Had a mix up with a lesson last night. We got to the TopDriver lot and the instructor said he was full and couldn't take my son for his lesson. To TopDriver's credit, I got a quick response from the general customer assistance this morning and then soon after Ralph, our regional manager, called me with sincere apologies and a new, confirmed lesson time. With COVID, so many businesses do not have enough workers, in this case possibly driving instructors, so we all have to be patient. That said, the scheduling system mentioned by many reviewers on this site is very difficult to manage. From my experience and others on this site, it appears that if you cannot get a lesson time, try to find out who your regional manager is, and ask them for help in scheduling. Not all parents can sit online for an hour at 8am (which is what I did) on the morning the site opens up to try to hit the system just right so you can schedule a time. My advice to anyone using TopDriver is to schedule 2 or 3 of your in-vehicle lessons when you sign up for the program. That way, you have a few on the books and have time to deal with delays in getting instruction, especially an issue when staff and instructors may be out sick because of COVID. read more

Needs to improve In car lesson time slots - impossible to find a slot, ever after trying for several weeks. Ultimately you would run out of 9-months deadline. read more

I would give 0 stars if it was an option. John Gauss disrespected my son and told my wife that he didn't want to be my sons instructor anymore...right in front of him. All because my son is a cautious driver. He explained to the instructor that he had gotten into an accident several months ago. So the instructor had tried to rush my son into making a left turn at an intersection and when he hesitated the instructor (John Gauss) told him..."you're really pissing me off". Unprofessional and very inappropriate. They have Dash Cams but apparently management is turning a blind eye on the entire situation. We hired these people to help our son regain his confidence but the instructor made him feel quite the opposite. He was in tears on the ride home from Top Driver. Tell me this. Would you want your kids possibly being treated this way? I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. read more

Used to be quite good when my sons took the lessons. But now you can never find available in-car lesson time for my daughter. It's like a lottery when they release the in-car lesson schedule. read more

(0 if I could) Scheduling and customer service are absolutely terrible. Trying to book an in-car lesson is mission impossible. They release the schedule only once a month at noon, and everything is booked within two hours -- for dates that are two months out! I always thought a driving school was supposed to teach you how to drive, but this place does everything except that. What kind of scam is this? I honestly don't understand how they're still in business with such an attitude. Save yourself the frustration -- stay far away from this place. read more

It's impossible to schedule driving classes at that location. The instructors are excellent, but they don't have enough for that area. The phone customer service is the worst I've ever encountered. read more

Scheduling in car lessons a nightmare No open slots - do they need more instructors ??? read more

Just take the class with your school. This has been a nightmare. You have to in-car lessons online, but they open the schedule at specific times and if are not able to get to a computer within 5 minutes, you will not be able to get anything until the next opening a month later. I wish we would have taken the class through the school. read more

I am currently in a legal fight with Top Driver as their online system creates errors that when sent to Secretary Of State, are disqualified. Then Top Driver tries to blame the applicant and forces additional charges for their errors. read more

Scheduling driving lessons each month is incredibly difficult. There's only one 'drop' for sessions each month, so everyone is scrambling to book their slots at the same time. The website crashes repeatedly, and by the time (usually 20-30 minutes) a schedule will load, the majority of sessions are already booked. When you enroll at Top Driver, expect this frustrating experience every month for nine months. Or choose Adams. Much better IMO. read more

Spots were always booked for behind the wheel lessons. They charge a reinstatement fee to have more time to try to get in. Cannot provide the services they offer. read more

I had positive experience taking drives at Top driver driving school. Yesterday, I passed my driving test at dmv Saint Charles, IL. Latart Richard is an amazing instructor at Top driver driving school of Geneva, Illinois. He is a highly skillful teacher who knows what to do and how to do. His teaching methodology is brilliant. I had zero experience in car driving lesson. After two months, I got my driver's license with only 9 points. I got from him not only what is required for a road test but also to be confident and to drive safely. For anyone reading this, I'd highly recommend Latart Richard as your instructor at top driver driving school, Geneva, Illinois. You'll see the difference. He is amazing! read more

Mr.Aflac was outstanding. Clear communication with my daughter and addressed all questions in a manner which she understood clearly as a new drive. Highly recommended. read more

TOP DRIVER IS A SCAM!!! I would give them Zero stars if that was an option. I took Top Driver last year and the classes they gave me were decent but the Driving lessons were pathetic. For the first 3 months I was able to get In-Vehicle lessons whenever I wanted but then out of know where it would get packed within seconds of the new schedules coming out. I only needed 2 more drives and whenever I try to schedule a drive, it was always packed. I didn't know you had to finish all the drives in order to get your license since no one told me that so now I have to pay 150$ just so I could finish 2 drives. They need to fix this scheduling issue. I remember my brother got his license a during quarantine and during his Top Driver training he never had to deal with this. If you're thinking about paying for Top Driver get the Silver or Gold Pass anything above that is a scam. read more

Top Driver Driving School - It's October 11th today and you won't be able to get a lesson till December. - Driving Schools Near Me - Arlington Heights, Illinois

The instructor (Dave Smith) was so old and made a big deal over mistakes that weren't even mistakes! Going 1 over the speed limit?! He SLAMMED down on the brakes before a red light while my daughter was slowing down and at least 200 feet away and that yanked her forward. read more

IMPOSSIBLE TO GET IN-CAR LESSONS ! Unless you have the fastest connection and click faster than anyone else, you will NOT get any in-car lessons. read more

Zero stars. Top Driver is a cash grab. I paid over $1000 for my twin sons to go through the program. They received nothing but positive marks for their behind the wheel evaluations. Their final evaluation comments were nearly identical, but somehow one of them failed which required us to pay extra for another session. I would never recommend Top Driver for anyone looking for driving training for their child. read more

Horrible company. They do not have enough driving instructors for all the kids taking the classes. good luck getting any driving lessons. Their site freezes up on the day it's released and 45 minutes later, everything is full. Customer service is horrible, not helpful and rude. They'll be happy to take your money but when you can't get the scheduled driving lessons in by a certain date, they'll want to charge you $99 again each month that it gets extended. Horrible!!! go elsewhere!!! We are stuck and I've contacted the BBB. read more

Use Coast Line instead of this school. I enrolled my son at this driving school. The schedule for the behind the wheel and observations was awful. Students can only schedule 2 lessons a month. Their schedule is also only 1 month at a time, so if you don't schedule when the schedule opens, you get crap schedule. Go to Coast Line. They are much better. My next child was enrolled at Coast Line. Scheduling was way better read more

I had a wonderful experience sending my daughter to Top Driver in Buffalo Grove, IL. The In Class lessons were well structured, organized and always on time. The In Car driving lessons were so easy to schedule online and really were informative and helpful. We always booked driver/observation with instructor FONDA GINSBURG. She was very sweet and made students comfortable behind the wheel. She gave them amazing tips and tools to prepare the kids for a drivers license. Fonda used her knowledge to coach the teens in a way that was relaxed and fun. She put first time driver nerves at ease with her friendly personality. Top Driver now has the option to pay an extra fee and take the Road Exam with them instead of the DMV which makes it so much quicker and easier. I highly recommend the Top Driver Program! read more

Top Driver Driving School - Top Driver Program was awesome! Written Test -PASS Road Test- PASS Guess who's getting her license? - Driving Schools Near Me - Arlington Heights, Illinois

Very friendly instructors that made the learning process stress free and enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Most complicated process ever! They sell you as many driving lessons as you may want, but it is nearly impossible to book them. They clearly are selling a bill of goods they can not fulfill. And on top of it, they give YOU a deadline to complete them despite having NO room on their schedule for the drives. It's a joke. Look elsewhere if you can. read more

Terrible interface for scheduling lessons. Poor communication from the instructors in terms of if they are running late. We waited 20 min. for one of our lessons and never was contacted. On our last drive the instructor said that my son wasn't on her roster. So happy to be done with this company. I had to fight with them to remove a $60.00 cancellation fee due to my son being sick. read more

Top diver gets 0 starts rating from me. I would like to provide a thorough review about our experience in Top Driver. My 16-year-old daughter started classroom instruction with top driver back in July with an excellent instructor . She received all of her classroom instruction in one month and a month later began receiving instruction behind the wheel with a female Instructor, who left the company two months later. Then, I contacted top driver to schedule driving instruction with a male or female instructor, but I was told that they were no appointments available for the month of December or January. It appears that Top Driver does not have enough driving instructors, but deceives its costumers making them believe that they are properly staffed to provide driving instruction in the multiple areas that they serve. My daughter also heard complaints from classmates who told her that the top driver's system is extremely difficult to schedule driving lessons and that it took them a very long time to obtain her license due to their lack of available instructors. I have a called multiple times and have requested to speak to a supervisor about this issue. I believe that it's unethical and unprofessional to commit to provide diving instruction when they are fully aware that they are UNDERSTAFFED. The scheduling system to schedule on the behind the wheel driving appointments is inconvenient because you are supposed to call or go online aflyer 12 o'clock every second Tuesday of the month. Scheduling appointments with top driver is extremely difficult, they are understaffed , and it will take a long time for your child to receive instruction behind the wheel if you choose to go with them. read more

It is impossible to schedule behind-the-wheel driving lessons with Top driver. Their scheduling website is a joke. Poor customer service. I wouldn't recommend this business. read more

Same old same old. Don't bother with Top driver. This place needs to fix its scheduling policy. You can not schedule in car driver appointments if you are not a stay at home parent waiting minute by minute for their next months time slots to open up. Within 30 minutes, that entire month will be filled as those stay at home parents contact their other stay at home parent friends and book out the entire months slots. Even their main office is of little help getting you on their schedule. If at all, it will be miles and miles away from your preferred location. read more

Like many others have said it is nearly impossible to schedule behind-the-wheel driving lessons. I visit the site several times a day and still have to pull my daughter out of school for one lesson and had to drive to another town for one just to attempt to get them completed. I have paid for this service it should not feel like an attempt to buy sold-out concert tickets. They obviously oversell and provide little to no customer service. I just placed a call requesting help and I should receive a call back in 5 days - 5 DAYS! Not to mention for some reason my daughter knows the political affiliation of one of the instructors because of his political rant during a lesson. Just unacceptable. read more

We discussed my daughter's dyslexia on the first day of class and were assured she would get a different exam. She did not and failed. I dropped of her grade form personally and was then told they didn't have it. After writing a scathing email, it was suddenly found. Driving sessions fill up so quickly that it's almost impossible to get them in. Miss one and it's a $60 fee. $60??? Even doctors don't charge that much. Don't bother with customer service...no one ever answers the phone. read more

The in-vehicle scheduling website and student portal is practically non-functioning. It errors out every month whenever I attempt to schedule driving lessons. Once it's finally working, there are no appointments left. However, the customer service via our local Regional Manager, Anthony, has been phenomenal. When the system says "all booked" or is non-functioning, he has taken the time to schedule in the instruction. Also, the driving instructors and classroom instructors have all been great. I wish the technology was as good as the instruction! read more

Poor customer service, fair instruction and lack availablity for driving lessons. DO NOT RECOMMEND. Much better experience with Adams Driving School. read more

Terrible service. Unorganized. Save your money. If you have any issues there is a single phone number that leads to a girl named Tayler who takes zero accountability, doesn't listen, and sounds like a taunting robot on repeat. She gives you a general email address to send your complaints to and states there's no one else but her to speak with. read more

MAKE SURE TO READ THE FINE PRINT!!!!!!! I would have given them zero stars if I could have!!!!! Disgusting company, DO NOT give them your money if you have ANY other choice!!!!!!!! Horrible, HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!! They will find every way they can to charge you more and more and there is nothing you can do about it!!!!!!!!! read more

They locked me out of my daughter's account due to a custody dispute. I paid for the account and put a password on it and they cut me out behind my back. Need a full refund. read more

We enrolled in Top Driver. This was the second child we enrolled in Top Driver over the years. All was fine for the classroom portion. When there were no in-car lessons available for months, we decided to switch to another driving school. Again all was good, or so I thought. They gave us a refund for the in-car lessons portion of the program without issues but failed to mentioned that we had to have driving school incar lessons to get the actual licence. I didn't know this and might not have switched if I had. They also never mentioned that they were going to order a cancellation of my daughter's permit. I view this as incredibly irresponsible not to mention this part to the student or parent. We were away from home when the NOTICE/ORDER OF CANCELLATION arrived from the Secretary of State. This is why I'm giving a 1 star. They could have called us to let us know or emailed. The idea of Top Driver would potentially allow a student to be driving on a suspended permit without notification is shocking. If the letter had gotten lost we wouldn't have known about this cancellation until the new driving school figured it out or worse ...... They could have taken a few seconds to call or send an email that permit cancellation was part of their standard practice. This is the most upsetting part to me and as a driving school it should be standard practice to inform students/parents of protocal such as this to avoid unnecessary problems for students. If they had taken a few weconds to mention permit cancellation was part of their process to me, I'd have said the experience was fine. But not to have mentioned it and then to get this urgent letter from the Secretary of State was unnerving. read more

It is impossible to schedule behind the wheel lessons. I had been trying for 4 months and succeed in getting 2 out of 6 scheduled ONLY. Website does not work when new dates are released. Calls and emails are not returned. I am seriously worried that we will not be able to complete the program by expiration date. PS: this was not a problem few years ago when my sons went thru the program. read more

******BEWARE********BEWARE*********BEWARE*******BEWARE****** When looking at their web site online and looking at all the pricey packages they offer they make it seem like the behind the wheel portion is included with the class time. Well it is not and they don't tell you that till after you purchase the package in full. You are also asked to attend a 20 minute orientation with your child on the first day of their first class. The instructor(s) then tell you that your child is expected to go on their website and they are to pick a date/time for their behind the wheel in vehicle training. Then they tell you the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 12 noon the portal opens and they drop new dates/times. The problem is that there are so many people waiting to schedule a date/time that it fills up within a half hour. Well guess what with the influx of people trying to get on and get a date/time you cannot access the website due to it being overloaded with people trying to get on. This is total crap and when you call their customer service number to complain they say "if you have a problem logging on or getting a date/time call them and they will help you." Again total crap. They make it seem like it is all included and you have nothing to worry about, again total crap. That is why they want their money up front. Their policy is BS about late fees and refunds. Avoid Top Driver! Go elsewhere! Don't waste your time or money! No wonder why they have such crappy reviews and a low rating. You can argue with their customer service but it will be a waste of time. When asking for a refund they state "we will submit your refund request for review." Wait?! What?! Yep your refund request gets reviewed by management or a supervisor and you may not get it back. TOTAL CRAP! Just like Top Driver TOTAL CRAP! They are taking your money for services they CANNOT DELIVER! read more

The in-vehicle appointment is terrible! They cannot accommodate the kids enrolled for in-vehicle appointment. They will get your registration money, but they cannot accommodate the in-vehicle appointment. When they opened in-vehicle appointment for November, I logged in at 7:50AM to schedule but their server cannot handle the schedule requests. Their server was not working. Very disappointing. After multiple tries, I was not able to get the in-vehicle schedule. And they will charge you for not completing the in-vehicle appointments. read more

The online class was far cry from what my other child learned in school. I understand they needed to scramble during COVID , but it does not excuse them for charging the same money and giving less in return. When it came to scheduling driving lessons, it was harder than finding bread during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941. We ended up a few driving lessons short when the deadline hit and had to pay extra. Take Drivers Ed. at school and stay away from this place. It will be cheaper, and you will get a better return on your $. read more

ABSOLUTELY the worst!!! From the scheduling policy being a complete money making scheme to the inability to file paperwork on time for a new driver to get a license, I WOULD WARN ANYONE FROM PAYING FOR THIS SCHOOL!!!! And, the customer service also leaves a lot to be desired!!! I really wish I had read reviews before enrolling! read more

Terrible business operations and service. Do not use Top Driver!! They do process documents on a timely basis and their staff is incompetent