Live in FAIRFIELD COUNTY? WAIT! Do not sign up for this driving school. They are HAPPY to cash your ($900+) payment but when it comes to actually scheduling DRIVING LESSONS in Fairfield, Westport, Southport, and this area - they have LITTLE TO NO AVAILABILITY. DON'T let them tell you differently - its a money grab. They want you to log in on FRIDAYS to try your chances to get a spot - but most of them do not exist. In the past two months I have seen less than 4 slots open in this entire area. When you sign up - they have you pick a date and time at a school - but that means nothing. When I raised this concern, and my ONLY driving lesson was cancelled on the same day, I waited 11 days for them to come back to me with ONE option (I waited for at least three lessons)! This is my second teen going through the program, and its not improved - I don't know what I was thinking by signing up again! Lastly, while Levi tried to help by enlisting a driver from central Connecticut to drive WAY down to Fairfield and give my kid some lessons, EMILY left me a message and was too busy to take my calls when I tried to schedule my son. I asked to speak to a manager and was denied repeatedly. They are really nice people who cannot provide the service that you signed up for - and TOO BUSY to take your calls when you need help. You will see that I rarely leave negative comments, but this place shouldn't be allowed to operate in our towns. read more

David yachtis- he's was an excellent driving instructor. I totally recommend him to anyone. He made me feel comfortable and was very helpful duribg my driving. thank you David. read more

If you have an option not to use this, DON'T!!!! Their one and only goal is to steal as much money from you as possible without actually providing you with an education. They have so many rules set up in a way that any misstep on your part will result in an extra $100-$200 fine on top of the $950 you already paid!!!! Even on their 8 hour virtual driving safety class. The class started at 9 am, I arrived at 9:04 am but was never let in. I then got a message at 9:20 am telling me I'm 15 minutes past the cutoff and I need to sign up for a new class over a month away, I told him I was here before 9:05 am and I got kicked out of the waiting room. I then spent more time arguing with a lady on the number they say to call for help than the 2 hour session actually lasted! At one point, I was let into the class just to be kicked out again... The next class to complete my 8 hour session is on June 18 OVER A MONTH AWAY, the only reason I'm paying real money for this crap is to get an actual education and drive away for work, IN ANOTHER STATE, as soon as possible! Extortion is the only way I can describe this, and since apparently refunds aren't on the table, I have essentially wasted over $1k by picking them instead of any other driving school. I now have just enough money for a used car to drive out of this God forsaken place but not the know-how of how to operate it, and not enough money for another course because that will cut into my car fund! If you have an option, DON'T choose them, pick anything local in your area that isn't them, and try to call in for scheduling before actually giving anyone money read more

They are the worst of the worst!! They fool you to take unnecessary classes, and charge money without notification. If you use them, you are facing risk all your money without having any classes and certificates. This is a scam, don't do it. read more

Lessons were fine. However I prepaid (because you have to) for my son to take the road test. He kept putting it off so we eventually just went to the DMV. Since I had paid for the next street to schedule his test but we did it on our own I called to get a refund. They said no refunds?! That is not indicated anywhere in their literature. And where is my money going if I'm not getting refunded. Shame on them. Dong use them! read more

I real appreciate Next street Driving school for their wonderful support towards my driving journey. They made my journey more easy than I thought before.I hope to pass my Road Test, @Miss, coco @mr, George read more

We've had a super positive experience with Next Street!! Online lessons were convenient, engaging and informative. Our driving instructors Don Brown and Ari Yiannoulis were patient and thorough in their instruction which created a great learning experience. Their detailed notes and comments were great and made sure my son knew exactly what he needed to improve upon. Ari went above and beyond after hearing how anxious we were regarding the lack of availability and the testing site being 1.5hr away and walked us through how to switch it to only a 15 minute away location and time!! Ari explained how the process works, expectations, step by step so I wasn't so overwhelmed. Game changer!! Highly recommend! read more

Possibly the worst driving school of CT. Charges exorbitantly for literally useless and bureaucratic service. took the 2 hour on wheel driving class , zoom certificate and onsite car provisions 640 dollars. They would not let you run the test car ( different from the car you practice on) before the test even if you arrive early and request them to get familiar with the car. They magically expect you to do well when you have never run The car before. Driving tests are strict and there is no margin of error yet the best driving school does care and charges you a fortune for god knows what. bureaucracy runs in their blood like anything-they would not share the certificate with you until a day before the test- why ? Bec it is their "process". The portal is old school and scheduling the road tests takes place on the phone or email. they are living in early 2000s And proud of it. The driving instructor is out to have to come again for more lessons. in their driving lessons, attention is NOT paid on the specifics of the real test. they just have you move around on roads and not share all the minor commonly tested details which the road tests you. Eventually these folks lead to decreased confidence, complete waste of money, time and energy It s best to just do the zoom certificate 8 hour course and then move to another shop. read more

Nextstreet!!! Beware. You go in trusting, but there is a 20% failure rate. If you had success great, but if they told you day one, they would charge you $200 if your child fails, DMV only charges $40 for test and retests, even if NeXT Street vehicle failed "e-break didn't release", after you paid Next Street training you paid Hundreds of dollars!! when the "DMV training" is free, would you trust Next Street? Okay boy failed need to reschedule should be free, no $200!! Next Street has Zero commitment. My boy can fly planes!! Next Street provided Zero benefit. DMV $40. But Next Street E break didn't release. Next Street don't stand by their guarantee they 'stand by your student". They take no risk they have no obligation. That if their vehicle is not functioning it's at "your cost" not Next streets, make sure the vehicle is working, E-Break works because any issue is on YOU!! They don't take ownership that their "retakes" are so low that they will cover the retake cost. Don't believe their promises. Next Street gives no credit can't talk to a manger and their only option "you can co to DMV" for testing??? My boy can successfully fly a plane. Should have gone to DMV easiest like we did the first time. NEXT STREET THEY DO NOT STAND BY THEIR WORD. If they have to charge $200 for retakes they do not stand by their work. Be careful I looked on line 20% failure rate. The number of complaints is huge. read more

The worst possible driving school in the world don't waste your time look for a better school. The lady Patricia wasted 2 hours trying to give me lessons at a parking lot and I told her that I have been driving for quite sometime and refused to do a practice test with me. All she did was constantly give me lectures on basic driving, instead of checking if I even know how to drive Don't waste your money with these guys. Also also Refund Policy: Once you pay they are gonna take 10% of your money at the time of refund no matter what! So think twice before depositing your money. This place is a money making racket. Also guys the owner will reply to every review negative review showing that the reviewer is at fault without really doing a thorough investigation. read more

Worst Experience ever! the Driving instructor was horrible. Hoping that my children never have to be in a car with a person that will intimidate them when their job is to teach them to be good drivers... Very disappointed. read more

While our daughter is certainly learning from the (expensive) online meetings and in-person driving, we were very put off by learning that due to a scheduling error (we had it as a Cheshire class, they had us as Wallingford--we live in Cheshire), because we showed up in Cheshire and missed the driving lesson, we had to pay an extra $80 bringing us up to almost $1,000 total. Over the phone, they couldn't care less and insisted on the $80 before we could schedule the rest of the classes/test. DON'T recommend! read more

My daughter is taking classes from this school for Drivers Ed. On tonight's virtual lesson, the teacher, Glenn Dworkin said "vote Trump woo!" to the entire class. COMPLETELY unacceptable for a person in a position of authority to be promoting political ideology to a group of teenagers. We're paying for driver education, not political ideology. read more

Not very happy with the customer service. My son's first road lesson was cancelled a mere 30 minutes before the start time. If we had cancelled on the instructor, it would have been a $100 fee!! To add insult to injury, the next available lesson was over a month away! I had pre-scheduled all his road lessons well in advance, since I know how quickly they book. Now, through no fault of mine, he won't be able to test for his license for an additional month. Wait time for customer service is terrible, and when you do get a rep, they are not helpful. Doctors keep time available to see sick patients... why don't they keep slots open for "emergencies" that arise with their instructors? So frustrated with this company! I wish there were alternative for drivers ed! read more

HORRIFIC company! The driving instructors are unprofessional, sexist against women and have ZERO personal skills. They should be teaching the lessons of the ROAD, not telling these young women they need to draw them a "map" on how to park because women are "incompetent". When my daughter made an incorrect stop, she was SCREAMED at and not spoken to like a young adult! They are simply not helpful in getting these young adults ready for the road - STAY AWAY! read more

Terrible driving school spend hundreds to thousands of dollars and student has yet to pass road test. Would not recommend.

The postive was that the on line drivers ed was very convenient. My son liked his instructor a lot and he was good at holding the student's attention and I over heard many pieces of the lessons and felt he was engaging and had great relateable stories to keep the students interested. He called on students by name and made sure they were involved in class. It is also convenient that you can schedule your driving appointments on line, without having to call and wait on hold. For these reasons I give The Next Street a generous three stars. I unfortunately have to agree with everyone else regarding their customer service. Every time I had a question I would literally have to wait on hold for 10-25 minutes. However, staff was always very polite, even when I voiced my frustration. The first week in January I had been trying to book my son's road test for February 20th (a day he has off from school), but there were no dates available showing up in February (I had been checking since December). I was told they had to wait for the DMV to send them more appointments and that I would be added to an email list so I would be notified when the February dates became available. Fast foward to today, when I randomly checked on line and found February appointments had become available, and I had never been notified via e-mail. (We scheduled his appointment for a day he has no school...mind you, there was only one testing location available that day and we will be driving over an hour to get there). Driving appointments: Oh my goodness, getting one in your area, out of school hours, is like striking gold. Like most kids taking their drivers ed, my son is in high school, his junior year, which is very demanding. Why on earth this company would offer the majority of thier driving lessons during school hours is beyond me. I'm sure its convenient for staff with kids, but taking into account your customer base and the money we spend, I would think they can afford to hire professional instructors willing to work after school hours. We have lucked out and had one of our lessons local. The rest have all been about an hour long drive. If you do go with this company, leave ample time to find the location of pick up. Do not expect them to be at an actual The Next Street location. If you are unsure if you have the correct location, you will want at least a half hour leeway to call and confirm (because that may be how long it will take to get your call answered). Also, do not expect your instructors to be professional. One car my son was driving had a piece of The Next Street vehicle scraping on the road as he drove. The instructor had my son pull over and asked him to get out and kick the piece that was hanging down to get it to fall off. My son said the instructor then repositioned the car on the curb to get a better angle and asked him to kick it again. Benefit of the doubt, this was an unexpected inconvenience and the instructor didn't know how to handle it. As a paying custotmer I would hope precautions and protocol would be set in place for a scenario like this so that I am not paying for my son to kick a car. I wanted to call to report this, but was concerned about devoting more time just to be put on hold. I feel like The Next Street is a brilliant and convenient idea, but you need the appropriate staff to backbone an idea like this. I unfortunately will not be having my daughter use this company when it's time for her license and will not, in good faith, be able to recommend this company for anything more than their on line classes. The convenience of those was not worth the inconvenience of the long call waits, the limited driving and testing appointment times and locations, and the lack of follow through of staff to notify me when appointments became available. I hope by the time you finish reading this lengthy review, improvements have already been made. read more

The driving lessons get canceled way too often, sometimes the day of, which is ridiculous when I have to cancel before 24 hours no matter what. There are never any available within an hour of me, and the wait times on the phone are pretty bad - customer service isn't super helpful either. read more

Bad experience. I had to wait about 3 months for in-car driving lessons. Finally decided get a refund and find another school. It was a shock when I found out they charge 20% for getting refund. Although for some reason they charged 10% only. Its so ridiculous that I couldn't even use their service and lost money for nothing, because I didn't expect that I would have to wait so long. read more

My daughter had a great experience at The Next Street (Guilford). She took the 30 hour course. The online instructor (Tyler) was great, and she learned a lot. Her in-person instructor for BTW lessons (Paul C) was fantastic, very fun and made her feel comfortable and confident. She felt she was well-prepared for her license test, and passed with a perfect score. The student portal was easy to use, and scheduling/rescheduling BTW lessons was very simple. It was very convenient to take the test at TNS rather than at a DMV. Overall great experience, and highly recommend. read more

The 8 hour on-line course was fine-- professional and complete. The on the road driving instructor was excellent. Robert Ponce is terrific. And if that were all that was being evaluted they'd get five stars.... HOWEVER.... The office staff is THE WORST---- and has turned what should have been an easy and pleasant experience into a nightmare. 15 phone calls and we still have not received a refund they acknowlegde we are entitled to --- nor have we received an accurate "yellow slip" with which to take the exam with the state in two weeks. NO EXCUSE for the totally lousy customoer service. After months of be being told, "they are getting to it" they don't. They sweet talk you and then DO NOTHING. This has been going on since March. read more

The positive part is they offer zoom classes. The negative parts: the availability of driving lessons locally were not ideal. I had to cancel that part but they did refund me. The real issue is the teacher my son had. Let's just call her Ms. D. She booted him from a Zoom class for being 5 min late from break. Perhaps that is the policy but it was ridiculous. He had to retake the class. I called to find out why this happened and they explained. the very next class she called out my son in front of everybody and said she never wanted to hear from a parent again. From then on she picked on him several times accusing him of not paying attention or playing games (all untrue) She was simply nasty. I did report her after he completed all his classes. This is more a complaint against her. completely unprofessional. read more

Find another driving school. This place is ridiculous. Crazy long waits for actual driving lessons and they refused to send me my kids certificate that we finished the 8hr required classroom until I threw a fit at them. They told me they wouldn't give it to me until she did her last driving lesson. their next lesson is either 2 hours away from us or we wait for a date AFTER she is supposed to take her test. Waste of time and money. read more

nostars given.horrible scool with unprofessional instructors. they don't let you into the classrooms, remove from the class and make reschedule the class. stay away!!!! read more

Terrible customer service. Find another school. They don't get back to you and take forever. My daughters test was at 12:15 we find out from them 2 hours before that we have to drive an hour to a completely different town to pick up her certificate then the place isnt even listed right on GPS so you drive around for an hour looking for the damn place. Noone working inside so you cant even call for directions. Then when we find the place her results are taped to the door of an abandoned looking building. After 2 hours on hold their excuse was it was a holiday weekend. Now we have to wait 3 months for another driving exam. thanks. read more

Their instructors are rude and awful, yelled at my child, and made them cry. They never have available lessons. Overall a bad driving school; very poorly staffed. read more

The online courses were fine until I had to deal with one of the instructors, Lenore, it might just be me but I just could not understand anything throughout the course even though I seemed to understand previous classes well, but she also made it very difficult to check-in with the process she did. Just overall this makeup class I did with her was stressful, and overwhelming. She also calls on people randomly which does seem smart to keep people paying attention, but most of the teachers will do a Kahoot so if you get one wrong no one will know except the teacher, I also have a 504 for school that prevents getting called on randomly because of social anxiety so I tried typing in the chat the answer and she then continued to yell at me that she cannot see the chat even though it was my first time in her class. Overall a horrible experience and I would not recommend taking her class. read more

Avoid at all costs. Horrible customer service. Routinely have to wait over 30 minutes for any phone assistance. Instructors that do not show up for driving lessons. Errors saying you were not at class when you were and had signed in. Appointments backed up for months. Actual classes were fine and instructors are okay when they show up. Just zero help and overbooked. read more

Affordable and knowledgeable staff, friendly and very accommodating. I had the pleasure to have Ms. Opal Lamb as an instructor, made the experience as easy as can be. Will be spreading the word to family and friends who may need a driving school. Hands up to Ms. Opal. Thank You! read more

DO NOT USE .....The Next Street driving school!!!!! Clearly the phone system must not work because at no time will you get a person on the phone or a call back. We received several emails confirming our driving appointment. We were there 15 minutes early, the door was locked and empty office. After 20 minutes another driving instructor pulled in. He tried to help us, however was told that person we are waiting for is in Torrington. So our driving instructor was a complete no show. We were told you will have call customer service. What a joke, I left 5 voicemails ...to I do not know where. Sent several emails to the person who confirmed our appointment and again no response from anyone. If we missed the appointment we would have been charged $80. Not even a call from the no show instructor, no apologies from anyone. This place is very unprofessional and a complete waste of time and money. To think I lost an hour and half of my work day leaving, to bring my child to lessons only to have a disappointed child who has been waiting since March to go driving! read more

From start to finish we had an amazing experience with The Next Street (formerly All Star Driving School) All the instructors, from in classroom to on the road, were great. The administrative staff is friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. They made a what could be a nerve wracking experience enjoyable and effortless. Walked us through every step of the process ( held this nervous mothers hand through some of it!). We chose the option to have them fill out the paperwork and even had his test in their vehicle at their Watertown facility. Do NOT go anywhere else for your children's drivers education or licensing needs. Most importantly I am confident my son is a safe, informed and confident driver out on the road because of what they've taught him. I can't recommend them highly enough ... they deserve 10 stars! read more

Our daughter just recently finished the full course at the Next Street (30 classes + 8 hours of driving). We are very happy with this driving school. She learned a lot. All the teachers and driving instructors were excellent. It was very easy to schedule make up classes. The customer service was very helpful. Overall, it is a great driving school and we would certainly recommend it for all our friends's teen kids. Thank you so much!!! read more

Took the mandatory 8-Hour safe driver course here. The instructor was informative and entertaining. This is one of the few places where you can actually sign up for a course online. Of course out of a class of about 50+ people only 6 or 7 of us bothered to do that. So I had to spend the first 40 mins. watching the instructor take payments from other attendees. Really annoying. Other than that the course was great. It is two 4-hour sessions on a Sat. & Sun. They are pricier in terms of per hour driving instruction so I will have to say I am defecting to another site for that aspect of getting my license in Connecticut. Sorry guys $75/hr is out of my range. read more

The instructor was extremely helpful and it made me improve all my skills . He is such a good teacher I recommend to all students they are starting now Michael is the best . Thank you for everything read more

Would absolutely not recommend The Next Street. Len is a great guy but he is not fit for teaching. His memory is not there at all and I've almost gotten into car accidents on the road with him due to mis-direction. I was also taught by him that it is illegal to turn into the right lane , and that you need to turn into the left lane then merge into the right lane. I did this on my test and came very close to failing. My instructor for the test was an absolute asshole. He SCREAMED at me for saying thanks to someone for letting me go even tho I had the right away. He also screamed at me for not turning left when there was cars coming DIRECTLY at me. This guy needs to be fired , he is unsafe for testing and made my experience absolutely terrible. Waste of $600.00. read more

All Star Driver loses paperwork. Do not use. The teacher forgot to have the kids sign in and would bring in the wrong sheets to sign. Brian is extremely unorganized. Had to retake class since paperwork was lost. read more

Its a great learning experience, gives a lot of incite as to what to expect when on the road. It also helps having a helpful instructor, mine being Jyreek Ellerbe. I would suggest others also use The Next Street. read more