Old School of Driving in Rio Rancho

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.

Very helpful site, answered my questions professionally and promptly. Thank you for your time and assistance.

Fast and easy class as long as you pay attention. Instructor will give good feedback and tips while driving and is really helpfull over all. The instructor will turn an awful driver into a great driver

I have learned a lot of things at this school including sign meanings signaling and many important topics. The instructor here is very kinda and makes sure that you know what you are doing. There are also fun hands on things like parking technique and just driving around. I would recommend this school if you do not have a place in mind

The instructor goes over each topic in detail and in a way that is easily understood. Excellent experience going through the course and an overall exceptional driving school. Would recommend to other new drivers any day. -Tyler H.

The teacher goes into detail throughout every subject. Gives us time to understand and thoroughly helps us when needed. Encourages us to keep practicing and gives us that push we need while driving. My turns improved drastically after driving with the instructor.

I took this course years ago and I ve never been in a accident because Francisco is a very good teacher. My brother took Francisco s course and he s never been in a accident. This newer generation of drivers are soft, so what he takes a phone call of two while your precious drain on society takes the driving course( @K G). Francisco is a real one and he will always be.

I read the article about his suspension and forgotten I had left this on 5 stars. I was intimidated by him and he bribes the students to put more stars. He wasnt exactly engaging. Just slides and notes then throws you behind the wheel. Its more hands on i guess. But I learned some things in his classes so thats something... 2 stars