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Can I take Drivers Ed if I'm only 14 years old?



Sorry, we do not. All they have to do is wait until they turn 15 and take the program with us. 

 

What happens if I have to miss a class? 

 

No problem! Just call the office and we'll tell you when your missed classes are being taught again and simply show up on that day. Usually they come back around every 5 weeks.

 

Will our insurance rates be lowered?

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Most likely YES! But you have to check with your insurance company! I have been told by parents that they saved $30-$50 each month on their insurance premiums simply by having their teen go through Drivers Education and receiving a "Certificate of Completion" from us. Their drivers ed investment pays for itself within the year. I even once had a mom swear on her poodle's life that she saves $50.00 each month. I told her, "NO WAY!" She said, "WAY"!   What was I to say to that? Most insurance companies will give you that discount but the more important thing is to get your teen that Drivers Education experience REGARDLESS of saving money or not. It's not about saving money. It's about saving a life...or two...or three.

 

Does my teen driver really have to drive 50 hours with me sitting next to him? YIKES!

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YES! It is the law that you have to have your teen drive fifty hours behind the wheel with a licensed driver who is 21 years old or older sitting beside him. By the way, 10 of those hours have to be at night. If you don't want to spend the time doing that because your hair will go grey prematurely then call us up and you may book extra driving lessons.

 

Please remember, you have to SIGN a form the day your teen goes for his license attesting to the fifty hours with ten of them being at night. Please be honest.

 

What is a typical Driver's Ed class like?

 

Each class has a PowerPoint presentation for you to view. We also have crazy stories from our driving experiences or personal lives as far as poor choices we have made that could have affected our lives inside and outside the car. We have at least one worksheet each class and a quiz that coresponds with the Tennessee Driving Manual. We have class discussions on each nightly topic with Q and A time. Teens sometimes share their own stories of what they have seen out there on the roads.

 

 We also team up and have Drivers Ed trivia or other type of fun games. We also have our "Bonehead" people segment where we watch videos of drivers doing stupid things with a car like putting a car in "drive" and getting out and trying to lift up the garage door before the car crashes in to it.

 

We take an 8  minute break for students to get something to drink, stretch and regroup. It's a very relaxed place which makes it easier to learn in.

 

 

Will you pick my teen up at our house for his Behind The Wheel lessons?

 

Absolutley! As long as it is within our driving range. Check out this website to see pick up locations and meet up spots. 

 

 

How old does my teen need to be to drive legally?

 

They need to be 16 years old and have a valid Tennessee Drivers License. They need to be 15 and possess a Tennessee learners permit to drive while a licensed driver 21 or old is seated beside them. Please NEVER allow your young person to drive by themselves with just a Learners Permit! Sorry, we are not allowed to test your teen for their hardship license. Only the state of TN may do that. Your teen will also need a permit to drive with us. 

 

 

What are your thoughts on Texting?

 

Texting while driving is dangerous and against the law. Don't do it and tell your teen not to. Don't even

text at a red light because studies show that when the light turns green many drivers are still thinking

about what they just read or texted for up to 30 seconds down the road while driving.

 

 

How far apart is each driving lesson?

 

Each driving lesson has to be spaced out at least 5 FULL 24 hour days apart. Why?  Because it keeps a handful of teens from monopolizing an entire week's worth of driving lessons or more. We don't want that to happen to your teen. Also, it helps keep parents accountable....a little. If each lesson is 6 days apart then that gives the parent time to invest in their teen and practice with them on the things we write down in their driving notes. Nothing worse than a teen being rushed through our program and then failing the driving test at the end of the last lesson because they didn't practice much. 

 

 

What makes you different from other driving schools?

 

Many things make us different from most other driving schools. Here is a quick list:

 

1. We incorporate comedy and music as a means of keeping the teens engaged and interested. We have a stage we teach from and strive to give a great experience to the teens. Hopefully this will be their one and only drivers education experience and we want them talking about us twenty years from now and remembering how hard we worked to help them have a great time. Spanky has many personal stories of that he shares with the teens to

get them to think about their own lives and the decisions they will make as a teen. 

 

2. Many licensed teens have shared with us that their drivers education experience at other schools were either bad or boring and that they already knew a lot of the laws. We here at Spanky's teach much more than the laws and rules of the road. We work from the inside/out on the students. Let's face it, thousands of experienced adult drivers out there on the roads get in to crashes each year and they have been driving for years! It's not that they are bad drivers but that they don't care enough about other drivers on the road and drive aggressively or do things that distract themselves.

 

By teaching from the inside/out on a teen we are able to help them to value themselves and strangers more than they did before they came to our program. One of our DVDs even talks about changing your value system when it comes to driving. If you read our "Testimonial" page you might see that it appears to work. Many teens who leave our program are very grateful for our teaching methods. We give them opportunities to look within themselves and see what they need to work on to be not just better drivers but better people. If they work on themselves first then it will hopefully carry over when they get behind the wheel. Our hope is that it is consistent in their lives over the long haul, but it's up to them. 

 

3. We incorporate a lot of YouTube raw footage videos that help teens see real life situations. It appears to be more of a wake-up call for them.

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4. SELF-PACED- Students can take classes in any order. We've had students take our program over a five month period. We highly encourage them to continue reading through their notes, quizzes and the Tennessee Study Guide so they don't forget their earlier lessons. With such high demands for a teen's time these days our self paced classes really help.  

 

5. MAKE-UPS- Since it's self-paced students can take classes out of order and show up when they need to. We start a session going from lessons 1-10 and then simply start over again so lessons are always coming back around every five weeks. How cool is that? If a student goes from lesson 1 to 10 but misses lesson 4 in between then lesson 4 will come back around very quickly for them. All they do is simply show up on that lesson. Students have 168 days to finish the entire program. 

 

6. We encourage students to do random acts of kindness outside of the classroom. This can help them get into the act of being nice to strangers and will hopefully help them be kind when in the car with their license. We've had some great stories shared from students over the years and hopefully these random acts will turn into OFTEN ACTS!

 

7. We only allow one student in the car at a time. The Driving Coach will be the only person put at risk by the novice teen driver. Also, if someone hits our car we don't want an extra student in the car if there was no reason for it. We do have an extra brake pedal on the passenger's side. We haven't seen the need yet for an extra steering wheel when we can simply move the steering wheel a little bit with our left hand if the teen needs it. We also value the passenger airbag very much and to put in an extra steering wheel would not allow us to have that airbag. We have not had any students crash our cars.

 

Does my teen need their permit in order to be in your program?

 

Great question. No, they do not.  Parents need to work with their teen on studying notes from class to increase their chances of passing their permit test. Once they get their permit they can begin their behind the wheel lessons.