Old School of Driving in Rio Rancho

Dealing with Old School of Driving has been nothing short of a nightmare. My daughter needed behind the wheel instruction as she had already done the in class portion at school. We called Old School for months before getting through where I made an appointment at 11 am to meet the owner at the Coors location to sign them up for courses. We didn t realize this business had been suspended for 6 months for aggressive and inappropriate behavior towards students and parents from the owner Francisco...
Read full review. We waited for over an hour being told he was coming from Rio Rancho and was behind an accident. Funny thing is we came from RR and had no issues getting there on time. Against my better judgment, we still signed my child up for 7 instructed hours of behind the wheel driving. First lesson the instructor was late, second time they didn t show at all because of scheduling issues. You have to call and make the appointment every time. When the owner answers he answers like he s irritated someone is calling and doesn t identify the number as a business. Its very off putting. Every time I or my child called we were told someone (Mikayla) would call back to schedule shortly but we never received a call back so we would have to call again and again. On this last session my child and I had been calling Francisco for a week and a half to schedule. Fransisco claimed to not know who I talked to the previous phone calls even though it s him who answers and was rude and nasty then hung up on me because I was not happy that we kept being blown off. My child tried calling and was also met with a rude answer and then immediately hung up on. My father paid for and helped sign up my child for lessons so I asked him to call. Francisco was immediately abrasive called my elderly father a dumb f*ck then hung up on him as well. It seems Francisco thinks because he s a loud military man that he can treat people like trash. Clearly the anger management classes he was required to take to get his business back didn t do anything. I gave it some time before writing this review to see if Fransisco would be calling to apologize for his behavior mainly towards my father but that didn t happen. The instructor himself did a good job, but that s not worth having to deal with Fransisco and the inefficient way this place is run. I do not recommend Old School at all and will be going somewhere else for my other child in next year.

I turned 18 this year and was very nervous to drive, so my parents guided me to get private on the road lessons from here. Overall, I feel more comfortable behind the wheel and Francisco Saenz was a helpful teacher. Sure I still need work on driving, but this feels like it was a step in the right direction.

I turned 19 this year and I struggled to find a course that took ages over 18. I called the MVD multiple times and was told something different each call. I also couldn t find a place that did private lessons. Old School Driving made it easy to sign up, get started, and get my full license within three weeks. All the instructors were nice and gave clear instructions and information that will help you long term with driving.

I used to be really anxious and scared of driving due to being unsure of every move I make on the road. my dad helped me get started with private lessons here and I was really scared at first. I started driving with Francisco and he was straightforward and it honestly helped me know exactly what to do on the roads. it helped me overcome by being patient and straightforward and if I made a mistake he had me fix it which I m thankful for. I also worked with Mr. Chavez and he was also very patient...
Read full review and straightforward as well and helped me overcome the freeway. they also didn t have a problem with scheduling my classes like other places do. I now have my driver s license and I don t feel anxious as much at all and they both helped me overcome my fear of driving by being, patient, understanding, funny, and overall very supportive and helpful. I recommend this driving school if you have a fear of driving like I did. It s good for all ages and straight forward and overall a really great experience and helped me overcome for fear of the roads and they were incredibly supportive.

So I have really bad generalized anxiety and the whole reason I wanted to hire a driving instructor as opposed to just taking any driving class or getting taught by a family member was to have a person to teach me who was specialized in teaching, so patient and understanding of their students needs. I was taught the driving basics and all of the driving skills and tactics you need to become/be a good driver on the road but when I went to the school I honestly was expecting more from the reviews...
Read full review and from the pricing s listed.On first lesson I was yelled at for making simple mistake for being completely new to driving which I was, and one lesson he showed up 30 minutes late and I only had 15-20 minutes instead of the hour that was paid for. The instructor is really nice and friendly and well-informed in his job but honestly if you have a kid who is really nervous about driving or scared to start driving, I would recommend another school or just teaching them yourselves.

The instructor makes sure that everyone is able to take good notes and the course material is very easy to understand. The hours are good and I was able to attend every class. Overall Im glad I decide to enroll here.

Took my child there was very disappointed poor instructor for price. I do not recommend.

I can t begin to express how thrilled and happy I am with this driving school, but I ll try! I m a single mom and I have two teenage sons ages 17 &18 who needed to go through driving school to get their licenses. We moved here from Colorado and it was too late to go through their high school. Francisco worked with me every step of the way with getting my boys through this process! They were flexible enough to work around my busy work schedule. My boys feel so confident as new drivers! I am so appreciative of Old School of Driving!!!

Update as of 4/10/22 - Francisco has been suspended from teaching for 6 months due to numerous complaints. Full details in Albuquerque Journal article. Run away from this place. Signed my son up for 7 hours of driving, and pulled him out after 3. He told me Francisco would get angry with him when he asked questions. He also took phone calls while teaching my son. I asked him about this, and he said sometimes students call during a lesson and he would ask my son to pull over for a few minutes...
Read full review* . What?!! I m not paying for the teacher to take phone calls during a private lesson. I saw another reviewer had the same experience. When I told him my son didn t feel comfortable with him, he told me other schools don t offer actual driving time with their students, and it was my choice if I wanted to pull my son out. I told him that wasn t true, and I had already found another school. My son said Francisco was short tempered and had an abrasive personality. He also said Francisco had another student drive my son home, and said something to the effect of watch how he drives, he s been driving for 2 days like you . What a way to make my son feel bad about driving. When I asked for the manager s number, Francisco said he couldn t give it to me because he doesn t handle conflicts. What kind of manager doesn t handle conflicts?! I was finally refunded for the unused time, after a very frustrating experience. Never again. Many of these positive reviews have to be fake. I noticed a lot are signed with the poster s name, after the comment. Weird coincidence. ***UPDATE: Enrolled my son with Coach Als for the 7 hour private lessons, the day I left this review. Coach Als is AMAZING and deserving of their legitimate 5 star reviews. My son is now a licensed driver and thanks to his instructor, feels confident on the road. I wish I never wasted money and 3 hours of my sons time at Old School of Driving. He didnt learn anything from them.

This review comes long after my daughter completed her course here, at the Sara location, but now I have my second child in a driver s ed class at another place and the differences are so startling that I had to write a review. At 15, I put my 15 yr old in classes here and it was awful. The class was far too fast paced, often ending early, she got maybe 2-3 hours of behind the wheel time with them and one of the instructors who took her out the second and last time, was absolutely horrific. He...
Read full review scolded her about needing to keep her elbows on the door armrest, took away her rear view mirror and kept nitpicking her about things that are really personal preference, not actual driving necessities. She was physically uncomfortable trying to keep the positions he said she needed to keep, was mentally stressed because she was supposed to pretend that the rear view mirror didn t exist for her and just overall not getting what she should have out of the class. After that, they never seemed to have available time for her to schedule her remaining driving time and just pushed her through the final exam portion to get her certificate of completion. I found out later that shortly after my daughter finished (I use the term loosely), the school had their license or what it suspended for a period of time due to many other complaints and issues. Hopefully they ve corrected everything now, but for us, It was a huge waste of money. I now have my second child in New Mexico Academy of Driving and it s day one and night and day differences. My daughter came home telling me all the things they covered, the structure of the course and it seems clear they re actually interested in preparing my kid for driving and learning what she needs to learn PRIOR to putting her on the road. If I could recoup what I paid Old School, I would because what they provided my daughter was NOT any kind of education or preparation for driving.