This Place is a Joke when it comes to getting the In Car lessons and scheduling get finished, I called and the reception said they will upload the July Schedule on the June 8th and went to the site never nothing to schedule for 2 days called the same lady back on the 10th and she had the nerve to say I don't know who told you the 8th it's going to be today and tomorrow well needless to say still nothing and no drive in sessions available and my daughter has been enrolled since Feb 26 2026 and still can not complete 3 more in cars before her temps expire. Defiantly not a reptile driving academy to me. read more

Terrible customer service and dishonest employees. Only thing they excel at is taking your money for services they're unable to provide within the 6 months they promise to uphold. Seriously, go anywhere else other than this poorly run operation. read more

DO NOT USE THEM! They do not respond to issues. I've tried multiple times to receive the certificate required for in-car lessons from igottadrive.com (the company they use to deliver online training) with no luck. They will not schedule in-car lessons without it and we are almost out of time. My daughter's temporary license will expire soon. I will have to dispute the charge with my credit card company. read more

My son had only in cars. It took over a month between paying and fist incar. Then another month between 1st and 2nd lesson. Larry the instructor was great. First class picked up at school. Second classes picked up at home. Son passed the Ohio test and has his license. 2nd son took in class during week nights and did fine. About to set up incars. I give it 4 stars because of the lag in time schedule. All other services were as expected. read more

DO NOT SEND YOUR KID TO THIS PLACE FOR THEIR LICENSE!!!! My son turned 16 on October 22nd, we paid for driving classes in October 2020. They did not tell us when we paid that their road courses were back up until February until after he was done with his classroom courses. They refused to issue us a refund and my son has been waiting ever since to get his license. Well, he was scheduled to start road courses on February 23rd. They just let my son know there was some kind of mistake and now with scheduling and now he is scheduled for June!!!! Seriously June! I am demanding Columbus Driving Academy to refund our portion of the road courses so I can take him somewhere else to get his license. He should not have to wait almost a calendar year for their ineptness. I will also be getting the Better Business Bureau involved cause this is crazy! Again do not give this company any of your money, go to Sunny's on Livingston, they were much better. I will be reposting this every day until someone from Columbus Driving Academy calls me back and issues our refund or complete his road courses. Businesses like this should be outed to the public and I can't be the only parent they are doing this too. I selected one star because Yelp makes you. This is a 0 star business period! read more

The school is a joke and it's almost impossible to schedule in car driving sessions. I'm close to calling the Better Business Bureau and reporting them for taking our money and failing to fulfill their end of the contract. My daughter went to take classes in the summer and still does not have her In car sessions complete due to them not having drivers available. read more

I LOVED MY INSTRUCTOR. So, I had an AWFUL experience with my first instructor, but after Covid hit, I got a new one. Julie was SO nice and understanding, yet also a very good teacher. She made sure to give me constructive criticism and tell me what I did well. It was nice having such a personable & understanding instructor. I recommend going here for classes, but for in-cars, if you get Julie you are truly in for a treat:) read more

My daughter scheduled course with your business and was told the wrong location 9 AM - 1 pm Reynoldsburgh. This Instructor was Great Keep him...As a mater of fact give him a raise. He contacted the owner and we were directed to Bexley. No problem right 10 min up the road. This was at 8:50 am He attempted to contact the instructor who did not pick up her phone, Wrote a note and sent her an email to let her know we were on the way. When we got to Bexley and walk in the door.(9:05) The "Lady" Immediately states that my daughter could not stay for the course. Explained that her co-worker and the owner attempted to contact you to let you know what was going on and to contact him at the number he provided. She made no attempt to contact them . If you have to take a course and they mention it is at the Bexley location. Re-schedule for another location, I've never experienced worst customer service. I think Wally'sWorld at easton has better customer service than this place. Who ever that lady classroom instructor was for the 9-1 PM class on Dec 9 2017 Really needs to find another line of work, No excuse to be rude and condescending to anyone when your providing a service to the public. You can thank her for taking my business elsewhere. read more

My daughter took the online class and passed it. I've been calling for months to schedule her in cars and haven't been able to speak with anyone. This place is really a joke and I would like my money back so I can send her somewhere else...... Shame on this company for taking a single parents money like this. read more

Called for classes for my teen and the person acted like they were too busy to talk. Said I lived too far and should call somewhere else. My daughters friend had went here so we thought we'd give it a try. They have multiple locations approximately 20 Minutes from my house. I didn't think it was too far but I have no problem going elsewhere with that type of customer service. read more

The intake people took schedule our lessons after the first in car session. the Driver told us that was a mistake. This has added an extra two months onto our kid getting his license. Go elsewhere read more

Save yourself the headache and go with another company. In class is fine, but they won't return calls and scheduling in cars is next to impossible. read more

A really great driving academy. Most of the interaction I had with this company was with my instructor, a guy named Floyd. I liked the fact that I had the same instructor for every lesson, it really let you build rapport and for your instructor to get to know you and what you need help with. Floyd was a great instructor. His lessons went beyond simply how to operate a vehicle, to driving theory (what the different turns and such are for, the mechanics of how the car interacts with the road) and even driving philosophy (how to think about driving and other drivers, build confidence, and so on). I don't know if the rest of the staff at CDA are such renaissance men of the road, but I know you won't go wrong if you ask for Floyd. read more

This place is awful, I started my classes here in october, and they said nothing about having to wait until February for the in cars and now they are saying I only scheduled 1 when I scheduled 4 and now I have to wait til June, this is an awful model read more

I would advise you not to spend money here! The first time I had a in car it was cancelled the day of because my instructor got in a accident which is understandable so they rescheduled me. When I went to the place on my new assigned date the instructor never shown and there was no number to call nor anybody to talk too. read more

If I could give them negative stars I would. I had the ABSOLUTE worst experience with them. Please do yourself a favor and DO NOT take your kids here for driving. The girl who answers the phone if they ever do is the rudest most unprofessional human I have ever came in contact with. She hangs up on you all the time and never lets you speak. The driving instructor was useless and for them money I paid I would expect way more from this company. SAVE your time and money! read more

Good morning, This review is coming from a staff member at Columbus Driving Academy , My Name is Randy Simmons I am a incar instructor , First I want to apologize for any problem that some of you may encounter while dealing with the Driving School, The Owner of the Driving School is a very good hearted God fearing man that Drives for the best out of each and everyone of us, I worked at this school over 10 years, I love my Job and enjoy training students and also getting a text from students stating that they have passed there Road test ! I train my student like I would have there parents train my child, I am Former Law Enforcement Officer Officer Out the state of Nc , Where I wrote a lot of tickets and handle a lot of car accidents, The Owner Vic and And the Office Manager Beth is Currently working on way to make your experience with Columbus Driving Academy a easy and great experience , Thanks for reading and have a Blessed Day ! read more

I signed my daughter up for online classes and in car instruction in July. I was told they would not schedule in cars until the classes were complete and the certificate was issued passing her classes. Make sense! She completed the course and passed the class in a month. This is where the positive aspect of CDA stopped. I call to get her scheduled for in cars after completing the classwork for 3 days and also sent 3 emails asking for a return call, finally the 4th day I call and get a hold of a rep. and am told they are only scheduling for day hours between 9-12:30. My kid is in SCHOOL....don't tell them they don't care. The rep. I spoke to actually had the never to tell me I am the parent and I should pull her out for driving school! Make it make sense!! If you do not want to pull your kid out of school for 8 hours on 4 days DO NOT spend your money here. Next availability is in Jan. 2023. While telling the rep. about my concern with how this is run for the majority of their clients being 16 she talked over me every single sentence, even after I asked her to hear me and stop talking over me. She said they had plenty of availability during the day in October through December, but of course no availability on any of the 5 days my kid had off for holidays or teacher in-service. Terrible customer service. Once they have your money good luck getting a hold of them. read more

Not off to a good start with this place. We had 4 sessions scheduled from the beginning. 1st 2 hour session was fine, but the instructor (Mary) had to stop for a smoke and coffee break and her car was disgusting. Instructor never showed up for the second session - no call and wouldn't answer her phone. Didn't show for the next session either - again no call and wouldn't answer and no call from the office and they didn't answer when called. They need to get their crap together if they are taking money from people . read more

Scheduled for classes at Gahanna location. Classes were set up for Reynoldsburg location. Completed in class classes and was then told it would be 3 months before the driving part of the school could even start. Very disappointed in this school. Go somewhere else if you need to get this course done in a normal amount of time. GRRRR read more

I've had two kids go through driver's training at Columbus Driving Academy. My son completed his training two years ago and his experience during classes/in-cars was "fine" by his own admission. I wouldn't be writing this review if it wasn't for my daughter's recent experience with her in-car instruction (the classroom portion was not an issue). Since she's finally received her certificate, she finally felt comfortable enough to tell me her experience with driving instruction. As a straight A student taking advance placement courses in high school, she's planning on attending a four year college after her senior year. According to her in-car instructor, however, she should reevaluate her career choice and "be a secretary," because she "doesn't know what she's doing" when it comes to maneuverability. How that can possibly equate to her career ambition is a head-scratcher for me, but the fact this opinion was offered by an "authority" figure has my blood boiling. Had I known this type of advice was being given (whether in jest or not), I can guarantee a different outcome. His statement about her career choice is not only extremely marginalizing, but sexist and unprofessional. This individual may want to consider a different opportunity more suited to his manner. This is a driving academy. A valuable service is being provided and the service comes with a cost. $400 is a lot of money these days and it's infuriating to think any part of it is going to that in-car instructor. It's unnecessary and unfortunate that one person's words or actions can reflect negatively on an entire organization. Like any profession, there are good examples and bad of core values and etiquette. My belief is that successful teaching is accomplished not only setting a professional example, but also by positive reinforcement. Sadly, my daughter did not experience this type of instruction with this particular in-car instructor. Ironically, I've taken my daughter driving on the highway and she did outstanding. I also did addtional maneuverability testing with her myself and she didn't even come close to hitting a cone. read more

While the instructors seem knowledgeable, the organization is poorly run. Their office hours do not overlap with the class hours, so if an instructor fails to show up, you will be standing outside with other students. No one will answer the phone in the office, so you are stuck waiting. Additionally, they change their schedules after they print and distribute them. So, when you show up for a class, the class may not be the one you need. read more

Do NOT send your child here for their "in car" requirement. My daughter was dropped off a half hour early for two sessions, her instructor John had her take him to the bank and to get food. Then he would take 30 minutes of her driving time to write is evaluation which consisted of one sentence. He asked her if she wanted to "call it a night" with an hour left of their last session. What a rip off!!!! read more

I was initially a bit concerned due to a lack of reviews but this school exceeded my expectations. I researched at least 15 different schools before calling them. I am an adult driver just learning to drive. They offered me to listen to drivers ed classes along with teenagers if I wanted, and their price was one of the two lowest quotes I received. They also sent a confirmation that I passed lectures in case my future insurance company needed it to provide a discount. Everything went smooth and professional. Thanks to my awesome driving instructor Connie, I'm now a careful and responsible driver. read more

The classroom instructor, Ron White, is the only reason I am able to give this one star. He is able to make a 3 hour class actually interesting for a group of 16 year olds! He presented the information in a very effective way. He seemed sincerely vested in making the students become responsible drivers. We had a HORRIBLE experience with our in car instructor. He talked on the phone, wouldn't give my son direction, went over maneuver ability for 10 minutes during the last session and degraded him every time he asked a question or did something wrong. Unfortunately, we paid $400 for this man to single handedly break my sons confidence and desire to get his license. AWFUL experience. I can no longer recommend this company to anyone who has a teenager learning to drive. read more

My son finished his coursework in July and he had to make several calls over a course of a week to get his test results. Then his first in-car wasn't scheduled until September 29 at 8am. At 8:02, I called the instructor see why he hadn't made it to pick up my son. His response was "the office was supposed to contact you to reschedule because I am going out for surgery". The office hadn't called so I called them that following business day, Monday. It took them a couple days to get back to me. The in car was re-scheduled for today at 5. At 1:30 we received a message to see if I can drop off my son at the Reynoldsburg office at 8pm with a third instructor!!! Not one time have my husband or I received an apology, money back, or offer to re-schedule at my son's availability. Everything has been this is the date and time just do it. This is very unacceptable and unprofessional! read more

i had a very nice experience with all star driving academy , only did incars with them and Mr.laihr but was nice. He was very sweet and made me feel very comfortable. overall great experience read more

Unacceptably long waits for in-car sessions (2+ months for 1 session, then another 2 months for 2nd session) with unhelpful drivers who do not give corrections or instruction. Not a good teaching school. Last session cancelled by the driver and I was told I am being charged for the cancellation because my child consumed vitamin drops with B vitamins (only 10% of daily recommended amount by the FDA). The driver stated you cannot consume "vitamins and then operate a motor vehicle", and told my child that B12 will "make you feel high". They treated her as though she was drunk or a drug junkie, but in no way was she even slightly impaired. I am also reporting my experience with the BBB and Angie's List. read more

If your first contact is via phone and "Ms. Stacey" answers the line and is rude in her delivery of information and your rushed to go to the website because she is rushing for some unknown reason, and she doesn't speak proper English for a representative of a business; I think you should go somewhere else. 400$ is a lot of money to put into a business that sucks before the transaction is completed. Totally turned off and will NOT be using their services for my teenager. read more

Do not use this "academy". I completed my in-class driving instruction online and used this "school" for only the in-car portion of my state required driving education. I signed up in the building and was given a relatively soon date for my first in-car session, sometime in October. I was told the remaining three sessions would be scheduled by my instructor. Any reasonable person would assume that the remaining sessions would be scheduled around the same time of the first. This was not at all the case. The last three sessions were scheduled for late November, early December, and mid-December, almost 3 months of time for only 8 hours of "instruction". Unfortunately my issues with the "academy" did not end with the scheduling. I had a very poor experience with my in-car "instructor", Charlie. I feel he was extremely unprofessional and unsafe. In 3 of the 4 sessions with Charlie he called his wife and chatted about dinner, their respective days, and other topics. This struck me as not only extremely unprofessional, but also unsafe as I was young, inexperienced driver and the calls were distracting for me. This unprofessional pattern continued into our practice for the maneuverability test. In this practice I really struggled to get the exercise down, as many young drivers do, and Charlie would get very frustrated with this. I was even asked if I had dyslexia. In our third session, he made a comment about a female driver that had moved in front of us, trying to get over into a turn lane. He said "women tend to be worse drivers than men." This is a completely disrespectful and untrue stereotype that should not be being repeated as fact to young drivers. Looking through other comments on this page, I have seen multiple people share similar stories with one person claiming "he made terrible remakes to how he felt the civil rights act shouldn't have passed". It is absolutely ludicrous that someone can get away with sharing these ideas with children in 2019. Charlie also continued his unsafe practices throughout the sessions. There were multiple instances in which he grabbed the wheel while I was driving which seriously distracted me and could have caused an accident. There was another moment, in our first session while he was driving, in which he almost drove right into the path of a large truck that was turning in front of us. Fortunately he slammed on the brakes just in time. Finally after I had completed my final session with Charlie, he claimed I had not given him my proof of completing the 24 hours of in-class driving instruction, as well as the 2 hour certificate that is also needed. He also subtly implied that he believed I had not actually completed my in-class education. In actuality I had given the 24 hour proof to the school when first signing up and I gave him the 2 hour thing in our first session together. When I told him I had given him the 2 hour thing in our first session, he refuted this saying he would have marked it down and that he was "very methodical". He told me it wasn't his fault and that I needed to call the driving "school". Of course once we called the "school" we were told they had all necessary documents. I guess the self-described "very methodical" man made a mistake. As is hopefully evident from my review, I would strongly encourage anyone looking for drivers education to stay as far away from this "academy" as possible and I if you do choose this place, make sure you instructor is not Charlie. read more

I would find another place . This company is shady. First of all, trying to get someone to answer the phone during the day....good luck. Try to get your child's driving score, good luck with that. They tell you to call back after 1:00 pm, because they don't have time. Rent the cones to practice...this is a joke. You give them 50.00 cash and don't offer a receipt. They have you sign a paper and don't give you a copy. The sheet of paper they gave me did not state a return date, it stated 50.00 deposit and they would use that towards 10.00 a week rental. I had the cones for 4 weeks and they tried to charge me 30.00 additional. They were supposed to give me 10.00 back from the original 50.00. When my husband called to inform them they calculated wrong, the office manager argued with him and cursed and finally realized we were owed the 10.00. She said we could come and pick the 10.00. At this point I am not wasting my gas or time to go back to their office. They were rude and unprofessional. I only wish I had known how shady they were before I let my son go through their classes. Big mistake. They have been around awhile and I think they just need to call it quits. read more

Had terrible time with my driving instructor. Not to mention his racism as he made terrible remakes to how he felt the civil rights act shouldn't have passed he never stops talking on his phone through the car so I could hear his conversations while I drove. 3 out of the four he showed up earlier than usual and once showed up 30 minutes earlier than he was suppose to. Wouldn't let me get a full experience since he made me drive not following all the laws and wouldn't even let me turn right on red. I wish I had another instructor cause I could've maybe had a fun experience. His name was Charlie. read more

My son turned 16 on June 12th. His classroom hours were completed the first week of June. We were told the first available time for "in car" hours wasn't until July 10th! The second "in car" was again pushed out to August 10th! He completed the hours on August 15th. It took my son 2 months to complete his "in car" driving hours. Every time I called the office I got the answering machine. We also had to drive 20 minutes to meet the driver at 2:00 PM in the afternoon which was not convenient. They were unwilling to meet at a closer location. The driver said that they had lost 3 instructors so the remaining instructors were over booked. This is unacceptable, especially after we'd already paid in full and completed all classroom hours. I should've been told about their lack of instructors and the delay for "in car" hours prior to paying in full for the program. I would've gone somewhere else. read more

Horrible company they don't meet their contract obligations. Signed my child up for in car driving only and the driver arrived twice to our house late for his appt and then cancelled the last two appts due to illness. Then we get a new driver and they originally were to come to our home but the new driver wouldn't drive there or anywhere convenient and had to go to the Reynoldsburg location. That is not what I signed up for. Then she cancelled due to illness and we waited at the Reynoldsburg location for a no show. Then when she rescheduled for the next appt it won't be for another month. When I contacted the company they just gave a lot of worthless excuses its really busy, people get sick and she is doing a favor and no refunds will-be given. 80 Also she is suppose to take them out for two hours they only drove for 80 minutes I signed up in December and he was to be done end of January and now it won't happen until end of March and they don't care. They failed to uphold the contract and wont give any refunds so we can't go to another company. Also the driver uses her cell phone while in the car and they said they are allowed to use their cells when in car with my teenage son. They see if as a necessity and is not a safety concern. Go somewhere else . And they don't answer their phones or call back. read more

Horrible experience here. Instructor barely looked up from her cellphone while my daughter was taking driving lessons. She also gave a lot of bad information to my daughter which caused issues with her actual driving test. If you think paying someone the equivalent of $50 an hour to NOT instruct your kid, this is the place for you. If you want something more useful, look elsewhere. read more

Very organized and profession. Signed up my daughter here and its really helping her and she is showing a lot of improvement.