Greg's Driving School of Columbia

I have been extremely frustrated with Greg's Driving School. I am giving them two stars because I had one employee help to arrange our second driving lesson by reaching out to a driver and this employee actually followed up with me the same day.

My teen completed driver's education last year and is only now getting their second driving lesson scheduled. Scheduling with this company has been a nightmare. I signed up for the auto-scheduler, requested after-school and weekend times, and rarely received any suitable openings. I later learned that I had been removed from the auto-scheduler because I supposedly missed three text messages, yet I was never notified that I had been removed.

Every time I call, I am told that instructors are booked one to two months out. When I ask to schedule further in advance, for the next month, I am told that instructors only release their schedules about a week at a time. I am never able to actually get an appointment scheduled! It should not be this difficult to schedule required lessons.

What also concerns me is the school's philosophy. I was told it is completely normal for there to be a year between completing driver's ed and finishing the driving lessons because students need to accumulate practice hours between sessions. However, the sessions themselves seem to function more as evaluations rather than actual lessons. In fact, I was told my son should already have 20–30 hours of driving experience before his third session because he would be evaluated on highway driving. I was told that if he didn't pass with at least an 80% that we would have to pay an additional $83 for another lesson. When I asked for the criteria they are evaluating for highway driving (I imagine it's merging, switching lanes, using mirrors) they couldn't give me an answer.

Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I think all of this is backwards. Parents should absolutely help their teens practice, but the driving school should teach the skills during each lesson first and then have parents reinforce those skills through additional practice. Instead, it feels like parents are expected to do most of the teaching first while the school evaluates whether students have mastered the material.

One of the main reasons families pay for professional driving instruction is because instructors have experience teaching new drivers and have vehicles equipped with safety controls, including a brake pedal. I am not comfortable being the first person to take our teen on the highway, and I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation.

I also inquired about purchasing additional lessons and was told they would gladly take my payment but could not tell me when they could actually schedule the lesson because they were already booked for the next month or two. I was also told we had to schedule by 6/15/26 because the summer is their busy season. If you are paying for a service, there should be some guarantee of receiving that service in a timely fashion.

Greg's could greatly improve by offering clearer communication, allowing families to schedule further in advance, increasing lesson availability (teens shouldn't have to miss school or and families shouldn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn on weekends), and focusing on teaching the skills required for each lesson in addition to evaluation. Driving instruction should be a partnership between parents and professionals, with instructors teaching new skills and parents reinforcing them through practice.

Overall, the communication is poor, scheduling is unnecessarily limited and complicated, and the program feels more focused on evaluating than teaching.

very unprofessional customer service and instructors are very rude for the price of what I paid. When, calling to understand why the instructor was being rude. I was directed by costumer service to “hang up because the instructor is allowed to talk to people that way”.
I’m beyond disappointed!

Super unprofessional. They just want the customer to pay for extra classes just so they can guide you when driving. They obligate you to access “driving lessons” to provide you with any useful feedback. Save yourself a headache and choose another driving school.

Hey so whomever is driving vehicle 2513 on August 30, 2025 at 2:30 pm. You are a terrible driver, and whoever is teaching you i hope the failed you. You failed to let not only my vehicle but another vehicle to not merge onto the highway almost hitting both cars. Should be ashamed.

One of the practical instructors was hard to understand and seemed to be stressed. One thing I liked is that he gave me verbal quizzes while driving to make sure I understood what I needed to do.
Virtual classes are disorganized.
Website does not identify which classes are missing or pending.
Practical in person driving classes are unavailable for months. I had to schedule the class in a facility 45 minutes away from my house.
I don’t receive emails because Greg’s website identify my email as “full”. Greg know this is a glitch in their system. I reported and has not being fixed.

For my in-person driving lessons, I had instructor Bayo for my first 2 lessons, then I had instructor Adam for my last 1. Both are amazing teachers, very calm in teaching styles and had a lot of knowledge about the road. They both were also kind and helpful whenever I made any mistakes. Even though I was nervous each time for the lesson, their calming presences put me at ease to be safe on the road. Thanks again so much Bayo and Adam. I’ll remember your words of advice and encouragement for the future!!

This my experience for my child. They do not teach you how to drive on the road. And it's expensive.

One of the worst driving schools in the world. They focus solely on testing, not training, and won’t even take you to the road test. You’ll need to find another school for that. They charge more than other schools, and although I initially went to them for lessons nearby, I ended up having to travel 20 miles away for actual training. Avoid this school if my explanation makes sense to you.

I don’t recommend greg’s as a whole. The staff isn't polite and theres way better out there for less expensive.

I highly recommended Marc. He's an excellent instructor. He was very patient with me,easy to follow instructions and very informative.