Brookline Driving School

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I have nothing but praise for this school. Inna was amazing and turned me into a skilled and confident driver in a matter of a couple of months.

Awesome experience! I only bought 5 hours of driving, and scheduled my road test with them. I had 3 different instructors and all taught me a different lesson that helped me on the road test. My last instructor was there for my road test and went over everything that I needed to know before the test. I had mounds of moral support prior to actually taking the test, and afterwards. And of course, I passed! Great driving school, and super helpful with road test scheduling.

I was practicing with them before taking my driving test this week, and I'm so glad that I chose them! The instructor from Dominican Republic was a very nice and experienced driver and he gave me great advice about how to do well in parallel parking, which I'm least good at. Highly recommended!

I like driving here where I can understand. I learn more than I would have at home. It is far from free though...

I was a little skeptical of using Brookline Driving after reading some of the other reviews here, but I've had nothing but a positive experience with them. They've clearly either gotten rid of the rude receptionist or she doesn't answer phones anymore, because I've only ever spoken to a friendly Russian man who persists in calling me honey in a charming manner. They return voicemails left for them pretty promptly, have been good about getting in touch about cancellations, and are easy to work with in terms of getting myself scheduled. They also offer lessons 7 x a week, which is really helpful.



And insider tip: new drivers, ASK FOR LESTER. Lester is a darling man. He works Sunday-Thursday, and he's lovely. I'm an adult learner, and I had a terrible experience with Newton Driving School over the summer that left me with driving PTSD. Lester also works as a counselor, and his demeanor is calm, soothing, and helpful - he never yells, but guides you as you drive. By the end of my first lesson with him, he had me driving from Oak Square to Park Street and back again, no problem. He's even gotten me to parallel park, something my previous instructor screwed up with me big time.

Overall my experience with Brookline Driving School (BDS) was positive. It is quite on the pricy side but I would recommend it for anyone who is looking to get their license quickly and doesn't have a car or sponsor to take the driving exam. Below are more detailed comments on my experience with BDS:



1) Scheduling: One of the main reasons I chose BDS was because they were the only driving school that I called that could schedule me lessons by the following week (or even within the next month). In one phone call I was able to schedule 4 lessons (for a total of 5 hours) within the following two weeks and also my driving exam at the end of the two weeks. One tip is to schedule your lessons in the driving exam area near Brookline High School and the Brookline Hills station on the Green Line. Whether you are taking the driving exam with the school or not, this area is very quiet with minimal traffic and perfect for practicing driving through curves, up/down hills, and parallel parking. On a completely different note, I don't understand these comments on staff rudeness. They were quick and to the point. Also, some of the staff/instructors are foreign so different accents and manners of speech are often mistaken for rudeness.



2) Driving Lessons: I payed for 5 hours lessons (two 1.5 hour lessons and two 1 hour lessons) considering I would practice fairly frequently with friends and family using zip cars. I would highly recommend the instructor Darnell for young adults and teens. I liked that he would talk to me/crack jokes to calm my nerves while driving and played hip-hop music on the radio (which I love!). Don't get me wrong, he is also a professional and will tell you exactly what you are doing right and wrong. He also taught me the parallel parking strategy that works on virtually any car and helped me pass my exam. My other two instructors in BDS where not as great. Their cars reeked of cigarette smoke and they constantly felt the need to grab the wheel and push on the breaks as if it was a first time driving (which I told them it wasn't) and I was going to crash the car. However, they did get the job done. One other tip is to schedule only 1 hour long lessons. I found that my 1.5 hour lessons were too exhausting and I ended up wasting 30 minutes driving around aimlessly rather than practicing techniques. Also, in the 1.5 hour lessons the instructor may stop you for a break, which can cut into your paid time.



3) Driving Exam: The school's exam are on Saturday mornings on a first-come-first-serve basis. You will get an approximate time slot (i.e. 9:00,9:30, 10:00am, etc.) so you don't have to wait that long but be prepare to wait for at least an hour outside. The upside is that while you wait many of the BDS instructors are there with you giving last minute tips and answering questions throughout the day. Some say the driving exam with BDS is super easy. Yes, on the one hand, the instructors will tell you EXACTLY what will be on the exam, you can schedule lessons in the exact location where the exam will be (near Brookline High School), and during the lessons you will use the same cars used on the exam. However, it is not a walk in the park. The exams are conducted by RMV personnel, and there were plenty of people on the day of my exam that failed because they hit the curve while parallel parking, were breaking too suddenly, etc. And for $120 a pop (due at the time of the exam), be sure you are completely ready to take the exam. Oh, and by the way, I passed my exam on the first try :-D.

I took the JDL course here, and I had an awesome experience! The teachers were really fun, and the driving instructors were awesome TOO! I would highly recommend it to anyone else.

I enjoyed the class, met cool people and the instructor was good, entertaining and helpful.

I come from one of the Queen's colonies, so I needed a driving school that would help me get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. I didn't do much driving back home either, so I needed to learn parallel parking. And I had never driven an auto shift - I know it's easier but I needed some practice for the road test.



I called on Tuesday to schedule for Friday. I had to call a few times before someone called me back and we negotiated a date and time. Scheduling took about 3 minutes.



Brenda, my instructor came sharp on time to pick me up from home. We got acquainted, and she took me to the road test site and we did the activities needed for the test. I parallel parked for the first time, which went great. We did the three point turn and the fifty feet backing up. I seemed to have passed the test. Then we drove around for an hour.



Brenda was really nice, helpful and chatty. She gave me useful measurement tips on when to know I'm too close or far away from the curb, and whether the car is backing straight. Every time we pulled up, she'd open her door to show me how far off the curb I was. She quizzed me on generic questions the examiner might ask, like the hand signals and how to park when uphill/downhill.



I'd definitely recommend Brenda, or from what I hear, any non-Russians will do.

Juan Martinez is very good instructor .VERY patient and polite,I WILL be recommending him

He is a really patient instructor. Very nice! We had a really enjoyable training experience together!! I will be recommending him to my friends..

The driving instructors are great, and they teach very well. They are helpful, and appreciative.

I feel good. I am getting better!

Great experience! Feel Confident!

When i came to this school - i doubt anyone drove as bad as i did. I got a panic attack even thinking about driving on an actual road with actual cars around me.But a few classes at the school taught me a lot, and gave me confidence and excitement that i actually might drive like the rest of the normal people do. =]They worked around my schedule. Trust me, i am the most complicated person to make plans with/find free time with.They picked me up from various locations,and most of the time my classes were during late hours of the night (um hello,great customer service).

My instructor Victor was aaaaaaamazing. He made me feel very calm,and taught me basically everything i know. He is great about making you feel calm while driving, helping you out and teaching all the little tricks and tips that he knows. He is really great at what he does, and he definitely knows how to get thru to you and explain everything well.I could never picture myself parallel parking,and he managed to teach me in the matter of an hour.Last but not least, they have a good road test location, and it is much easier to schedule then the RMV is. The guy who was signing people up,Ilya, was great about going over the rules and reminded all about the hand signals,encouraged to take our time and did great job calming the nervous line down.

As far as the receptionist goes, it is a bit complicated to get thru, but if you leave a voice mail they will definitely get back to you, even after 6 pm. I found my experience at the school great. I got exactly what i came there for, and i am thankful to all the staff, especially my instructor.You are there to drive and that exactly what they teach you.

Nancy was awesome and I loved the class

After learning that I would have to wait 3-4 months to schedule a road test with the RMV, I found this place. Scheduled a 2 hour lesson the Wednesday before their Saturday testing time; the teacher brought me to the same area where the test was taken, showed me some tricks, and I passed that Saturday. The school has its characters, I hear, but if you want your license, this was relatively pain-free. If you call, you should be good at parsing thick Russian accents. Compared to the RMV, this place was a blast.

I had two one-hour lessons before the road test. The first time, I had a european man (I don't remember his name) as my instructor, he was a little harsh but that's granted I was a little jumpy (I was driving in the US for the first time,moved here from the middle east, where driving rules really don't exist). The second time I had a lady instructor, who was very rude and quite gruff. She said that my driving sucked and that I shouldn't take the test the next day. She really helped my confidence! Haha...I took the test the next day at 7:30 am anyways, and I passed. It wasn't hard at all, just about five minutes. They make you drive around the block, and got me to back the car up in a straight line. That's pretty much it. It's easy and you don't have much to worry about it.

My interaction with the Brookline Driving School was minimal but good. I only signed up for the driving test organized by the school. The signing up process for the test was fairly easy. I would recommend emailing and keeping most contact via email. Ilya, one of the instructors at the school was particularly helpful both via email, as well as on the day of the test - he kept the process organized, and informative with tips.

I am from China and did not know anything about driving in US, I was lucky to know Brookline driving School and just take 3-Hour lesson with John Baez, he was a police and really had a philosophy in teaching, he was rock. Some practical points easy to remember and Parallel parking is as easy as a breeze. I think I am very lucky to have this teacher and very lucky to know the school.Save me a lot of time. I had to say it is was really a short cut!