Driving center with highest success rate in Ontario !

[Hasni]

Dera friends,

Can someone please share the driving center in Ontario with highest success rate in getting G license. A driving school in Mississauga has offered me at the rate of C$30 per lesson (in car) and C$105 for the car to be used on test day. They also say that they may take me to one of these three Oakville, Brampton, Etobicoke and will charge C$ 90 for that, as these center have best success ratio. Are the prices genuine, though I doubt about the offered test centres having hight success rate. I had heard about Guelph, don't know if still it is the best. Please suggest considering that I shall be settling in Mississauga upon arrival. Thanks

 

[newtone]

Go to Sudbury, city of Wawa or Thunderbay

 

[torontosm]

Go to Sudbury, city of Wawa or Thunderbay

Not exactly practical to travel 16 hours each way for a driving test, is it?

 

[newtone]

He didn't mention anything about practical being an issue. Besides after driving for 16 hours he's bound pass the test

 

[steaky]

Not exactly practical to travel 16 hours each way for a driving test, is it?

Less than 2 hours by plane each way.

 

[Hasni]

Dear newtown, any centre on an hour or two drive away from Mississauga. Thanks

 

[fkl]

A friend of mine with merely a year or so of driving experience in very different conditions (3rd world country, right hand drive, barely any rules) cleared his G2 in London, Ontario with a few hours of practice at a driving school. This was a few months ago. Reasons for going for G2 were that he didn't have enough experience on previous DL (at least 2 years) to qualify for an exchange (G1 or full G). So it might be worth trying.

 

[Alurra71]

Dera friends,

Can someone please share the driving center in Ontario with highest success rate in getting G license. A driving school in Mississauga has offered me at the rate of C$30 per lesson (in car) and C$105 for the car to be used on test day. They also say that they may take me to one of these three Oakville, Brampton, Etobicoke and will charge C$ 90 for that, as these center have best success ratio. Are the prices genuine, though I doubt about the offered test centres having hight success rate. I had heard about Guelph, don't know if still it is the best. Please suggest considering that I shall be settling in Mississauga upon arrival. Thanks

You know they 'approve' or 'deny' your license based on your driving skills, right? If your driving skills suck, then you can expect to be denied your license. If you have previous driving experience (2 years or more in your home country) then obtain a drivers history record to show them and take your test and you should pass without too much issue. If you really feel you need to find the drive test center that has the highest success rate, perhaps you aren't ready to be driving by yourself yet and you should practice more until it doesn't matter where you take your test and you'll pass it.

 

[fkl]

Though i agree mostly to the points mentioned by Alurra71, i would just add that running into a pathetic examiner might play a role here.

Just sharing an individual story. I have license and driving experience from Pakistan for 7+ years. But conditions are entirely different i.e. it is actually harder to unlearn things from there to apply here. Any way i practiced on my own as well as with a Driving school for 4-5 hrs. Then cleared written and finally in the actual road test, i found an exemplary examiner who was really weird. I won't jump to calling him racist (but that's a best guess).

This was in Montreal, Quebec and it is generally reputed to be quite tough. The person started with "You too - English", quite a few sarcastic remarks right from the beginning and on things he thought i did not do appropriately and upon me asking what you think should be the best course then - he said "come on - you are an experienced driver. You should know". Even my instructor was amazed at the feedback i gave and with the look on my face when i got back, she thought i sure didn't pass.

Needless to say i did pass (though i was not expecting at all) with being told two minutes into the test - "gosh i wont want to ride with you". However, i ended up complaining in writing to the SAAQ and gotten a long feedback call from a supervisor at the test center who assured he would tune the guy to have better manners, apologized for his harsh behavior and thanked me for voicing my concerns.

I am pretty sure a person (younger in age or little less patience) would have gotten into a one to one argument with the person. Or a less experienced driver who might still have learnt recently and making all decisions consciously would definitely have blown it. Because i was totally driving on instincts after being furious over his attitude.

For those who think it might be a testing tactic, i checked with supervisor - who confirmed no such practice exists. An examiner should only talk to the driver to ease his feelings or should silently mark him for errors or plus points. It is by no means a test of patience.

I solemnly feel i was lucky to get through merely because i had a lot of experience and still practiced quite a good deal. I won't want the same guy to evaluate a normal new driver who by all standard rules would qualify.

 

[Alurra71]

Though i agree mostly to the points mentioned by Alurra71, i would just add that running into a pathetic examiner might play a role here.

Just sharing an individual story. I have license and driving experience from Pakistan for 7+ years. But conditions are entirely different i.e. it is actually harder to unlearn things from there to apply here. Any way i practiced on my own as well as with a Driving school for 4-5 hrs. Then cleared written and finally in the actual road test, i found an exemplary examiner who was really weird. I won't jump to calling him racist (but that's a best guess).

This was in Montreal, Quebec and it is generally reputed to be quite tough. The person started with "You too - English", quite a few sarcastic remarks right from the beginning and on things he thought i did not do appropriately and upon me asking what you think should be the best course then - he said "come on - you are an experienced driver. You should know". Even my instructor was amazed at the feedback i gave and with the look on my face when i got back, she thought i sure didn't pass.

Needless to say i did pass (though i was not expecting at all) with being told two minutes into the test - "gosh i wont want to ride with you". However, i ended up complaining in writing to the SAAQ and gotten a long feedback call from a supervisor at the test center who assured he would tune the guy to have better manners, apologized for his harsh behavior and thanked me for voicing my concerns.

I am pretty sure a person (younger in age or little less patience) would have gotten into a one to one argument with the person. Or a less experienced driver who might still have learnt recently and making all decisions consciously would definitely have blown it. Because i was totally driving on instincts after being furious over his attitude.

For those who think it might be a testing tactic, i checked with supervisor - who confirmed no such practice exists. An examiner should only talk to the driver to ease his feelings or should silently mark him for errors or plus points. It is by no means a test of patience.

I solemnly feel i was lucky to get through merely because i had a lot of experience and still practiced quite a good deal. I won't want the same guy to evaluate a normal new driver who by all standard rules would qualify.

I have heard horror stories from that area in general about everything, especially if you don't speak French, so as horrible an experience that you had it somehow doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[Hasni]

You know they 'approve' or 'deny' your license based on your driving skills, right? If your driving skills suck, then you can expect to be denied your license. If you have previous driving experience (2 years or more in your home country) then obtain a drivers history record to show them and take your test and you should pass without too much issue. If you really feel you need to find the drive test center that has the highest success rate, perhaps you aren't ready to be driving by yourself yet and you should practice more until it doesn't matter where you take your test and you'll pass it.

Alura71, no one can disagree with you in principle. Also lets not take it that licences are being distributed to incompetent drivers there, not at all. Its just that traffic magnitude is far lesser in these area, which lets you stay more focussed and makes it relatively easier to succeed. But still you have to go through the same testing standards as those in the big cities.

 

[Alurra71]

Alura71, no one can disagree with you in principle. Also lets not take it that licences are being distributed to incompetent drivers there, not at all. Its just that traffic magnitude is far lesser in these area, which lets you stay more focussed and makes it relatively easier to succeed. But still you have to go through the same testing standards as those in the big cities.

You are correct in stating that is might help you to stay more focused to complete your driving test successfully, but please also understand that taking your test in small suburban areas or other less populated areas might initially get you your license with more ease you are still located in a larger urban area and will need to deal with these same 'distractions' on a regular basis, so which is better to prove your ability? If you can do it and get a license, you would feel more secure on a daily basis driving with these folks, but if you pass your test out in the county and then are 'dumped' into say Toronto can you handle the traffic flow without getting yourself or someone else killed trying to 'learn'?

I fully understand the desire to have ones freedom by having a drivers license and being able to go about our daily lives on our own time rather than public transportation or friends taking us, but I find it equally desirable to know that anyone that has a drivers license and might potentially be sharing the road with myself and my family have the necessary skills to cope with all that is going on around them.

 

[RDash]

I'm going to give you the inside scoop right now on "failure rates" so that you can save yourselves all a lot of aggravation and travel expense. The pass/fail ratio you are looking at based on location has more to do with the demographic of applicants than a matter of one town having examiners that are in a better mood than others. Examiners can transfer all over the province at any time, they move all over the place.

Small towns with a majority of local applicants are often young people who have been taking driving school for a year and been driving with the parents, all within the range of a very limited area. They are familiar with the streets, the signs, where they are located, the hazards of particular intersections etc. They also have no prior experience driving in another country with different rules and different conditions.

Toronto and the areas surrounding have a much higher number of applicants who have spent the majority of their experience in other countries, sometimes with very different rules, conditions, weather etc. This drives the failure rate up because often, just being able to drive well, doesn't mean you know the different rules or subtle things examiners are looking for on a test, sometimes there's habits that have to be broken.

A lot of people take the test when they're not ready because they need the licence for a job or to take kids to school and don't realize just how different it is to drive in Canada. That's a much different scenario than somebody who has been taught to pass the test from the first time they get behind the wheel. This is what really affects that pass/fail ratio. If a center has 50% of applicants taking the test before they are ready vs a center where only 10% of applicants are unprepared.... This is why the first center would have a higher fail rate than the second. Every examiner is out there with the same score sheet; Kenora, Collingwood, Sudbury, Downsview...same score sheets, very very very different applicants with different challenges.

I'm not saying there're all the same because they're not, some examiners are better at staying calm and making applicants feel comfortable than others. Just please don't drive out to the middle of nowhere with the idea in mind that country people are more polite than city people are more likely to pass an applicant who lacks skill behind the wheel; you will get the same result. The examiners at Downsview are top notch, some of the nicest people you could meet. Listen, read the score sheet, it's not personal, it's not a money grab, there's no "fail quota", all that stuff is myths.

These are good people who want to make sure everybody on the road is safe, that includes you and your family and your children. They are always willing to help anybody who wants to improve, even if you pass, ask, they'll let you know what to work on to be even better, even safer.

So, what CAN you do to make your driver examiner happy? They don't want a hug, they don't want a bribe, they don't want you to call them Beautiful or tell them that you like them or you're lucky to have them.... they don't care if you have a seat warmer or a luxury car...just use underarm deodorant and a breath mint and they will be soooooo happy. Trust me