Not all private driving lessons are the same. A regular complaint of driving instructors across the country, despite phenomenal pass rates, is that parents of teenagers learning to drive only want to know how much the lessons cost, not how much their children will get out of the lessons. Before you hire a driving school for your child, let's take a good look at what kind of credentials and information they should be able to provide for you.

AAA Approved

This is a big one. Did you know that AAA only approves driving schools that meet a minimum standard? They're so strict, that we are the only driving school that AAA approves in the state of Maryland. But what exactly does that mean?

AAA approves several different types of driving classes, including advanced and defensive, driver improvement, senior defensive, online driver improvement, safe & sober, fleet driving and driving skills assessments. In addition, they provide a unified curriculum that has been approved by AAA.

Better Business Bureau Rating

Why is a good Better Business Bureau rating important? It is because you want the lessons to actually happen after you've paid for them. You want your new driver to actually get the skills they need from a professional instead of some shady operation that may or may not be there tomorrow. Blastly, you want to know that other people have been successful with the school and have good things to say about it.

General Curriculum

As mentioned above, AAA provides a professional curriculum for it's approved driving schools. This means that your new driver is not getting generic information or whatever the instructor thinks up at the last minute; they are being taught a curriculum that is used nationwide and has been proven to have good results.

Level of Experience

A driving school that has been around the area longer means they have been teaching more people to drive over the years. They have figured out many of the tips and tricks to pass on while your teens learn to drive, helping them with problem areas by adapting the teaching method to the individual student.

Pass Rates

Most good driving schools will have good pass rates. That is why this is actually one of the least important things to look at. What is your teen getting out of their lessons? Are they learning how to drive defensively in the crazy traffic the Baltimore and DC areas tend to generate? A high pass rate means your teen can pass the test in fewer attempts, not that they're safe to drive the Beltway during rush hour.

Studies by AAA foundation have shown that teen drivers account for 10% of drivers but 12% of accidents. They show that one in five will be involved in an accident. In fact, out of over 30,000 teen driver fatalities every year, over 12,000 involved only the teen driver's vehicle. Even worse is that during their first year on the road, a new teen driver is almost ten times more likely to be involved in an accident.

Make sure you children are getting the best in driving education. Contact Elite Driving School for further information.