Professional Driving School of the Americas, Inc. - New York, New York

Izzet Kebudi

Such a warm and supportive team of individuals! Emy and Wilma were very supportive throughout my learning journey. Zack was an incredible instructor: process oriented, diligent, understanding, positive, and also supportive! Marc was very helpful when I worked with him as well. Great group of people. Thankful for all their support and would work with them again!

Markus Feng

PDSA a great driving school for Manhattan! They offer all inclusive packages that get you from permit to license. The staff and instructors were friendly and responsive.

My instructors Helen and Alberto were very informative and helped me go from never driven to confidently passing the test in 20 hours of instruction.

Scheduling availability was good because I tried to book a month out. However keeping track of my schedule was kind of confusing and all changes need to be made manually. The school’s cars were old but serviceable.

Lorie Mongi

I have nothing but good things to say about Professional Driving School of the Americas. I took 20 hours worth of classes and passed the road test on my first try. And I can’t speak highly enough of my instructor Zach Brady; his patience, advice, and attention to detail are unparalleled. Thank you, Zach, and go Eagles!

Sydney Tepner

Helen is a fantastic driving instructor! Truly a shining star of this driving school. She is kind, patient, informative, and encouraging. She took complicated concepts and broke them down so they were doable. She makes parallel parking seem easy and approachable. Cannot recommend Helen enough.

Anna Finlay

I’m very fortunate to have found this school but even luckier to have an amazing group of instructors / gems to work with: Alberto, Zach and Helen. I highly recommend learning with all 3, each for their own reasons. Aside from the fact all 3 have amazing personalities and great sense of humor (from what I’ve read based on reviews from other schools, this seems to be very rare!). Also, this is long so sorry not sorry.

For a first time driver, Alberto is perfect to learn with. With his calm, professional demeanor and consistent feedback he sets you up for success for future lessons and more importantly, the road test. He’s extremely helpful throughout each lesson with giving clear instructions, reminders to check blind spots, etc. and gives you the building blocks to become a mindful, confident and safe driver. Parallel parking always seemed super confusing and difficult to me but Alberto was amazing with helping identify when to turn the wheel, find the 45 degree angle (yes, geometry is BACK!) and align between vehicles. Once parked he usually takes out the drivers manual and reads from it to ensure I understand each step is needed to park correctly and safely. At the end of each lesson, there’s feedback and a recap of what we focused on, what can improve and be worked on for the next lesson. He also asks if there’s any questions, reminding you that that car is essentially a classroom. Also to call out he takes the route along Gramercy Park which is the best spot to learn how to drive in a chaotic city.

Zach is another instructor who is fantastic to learn with! He’s also very calm, extremely positive, easy going and makes you feel comfortable and secure throughout the lesson. At the beginning of a lesson he asks what I’d like to focus on for the day, he’ll add to the agenda anything we haven’t worked on already / for awhile and if it has been awhile, he’ll take his time doing a recap of what we’ve covered and safety reminders. Using that time in that way is so valuable and thoughtful and ensures each lesson is set up for success. Throughout the lessons he always is open to any questions and takes time breaking down answers. Before my road test, he was open to giving me a mock test which was super helpful!!

Helen is also lovely and really warm. She has a complete girl power vibe and is gentle with how she teaches and like Alberto and Zach, is firm when she needs to be. My highlight is when II switched lanes and she clapped excitedly for me, genuinely pleased that I did that so well. For such a small act it was evident she is anyone’s cheerleader. Although I’ve only been taught by her a couple times I appreciate her recognizing how comfortable I seemed along Gramercy and she knew to get me out of my comfort zone into an entirely different part of the city on the lower east side. Driving on Houston and Delancey I got a good feel for driving in traffic and building confidence (sensing a theme here?). For my first road test* Helen was the one to drive me to the site. She checked in on how I was feeling and reassured me it would go well. Even though I failed, I still felt so good that I had someone so encouraging with me. Before the test, she went the extra mile making sure I practiced parking on hills or doing 3 point turns in tight streets just in case I encountered that on the test. Her prep work and character is really amazing.

To summarize this school is worth every penny and I really encourage people to consider driving with Alberto, Zach and Helen. They’re all outstanding and I think critical to being able to drive at a beginner level to advanced. Also, quick shout out to Emy and reception who are always so courteous and flexible with scheduling with my insane work schedule!

** = Yes if failed the first road test but it’s a right of passage cause I’m a NYer and I’m new to this ?

UPDATE: I passed the second road test!

Artem Shuvalov

Zach and Helen did a great job teaching me how to drive from zero and preparing me for a road test.

They were very patient and kind, adopting their teaching techniques to my personality.

I passed the road test from the first attempt and I am happy that I had found this driving school.

Pedro Gonzalez

Couldn't have asked for a better driving school and instructor to learn stick shift in NYC. Gerry was super approachable, patient and I was able to learn very quickly thanks to his fulsome knowledge.

Can't recommend the Professional Driving School of the Americas enough!!!

Connie Gao

Highly recommend!! I had never driven before this and just got my license yesterday. I had Hellen as my instructor and she is amazing!! She is super kind, patient, and helpful, and I really enjoyed working with her. Definitely check this school out if you’re looking to learn from the beginning or just want a refresher!