Redmond
8151 164th AVE NE, Suite 104
Redmond, WA 98052
(425) 643-0116
customerhelp@driving-school.com
This is located on 164th between Redmond Town Center and Bella Botega Theater. TEEN CLASSES ARE HELD ONLINE VIA ZOOM. Not an office with staff, only a classroom location for Knowledge tests and pick up/drop off for lessons and tests. Our office with staff is located in Kirkland at 10505 NE 38th Place Bldg 9.
Speed up the registration process: pre-apply, the first step to getting your first driver license, instruction permit, or ID card.
Teen Course details (click here):
- Provided in our classes: 17 online Zoom sessions, which includes the 30 Hour state curriculum and 4 hours of Driver Awareness Training, 5 hours of driving, and 1 hour student observation.
- A parent information session will be held on Zoom.
- We strongly encourage a parent or guardian ride along on at least one driving lesson.
- Minimum course length is 30 days and all classroom and driving requirements must be completed within 4 months. Students are allowed to miss and make up a maximum of 3 classes. Please keep extra-curricular activities and travel plans in mind before registering for a teen course to ensure proper attention can be given toward this course.
- A driving permit is required before the first lesson. Students can get their permit up to 10 days before the start date of class.
- Driving lessons are held outside of classroom meeting times and will extend beyond the end of the classroom portion of the course.
- Upon completion of the course, an electronic certificate will be reported to the Department of Licensing. This process takes up to 3-4 weeks.
- Most of our communication is through email. When registering please provide a regularly checked email address for both student and parent.
Special accommodations needed? (click here):
If your student has an IEP/504 plan, anxiety or a learning disability, please select the consult to create an individualized driving plan to help your student succeed with additional time, lessons, or help when needed (extra charge). We will discuss options for the individual driving plan with you at the consult so do not select the Teen Essential driving course product on this page. Purchase the individualized driving plan consult here: https://driving-school.com/teen-individual-driving-plan-consult/
-
Next Reviews
john P05:34 18 Dec 22Do NOT 🚫 go take your skill test at this location. They are really bad and unprofessional. They will fail you intentionally so you can come back to pay them again to retake the test. Stay away from them. Look for other driving schools. There are many other good schools in the area. Don't wast your money!A Wilson22:06 29 Nov 22I am about to take my finals with the Oak harbor Defensive drive school. It has been a great experience and Stanley is the BEST. I had a lot of fun these four weeks and made some new friends.1000/10.Al Varady18:03 25 Sep 22I took the written and road tests with them. Marty was great during the road test. He was very calm and even when I lost some points, I didn't hear it in his voice, which allowed me to keep going and not get more nervous. Thanks!Duong Thach00:32 20 Sep 22I got out of and passed the driving test today - alive, of course.I am from Vietnam, just moved over to the U.S and have never driven a car before. But Josh Johnston (my instructor) was super helpful and gave me confidence behind the wheel. When he gave me the driving lessons, he explained things clearly and in an easy way to understand. He didn’t touch the steering wheel, didn’t crush the brake (and didn’t scream) when I’m driving . He didn’t make me feel like I’m an idiot making mistakes. He explained why I didn’t do it correctly and asked me to do it again to correct. He told me: “I’m not worrying. If I worry, we’re in trouble; but I’m not worrying, you’re doing just fine. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be ok!”.Recommended Defensive Driving School (especially instructor Josh).Good luck everyone and drive safe!Elizabeth F14:59 12 Jul 22This would have been five stars because Anna was a great instructor for the time I had her. Unfortunately however I ended up missing one of my lessons due to work and sickness, and the instructor reassured me over the phone that I could reschedule the lesson in the system and that it would just be a cancellation fee, which is standard. However when I went to reschedule the company refused to honor this and did not allow me to reschedule this lesson, charging me both for the price of the lesson *and* the cancellation fee, and I did not get the lesson back. Not only that but when I told them what the instructor said over the phone, the representative told me, basically, "no he didn't". I later discovered they have a 48 hour cancellation policy, which is unreasonable especially in COVID times imo as the standard is typically 24 hours. For poor customer service and customer misinformation I have to take off four stars. If I can't trust the instructors to give me the right information, and can't trust customer service to correct this mistake, then I am wary about continuing to give them my business. I switched to 911 Driving school instead and got my license there.Gila Hunter22:53 06 Jul 22The Wiser Driver.com Driving School in Powder Springs, Ga., offers a defensive driving class. Save your money and move on to another school. I paid $405 for my daughter to go through driving school and get the defensive driving certificate. They lied and said she kept cancelling for that class, even though they cancelled twice. If they do not have enough students to fill the defensive class, they won't have one. I stutter and 2 employees thought they would talk all over me. They put me on hold without asking me to "hold on." The driver showed up early and expected her to come out the house early. I had to complain! When I fussed about the defensive driving class, they told me that they offered that free anyway, it was just included in the $405. When they finally agreed to giving her the class, they put me on hold forever, so I just hung up. After such terrible customer service, I wouldn't trust the class after our experience. I was glad that she finished the school to get her license but I can get a defensive driving certificate with a business that has better customer service skills.Panda Lover23:18 24 Jun 22The instructors were very nice and helpful in learning how to drive, and even though the classes were online, the class didn't feel boring, you are always learning something new! Definitely recommend!Basilin Benson17:59 09 Jun 22I had a 30 min lesson and Skill test with Tyson Williams today and it was great. Tyson is a really good teacher and is very calm, patient and clear with his instructions. Would highly recommend taking driving lessons here.Hector Arvizu01:39 02 Jun 22Results vary on the proctor.One proctor gave an automatic fail for a mistake while another proctor took off points for the same mistake. Different grading makes it seem like they're just after your money.Edit: the proctor referenced failing to stop at the stop in the parking lot in both tests.Barathi Krishnamurthy17:11 03 May 22While the instructors are really nice and skilled folks, the school management is not great. They don't show the availability of slots for drive class until you pay the money. Also getting slots even after paying money seems to be our headache and they don't help you at all.The worst thing is they have no accomodations for emergencies for rescheduling and expect you to have knowledge 24 hours prior to the emergency!Edit :Reply to what the owner wrote:Yes I made it to the class but that doesn't change the fact that you are not helpful.Pranita Iyer04:23 15 Feb 22Defensive driving is a great school and Anna was a great teacher. I moved from out of town and already had 10 years of driving experience. I took a 1-hr session and did all the tests with defensive driving. Anna was very professional and very calm and taught so well! She taught me so many useful driving skills along with helping me understand the DOL licensing process. I highly recommend defensive driving in Redmond!Abhimanyu Dutta20:04 07 Dec 21I went for my driving test today. I took the 30 min warm up session followed by the driving test. Anna was my instructor. She was very helpful and very clear in instructing me the details of the test. I did not understand some of the usual slangs like backing around the corner etc.. but she was patient and explained me everything in a clam manner. I would recommend this place to all first time drivers.Alfred Kids00:46 02 Dec 21The driving course was great, though classes were chaotic, I enjoyed the experience. My favorite part were the helpers that did role call because they somehow knew your name everytime you went to class. The only eh part of the class was the confusion on whether you needed to get 50 or 10 hours.You needed ten hours.sowmya supreeth07:00 10 Nov 21I would highly recommend defensive driving school for everyone. All instructors are really helpful (Especially Anna).Let me summarize my experience. When I started taking classes I was a new driver, hardly have driven anywhere. I took around 10 classes and within those classes the instructor taught me various driving skills (parallel parking, backing round corner, pull over and many more). Even if I ask the same questions multiple times, they explained very well and stayed calm. These skills made be very confident in driving. Now I drive on my own everywhere.Special thanks to Anna (my instructor) for teaching me.Elizabeth Allum04:29 11 Sep 21I would highly recommend this place. I was a very nervous learner, and after my lessons here I am now a qualified, confident, and safe driver! My instructor was Anna, and I really enjoyed my lessons with her. She was professional, knowledgeable, calm, patient, clear and friendly. She managed to find the perfect balance between helping to build my confidence, whilst at the same time helping me recognize and work through my areas of weakness. I took the knowledge test and skills test with DDS, and both experiences were great. I passed both on my first attempt. I also found the customer support team extremely helpful. I emailed them with a lot of questions, and they always responded to me in a swift, helpful and friendly manner. Overall, I'm super happy I chose DDS as my driving school!Gloria Xiaolu Zhang18:27 26 Aug 21I had good experience with Herton. She's been teaching driving for 40 years. In addition to improving my driving skills, she also taught me valuable lessons she's learned or mistakes she's seen her students make.Colette Moss19:58 20 Aug 21Bit of a bottleneck area trying to get out of Trader Joe's and then over to Def Driving. Otherwise, good location, parking available.NiceNelly00:45 04 Aug 21Took a driving skills test. The receptionist and the instructor/judge were both very kind.Lingwai Lam22:28 26 Jul 21Signed up for 5 1 hour lessons. The staffs are very knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommended!Mani Awasthi20:12 27 Apr 21Anna is easily the best in the business! I took my driving lessons from her and was able to pass the skill test with a lot of ease and confidence. She is very patient with her students and maintains her composure at all times. Even when you do a mistake, she doesn't panic and doesn't let it affect the student's confidence either. I will highly recommend her as a driving instructor for students with any level of expertise (from beginner to advanced).S Andersen18:03 26 Apr 21As others have said, Anna is an incredible instructor. She is both knowledgeable and reassuring, constantly offering feedback throughout a drive. When I explained I needed refresher lessons to feel comfortable behind the wheel after several years of infrequent driving, she created a plan to meet my goals over the few sessions we had together.Rahul Kumar21:16 22 Mar 21Anna is an excellent Driving Instructor. Her methods are simple and easy to follow. She provides full detail analysis of your driving and suggests improvements based on that. Highly Recommend ||Vivek Agarwal18:13 23 Feb 21Anna is a five star trainer. She is very calm and composed so accepts your mistake as your opportunity to learn and she keeps guiding you throughout training on the wheel. Her way of teaching is amazing! The best part is that you don't feel intimidated in actual driving test while she still performs her responsibility with full professionalism. Thank you Anna for warm-up session and reviewing my driving test. You are the best!Andrew Spray18:33 27 Jan 21Amazing driving teacher. Very patient and compassionate, but also has a well-developed system for teaching. Lots of positive encouragement to go alongside constructive criticism. Focuses on developing good, safe habits for new drivers.Jayser Mendez22:21 11 Nov 20Anna is the best instructor ever! After 5 classes, I was able to pass my road test!!! The way they explain is excellent and they provide very good tips and techniques to remember certain things on the road. I recommend this place without hesitation!!!Ajay Sainy02:47 29 Oct 20Anna is a great instructor! She is kind, patient, encouraging & supportive. Each class was well planned in advance. Anna maintained a checklist and gave me constructive feedback during & after each driving session. For anyone who's new to driving in the US, I highly recommend practicing with Defensive Driving.Ana Stakun22:11 28 Oct 20I had an amazing experience while learning to drive with instructor Anna at Redmond location. Anna was knowledgable and patient. She gave clear explanations about various road rules and driving scenarios. I received a lot of useful tips which helped me feel more confident about my driving. During each class I felt comfortable asking all the questions that I would come up with. Anna was always calm and friendly. I enjoyed every class that I took. When I went to take the test I was confident and relaxed.Deepak Mohan (Robo)19:10 26 Oct 20Really good experience and Anna is a great teacher. Took five 90 min classes at this school. It has been 3 years since I last drove and completely new to left hand drive. Was nervous in my first class and made a lot of mistakes but Anna was really patient and helped me recover from the mistakes. Each class was tailored to go over from the basics and cover all the essentials, the different maneuvers, lane changes, city driving and freeway driving. Highly recommend taking a class here before giving skill test.Alexander Dadashev17:47 03 Aug 20I purchased 5 90-minute lessons over the weekend. Upon logging into the scheduling system, however, it became apparent that the school has almost no availability whatsoever - they had only 4 days with drives available in the next 40+ days.Mind you, my schedule is quite flexible, but it's impossible to schedule lessons if they have no availability, and yet they continue to sell lessons over their website - i.e. even if I could make it in all 4 days, the earliest I would be able to finish my lessons would be in the second half of September.What was even more outrageous is that when I requested a refund, they stated that I have to pay a $15 fee, even though the school is clearly at fault here (selling packages even though they don't have any availability to speak off). And of course I had no choice but to agree to it.Overall, very unprofessional and disappointing, esp. given how accommodating some of the other schools in the area I had experience with can be.Marleny Trevino00:21 24 Feb 20They were super nice and patient with me. I originally signed up for automatic driving classes, changed my mind to do stick shift, and then went back to automatic. I wasn’t charged extra for all these changes and they were really understanding.The instructors, Anna and Stan are super nice too and made a nervous wreck like me feel at ease.If you will be have someone to practice driving with, I recommend the 5 90 min lessons.They are a good price and were enough to go over everything I needed to learn to drive.I also took the test with them and it was super easy!Alexandra Shapira22:39 09 Dec 19I already had a driving license from abroad when I moved to Redmond and needed to get Washington license. I took one hour lesson and both knowledge and practice tests in Defensive Driving School. Anna is very patient instructor who welcomes any kind of questions concerning driving and traffic rules and answers them clearly. She gave me some useful remarks that helped me to pass my test from the first try.Having had license tests in two other countries except for the US, I want to emphasize particularly positive, encouraging and calm atmosphere during the practice test.Rumbomaker .01:40 05 Dec 19Thank you DDS, Very cool!Anna good teacher, very fun. 911 Driving school is fake news.diksha mehta18:53 22 Nov 19My experience with the place was pretty seamless. I was done with my lesson and test within an hour and a half. Anna was my instructor during the lesson as well as the scorer for the test. During the lesson, I asked Anna to help me practice parallel parking and backing into the driveway and she gave me few simple thumb rules. She also explained the scoring scheme well. She was patient and positive during the driving lesson. I Would highly recommend her to all.Phil Shapira22:00 21 Nov 19Overall - I'm happy I chose this school, my experience is quite positive and I recommend this school.I already had a driver experience and license, issued by another country, so I just needed to pass tests to get WA license.Although I'm quite experienced driver, I decided to take one lesson to understand what to expect from the test. Anna is awesome instructor, we tried all maneuvers, she gave some very useful advice and explained what to expect on the test. She didn't try to sell me more lessons and I passed the test from the first try. So I'm very happy with the schoolSnapyrock .00:54 06 Nov 19The Stan is a very good teacher. He definitely makes it fun, and always gives a good amount of information. I highly recommend itSaketh Dhulipalla23:55 01 Oct 19Anna is a great instructor! I’m having a great time here. She is also really good for driving lessons too!Manju Vipin20:44 30 Aug 19Anna is extremely patient, calm and brings in positive energy during the driving lessons. She has a passion for teaching and I am glad I decided to bring my daughter here . I Would highly recommend her to all.Mackenzie Shannon19:24 28 Aug 19Anna is a great instructor. She’s very calm, kind and respectful! I would recommend people to this location.Elizabeth Brue04:11 21 Aug 19The classes teach knowledge that some or most drivers forgot about or never knew about driving. Teens are learning specific information and techniques on driving so when they become experienced drivers they can be safe role models for others on the road.Alejandra Whitney19:57 19 Aug 19We have a good driving instructor. Learning a lot. Instructor is a little politically incorrect, but they try. Made class entertaining. Would recommend.Graciela Lagraba19:08 19 Aug 19Defensive driving is amazing to learn how to safely drive around. There were so many situations introduced that I never would have thought of. Anna is so sweet and makes the class fun!Kaitlin McGarvey05:23 24 Jul 19Heaton was an absolute delight to have in the car with me when I renewed my driving license. It has been two years since I had driven in the US, but she was patient, kind, and calm as she directed me during the driving test. I was never stressed or anxious with her. Her feedback at the end of the test was detailed, constructive, and helpful. Overall, I would highly recommend taking your test through Defensive Driving School in Bellevue. It was easy to make an appointment with them, all communication was clear, the emails were helpful, and on the day of the test the staff were incredibly friendly, which calms any nerves. Thanks for your help!Summer DeBoom19:09 09 Jul 19I had a lot of fun at this school; even if it was during the summer. We played game and watched a lot of videos that made us gasp. 😁Thank you Anna for allowing me to have fun and make friends at Defensive Driving School.Alexa Wirth00:26 01 Jun 18Anna is an amazing teacher we never leave her class without learning something new, playing games, having competitions and laughing.Ioana Dulan00:21 01 Jun 18Anna is a great instructor who makes the class very fun while still teaching all the information well. She’s very nice and always plays informative games with the class. We tried doing quizzing in pairs and it worked really well. Great teacher (deserves a raise)R00:19 01 Jun 18The education is very thorough and they make sure no student gets left behind. Anna is a great instructor!Rodrigo Blaustein04:51 03 May 18Anna is a fantastic teacher. She is very patient, relaxed and friendly, which made the driving lesson an exiting and enjoyable experience as opposed to stressful for a new driver. I would definitely recommend Defensive driving school for anybody learning to drive for the first time or trying to improve theirs skill.*ANA*00:18 29 Mar 18ANNA IS AN AMAZING TEACHER!!! She teaches us everything we need to know. If you want to be a safe driver, come here! You will not regret it! ❤️❤️❤️
Teen Classes
Live web-based classes via Zoom (now permanently approved by the DOL). Below is the overview of the class schedule. Scroll down further and click on “View More Info” to enroll.
WT114-6: 9/20/23 – 10/26/23, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm.
WT115-4: 10/3/23 – 11/9/23, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm. *No class 10/31 (Halloween).
WT116-6*: 10/17/23 – 11/29/23, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm. *No class 10/31 (Halloween), 11/22-11/23 (Thanksgiving).
WT117-4*: 11/1/23 – 12/13/23, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm. *No class 11/22 and 11/23 (Thanksgiving break).
WT118-6*: 11/14/23 – 1/10/24, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm. *No class 11/22 and 11/23 (Thanksgiving break) and 12/15/23-1/2/24 (Winter Break).
WT119-4*: 11/28/23 – 1/18/24, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm. *No class 12/15/23-1/2/24 (Winter Break).
WT120-6*: 12/12/23 – 1/25/24, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm. *No class 12/22/23-1/2/24 (part of Winter Break).
WT121-4: 1/3/24 – 2/8/24, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm.
WT122-6*: 1/16/24 – 2/22/24, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm. *No class 2/14 (Valentine’s Day).
WT123-4*: 1/30/24 – 3/7/24, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm. *No class 2/14 (Valentine’s Day).
WT124-6: 2/15/24 – 3/26/24, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm.
WT125-4: 2/28/24 – 4/4/24, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm.
WT126-6: 3/13/24 – 4/18/24, ONLINE, TWTh 6:30-8:30pm.
WT127-4: 3/27/24 – 5/2/24, ONLINE, TWTh 4-6pm.
Loading...