[microaubin]

I would highly recommend Maruti Driving School especially for the ladies since

1. Their course is highly structured and well laid out.

2. They have demo , theory classes and Simulators. ( While most guys who know driving might think Simulators are more of a gimmick, it is a very useful tool for the ladies who have no clue about driving at all.)

3. Choice of female instructors for Ladies if needed.

4. Well maintained fleet of cars at all times

5. Can select time of study by our convenience.

6. Most importantly the student gets to spend about 45mins to 1 hour continuously behind the wheel which according to me is the most important factor to learn driving.

Traditional driving schools pick you up at home, cram 4 students into a Maruti 800 and teach you all the stuff but driving time and personalized individual attention to each student is limited.

The rates are a bit high for MDS and you have to go there, but based on the experience of my sister and wife who learned driving at MDS, I feel its totally worth it.

[condor]

They are better than many schools, but not perfect

Originally Posted by microaubin

3. Choice of female instructors for Ladies if needed.

5. Can select time of study by our convenience.

6. Most importantly the student gets to spend about 45mins to 1 hour continuously behind the wheel

3. Female instructors not available, though advertised.
But on the other hand, the car has only the trainee & trainer. No one else is in the car.

5. Class timings - this is the case with almost all schools. And like in any school, mornings are most in demand.

6. MDS says 1 hour session, but they have been wasting 10 minutes in each practical class. That is 16% less practice time.

[microaubin]

Originally Posted by condor

They are better than many schools, but not perfect
3. Female instructors not available, though advertised.
But on the other hand, the car has only the trainee & trainer. No one else is in the car.

5. Class timings - this is the case with almost all schools. And like in any school, mornings are most in demand.

6. MDS says 1 hour session, but they have been wasting 10 minutes in each practical class. That is 16% less practice time.

Reading through various posts its clear that the level of services and satisfaction differ from city to city. Maybe its because some schools are not well staffed or due to attrition.

When my wife went , we chose the afternoon 3.30 pm slot so I could just drop her there after lunch. There were female instructors available though we just went with a guy who was allotted to us.

In some cases due to traffic conditions, she claims she drove for more time on some days than what was allotted.

Even I learned so many new things after going through their books. Anyway our experience was rather good and my wife drives really well.

Also would like to add with reference to ladies....Nobody will learn driving just by going to MDS. Application of techniques learnt at MDS on a regular basis on a car on our roads for at least a few months plus loads of patience and encouragement from better half is really required

[mahesh_sn]

Maruti driving training school achieves a stupendous feat of training two million people since it started in 2000. Maruti Suzuki expects to train another 5 lakh people in safe driving in 2014-15.
Details here: http://www.business-standard.com/art...2400569_1.html

[ajmat]

Assuming that Maruti Driving Schools were the best, I enrolled my daughter at the Garuda Autocraft one on Lalbagh Road. It was a bit of a joke. Its fine if all you want is a licence but not if one wants to actually drive.

She first spent time in a simulator with the instructor popping in to check now and then, no clear guidance.

They took her for the online test. Walks into the examination room. She starts plugging in the answers. 14/15 answers were completed, the instructor comes in and tells her not to fill it and he will do it. He answers the 15th question, hits enter - Ping 14/15 right, guess which answer was wrong - the 15th one!

The driving starts, instructor merely takes over and never actually lets her drive. Some days the driving school car crashes so lessons suspended as they need to get car repaired/ out of police station

She was far from ready for the test. With the impending move to college, we tell the school, she is not at all ready and has no time for the test. They say no problem, let her come. They take her for the test. It involved sitting on a pavement for 1 hour then a quick drive up the road.

She gets a licence but no confidence to even face traffic.

I luckily found another instructor who spent 2 hours /day taking her out in our own car. 10 days later, she is driving independently

[ashlil]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Assuming that Maruti Driving Schools were the best, I enrolled my daughter at the Garuda Autocraft one on Lalbagh Road. It was a bit of a joke. Its fine if all you want is a licence but not if one wants to actually drive.
-SNIP-

I had similar experience when I enrolled my wife with Maruti Driving School. I complained to Maruti regarding this. Within one day, I got a call from the driving school and they changed instructor and re-enrolled her for free. This time everything was right and methodical and she could drive independently after the course. I suggest, you complain to Maruti as well. At the very least, it helps them keep a tab on the driving schools.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by ajmat

She was far from ready for the test. With the impending move to college, we tell the school, she is not at all ready and has no time for the test. They say no problem, let her come. They take her for the test. It involved sitting on a pavement for 1 hour then a quick drive up the road.

She gets a licence but no confidence to even face traffic.

I luckily found another instructor who spent 2 hours /day taking her out in our own car. 10 days later, she is driving independently

Add to that the instructors themselves are not trained well. My wife was told to always keep a foot on clutch and control the car by de-clutching . They did not even teach some of the basics like dim/dip headlights, judicious use of indicators etc.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by ajmat

She gets a licence but no confidence to even face traffic.

I luckily found another instructor who spent 2 hours /day taking her out in our own car. 10 days later, she is driving independently

Experienced the same. But mine was a bit different. Everything was horrible here and I had to teach my wife more than these guys. And the worst part was when I went with her for the driving test. This guy from the driving school dumped some 4-5 kids in my car and "ordered" me to follow the test car. This went on for an hour and I patiently followed them (thought I would react when she gets her license). I mailed the head office and the concerned dealer's main office. That triggered a series of calls from almost everyone from the driving school division (reminds me of Rog's baleno service experience thread). Furthermore, my wife had to call them every time and fix the class time, although they had promised a pickup/drop, that never happened and a lot more.

Anyways, I wouldn't recommend them.

[blorebuddy]

May be Maruti - Bimal Bannerghatta Road is different. Instructor was good and experience is not so bad. It is more professional compared to the local driving schools.

[mudhasir]

MDS in Porur, Chennai is also very good. The facilities promised such as lady tutor, simulation courses, dedicated 1 hour exposure etc. are available as per promise. My friend, in mid 30s, was applying for license and just wanted to get through the routine and tackle less important (driving ) part later. I suggested him to take up MDS and he came out very impressed. He later enrolled his wife also and both of them were equally satisfied

[dass]

Any recent experiences with the MDS? I plan to enroll my wife at the Kalyani driving school at Brookefield in Bangalore and was wondering if anyone had any experiences to share.

[ajmat]

Used Garuda Bangalore Mission Road during 2017

1: Not always on time since cars get pranged

2: Bit of a dodgy area on a side street to send a girl

3: Most of the simulator time was on her own

4: Computer test in RTO - walks in and complete 14/15 questions, Driving instructor walks in and scolds her for answering as he was going to complete the answers for her (who was being tested?). He marks the 15th question. She gets 14/15 correct, guess which was the wrong answer!

5: Proceeds to drive but issue is the instructor intervenes so she does not get to react and respond to traffic

6: Since she got admission to Christ College, she stopped for a couple of weeks. She then decided to move to another college and had a months break between colleges. They called her for the test. She said, she hardly knows anything!

"No problem!"

6: Test Day - sits on the pavements for 90 min awaiting her turn. Inspector tells her to get in and drive around corner with instructor. Gets licence!

7: Still cannot drive or have confidence to drive, I take her out and alas daddy-daughter fights since she does not meet my lofty standard.

8: Back on a college break in December, we engage a driver privately from another MDS on Queens Road (as per a recommendation). He takes her early morning for two hour sessions over 10 days and she is motoring. Even persuaded me to lend the Jetta for a session on one occasion..

Result!!! She drives to Yelhanka on her own and later on was commuting to Nagarbhavi. Lost interest at the moment though


MDS ok for getting licence, not necesarily to drive!

[boniver]

My mom learnt driving at the MDS of Premier Carworld, Agarpara, West Bengal from December 2017 to April 2018 and this is what we've observed:

Positives:

1. Clean car

2. Mom wanted to get dropped off at a spot close to our house everyday, and the driving instructor obliged.

Negatives:

1. They put in a wrong application for her Learner's License. We had approached them for an LMV license, instead they registered her for a two wheeler without gear license (seriously, Maruti?). Nothing was mentioned on the receipt, so mom took the test. Once the Learner's License was issued, we noticed the mistake. No amount of pleading with the Motor Vehicles Inspector helped (understandably so) as the form was filled up incorrectly by the MDS guy.
Mom applied for the Learner's License herself, by paying the fees again. Took the Learner's test and was finally issued a LMV Learner's License. Note: MDS didn't offer a reimbursement for the earlier goof-up since they maintained that the RTO person who fed information into the computer had goofed up. Since it was only a couple hundred rupees, we didn't pursue the matter.

2. Mom just didn't learn driving! Mostly she went for her classes alone, but this one time I decided to drop her off. After dropping her, I wanted to wait until she started her lessons before returning home. My mom started the car, drove onto the road from the sidewalk, and drove the car back onto the sidewalk again (no concept of amount of steering input required). I didn't say anything, it wasn't my place to do so, plus my mom wouldn't accept the fact that she couldn't drive.

3. Mom appears for her first driving test: Fails (understandably so)
Appears for second test: Fails again
Appears for the third time: Passes because the Motor Vehicles Inspector wasn't paying close attention to the fact that she had actually stalled the car once.
So mom gets a license in April 2018.
But she just doesn't know how to drive! Till date, she hasn't been able to take the car out on her own and whenever I've taken her to a secluded spot and tried to teach her, I've realized that her knowledge of driving is next to that of someone who doesn't know how to drive at all.

Therefore, I wouldn't recommend MDS to anyone who actually wants to learn driving. However, if a license is all that you want, then I guess it's a good place.

[dass]

Originally Posted by boniver

Therefore, I wouldn't recommend MDS to anyone who actually wants to learn driving. However, if a license is all that you want, then I guess it's a good place.

Originally Posted by ajmat

MDS ok for getting licence, not necesarily to drive!

She already has a license, I need to get her to learn driving. She got her license 10 years back, but never drove after that and hence want her to start again. What are my options in Bangalore then?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by dass

What are my options in Bangalore then?

In addition to looking at local driving schools (many have lady trainers too), ask around in your circles for any good recommendations for reliable independent/freelance trainers.