each lesson knowing things about driving that I don't even know and couldn't have taught her. She passed her permit test on the first try with flying colors. I highly recommend this driving school. read more

The owner of this driving school was very rude and did not handle an issue we encountered, w any diplomacy or tact. She was deceptive about having emailed me their policies prior to daughter's lesson, and then kept my payment without providing service. Further, the male driving instructor was condescending and dodgy about same issue. Much happier w Coastline Academy. Avoid Roadrunner! read more

My first experience at roadrunner driving school was great and my instructor was Huge Brown he was super nice and gave me positive reinforcement, however my second time at roadrunner my instructor was the owner, Leslie. If you go here I would definitely NOT recommend having Leslie as your instructor. I have never in my life been treated so poorly by a teacher, it started off by her arriving an hour late. She says in other reviews if she arrives late she "has a good reason". When she finally came to pick me up she said she was with another student, which is not a good reason at all, she overbooked herself which is already very unprofessional. Then she starts cleaning the car for COVID reasons and she states that the boy she was instructing before me was very sweaty and made her seat wet. I feel that this is also very unprofessional talking about another student like that, if it were me I would be embarrassed. When I was driving I thought things were going well and as a beginner you're of course prone to making some mistakes. However whenever I did make a mistake like for instance, I would stop too abruptly, Leslie would get very angry and say that im going to ruin her car by breaking too hard. Every time I would try to break softer and come to a gradual stop but it was never good enough for her she would just get increasingly more mad. This is absolutely NOT what a teacher should do, she should at least explain what I'm doing wrong and how I should fix it instead of increasingly getting angry. At one point she told me I drive like I had never been on the road before, yet she had me drive all the way from Santa Rosa to Healdsburg on the freeway and back. If she really thought that she wouldn't have had me do that. It got to the point where she criticized me so much I couldn't stop crying. Leslie is the absolute worst teacher I have ever had and she does not know how to talk to people, especially teens who are already vulnerable and learning something new. All she did was destroy any confidence I had in driving, she gave me absolutely no constructive criticism or taught me absolutely anything. DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL!! (Unless you can get a teacher other than Leslie) this made me change driving schools and I had a amazing last driving class at take me driving in Windsor!! read more

Very professional driving school! Leslie the Owner was very helpful and extremely knowledgeable. My son did his drivers training and was really happy he did it with them. Signing up was so quick and simple. They were amazing and very helpful! I highly recommend driving instructor James 007, he by far takes great pride in his job! My son passed on his 1st time at DMV and got his license! I definitely recommend this School! read more

Leslie, the owner, did an excellent job teaching me how to drive. I'm a 30 year old new driver. I had five classes and each time learned something new and appreciated their patience and encouragement. We practiced going on the expressway, parallel parking and did prep for my driving test. I passed with flying colors thanks to Leslie. I had a class with Brad, he did a great job and gave me lots of tips but I preferred a woman instructor. I found it worth the money for the classes and recommend road runner to new drivers of any age. read more

Leslie was my driving instructor for the last time and today I passed my driving test today with 0 wrong!! I couldn't have done it without Leslie from Roadrunner! I 110% recommend!! read more

Leslie and her team have been fantastic. Not only do they do a great job of actual training during the driving sessions but they have been super responsive and flexible throughout the process. Our daughter had 3 great driving experiences with them and the prep for the final driving exam was spot on. Our daughter drives safely and responsibly and has a driver's license now. That was the end goal and Leslie and her team helped make it happen. read more

Leslie is great! She taught my son, both in the classroom and behind the wheel. With every new instruction, his confidence grew and his ability to navigate the roads safely rapidly increased. I highly recommend Roadrunner to all parents looking for a great program to teach your young driver. read more

I have my driving test soon in Santa Rosa and inquired about their program. I ended up in the rudest and most unprofessional phone call I have ever experienced. For no particular reason at all, the woman started assuming I have no driving preparations at all and started personal insults after insults. She then ended the phone call abruptly with "good luck, really, good luck!" I have serious concerns over this woman's mental stability and I strongly discourage any involvement with this driving school. read more

(Read her current reviews and be aware as you shop around.) Choosing a driving school usually has to fit into our kids schedules but consider NOT jumping at the chance to sign up with Leslie and Roadrunner. She is very unprofessional and will complain about other driving schools and how busy she is non stop. Our experience was strange. We would meet Leslie at the door, discuss what we were seeing in our kids driving and give our feedback. Then after the lesson, we would check in with Leslie to see how things went and what we needed to work on with our kid. All good right? No!! She sent us a letter to tell us our kid needed to work on many things and she needed a lot of work....yet none of this matched what she would tell us face to face. She didn't want to hurt our child's feelings apparently. YET during driving lessons she would reprimand her and give incorrect information and ask her to make turns downtown that did not follow the road markings. Leslie got upset during our three drive process because I cancelled a lesson three weeks before the lesson (because we did not think our child was ready for the final lesson and needed more time. I did it in writing by e-mail, however she wanted you to do it on her phone answering machine. It upset her I put it in writing so she couldn't charge us.) This lead to her refusing to finish our driving lessons with her and honoring her discount she promised for the third lesson. Surprise! Once I asked for a release letter, she sent one with the incorrect driving hours on it and held our process up even more. I had to pull cancelled checks to prove her wrong. Finally we received the correct information, went to another driving school in Cotati, completed our one remaining drive and our daughter passed her test the first time without missing a point! Guess she wasn't so bad after all. Leslie will lecture you over and over about her "rules" but she fails to mention if she shows up late she finds it acceptable as she did to one of our friends. Her excuses are supposed to be acceptable. This all sounds crazy but we couldn't believe it ourselves and felt as though she might be near a breakdown. Shop around people. You do not want your child in a car with this over worked, stressed lady! read more

The very best driving school in Sonoma County. Owner is very knowledgeable and patient with new drivers. Prepares new drivers very well for DMV test and builds confidence in her students. Don't waste time or money on any other school. read more

We love Roadrunner! Leslie has been the behind the wheel trainer for both of our teenagers and we couldn't be happier! Leslie's calm demeanor and expert advice helped ease our girls into becoming confident drivers and it took a load off of our stress level as parents. :) read more

Things started fine, my son did their classroom drivers training and then the 1st behind the wheel. He passed his permit test first try. The problems came at the next point during the drivers training #2. Upon making the appointment we were informed that they don't come to Sebastopol. This came as a surprise as my son had heard at the class that the instructors would pick the students up at school and drop them off at home, and I understood the same thing upon enrolling him. So they compromised and said if we took the first lesson of the day the instructor would pick him up at home and asked we pick him up in Santa Rosa (approx 5 miles away). Sure - no problem, it's not even that far. (Also we had to reschedule at one point and I called ahead to cancel and got a very nice message thanking me profusely for canceling ahead of time, point is we are responsible people). 3rd behind the wheel comes and I call to make an appointment and ask for the early appointment so we could do the same thing. They set it up. Next thing I know we get a call saying the appointment hadn't been entered into the computer and could we call back to confirm. I did ( and my the way everything is done via messages and return calls....I don't think anyway actually answers the phone on set hours). A few days later, I get a very long message regarding how it was a terrible inconvenience and against policy to pick kids up in Sebastopol and they made an exception the first time and while they really did not want to do this again if I had to have that I needed to call and change his appointment time and the instructor (specifically to the instructor that of the two my son had experienced, he preferred less and we had requested a different instructor. We didn't complain, just asked for someone different the next time) The message went on and on about wear and tear on the cars, exhausting the drivers, etc. I was so surprised. The tone of the message was blaming. I called back and left a message and explained I didn't appreciate the message and reiterated what we had been told but said we would leave appointment as it was and deal with their policy. But the challenge continued....again I get a lengthy message about the policy and why it's in place, and if we weren't happy they would give us our letter of hours. Geesh! She informed she would be calling that night between 6-9 and would I please be available to answer (coming from the business who deals via messages) or she was going to just send us verification hours. I gave up....I called Millers driving school, who answered the phone, signed us up (explained depending on the driver/time we might get picked up or need to drop off in cotati). And they also asked if we were going to get the letter of verification or would we like her to do so, great customer service! We are driving to Cotati and happy just to have good customer service. By the way, they went out of their way on short notice to get him a time well before his scheduled driving test. Sorry Roadrunner, just basic customer service. Remember who is the paying customer and don't blame them for your own errors! read more

Do not bring your teen to this school. The owner is rude and sarcastic, and the instructors, along with the owner, are very unprofessional. On my teen's first behind-the-wheel instruction, he hit a car while parallel parking. The instructor to him to just leave. They left without a note or anything. When I complained to the owner about this, she asked why I was just now telling her. I just found out myself, as my teen was telling me he wanted a different instructor. What difference does it make when I tell the owner what happened? The second instructor was dressed inappropriately and when I complained of this, the owner made excuses for him. I do agree that one can have physical conditions, however, that's no excuse for wearing faded jeans that are too short and a faded, stretched out t-shirt. This is supposed to be a professional driving school and appropriate attire is not too much to expect. I really hesitated to let my teen get in the car with this person. The owner accused me of attacking and in a very sarcastic tone said, "I'll handle the next driving instruction myself. Will that make you happy?" When I confronted her tone, she continued with her rude attitude. She then asked what I wanted, and I said, "Absolutely nothing." I'm taking my teen to a different school for his last behind-the-wheel instruction. Don't waste your time with this place. read more

I have to wonder about at least one of the reviews from an out of town reviewer. I enrolled my daughter at John's driving school for their classroom portion and it was terrrible: basically glorified babysitting. But we tried a behind the wheel with them and it still was not satisfactory, so we did the second behind the wheel driving class with Roadrunner and the difference was dramatic. My daughter said the instructor was much more professional, she learned much more and felt much more confident than she did with John's. For her final behind the wheel session, the instructor said she would prepare her for the behind the wheel test by actually running her through like a driving examiner at the DMV. Not the actual drive, but similar so she could be prepared. We definitely recommend them over others in the area and will do the final behind the wheel with them. read more

All i can think is unprofessional, unprofessional, unprofessional I called the owner to settle this ridiculous situation, and she rambled on and on not letting me get a word in, she is an extremely frustrating, rude woman. Plus their online class is out of date. Extremely disappointed. read more

Very happy with all the instructors we had. Brad was particularly through with our son and communicated everything to us. Leslie (owner) is great with challenging schedules and follow-up. Thanks Roadrunner! read more

My daughter took her driving lessons with Roadrunner. We loved their availability, and professionalism. I found it very convenient that my daughter's instructor was willing to come to our home to pick her up for her lessons! Her instructor's name is Leslie. Leslie is super personable, professional, knowledgeable and made my daughter feel very comfortable. Thank you Roadrunner!! Keep up the great work!! read more

I want to recommend this school to anyone learning to drive for the first time. I had never driven before enrolling in their driving courses. My instructor, Leslie was great. She included so many driving techniques in the first lesson. Each lesson after that built on my skills and confidence. Their schedule is very flexible and convenient. I like that they have instructors that used to work at the DMV. Their inside knowledge helped me pass my driving test. I can't say enough about Road Runner. They were fantastic. read more

Leslie is a very conscientious person. She works hard and takes pride in her driving school. She is very passionate about teaching safety to young drivers. I highly recommend her school. read more

Wow! I recommend this school to everyone I know! After using another local driving school with my three oldest kids and hearing each time from them after a day of driving , how they did their teachers errands and were done each lesson at least a half hour early, I checked out Roadrunner driving school for my last child. What a huge difference! Leslie the owner was amazing! She was so professional and knowledgable. My son drove for the whole time and is a much better driver then my girls and I credit roadrunner driving school! My godson just got his permit last week. I immediately called Leslie at roadrunner and scheduled him. I wanted to do it as a surprise, so she called him to schedule and called me back to tell me how excited he was. My girlfriend called me to tell me how professional Leslie was and put her mind at ease explaining how everything works so she wasn't so nervous. After talking with Leslie she said she was going to tell every parent she knows about roadrunner!. Being a parent of a new driver is terrifying enough, but having Leslie and roadrunner driving school teaching my loved ones how to be safe drivers means the WORLD to me! If you love your kids and want them how to respect driving and to learn everything they need to know, sign them up with Roadrunner driving school ! Professional, knowledgable and friendly! read more

My friend and I both went to this driving school and had horrible experiences. She makes unnecessary rude comments towards citizens. She has a discouraging attitude and makes many personal stops and calls cutting into driving time. She was late to every lesson. She said I was not ready for my test, but I passed the driving test 2 days later with 100%. Instead of giving positive encouragement she makes unsettling comments that are not constructive. She is racist and rude towards people in poorer parts of town. She does not know how to separate her personal life, from professional life. Please take your teen somewhere else. I was uncomfortable in the car with her every lesson. read more

Beware of this business, they are extremely unprofessional and unethical. DO NOT give them your credit card number, they will immediatly charge you for the service before it is even performed. The owner is extremely bitter and unreasonable. There are a few other driving schools in the area that will meet your needs and understand customer relations. read more

Do not sign up yourself or your student for with this driving school. The instructors are not professional with the young drivers in the car. My daughter's first lesson went ok. The second lesson the instructor was 30 minutes late and during the lesson had my child stop at the instructors "Friends" house that she was house sitting for to feed the animals. They then went on to pick up her dry cleaning. THIS IS NOT WHAT I PAID FOR. When I called to express my concern I was blown off that its good practice for the students to learn to park in different places. Although we paid for the entire second lesson, she did not get her whole 2 hours. During my daughter's third lesson Lesley, her instructor, made rude racial and unethical comments about a "larger" couple walking down the street. My daughter is many races and this was extremely offensive to her. I cannot believe that this company is still in business. I also had an incident with Lesley when she came to my house to collect on a unhonored check. The check was dishonored because my account at B of A had been compromised. I was not yet aware that her check had cleared and she showed up on my front door step demanding payment right there. I told her that I'd have to go to the bank and would get it to her by the end of the day but that I also had to check with my bank. I called Lesley at 5:30 telling her I would be by in the morning with payment and left a message. Lesley showed up again at my house at 7:15 demanding to know where her money was. I told her I had left a message that I would be there first thing in the morning (which I was today) and she accused me of lying and asked what my problem was. She then continued to throw a fit until I showed her my phone proving there was a call. This woman is not mentally stable and should not be working in such a stressful atmosphere with any of our children. Please contact one of the other driving schools in the area. If there is a 3 week wait to get in theres a reason for that, they're worth it! read more

I completely utterly disagree with all the negative comments below. They must have used a different school because what they said was 100% not a possibility. I personally have had two (soon three) kids use this school and have been more than satisfied. They are extremely well versed im their teachings and extremely professional. Brad, the instructor, is NEVER late for pick up or drop off and contrary to what has been said on this site, I have NEVER!! Been billed on my credit card with out my consent or knowledge prier. I would recommend this school to everyone and anyone. read more