The AA Driving School Reviews

Name: The AA Driving School
Address: Fanum House, Basing View,, RG21 4EA
Rating: 3.97

4.0 Rating 1,075 Reviews

74 %

of reviewers recommend The AA Driving School

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

4.0

Based on 1,075 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

Visit Website

Phone:

0330 100 7470

Email:

customer.services@theaa.com

Location:

Fanum House, Basing View,
RG21 4EA
Basingstoke

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The AA Driving School 5 star review on 25th June 2025

225

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Terrible. Instructor cancelled half of the time with no refund”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“Beware of David Linder – Untrustworthy and Unprofessional I had a deeply disappointing experience with David Linder. He required me to deposit money directly into his personal bank account, which felt unprofessional from the start. After making the payment, he repeatedly delayed taking me to my driving test, claiming I needed more lessons, even though I was fully prepared and competent to drive. Despite his promises, he continually found reasons to avoid scheduling the test, leading me to believe that his true intention was to keep charging for unnecessary lessons. I would strongly advise others to be cautious when dealing with him, as his practices appear deceptive and untrustworthy.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“My daughter’s instructor wasn’t fully trained (no part 3) but daughter was NOT made aware which is illegal. He then had an exam whilst she was in the car (after SIX MONTHS of lessons with him being unqualified) and he failed - apparently for the third time, so then he could no longer teach - at this point, she had a test booked in two weeks time! Now she has no car or instructor to take her test. No one has bothered contacting her and we have emailed and messaged on Facebook messenger several times with no response whatsoever. They have removed their phone line for driving school issues and they ignore you online . They owe her money that she paid up front in a block but they ignore us to get it back. They gave her an unqualified person, kept it quiet, left her in the lurch and now ignoring us. She spent over £900 with them! STAY AWAY FROM THIS EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL AND UNSCRUPULOUS OUTFIT”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“Driving instructor did not turn up for 30 minutes past allocated time. Could not do lesson as had appointment after so would’ve had to be cut short. AA driving school continues to say the instructor was sitting outside my property waiting but they were not as I was standing outside on the street. When asked for details on her satnav location, I am now being ignored!! Daylight robbery at £89 for 2 hr lesson I never had. Do not use”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“I recently had a disappointing and distressing experience with AA Driving School, and I feel it’s important to share it to help others make informed decisions about their driving lessons. From the very beginning, my experience with the driving instructor was negative. Before my first lesson, I spoke with the instructor on the phone and found their tone to be extremely rude and confrontational. I expressed my discomfort about this, and although the instructor apologized, the lesson itself was even worse. The lesson was originally booked for two hours, but I had to end it after just 45 minutes due to the instructor's aggressive behavior. Throughout the lesson, they shouted instructions at me in an aggressive tone, frequently contradicting themselves by telling me to drive faster and then slower without clear guidance. This erratic behavior made me feel anxious, uncomfortable, and unsafe. The most concerning moment occurred at a roundabout, where the instructor directed me to proceed when it was clearly unsafe. Had I followed their instruction, a collision would have been unavoidable. When I pointed out the danger, the instructor responded rudely and dismissively, which led me to terminate the lesson early for my own safety. To add to this, I was unable to cancel my next lesson within the 48-hour window because of the timing of the incident, resulting in a financial loss for a lesson I couldn't take. I also lost my driving test slot due to this situation, leaving me without an instructor and without a scheduled test. When I contacted AA Driving School’s customer support, I received no meaningful assistance or resolution. Despite explaining the distress and inconvenience caused, their response was dismissive and unhelpful. As a result, I have lost not only money and time but also confidence in my driving abilities due to this experience. I am sharing this review to warn others considering AA Driving School. My experience was deeply unsettling, and I hope this feedback encourages the company to take more responsibility for their instructors' conduct and to provide better support to their customers. If you are looking for a driving school that values professionalism, safety, and customer satisfaction, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“I'll make this short but to the point. Driving instructor cancelled on me without anything being said, I was waiting outside like a lemon then when you put in a complaint on the Monday because you can't access their chat until the Thursday to say cancel all my lessons they tell you it's too close to your next one so can't cancel that. Read the complaint I made on Monday!!”

The AA Driving School 1 star review on 22nd August 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“Majid is the WORST!! Cancels all lessons and test booking with less than 3 days to your test to scam more lessons out of you. All the previous lessons he has no concerns with your driving but suddenly on the week of the test he has concerns and wants you to cancel and rebook for next year. A driver with over 27 plus years driving experience just needing to get a UK license because my current one doesn't transfer over. I still took lessons and still had lessons booked. Woke up to a text that he has canceled my lessons because I did not wish to cancel my test which I already had to wait months to reschedule for next year. What a terrible experience!!!!! Whatever you do do not book lessons with this scammer.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“They support their instructor alot that they’re very confident to say we’re allowed to take money and give lesson our own self. He cancelled my lesson and said she is too short to reach the clutch while it was all ok i showed him plenty of times that it’s alright but he kept insisting on cancelling. When i ask him if i do privately with you which car would you use he said it’s the same car, i asked am i not short enough he said no it’s fine we can still do it. So why he wasted my time then?”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“Just an awful experience training to be an instructor with the AA. They only tell you the positives then take £1500 for less than mediocre training, the 6 day in class VR and in car training for part 3 is an absolute joke. I haven't been living in the UK for very long so I had no idea it could take months to get a booking for the ADI part 2 and at no point did anyone from AA tell me about this, they are only interested in getting the training money, and the franchise money later down the line. Furthermore after I complained I received three separate phone calls but no compensation whatsoever! Such a corporate attitude and an utter waste of time”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“So I’m in the West Midlands area and had an instructor called John from AA. Booked a lot of lessons upfront. Big mistake. Issue 1) Progression- not sure if it’s the teaching style but it’s very slow. You’re guaranteed at least 30 lessons if you want a pass. 2) If it was an hour lesson I’d be driven home 20 mins before my lesson finished. This happened so often and i never got that time back. 3) The policy for booking lessons was not explained to me. So when I had to cancel I was not informed that I wouldn’t be refunded. Since then all my other instructors, not from AA, have actually explained their policy for booking lessons. To summarise, if you like wasting money and time and on top of that want to pass after 3 years go for AA”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“Booked these guys for my 17 year old son, wish I hadn’t, Charlie Brown really should give up being an instructor and just concentrate on his peanuts.”

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Posted 11 months ago

“If you’re looking to do a driving instructor training course, AVOID, choose another company. I paid £1800 for the instructor training course. Unfortunately they did not have a training instructor in my area to teach me. I tried to contact Dave Harvey and my appointed account manager Stu Buckley, only to be ghosted. I passed part one, then when I was looking to start training for my part two and three, they could not provide me with a training instructor, saying that the instructor in my area no longer wanted to do it and they did not have an adequate replacement. Promising me that as soon as they could train another instructor up they would get back in contact with me, that was nearly 2 years ago. I’ve since asked for a refund, only to be Ghosted yet again. Very cowardly and unprofessional way to handle the situation. They don’t even have the common decency to answer any of my emails or messages. Avoid like the plague.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“When I did my first lesson, the instructor was lovely. But subsequently stopped taking lessons for personal reasons. Was told that lessons would remain on the account (it's was recorded as hours of lessons that I could take). Couple of years later, turns out my lessons aren't there anymore due to a system change. I would have also had to pay extra to account for the change in the driving lessons going up. They couldn't not transfer the lessons to a new account either. Not accommodating at all after speaking to multiple people. Would not recommend.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“I managed to book two lessons (each 2h long) with a driving instructor in which I tried reaching out to the driving instructor to confirm those dates. It was not until the day before the 1st lesson that the instructor said he did not want to take me (as I told him I was not planning to go with him for the test). I have tried previously to ask the customer service for getting other means of contacting the instructor, such as requesting his email in order to facilitate the communication in which the customer service team did not provide me with. It turns out that by the time my instructor cancelled the lesson; I was not even eligible for getting any kind of refund for that lesson. I find it very disheartening that I am not getting any compensation what-so-ever, given that I was the one to reach out to my instructor. I get that there are terms and conditions which goes under the booking policy, however the fact that I did try to reach out to him to arrange these lessons, then another time again in which he decided that one of the closest driving test centres to SW5 was not under his coverage the day before our lesson (again – in which I contacted him to arrange for) and then him cancelling is just not something I can take full accountability for. Again, I tried to seek customer service support, to no success, in which the agent kept telling me that it did not matter as the 48hrs cancellation had passed. Again, the cancellation did not come from my end. I had tried to reach out to my instructor before (in which the message did not pass through, however, something I was completely unaware of) and the fact that my instructor just said that he would not cover the area of where my test was, felt very, very unprofessional and disappointing. Now I have been trying to chase up the case, but they have been ignoring my emails ever since April and I have not yet heard back. Very, very disappointed in how they are operating their customer service and would not recommend anyone with booking instructors under the AA.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“Very bad experience. They really need to teach there instructors to be better at customer service and no argue with the customers”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“First Instructor kept me waiting an hour and never turned up. I had taken an afternoon off work for a 2 hour lesson. I had to pay more to book somebody else, The agent asked which slot and date i would like and took my payment and said it was all done. I then waited a week for my next lesson, that day has come and i'm sat here again waiting and nobody has turned up. The AA agent tried to argue to say it wasn't confirmed and argue with me! This is the most shocking experience i've had in a while. Would not book here!”

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Posted 11 months ago

“Females DO NOT USE an AA driving instructor. Mine flirted with me over and over even after asking him to stop. When we complained, they denied it. Disgusting”

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Posted 11 months ago

“All good reviews are from Ethnic minorities. One star from English. AA driving school is a rip off. Complaints department useless. 30 hours driving lesson paid,23 hours driving, no basic knowledge on hand brake starts, bay parking, parallel parking, reverse gear, roundabouts, or junctions. Took 4 hours to get into 2nd gear.”

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Posted 11 months ago

“Discriminated against because I was disabled and made a comments on my appearance.”

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Posted 11 months ago

“Very bad experience with instructor Ryan Vickery. Taken money and not performing any adjustment for lessons. Taking long gaps for holidays. Unprofessional Instructor. Dishonest and Untrustworthy person. Learn Nothing at all from him.”

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Posted 11 months ago

The AA Driving School is rated 4.0 based on 1,075 reviews