Taking driver’s ed at home has become the most popular option, and really, that kind of makes sense.
The internet has changed so much in the education space. Just 20 years ago taking driver’s ed at home would entail reading through books, doing coursework on sheets of paper, and taking a few trips to the post office.
Nowadays, taking driver’s ed at home means taking it online, which provides so many advantages in the driver’s ed space.
Learning about driving laws and statistics isn’t exactly an exciting topic, but online driver’s ed courses can deliver the material in very unique ways. From videos to graphics and images to plain text, interactive games, and quizzes – it’s as if driver’s ed is simply meant to be taught online.
Now, I’m not trying to take away from the benefits a typical classroom environment can provide, but as a certified driving instructor, I think the “bookwork” is best learned online where students can go at their own pace and learn on an interactive platform.
Here Is My Top Recommended Online Driver’s Ed Program
How The Process Works
Each state is a little bit different, but in short, you generally sign up for an online driver’s ed course, go through a portion of it before you go get your driving permit, then you finish up the rest of the course as you complete your behind-the-wheel training. Usually, your behind-the-wheel training will need to be done with a driving instructor for the first 10 hours or so.
It’s a relatively straightforward process, actually. Instead of signing up for a classroom-based driver’s ed course, you simply sign up for a virtual course. Taking driver’s ed at home really doesn’t change much in terms of the overall process.
What Are Some Good Online Driver’s Ed Courses?
Not only am I a certified driving instructor, but more specifically, I have been involved with the online driver training industry since 2009. In that time, I’ve gone through just about all of the online driver’s ed and traffic school courses out there. The below list is just my opinion, but here are the top 3 online driver’s ed courses I think are available, listed with my favorite course first…
Obviously that isn’t an all-inclusive list, but if you are planning on taking driver’s ed at home, those are a few of the higher quality courses you can go with.
Why Aceable Is My Top Pick
Aceable is actually one of the more recent options available for taking driver’s ed at home. This is actually good news because unfortunately, the online driver’s education space has become extremely outdated. Here’s how it all happened…
Back in the early 2000s, an explosion of online driver’s ed courses began to spring up. Everyone saw the potential in online education, so a lot of different courses became available. Well, so much has changed since the early 2000s. Internet speeds are way faster, people are using mobile phones instead of desktops, and the browsers these courses were designed for don’t even exist anymore.
The result NOW is a whole bunch of old courses that were created back in 2000 and have been patched here and there ever since to try and keep up with the times. It isn’t working well, and the entire industry is suffering because of it.
Now, back to Aceable. These guys received 5 million dollars in funding and they created the newest, most technically advanced online driver’s ed course that exists. Nobody else even comes close. They are the only ones exploring areas such as augmented reality and virtual reality to prepare for future training.
So, in short, the reason I so highly recommend Aceable is that they are truly in a league of their own in terms of quality of education provided. It’s new, it’s fresh, and it’s who I’d go with.
What about DriversEd and Teen Driving’s Course?
DriversEd is one of the first online driver’s education providers back in the early 2000s, giving them around 20 years of experience in the industry. They have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), which guarantees their reputation as a company.
They provide a thorough online course about the road rules in short, easy-to-grasp chapters. With their state-specific content, you won’t get bored as it is carefully crafted to fit a highly interactive course curriculum. You’ll get to experience different driving maneuvers in 3D animated videos and enjoy playing their online driver’s ed games.
They also provide practice permit tests as an add-on to their services. You can purchase this separately if you want to improve your chances of acing your DMV written exam. To add more, DriversEd can help you earn an insurance discount and get a good deal on a car. Plus, free car maintenance tips.
Teen Driving’s Course, on the other hand, offers an approved DMV course that teaches you not just the fundamentals of safe driving but also introduces you to the driving laws being implemented in your state and the necessary skills to become a safe and responsible driver.
Just like Aceable and DriversEd, their course is 100% online and is accessible on any device as long as you have a reliable internet connection.
The sign-up process is easy. You can pay for their online driver education using any major credit card or an online check. Or, you may choose to mail in a payment by check or money order.
But the good news here is that TeenDrivingCourse allows you to go through the entire online driver’s ed course up until the final test without paying! So you’ll get to check the course and see if it fits your learning style first without having to commit anything.
Be 100% Sure a Course is Certified in YOUR State!
Just a quick word of caution here. When you take driver’s ed at home you have to be ultra-aware of your specific state requirements. Also, be aware that you can’t just take any ol’ online driver’s ed course.
Before signing up, you need to make certain whatever course you’re going with is approved in your specific state.
Otherwise, while you could probably get a refund on your money, you will never get that time back and will essentially need to go through it all again.
So please, don’t make this critical mistake.