Apex Driving School

Derek was great! It’s like he was born to teach driving. He is super calm and makes you feel at ease. I got great tips on driving in general and on passing the drive test. Most importantly I came out of it a safer and more confident driver.

I don’t trust these people. They don’t return phone calls or email. Very unreliable service. I bought this as a gift and I’m glad I purchased through Amazonlocal because I was able to get a refund.

I am a very dissatisfied customer. Actually let me clarify, I never got the chance to try the services… I bought a coupon for half off 6 hours of lessons, for the price of $ 270. I called to schedule my first appointment a few weeks before it expired. After calling I was asked to register my voucher online. The owner stated he was out of the country, but someone would contact me. When I was contacted, I noticed the instructors bio was not on the website? I asked for a home pick up and was told that they dont offer pick up. Mind you, I live about 5 miles from downtown Oakland. Every driving lesson I have had picks you up, it is standard practice. I emailed back to ask about the websites offer of free home/​work/​school pick up. I thought the instructor would concede to what was advertised, but no. When I emailed the owner, he too said they can’t offer this service to students with the voucher? The owner suggested I seek a refund, and I promptly did. Bad customer service, false advertising, no bio for his teacher? Shady!

I can’t say enough good things about this driving school.
Derrick was my instructor and he was calm, professional, prompt, and thorough. He has a great attitude and immediately put me at ease and made driving not only manageable but so fun!
I looked forward to my lessons and felt complete confidence in his guidance.
I also felt i got a great deal of positive reinforcement and that Derrick was extremely patient and such a calming influence to have in the car.

Derrick is excellent at giving you driving strategies and I got some excellent tips. This was my second time in a year with Derrick and some of what I learned the first time has helped. He was impatient and gave me feedback in a tone of voice that made me nervous, and that makes it harder to learn and retain the information. He gave very little positive reinforcement. I felt like it was something personal. A good teacher always asks you what your goal is for the class and he never once asked a questions. I doubt I’ll use him again.

Completed course Apri 3^rd it is now May 6. we’ve emailed 10 times and I left at least dozen messages. lots of promises no action… the person who sent the emai ls no longer with the company everybody’s pointing fingers at each other. Go to a more legitimate company these guys are JOKE

Not worth the money. Not only can the instructor bit patronizing at times, making you feel like an idiot, I’ve also never learned from someone who wouldn’t let me use the right side-​view mirror.

I took lessons, here a long time ago. had a really great experience with them. took my first 2 from Derrick who was fine, although felt a bit talked down to. but then I had a great instructor, who I suspect isn’t with them anymore. Nelson. Now that my son is turning 16 and itching to drive, I will go back to them as they had the good sense to have teachers like Nelson and a very practical method that they teach.

Don was excellent during our lesson and especially the day of the test. I used Apex’ car for the test, and I passed! Don said his goal was not to «teach to the test» but to help you become a safer driver. Excellent experience — did I mention I passed the test? Thanks Don and Apex…

I’m in my late 20s and had failed my test a couple of times as a teenager, in England, and never got around to re-​trying (believe it or not, quite a lot of people survive perfectly OK without a car in the UK!). But I decided to bite the bullet and get my licence once I moved to the US.
Derrick’s absolutely fantastic — I can’t praise him enough. He’s a total pro and very punctual — if on the rare occasion he’s held up, he’ll call you to let you know.
I passed my test first time, which should tell you everything you need to know! I feel confident to drive — confidence having been one of my main problems — and feel like I really know my stuff. He helped me through times when I really thought I could never do it.
He’s even pretty zen when dealing with the SF DMV, so you know he’s a cut above :-)
OK, I know it’s slightly pricey compared to some of the other guys on Unilocal,but as other people have said, learning to drive is one area where quality really matters — and this place is worth it. Thanks Derrick!

This was such a terrible experience I only had one lesson and did not come back. He talked to me like I was in kindergarten and had a very stiff driving style (hands not allowed to go below 10 and 2) «just imagine that my fingers are right below there and my finger is very sensitive see? *touches finger* ow! so if you hit my fingers and go below these points it will hurt me» That is only one example of many from practically the first second of him talking to me as if I was either severly mentally challenged or a baby I knew it would be terrible. He would not even take me to a good street we went to some deserted place for the whole time and would just zig zag down the street (how will that possibly help me to be a good driver). My next driving school (A-​Safeway Driving School) actually took me to populated streets in the city where i would actually be driving. This was the biggest waste of time taking a lesson with Derrick and I would not recommend this driving school at all. So unless you like being talked down to like a baby and not actually learn useful driving strategy’s that people put to use I would not go here.

At age 27, my partner had never learned to drive (having lived in the city all his life) and I definitely do not have the patience to teach anyone to drive, so, fortunately we found Derrick! He did a GREAT job teaching a difficult (?) person how to drive safely. Teaching someone to drive safely in San Francisco requires special skills — Derrick has the experience and the track record. I would not hesitate to refer others to him.

I just finished my first lesson with Derrick today. He is FANTASTIC!!! At age 26, I am very scared of driving. Derrick is very supportive and Kind. I cannot wait to have other lessons with him -)

I’ve driven an automatic for the past 15+ years, and finally thought it was time to learn on a manual. I chose Apex (specifically Derrick) because of these great reviews, and was so happy with my lesson yesterday.
Derrick is extremely patient, knowledgable, upbeat and personable. He put me at ease quickly so that we could get to the task at hand — started off in a «controlled» environment at the Presidio Parking lot and before long, I was tearing around the streets of SF under Derrick’s guidance. He is a consummate professional — on time, excellent instructor, and a pleasure to be around. I would highly recommend him to anyone — and now I know how to drive a stick. Yeah!

My teacher Derrick was awesome! I am 30 years old and I had not had a driving license and I thought I would never be able to drive. I tried practicing with my husband, but it didn’t work (of course not), so we decided that I would take some lessons. From the first lesson, Derrick was very calm and patient with me and I felt very comfortable taking lessons with him. He taught me great techniques that are very useful and easy to remember. We also practiced driving in the neiborhood that DMV is located and he gave me some tips about the test, which helped a lot! Thanks for Derrick, I have passed the test easily! I highly recommend Derrick at Apex!!!

I had a great experience with Apex, specifically with Derrick. I actually had a bit of driving experience, but I failed the driving test back home in Maryland because I couldn’t parallel park (ugh). Moved out here, and I decided to get it together and give it another try. I really didn’t want to fail again though (not so fun experience), so I jumped onto Unilocal and found Apex.
Derrick was totally awesome, especially since he had to be extra patient with me when I wasn’t following his tips and defaulted to do what I’m used to doing when I’m driving. Derrick taught be how to be a safer driver, which as someone who practiced in spurts, I really needed the tips. So if you’re looking for a cheapo, just-​teach-​me-​the-​tricks-​to-​get-​the-​license lesson, go somewhere else (and please let me know when you’re on the road so I won’t be). But if you’re looking for an instructor to show you how to be a safe driver for your own good and those sharing the road with you, this is the place.

I took lessons about 4 years ago. I got the package and cried (while driving) the first two times, the last four I felt confident. Derrick was really supportive and kind.
I still don’t really know how to drive because I haven’t practiced and chickened out. Plus, why drive when there are taxi’s and you can rely on the kindness of strangers? I think I have convinced myself I am too old to drive and am better off taking Muni.
Is it possible to get a car that has the brake pedal on the passenger side too? I would never drive alone. I tend to space out and it would be nice if the passenger side also had a brake just in case. Everyone would feel safer.
I am still scared, but if I ever decide to get my drivers license, they will be the first people I call.

I wanted to get my driver’s license, and I didn’t want to go through the trouble of taking the test repeatedly. I can’t even make it through a videogame without driving into a wall, so after reading the reviews here, I contacted the guys from Apex.
I’m glad I did. Derrick Scott’s whole philosophy to driving is simple and effective. He shows you how to be a safer driver, so everything falls into place. He’s all calm and composed, too, which really helps when you’re not used to driving and all those other cars on the road make you nervous.
Yeah, they cost a little more, but there are some things you just can’t go cheap on — road safety is one of them.
Highly recommended.

I wish I could give more than 5 stars for Derrick Scott at Apex Driving school! I tell all of my friends and clients that he is the Driving Healer, because of his approach towards the complexity of a person who is neurotic (like me) and anxious about driving. He taught me the technical skills I needed, but also the attitudes and mental approach necessary to being a calm, grounded driver. On our first lesson he had me parallel park –with my eyes closed! It gave me such confidance that I could learn at age 30, to finally drive! It is 2 years since I got licenced, and I often find myself behind the wheel using tools I learned during my lessons. I LOVE driving now, and when I started I was without any skill, only wanting to be able to drive in an emergancy! I cannot stress enough how excellent and meaningful my experiance was, and I recommend it highly for any new drivers who are freaky about the whole thing, or folks with phobias around driving. Apex is awsome!

Loves it. LOVES Gerald, my instructor.
I moved to SF from NYC a year ago, and after 30ish years on the planet finally decided to act like an adult and learn to drive. I googled around for a school, and low and behold, SF Weekly picked Apex as the ‘Best Driving School for Transplanted New Yorkers’ (
). Clearly I needed to look no further! From the review I knew I’d found a place that wouldn’t make me feel like an ass for being 34 and vehicularly challenged.
They’re not as cheap as some places, but I think their $ 85/​hour is well worth it. Gerald is calm, patient, incredibly knowledgeable and an all-​around cool cat. Plus he has one of those soothing voices that just mellows you out no matter how much you’re freaking.
Gerald took me from a non-​driving sad little person to someone who is comfortable and confident behind the wheel. AND i got my license. WOOT!