The AA Driving School Reviews

Name: The AA Driving School
Address: Fanum House, Basing View,, RG21 4EA
Rating: 4.13

4.1 Rating 1,502 Reviews

78 %

of reviewers recommend The AA Driving School

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

4.1

Based on 1,502 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 28th September 2026

253

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“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 2 years 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years 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!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years 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 2 years 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

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

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years 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 2 years ago

“They only care about the money not the safety of the vehicle the learners are in”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Mainly talking instead of driving. Was told by the instructor that if I would practice in my own car, he probably wouldn't want to teach me anymore. Driving instructor asked (with less than 48 hours notice!!!) if he could reschedule our appointment as he had a holiday, to which I agreed. Then when I informed this person that I had tested positive for Covid, straight after.. HE cancelled my lesson for that day and took my 2 hour lesson pay! I complained by the AA who said that they could not waiver due to their 48 hour cancellation policy. Heads up: the AA basically wants you to infect their instructor with covid and therefore their other pupils. I would not recommend them at all. I am absolutely disgusted by this practice!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I booked lessons through the aa the instructor booked more lessons and then kept my £1050 just a warning to anyone booking through the aa! I contacted the aa and they weren’t very helpful. Really disappointed with the company ! I only chose the aa as I thought they were a household name I could trust”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“There are two driving instructors with whom my girlfriend booked sessions, and both are perverts. One tried to touch her inappropriately. We raised a complaint, but no action was taken. Trusting the company, we booked another instructor, but he started texting inappropriate messages. Now, my girlfriend is going through mental trauma and has lost the confidence to continue driving training. The name of the first instructor is Bilal Pezhman, and the second is Hade Hosseini.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“The instructor informed me he is unable to do the test appointment that bad been scheduled for months 3 weeks before die to a hospital appointment. AA did absolutely nothing to help and we are still trying to get compensation. the driving instructor is called Richard and based on London, be weary of using this company. The new test is in December and AA have failed to help with setting this up or any other lessons. This is so disappointing and has caused severe stress.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“So my son has had 4 lessons with the local AA instructor. The first 3 lessons went okay but it seemed like the driving instructor might have got out of bed on the wrong side on this last 4th session. My son started to slow down at an amber traffic light which was around 4-5 car lengths away (30mph limit he said he was doing around 25mph). The instructor said to carry on going, however given the conditions were bright, sunny, not raining, he had checked his rear view mirror noting a car was around 2 car lengths behind him, so decided to stop due to it being safe to do so without aggressive breaking needed, in his view. He then got berated by the instructor asking him what the hell he was doing? And why didn't he go through the light as directed? To which my son replied, there was enough distance for me to stop safely given. The instructor then accused him of not checking his mirrors before breaking asking what car and how far away was the car behind, to which my son replied it is a BMW and around 2 cars behind. This seemed to infuriate the instructor who then continued to argue with my son saying, "I forgot you have much more experience than I do in terms of driving." "If you're that experienced why haven't you passed your test yet?" which is blatantly insulting my son. The Instructor clearly knew he was totally unprofessional as he then tried to make a few jokes on the way home. I find this totally unacceptable and completely unprofessional from a supposedly well trusted brand name.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Not a great booking experience, paid upfront for 10, but it’s been difficult to get slots when we want. Regretting that we bought multiple ones upfront. Will go elsewhere after we’ve used them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I recommend trying another school - The drivers are not all competent road users themselves. I was dangerously overtaken by one on my bicycle who has either not read highway code updates or doesn't care. (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-highway-code-8-changes-you-need-to-know-from-29-january-2022) There was also no point as there was traffic ahead and I passed him again anyway. Happy to provide licence plate and time of incident should AA care to contact me.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Son was doing really well done 38 hrs driving instructor was finished by AA they then doubled the price”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

The AA Driving School is rated 4.1 based on 1,502 reviews