University Driving School — Local services in Chicopee

I highly do not recommend this place for any learner. I have read the comments under 1 star reviews and they are absolutely correct about this place. I am 25 years old female and I hired David to help me with my driving he’s the only available person because of my age and only instructor where I live.

I have been driving on and off for a couple years with my permit but my parents had to get surgery. My mom has osteoarthritis and my dad has seizures, he is no longer permitted to drive. I have no other relatives because they are irresponsible drivers (they have their license suspended). My parent with osteoarthritis cannot sit in one position for long periods of time which limits my practice. So I hired a private instructor to help me have more practice on the road and give me more tips on driving because some of the things that I needed to work on required more technical skills.

So when I was practicing with David for 3 days he was super unprofessional. The first day was ok but I started to notice his patterns that continued to the 2nd and 3rd day. The first one was that he was constantly trying to distract me while going 30-40mph on the road. Let me tell you he have music on in the car (I personal can handle low music but i would imagine how difficult it would be for a complete beginner). He would tell me to look at the environment that would keep my eyes off the main road, it would require me to turn me head left or right. He would also knock on the windows too. He was constantly saying “look at this house over there” “look at the land over here”. Finally I said “No” and he forced the car to stop. (Put his brake on his side and took control of my steering wheel.He would also be on his phone and sometimes he would grab my steering wheel. There were moments were I thought that okay an instructor could grab the steering wheel if there was construction (which I drove through and when practicing with my parents before hiring David I go through it fine). But no, there were times when he would be on the phone, grab my steering wheel through construction. This is throughout the second and third day. This affects my confidence abilities because this would give anybody anxiety. He would not let me know why he is grabbing the steering wheel because he would not give actual constructive criticism. All I got from him was “You need more practice on the road and more confidence.”

On the third day this was the final straw. I told him about my situation with my parents and he stated “can’t you just take 15 min to practice with your family?” Me being nervous with him made me mess up a lot and he would be super condescending.

I was at a stop sign nervous as heck with him and I meant to slightly push the gas to improve my view but I slammed it by accident. He’s states “ you could have crashed if someone was coming. This is common sense” if I were to respond to him with “yes I understand” he would think that I was a know it all. There also times when I was would apologize for the mistake I made and he stated “ if you keep doing that then I’m going to keep saying alright until it annoys you”. We also almost got into a confrontation because he assumed that I was a know it all but I have said absolutely nothing thing but I’m sorry and yes in the most respectful manner. This is the response I get from him too “do you want me to just stay quiet and not give you criticism, member you’re paying me to teach you” yes to teach, not text or call throughout my lesson which is 1hr for $100. So with the combination of him being rude to my parents and the stop sign incident, I tried to hold a brave face going home because I was close to crying because of his comments and stress and him constantly being a distracted instructor. Do not listen to the 4 or 5 star reviews they are fake. What he does in terms of texting while the learner is driving is illegal. You know what I’ll find...

I’m sharing my concerns to help others avoid the same frustrations. From the start, the instructor named Kim (I believe her name was Kim, don’t quote me) was extremely passive-aggressive and unnecessarily rude. She often made jokes about how people disliked her, which only added to the uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom. The technology and materials used for teaching were severely outdated. We relied on a VCR that frequently malfunctioned, causing significant delays in our lessons, and the textbooks provided were extremely out of date. This outdated approach made the whole experience feel very unprofessional and frustrating.

Professionalism was another major issue at this school. During one lesson, a random dog wandered into the classroom, distracting everyone and making it difficult to focus. Additionally, the phone rang numerous times during class, and the workers just let it ring without answering, further disrupting the session. These interruptions were not only unprofessional but also set a poor example for the students.

The lack of communication and respect from the staff was particularly disheartening. It's been almost four months since I completed the lesson part of the class and passed the test. We were told that the instructor would contact us for the on-road portion, but despite repeated inquiries, I have yet to hear anything. While I acknowledge that my mother missed the parent portion of the class, this delay is excessive and unacceptable. The lady in the front lied and said she called but I never got a call/ text. When I tried to address this with the owner, Dave, he was extremely disrespectful and showed no understanding of the situation.

Overall, this driving school was highly unprofessional and poorly managed. The combination of rude staff( excluding one of the staff I don’t appreciate him, I believe his name is Jake, again don’t quote me) , outdated materials, and lack of communication made for an incredibly frustrating and disappointing experience. I would not recommend this...

I am only writing a five-star review since it will be seen along with the other fake five-star reviews the owner writes. In reality, I would give a 1-star review. I recommend looking at the 1-star reviews for honest and accurate reviews.

I don't want others to make the same mistake and waste their money here. I was a student here and had the owner (Dave) as my instructor for one session.

I was scared for my own safety as he was very demanding and insulted my driving skills. He purposely tried to make me do something wrong so he could yell at me for it; for instance, talking about the surroundings multiple in an attempt to take my attention off the road. He kept on touching the steering wheel multiple times enough to make me uncomfortable. Instead of correcting my mistakes, he pointed them out in a condescending way. When it was time to practice three-point turns, he yelled and got frustrated when I did not perfect them, even though I was still a beginner practicing them.

If you didn't read my paragraph, at least READ THIS: Please do not sign up your child for this driving school. If all other driving schools are full/unavailable, please look further or get on a waitlist. Your child will not learn...