I had stopped in on two other driving schools before choosing ADDS. One felt like a wrong fit,…read moremostly due to availability and the other (also in Evanston) had a front desk person who was condescending and gave what I knew was incorrect information. As an elderly woman, new to Illinois and not having driven for over a year, this challenge was almost overwhelming. From the minute I entered the office of ADDS, I felt comfortable. First contact was the very busy Kemyta, who was juggling phone, paperwork, walk-ins and still smiling. When she was free, she asked me a few questions, then showed me how to maneuver their website, which had practice tests and much other information. There was also a voice behind a partition - an instructor giving a lesson to a group of high school students. Kemyta and I discussed my tailored requirements including pick-up and drop-off as well as instruction for written test, driving test and all the crazy paperwork associated with an out-of-state elderly person licensing situation. Kemyta assured me that the owner Doug Whitmore, a retired state policeman, would lead me through the process. When I met Doug, I asked him to be very straightforward with criticisms because I wanted to get this right. In turn, he gave encouragement, precise feedback, directions and kindly-phrased criticisms. After each session, I received a detailed summary from Doug's wife Andrea, while Doug was off giving CDL lessons for truck drivers. Text messages and emails were answered in reasonable time. This group has so many dimensions but operates very compatibly. I was apprehensive about taking the test and asked if I should have one more lesson, but Doug said he thought I could pass and gave specific issues on which to focus. He easily could hae had another payment from me, but he took the high road (no pun intended). I passed all the testing and got a license. Yay! This company is like family. They care about your success, know what they are doing, kind, moral and truly a pleasure to work with.

On the plus side, they teach the kids the necessary theory and the driving instructors are great…read more It would do them a lot of good to be well mannered on the phone with parents. The person on the other end of the line is rude, unhelpful and should not represent this school. I have had more than one child learn from them and their manners just don't seem to improve, to the point where they have a reputation for being nasty. Would love to write a more solid review as your instructors are great and I like how you teach them the theory with realistic scenarios. You seem to care that they do well, just change the person at the other end of the phone!

UPDATE: After posting my initial review, Andrew, one of their supervisors reached out to me…read moredirectly. He was professional, acknowledged the breakdown in communication, and offered a fair resolution. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I purchased an 8-hour driving package with a road test. My final instructor showed up unprepared--he admitted he hadn't read my file, didn't know I had a road test scheduled, and failed to teach the required test skills. When I initially contacted the office, I was promised a call back on the next day to give me a solution. They didn't call.

This is a scam. I signed up my daughter for classroom instruction and multiple hours of behind the…read morewheel lessons in June, 2025. Cost approximately $600. After she completed the classroom portion, passed the test, and obtained her learner's permit, I tried to schedule the behind-the-wheel lessons I had paid for. They were booked solid for the month of August. Then she had to go off to college. Once she got back, I tried to schedule the lessons. They told me her "credits" had expired, and she had to buy a new package. They would not refund me. Total scam. Go to Adams or American Defensive Driving School instead! Nova just steals from you.

Had an absolutely great experience here. Everything was very organized and easy to schedule. My…read moredaughter actually enjoyed the classes and really benefitted from the one on one lessons. I ended up adding extra one on one lessons because my daughter is a nervous driver. It was great how he picks up from your house for lessons and how Brian gives the final road test. He's a great teacher , highly recommended

I took a class with Eddy and he is fantastic! He is super zen, explains things with drawings and…read morevisuals and it is just a great teacher. I was super nervous and I ended up feeling exciting about my driving. Highly recommended.

The driving instructor was calm but wasn't able to answer my questions. He confused me at times…read morewith his instruction but overall a good experience.

Extremely unprofessional and borderline fraudulent. Communicated with this individual called Matt…read morefor my teen's driving program. Gave me all the details and sold me on the program. Once I paid, there was NO structure. I had to request training material, online trainings, next steps - had to do the above multiple times before it was done. Just the non-behind the wheels process took ~9months. Scheduling the behind the wheel training was another nightmare. We were told 8hrs behind the wheel, then it became 6hrs without getting any money back. The instructor was NEVER available. It's been more than 3months and we have not finished the 6hrs of behind the wheel training. I have email and text message communication back and forth requesting and most of the time no responses back until I threaten or raise my voice.

tl,dr: Let my driver's license expire, needed a new one, plus a car to use for the driving test…read more Nova Driving School was fantastic. I moved back to Chicago after 14 years in SF and finally needed to get my license again, mainly so I could help my aging folks in Southern Indiana if I needed to. I don't own a car, and I didn't want to borrow one from friends, so I looked for a driving school that also provides a vehicle for the test. Nova kept coming up in the ads, searches, and on Reddit. But I still needed an instructional permit to drive for the driving test. I went to the downtown DMV, took the written and vision tests, and got my instructional permit. I bought Nova's "2HR BTW + ROAD TEST" package on their site, which included 2 hours with an instructor and the use of the car on the day of the DMV. Called a coordinator, and they got me set up for a Friday morning. I'd show up at 6am at the Elston DMV (closest to me), practice the route in their car, then take the driving test. I arrived at the DMV at 6 AM, where I met an instructor named Jamie. He provided an overview of the driving test, explaining what the examiners look for and what questions they might ask. After that, we switched sides, and I got behind the wheel for the first time in 20 years. I was relieved to find that everything came back to me. Jamie took me through the two variations of the route used for the test. The route was very short, consisting of about four to five turns. There was no parallel parking or interstate driving involved. (Please note that this is specific to the Elston DMV; other branches may have different procedures.) Another student arrived, so we picked him up, and I sat in the back while that student drove the route a few times. Then, two more students joined us, making it three in the back and one in the driver's seat, with the instructor in the front. Each of us drove the route 2-3 times, and we had the opportunity to ask questions. As my appointment time approached, I returned to the front seat and went for another round of the two main route variations. Got into the DMV showing my text confirmation of my appointment. They won't let you enter without revealing either the email or the text proof of your appointment. And this branch doesn't take walk-ins. Stood in the first line to get the paperwork reviewed. I went to the camera line to get a photo, then waited, went to a counter, had everything reviewed, filled out more paperwork, signed more things, went over to pay at the cashier, came back, and got my paperwork for my driving test. Went outside to wait to take the driving test. Note that you can't stay inside the building so dress warm if it's winter. The other guys had less complicated paperwork, so one was in line for the driving test. The other one was in front of me. Then I was next. But this is mixed in with all the different people taking the written test. I waited an hour for the car to come back from the other guy and then got in. The instructor drove me around to the back parking lot. He stepped out, I took the driver's side, and got in line, the line of cars. I waited about 40 minutes in the car in line to get my assigned examiner. They had about 4-5 working that day across 3 lines of vehicles. I was finally at the front; the examiner who was the same woman who had helped me with the paperwork got in. We went exactly the route that Nova had reviewed with me several times. At the end, you have to park in a wide test parking space, then after that you park in angled parking with the rest of the other cars, with completed driving tests, but awaiting results. I choked on the question about which way your wheels point if you are facing uphill/downhill, and which side of the road you are on. Overthinking myself. But still passed thankfully. Examiner gets up, out, and leaves, and goes on to another driving test. 10 minutes later, another person comes out with my temporary driver's license and hands it to me, and I'm done. The real one arrives in 2-3 weeks. The $245 fee was definitely worth it for having a car provided, receiving two hours of driving experience on the exact test routes, and having them handle the appointment scheduling. And Jamie the instructor was clear, patient, and at ease in explaining and repeating all things we needed to keep in mind. I procrastinated on this for a long time and felt foolish when I realized how simple and straightforward the process was. If you're in a similar situation, make getting a new driver's license one of your goals for 2026 and call Nova.

This has been a truly awful experience start to finish. Unfortunately as one of the only driving…read moreschools in the city they sort of have you between a rock and a hard place. My son took classes there this winter, the class rooms were FREEZING, so cold in fact, that a number of times they cancelled classes the morning of because it was too cold. Teachers were different just about every class, and they would switch classrooms without any notifications. I also kept getting emails saying he needed to make up classes that he either never missed in the first place or had already made up. The worst part though is their complete and utter failure to ever answer the phones or return calls. I FINALLY got someone to call me back after leaving four messages and he claimed there is a known issue with their phone system. So communicate that to your customers! A mass email will work. His solution was for me to just keep calling and hanging up. It is truly, truly a disorganized mess there.

I'm delighted with the work Top Driver did with my son, and later, my daughter. They are excellent…read moredrivers who are dedicated to the highest standards in the classroom and in the car. We had an easy time scheduling lessons with Top Driver because the customer service is GREAT! "Thinking and learning are not all in our head. On the contrary, the body plays an integral part in all our intellectual processes from our earliest moments in utero right through to old age." -Carla Hannaford, Ph.D, Smart Moves

I can never book a driving lesson, they open the list and it's immediately filled, I email them…read moreabout And get rude responses, I wish I had known this before paying for the class.

Twice the instructor did not show up for behind the wheel. You can not schedule driving instruction…read moreon line and they have no times open except months away. I asked to be refunded for the two times the instructor did not show and they refused.

For the price we paid, the whole experience with this driving school was horrible. First, for the…read moreclassroom portion, the teacher would come late, let the kids out early, and give them a twenty-minute break every day. So, a class that was supposed to be 2 hours turned into an hour and twenty minutes. Not to mention everything is out of date. The books we are given are out of date by about 3 years and some of the rules are different, but the videos they watched looked to be about 10 years old and from another state where the laws are different. Now for the on-the-road portion. Today, I came from my LAST lesson very upset. My instructor, Mr. W, would constantly make snappy remarks at me. It's a LESSON. He's supposed to teach me; not to yell when I don't know something I haven't done before. Like today, when I was learning U-turns, 3-point turns, and 2-point turns and he was getting really frustrated when I didn't grasp it right away. That's just one of many examples. First, he told me to pull into a gas station, which I had barely done before. He snapped and told me to pull into the other entrance (which I didn't even know I had to do). After pulling in, he snapped again for me to pull around the pumps because I went too far (he didn't tell me to stop). After turning, I pulled forward and he yanked the steering wheel to turn and yelled at me and said, "What are you doing!", even though he didn't even tell me what to do in the first place. After pumping gas and I left the gas station, he called me something along the lines of a horse on wheels. Later, I had to do a tight turn at an intersection with another car, but I felt completely in control. He thought otherwise and harshly stopped the car and snapped again. Again, at stoplights, I wanted to turn right. He told me to turn even though it was a red light. I said, "But it's no turn-on red. Oh, wait! Only when pedestrians are present." So, I understood right away. This was still unacceptable to him and he snapped again and harshly told me I needed to read signs. I was literally pulling into the lane. I started to turn maybe 15 seconds later. It's not that big of a deal; I was just trying to be safe. I also hesitated because, in a previous lesson, he snapped at me for turning on-red even though I knew I could. So I didn't know if he made a mistake or not again. Later on, at a neighborhood intersection where there weren't any stop signs, I slowed down because I wanted to be safe. He snapped AGAIN and told me to not do that because there "clearly" wasn't a stop sign there. I just wanted to be safe because a few minutes before he told me to stop. Not to mention, as I was driving, he was like, "Keep driving, I'm just going to fix something" while reaching over and changing the dashboard settings. He was obstructing my vision and just told me to keep driving. Earlier, we heard good things about him. But, my mom and I agree that he's no longer patient enough to teach lessons. He told my mom I panicked too much. But, the truth is, it's him who's panicking and doesn't even give me a chance to try. I had lessons with two other instructors, and there weren't issues and I was told I'm a really good driver. But Mr. W is truly too old and impatient and creates problems that weren't problems to begin with.

This has been an extremely disappointing experience. We paid a deposit for a teen group driver…read moreeducation class, and when we arrived for the scheduled session, no instructor was present and the office was dark and locked. There was no prior notice or communication regarding a cancellation or rescheduling. Parents and students waited for over an hour attempting to contact the business, but received no response. Additionally, our follow-up emails are not being delivered, which is concerning given that payment has already been made. Even if there was a legitimate reason for the instructor's absence, there should be a clear protocol in place to notify families in advance. The lack of communication and accountability caused unnecessary stress and raised serious concerns about the reliability and legitimacy of the business. This is the Arlington Heights business and if you are with other locations, you should file a complaint that this location is hurting the overall company image.

Scheduled 10 hours of behind the wheel with this company for my teen. Scheduling was about 2.5…read moremonths out which was fine. After one lesson my teen complained that the instructor was yelling and belligerent throughout the lesson. She texted him before the scheduled start time of the lesson a simple "Outside now!" During the lesson, she instructed him to make a lane change he did not feel was safe because of an oncoming car and when he hesitated she told him to do what she said without questioning. There were similar stories throughout the lesson. She even yelled at him for not knowing how to get back to the home afterward - not her place to judge. It took me about 6 attempts to get someone on the phone to cancel our remaining lessons and issue a refund. I'm not holding my breath that the refund will go smoothly either. Adam's school - if you are reading this review please speak with your instructors about common decency and having a patient attitude. They are dealing mostly with kids who need help during a learning experience that is stressful enough without the instructor making it worse.

This school is one of my best choices i made. Staff members are very friendly, educated and treat…read moreyou like your family Thank you Vikings helping my next adventure

Excellent experience for my daughter. Very kind and friendly staff. She was very prepared to get…read morebehind the wheel. Thank you!!

Great place highly recommend. Our son was very happy here and the instructors were all very good.read more

We just finished our driving lessons with fresh Green Light in Northbrook. The staff was…read moreknowledgeable and personable! I highly recommend Fresh Green Light!