Fox Auto Driving School

02/07/09

good instruction, disorganized administration

by turnofthespork at Citysearch

I just passed my road test after taking 8 lessons with Fox Auto. The instructor for all but 1 of the lessons was great-friendly and clear in his instructions. He was a former DMV examiner with lots of inside knowledge about the test. I had a different instructor for 1 lesson who was also very helpful. He showed me a parallel parking trick that was key to my passing.

However, booking lessons and the road test drove me INSANE. For example, I called on a Monday and was told the next available lesson was 9AM that Friday. So I booked it, and called the following Wednesday to book more, and to confirm the Friday lesson. I was told by the same person I spoke to Monday that I had nothing booked for Friday, and the next available lesson was the following Tuesday. I reminded her we had spoken on Monday and asked her to check again. No luck. I decided not to push it and booked the rest of my lessons. Friday morning at 9:15 I got an angry phone call from THE SAME PERSON demanding to know why I hadn't shown up for my lesson.

I called another day to book a road test at the location nearest to me in Brooklyn. The same secretary said she was busy and asked for my number (she didn't have it already?) so she could call me back in five minutes. An hour and a half later no one had called, so I called back. She said "Yeah, I already booked your road test for February 5!" Fine. Then, in the last week of January, I called to book one more lesson. A different person answered and told me I owed them $50, their standard charge for road tests in Staten Island. I finally lost it and went off on the guy about all the sloppy bookkeeping. He said he could either reduce the charge to $25 or book a test in Brooklyn 3 weeks later. I needed my license ASAP, so I was stuck.

I tentatively recommend this place because I think they're good at teaching driving. But if you choose them, be sure to get confirmation of EVERY date, time, and location IN WRITING.

• Pros: good driving teachers
• Cons: sloppy, stress-inducing bookkeeping