Driver Ed FAQ

If a student has misplaced or destroyed their Certificate of Completion, there is a $20 fee for us to regenerate another certificate.

If you are late more than five minutes or fail to provide a 24-hour notice, then you will be charged a late fee of $45 which must be paid before you can schedule your next lesson. We understand that things come up, and life happens. We kindly ask that you take the drive schedules very seriously. Your instructor's time is just as important as your time.

The business office is closed on weekends. Students canceling lessons over the weekend must cancel before the end of the business day on Thursday to avoid a fee.

Lessons scheduled for Monday mornings must be canceled before the end of the business day on Friday to avoid a fee of $45. If a fee is applied to the canceled lesson, the student's portal will notify the student upon making the cancellation request. Students must confirm the request for the lesson to be canceled and the fee to be applied. For additional questions after hours, please contact your instructor directly or text us at 810-300-9124. We will do our best to respond during non-business hours.

No-show and late cancellation fees cannot be removed from a student’s account once applied. The student must pay the fee. Students with outstanding balances will have their certificate of completion withheld. Students having outstanding balances longer than seven days after their completion date will be marked as incomplete with the state of Michigan, not receive a certificate of completion, and will be required to retake the course and pay for the Segment 1 course again.

The student portal will notify the student of any fees accrued when requesting the cancellation. The student must confirm the request for the lesson to be canceled and the fee to be applied.

For additional questions after hours, please contact your instructor directly or text us at 810-300-9124. We will do our best to respond during non-business hours.

Cancelling and rescheduling lessons can be done by logging into the student's account from our website.

Course Cancelation Policy: Segment 1 and Segment 2 classroom session cancellations must be made in writing seven days before the start of the first classroom period.  Parents and students must text or email us their cancelation request for all classroom courses.

Cancelation requests made seven days before the first classroom period can receive a full refund minus the Segment 1 $75 processing fee. The processing fee for Segment 2 is $25. Refunds will be given via check. The check will be mailed to the address provided during enrollment.

All sales are final.

Segment 1: Students requesting a refund after the course has started will be entitled to 50% of the total tuition paid. Seats in these courses are limited. Without communication before the class begins, we cannot fill the seat with another student. Segment 1 refunds are subject to a $75 processing fee.

Segment 2: No refund will be given after the course starts. If the student is turned away due to not having the proper documentation or meeting the requirements for the course, no refund will be given. Depending on the situation, the student could be offered an option to be placed in another Segment 2 course for a $15 fee. The student will only be allowed to request one course movement.  Ineligible students’ seats cannot be replaced. For this reason, the student will not be entitled to a refund or a course movement. No refund will be given if you provide false information on your registration.

Adult and teen private lessons may receive a refund if requested within 48 hours of registration, minus a $25-$50 processing fee. Refunds only apply to students who are honest upon enrollment. If you provided false information on your registration, no refund will be given. All refunds are subject to a $25.00 processing fee.

No refund will be given to students who have been removed from class for misbehavior, tardiness, or absenteeism. Students who show up for driving lessons smelling like marijuana will be expelled. The safety of our instructors and students is a top priority.

Students wanting to participate in Michigan Driving Schools payment plan program must request a payment plan contract from their instructor at the start of their first classroom period. The signed and completed contract, along with the student's deposit of $150 and the first weekly payment of $50, must be given to the instructor at the beginning of the student's second classroom session.

Payment plan schedule: Weekly payments are due at the start of each class period in which the weekly payment is due. Students failing to adhere to the payment plan will be removed from the course and will not be entitled to a refund.

• Week 1 $150
• Week 1 $50
• Week 2 $135
• Week 3 $100

A Segment 1 course consists of 24 hours of classroom instruction, six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, and four hours of observation. Students are given an exam on their last day of segment one and must get 70% or better on the exam to finish the course

For students under 18, this is the first step taken to obtain their license. Students must also take a Segment 2 course and a road test to get their license.

For students 18 or older, Segments 1 and 2 are not required by the state. You can still take the courses to learn to drive, but you will not receive a certificate of completion for each course.

All students must go to the Secretary of State and obtain a permit (TIP) before beginning any behind-the-wheel driving lessons. The permit requires you to pass a written exam. If you are taking Segment 1 to prepare for the written exam to obtain your permit, you will only be allowed to complete the classroom portion of Segment 1 until you feel prepared enough to pass the exam and issue your TIP. By law, we cannot drive any student over 18 without this legal document.

SEGMENT 1 STUDENTS need to provide verification of their age. This can be a birth certificate, shot record, state of Michigan ID, or any legal document that has the student’s full name and date of birth will be considered valid. These documents are used for age verification purposes and are not kept or stored.

SEGMENT 2 STUDENTS need to bring their Level 1 Learner's License and driving log or application they use to record their supervised driving hours. If the student is bringing their own handwritten log, please follow the state's format. View the state of Michigan Driving Log.

Instructors are state-certified. Instructors must pass a background check by providing the state of Michigan with their fingerprints. Upon their state license renewal, instructors must attend continuing education courses every two years.

If you are over 18, you must have a permit (Temporary Instruction Permit) to begin driving lessons. If you do not currently have one, please visit the Secretary of State before enrolling. Your permit must be current and not expired. If you register with an expired permit, you must pay a no-show fee of $45 before scheduling any future lessons.

Teens enrolling in private lessons must have a current Graduated Driver's License to begin driving lessons.

If your certificate gets lost or damaged, another can be issued by contacting our main office. There is a $20 fee for this service. Michigan Driving Schools can only reissue certificates for students who took courses at our locations. If you took it from another driving school, you would have to contact them for them to reissue your certificate.

Michigan requires the student to attend every class. If a class is missed due to an unexpected circumstance, the student can book a make-up session. Please text your instructor and let them know that you cannot attend class due to your illness, etc. Students will have 45 days from the missed class to make up the session. Students who have not made up the class within the 45-day grace period will be marked as incomplete by the state of Michigan. They will be required to attend the course again. The student could have to pay for the entire course again, depending on the circumstances.

For any parent that has additional questions or needs more information, on any of these courses, they may come on the first day or last day of class with their student. Please contact your student’s instructor directly to plan with them so they can make sure to have all the information ready and be available to answer any questions you might have.

Segment 1 students will receive the What Every Driver Must Know booklet and a paper contract. The contract must be completed, signed, and returned the next day. Students who have not turned in this document cannot schedule any behind-the-wheel lessons. The booklet has very important and useful information. Parents interested in learning more about the GDL process and requirements are encouraged to read pages 2-9. We recommended keeping the booklet to refer back to while your teen progresses through the GDL process.

Segment 2 students will receive a paper contract on the first day of class. The contract must be filled out, signed by the parent and student, and returned to class. Students missing this document will not be able to take the final exam. Parents and students are encouraged to read the Driving Skills Test Study Guide before their road exam. This booklet has valuable and important information. Students are encouraged to read this booklet to prepare for their road exam. The booklet explains in depth everything about the road exam process and requirements. We are no longer able to hand these booklets out in class.

Parents needing additional information can call our main office at (586)-445-1188, leave a message, email us at info@michigandrivingschools.com, or text us anytime at (810)-300-9124.

Segment 2 is a three-day course, two hours each day for a total of six hours of classroom instruction.

To take Segment 2, you must have held your level one license (permit) for three months or longer and completed 30 hours of driving (two hours must have been done at night) in your driving log or on an app. You must bring your driving log and permit on the first day of class.

Students must be at least 14 years and 8 months of age and have their parent's or guardian's permission to start a segment one course.

No. The student must attend two full class sessions prior to all behind-the-wheel scheduling. Students who have not attended two full classroom sessions will not be allowed to schedule. Their scheduling options will not be permitted until they have been marked present for the first two sessions of the course. Segment 1 courses are intended for the classroom session and the behind-the-wheel lessons to coincide with each other. All Segment 1 courses are six weeks long in total. The classroom session will be finished within the first three weeks; the student will still have behind-the-wheel driving lessons to finish upon completion of the classroom session.

Each lesson is one hour long.

Adults enrolling in a package of more than one lesson can have two lessons done in a day if they would like to make the lesson 2 hours long. This will count for two of the lessons they have purchased.

You are not allowed any more than two hours of driving lessons per day.

Teens are not allowed to do more than one hour of driving lessons per day.

You can schedule your driving lessons by logging into our student account on our website. Please note: Students must attend the first two days of classroom sessions before these options appear in the student portal.

No. Our driving school training vehicles are licensed and insured. After completing a Segment 1 course, your parents should contact their vehicle insurance and have you added to their vehicle insurance.

No, all lessons are performed in our company vehicles that are state-licensed, insured, and have a dual brake installed.

The first lesson will be an evaluation lesson; this will let the instructor gain knowledge of the student's current abilities. Students needing practice for parking are encouraged to enroll in the parking package. Adult and teen private lessons will only be performed at the student's current skill levels. Students wanting advanced levels such as expressway driving must be able to perform the ability safely; the instructor's and student's safety will be taken seriously. Students enrolled in private lessons must master each ability to move on to more advanced driving lessons, such as freeways or multilane roads.

Segment 1 course consists of six total behind-the-wheel driving lessons. The lessons listed below are examples only. Depending on the student's abilities, the lessons will be altered to meet each student’s needs. Some students will be more advanced than others. Students must perform each lesson safely to proceed to the next set of skills. Instructors will fill out an evaluation after each behind-the-wheel lesson.

Drive 1: Developing Basic Driver Actions. Students are expected to demonstrate vehicle familiarization by identifying communication, comfort, safety, occupant protection, convenience, control devices, and pre-start procedures.

Drive 2: Residential Neighborhoods. Students are expected to demonstrate how to enter a travel lane from the roadside or a parking lane, identify and maintain a straight-line path of travel, move the vehicle forward (turning left and right), and approach and negotiate uncontrolled intersections.

Drive 3: Suburban Streets. Students are expected to demonstrate how to manage and adjust speed and position the vehicle in response to other road users, when passing drivers, when navigating railroad crossings, and when encountering controlled/uncontrolled intersections. Students must also demonstrate reversed, angled, parallel, and perpendicular parking.

Drive 4: Country and Rural Roads. Students are expected to understand that rural roads, hills, curves, vegetation, and crops can limit line of sight. Students must adjust speed and properly position the vehicle to reduce risk when entering and negotiating curves.

Drive 5: In-town and Downtown Driving. Students are expected to demonstrate lawful and appropriate speed control, determine and apply appropriate following intervals, navigate simple and complex controlled intersections, navigate shared left-turn lanes, and change lanes to the right and left.

Drive 6: Expressway and Freeway Driving. Students are expected to determine and apply appropriate following intervals, recognize and negotiate the main components of freeway travel, enter the dedicated acceleration lane, weave lanes, select lanes, change lanes, and exit the dedicated deceleration lane.

Yes, if your friend and you can have the same available for every lesson. Segment 1 courses must be completed within six weeks. The first 2-3 behind-the-wheel lessons must coincide with your classroom session. The outstanding lessons will be finished upon completing your classroom session no longer than three weeks from your last classroom session.

Yes, unless the student is an adult over 18, you will have a partner in the car with you for all six of your driving lessons.  The state requires observation and behind-the-wheel driving hours to pass your Segment 1 course. If you do not know anyone in the class, you will be randomly scheduled with someone for all six of your behind-the-wheel lessons.

This depends on the location. At some locations, there will be a few different driving instructors. Students are scheduled randomly with instructors.

No, all students must get to and from the location they have enrolled for. If we offered home pick-up, we would not be able to commit to a full 60-minute behind-the-wheel lesson. Instructors have students before and/or after your lesson. This type of service would not be possible without cutting the student's lesson short. For this reason and the safety of our staff and students, this is not something our company is willing to offer, unfortunately. If transportation is an issue, please reach out to us and see if we have other times available to fit your needs better.

If you are late more than five minutes or fail to provide 48-hour notice, then you will be charged a late fee of $45 which must be paid before you can schedule your next lesson. We understand that things come up, and life happens. We kindly ask that you take the driving schedules very seriously because our instructor’s time is just as important to us as everyone's family time is to them.

Canceling and rescheduling lessons can be done by logging into the student's account on our website.

In Michigan, you must be 14 years and 8 months old before the first day of class. You must attend two days of classroom sessions before you can begin any of your behind-the-wheel driving lessons per the state of Michigan.