recommendations for a driving school for a beginner?

[21Rouge]

My 16 year old son has his intro license G1 i.e. has passed the written test but has yet to take the driving test. So as you know, here in Ontario, he is permitted to drive a vehicle as long as he is accompanied by a licensed driver i.e. mom or I  .

We have two vehicles: a 5 speed 4 cylinder and an automatic Montana van. So far he has toodled around the neighbourhood side streets with us using the the Montana. We do plan to enroll him in a driving school this August.

One hears lots of advertising for "Young Drivers of Canada" but it is so much more expensive than other places  . Any thoughts on these schools? I know it is a shot in the dark but any recommendations re a school or instructor in the Richmond Hill. Markham area?

[inco]

Check with your insurance company and find out what companies they will endorse and provide a discount for having taken the course. Young Drivers will be one and there may be some others.

There is a reason why YD of C is more expensive. They have tougher standards and most insurance companies will reward drivers with lower rates.

But if you want to save money and not worry about how good your son's driving ability is - by all means shop around. Just let us know where you live so we can be on the lookout for him. I mean if you don't care how well trained he is, please at least think about us.

[tpl]

Start him on driving the manny tranny vehicle while you are at it!

[21Rouge]

Check with your insurance company and find out what companies they will endorse and provide a discount for having taken the course. Young Drivers will be one and there may be some others.

There is a reason why YD of C is more expensive. They have tougher standards and most insurance companies will reward drivers with lower rates.

I believe my wife had called our insurance company and there was no benefit re premium discount by going with YD as compared with any other certified driving school.

But if you want to save money and not worry about how good your son's driving ability is - by all means shop around. Just let us know where you live so we can be on the lookout for him. I mean if you don't care how well trained he is, please at least think about us.

Wait a sec. Thats not fair. My post is for the purpose of getting input re driving schools so my son does have a good start to his driving career. I just wonder if YD is superior to the others.

[21Rouge]

Start him on driving the manny tranny vehicle while you are at it!

Damn I knew someone would bring this up  .

I have thought about this. And after some thought I think *I* will teach him standard after he gets his driving license on an automatic. 

[safristi]

Teach him on the Manual before the test.......i would imagine the 4 cylinder is smaller and easier to manouver than the BIG MONTANA bus and the extra skills he learns...shifting,holding on hills,being in the right gear for the speed will give him a sense of accomplishment and a better chance to PASS IMHO...plus he can show all the CHICKS at school his DONUTS....

[21Rouge]

...plus he can show all the CHICKS at school his DONUTS....

Can I have him learn on your car? 

[tpl]

I am with Saf on this.   Once he can stop, start and go around corners without hitting things, it is time for the manny tranny. Drive both, alternate days.  We dont know what your manny tranny vehicle is and I'd agree that learning in something with fearsome horsepower and a dodgy clutch or missing synchromesh might be put off for a week or two.
 After all 21, MOST of the civilised world manages to learn on and to drive manual.  I would have hated to learn in a great big vehicle like a Montana ( relative to the size of roads I was driving on of course... the equivalent would have been much smaller)

I believe there are driving schools that do manual trans as well.

[UmroAyyar]

Check with your insurance company and find out what companies they will endorse and provide a discount for having taken the course. Young Drivers will be one and there may be some others.

There is a reason why YD of C is more expensive. They have tougher standards and most insurance companies will reward drivers with lower rates.

I believe my wife had called our insurance company and there was no benefit re premium discount by going with YD as compared with any other certified driving school.

But if you want to save money and not worry about how good your son's driving ability is - by all means shop around. Just let us know where you live so we can be on the lookout for him. I mean if you don't care how well trained he is, please at least think about us.

Wait a sec. Thats not fair. My post is for the purpose of getting input re driving schools so my son does have a good start to his driving career. I just wonder if YD is superior to the others.

Most insurance company I've talked to while getting quotes for us. They clearly said that the Driver Training Discount only applies to the Principal Driver.

e.g. My wife gets the discount for her training because she is the principal driver on our policy, I had driver training as well, but no discount applies for me.

[articsteve]

Check with your insurance company and find out what companies they will endorse and provide a discount for having taken the course. Young Drivers will be one and there may be some others.

There is a reason why YD of C is more expensive. They have tougher standards and most insurance companies will reward drivers with lower rates.

I believe my wife had called our insurance company and there was no benefit re premium discount by going with YD as compared with any other certified driving school.

But if you want to save money and not worry about how good your son's driving ability is - by all means shop around. Just let us know where you live so we can be on the lookout for him. I mean if you don't care how well trained he is, please at least think about us.

Wait a sec. Thats not fair. My post is for the purpose of getting input re driving schools so my son does have a good start to his driving career. I just wonder if YD is superior to the others.

I believe my wife had called our insurance company and there was no benefit re premium discount by going with YD as compared with any other certified driving school.

That's correct.  YD is a franchise operation.  It's nothing special other than it may have more class time, which IMO, is useless for boys.  In-car instructors are sub contractors who teach with their own vehicle.  All the certified driving schools use this model.  Price does not determine the quality of the in-car instructor.  It's like many any other service businesses; within the same organization quality of personnel differ.

Upon completion, your insurance company will consider your 17 year old son the equivalent of a 20 year old for underwriting purposes providing he remains accident free.  Initially there is a savings and then by age 20 it's pretty well neutral.

What are they charging these days?  I forked out $500 plus GST for my kid. 

[2hondas1BMW]

I agree with Steve. The places are all the same IMO. Basically, the driving instructors will help you PASS YOUR TEST (G2 roadtest). Well, thats what mine did (last year...i am 18  )

[Titanium48]

I am with Saf on this.   Once he can stop, start and go around corners without hitting things, it is time for the manny tranny. Drive both, alternate days.  We dont know what your manny tranny vehicle is and I'd agree that learning in something with fearsome horsepower and a dodgy clutch or missing synchromesh might be put off for a week or two.
 After all 21, MOST of the civilised world manages to learn on and to drive manual.  I would have hated to learn in a great big vehicle like a Montana ( relative to the size of roads I was driving on of course... the equivalent would have been much smaller)

I believe there are driving schools that do manual trans as well.

I agree as well.  Learning how to shift and start without stalling is not that hard compared to learning how to manouvre a large vehicle around the city. 

[CSH]

Most insurance company I've talked to while getting quotes for us. They clearly said that the Driver Training Discount only applies to the Principal Driver.

e.g. My wife gets the discount for her training because she is the principal driver on our policy, I had driver training as well, but no discount applies for me.

So if you wouldnt have taken the training, you insurance would still have been the same??


My wife just got her G1 and i called TD to find out how much more i had to pay to add her and they said nothing.
Well im not complaining but i dont know how they dont add anything to the premium as the Probability that a G1 forgets to stop on a red light or a stop sign is much higher than that of G2..

I took my training from a Chinese guy off square 1 and he charged me 230$ for 10hrs including the certificate.
The classroom training will provide him theoretical knowledge, but he will only get into practical situations described when he is out there driving alone. So getting the information is important dosent matter if it is YDC or anyon else.
So any school which provides this information should be good do go if it saves some money..

PS: And start withe the Montana, a bigger, slower, less manuverable car is harder to learn on and if he can judge distances while reversing, turning etc he can easily do it on a 4 banger. 5 speed is generally for enthusiasts and most people drive auto and there is nothing wrong with learning on auto

[UmroAyyar]

Most insurance company I've talked to while getting quotes for us. They clearly said that the Driver Training Discount only applies to the Principal Driver.

e.g. My wife gets the discount for her training because she is the principal driver on our policy, I had driver training as well, but no discount applies for me.

So if you wouldnt have taken the training, you insurance would still have been the same??


My wife just got her G1 and i called TD to find out how much more i had to pay to add her and they said nothing.
Well im not complaining but i dont know how they dont add anything to the premium as the Probability that a G1 forgets to stop on a red light or a stop sign is much higher than that of G2..

Similar case here. We are insured by TD Meloche Monnex. G1 driver doesn't add anything to the policy as the G1 driver can never drive alone, always under the supervision of a G licencsed driver with 4 years experience (yeah right  ). When your wife gets G2 your premium would slightly increase.

[CSH]

Similar case here. We are insured by TD Meloche Monnex. G1 driver doesn't add anything to the policy as the G1 driver can never drive alone, always under the supervision of a G licencsed driver with 4 years experience (yeah right  ). When your wife gets G2 your premium would slightly increase.

So she dosent have to go to a driving school just to lower her insurance premium.

She was driving cars in India for about 5 years before landing here and i dont think the test will be a big problem for her as driving here is much eaier.

[UmroAyyar]

Similar case here. We are insured by TD Meloche Monnex. G1 driver doesn't add anything to the policy as the G1 driver can never drive alone, always under the supervision of a G licencsed driver with 4 years experience (yeah right  ). When your wife gets G2 your premium would slightly increase.

So she dosent have to go to a driving school just to lower her insurance premium.

She was driving cars in India for about 5 years before landing here and i dont think the test will be a big problem for her as driving here is much eaier.

If she brought her license from India, she might qualify for the G2 or G test directly.

My driving license expired 2 months before my flight, I didn't renew it and bring it with me, I had to go through graduated licensing from scratch.

[dr_spock]

YD taught me to drive manual.  The instructor I had was pretty good. 

[21Rouge]

What are they charging these days?  I forked out $500 plus GST for my kid. 

Are you sure he didnt learn on a horse ? YD is well over $1000 plus tax 

And to have him learn on a 5 speed is around $1300 + tax...although there are extra in car lessons when learning with a stick.

[safristi]

If U are a NEW DRIVER...how the HELL d'ya KNOW if the Instructor is ANY GOOD....can ya remember yer FIRST ......W...K, K..S, B...J, S.X.....was IT BAD

[dorin]

There was no benefit in going with YD over another good driving school when I did my driver's ed.  Admittedly, that was a while ago but I don't see why things would be any different now.  As long as the school is certified, the actual in-car instructor is much more important than the name on the school.

I also strongly agree that you should get your son manual transmission lessons.  You may think it's a nice father-son project to teach your son how to drive a car with a manual transmission but when I was learning to drive I found my dad to be the most intimidating person to drive with.  It's also much better for everyone involved if it's the driver's ed car that gets the initial abuse.  Your son can always use an automatic car for his test, but he really will be much better off if he learns on a manual.