As I write this, Cindy has more than 70 fabulous reviews on her Google page ( plus.google.com/10876958”¦ ), almost 600 “likes” on Facebook, and many glowing reviews on a bunch of other websites (SuperPages, Yellow Pages, Mojo, Yahoo, etc.). She was my driving instructor this past five months and now I’m yet one more person who recommends her highly. Don’t hesitate to contact her, for your own or someone else’s lessons.
I was afraid of driving for almost twenty YEARS after a friend died in an accident, and when I finally called Cindy last fall to set up my first appointment, she reassured me that she and I would be in it together and that she’d support me every step of the way. And she was as good as her word. I met with Cindy for 8 lessons between September and January. She picked me up at my home at 6 am the morning of my 8:30 am driving exam last week, we practiced and prepared for the road test from 6-8:30 am, and by 9 am, my exam was over and I was having my picture taken for my driver’s license. ?
The lessons don’t progress faster than you’re ready for, so if you’re scared like I was, it really WILL be okay. You’re not going to be “forced” to do anything you’re not ready for. I was ready to CRY before I began the first couple lessons but found myself calming down and even laughing during them, since Cindy was just so warm and funny. Also, all the cars in her school have accelerator and brake on the instructor’s/passenger side too, which was a huge factor in my being able to get over my fear of driving and actually learn this time. When I tried before, with my dad teaching me, I was still so traumatized and scared, I couldn’t really absorb what he was trying to teach and tell me. Knowing that Cindy could safely control the car if I couldn’t is one of the biggest reasons I was able to learn this time. It was almost like all the fear was a “noise” that I was now able to block out, and real learning was finally possible as a result.
Also, Cindy and the other instructors won’t let you schedule your driving exam until they are confident you’re ready for it. They’re honest and fair. (During one practice session, Cindy and I were driving around the DMV parking lot and paused to watch a student in another local driving school’s car attempt to parallel-park for her exam, and it looked like the student had never even SEEN parallel-parking before, let alone done it successfully, and it made me angry on the student’s behalf: How could the instructor have even lived with him/herself for having taken this person’s money for that day’s lesson/test when (s)he knew the student wasn’t remotely ready?!? Shame on them. Cindy and her staff would never do that.
Any driving school could teach the basics–traffic laws, vehicle controls, driving skills–but Cindy Cohen School of Driving beats them all because of the genuine caring of the instructors. Check out her school’s Facebook page to see all the pictures of the instructors with their students after the students have passed their exams! Just looking at all those pictures and reading all the students’ stories last summer was inspirational to me–If they could do it, maybe I could too–and sure enough, now I’m one of the latest success stories there. There’s a human touch–just a factor of caring–with this school that you won’t get anywhere else.
The prices are quite fair too. As of today, it’s $85 for each 90-minute session, and that includes the fact that the instructor picks you up (at your home or workplace) and drops you off after the lesson. The final session/practice/exam was $135.
I could go on and on, but truly, don’t hesitate to contact Cindy Cohen to set up an appointment or to start a conversation about the process. She responds to emails, phone calls, and text messages–we exchanged a number of texts in the wee hours of the morning on the day of my exam that still make me laugh a week later, most of them along the lines of Cindy writing, “We’ll be fine today!!! See you at 6 am!” and my saying, “I’m so nervous! I want to pass this test so bad!”
And about six hours after she’d dropped me off at home for the last time after I got my driver’s license last week, she even sent me a text message asking how my cake was coming along. I had told her after my exam that I was going to bake a celebratory cake for me and my husband for that night. She’s just so sweet and good-hearted. You’re not going to get that kind of service or goodness from another school around here. She puts everything she has into it. Be her next success story!