Drivers Training - Parallel Parking Included? Rant...

Why would you pay do much money for something that is normally free? What was the rush to get her behind the wheel?

I was taught parallel parking in my FREE drivers ed class in high school.
Plenty of practice.
O. on O..
You prob. Should have waited. :(
Sounds like a waste of time and money!

Well, you are allowing her to drive pretty early. So you paid instead of waiting for her to be older. The younger the driver, the more possibility of wrecks. As disappointed as you are about the parking thing, at least she got 8 hours of driving training. That's more than she would have gotten with the school.

I think that you are discounting the fact that you have to also be her teacher. She is supposed to drive a lot of hours with a parent. Either teach her to parallel park or ask another trusted adult to.

If I were you, I would write a letter of complaint AFTER she eventually gets her license about the company not offering that service. I'd also complain about the driving teacher and that stupid "not talking enough" view. What a putz...

Parallel parking wasn't included in my kids driving course either, they were more focused on safety and understanding the rules of the road. And it's not part of the driving test (not here anyway) so why WOULD they focus on that?
We paid about $100 for the online portion and another $400 for four hours of professional, one on one driving instruction, this is the standard cost and is the law for drivers age 16-17 in California. There is NO driver's ed in our public high schools anymore.
Sounds like you got ripped off. Did you not ask around when looking for a class? That's how I found ours, by asking other parents for referrals.

Wow, it's crazy how many drivers ed courses never taught parallel parking!

When I was in high school, they had a driving range set up. Once a week about 7 students were allowed to drive on the course for 30 minutes in old clunker cars the school bought. The course had areas set up to work on a specific skill, included parallel parking, backing in, 3-point turning, 4 way stop signs, etc. They even had a skid car, which had the back wheels set so that the instructor could flip a switch to let them spin around freely, so students could learn what it felt like to go into a skid and handle it correctly. The instructor would watch from the window of our 3rd floor classroom, providing direction through radios. (Except for the skid car... He rode with us in it...) Any situation I have ever encountered was well covered in the course.

The course was offered as a class during school, which is when I took it. It only cost $250, and that was just in 2003.

For your DD, I would reccomend getting some traffic cones and talk bike flags. Take her to an empty parking lot, and stick the flags in the cones (I would do 4, and a rope tied between them to stimulate an entire bumper.) to mark where the other car would be. Have her try to park between them. If she hits a flag or the rope, it will move and she will know where she is making mistakes.

Parallel parking is still important to learn! In the three different states I have lived in, and several I have visited, downtown parking is usually parallel. It always sucks having to spend 20 minutes waiting in the car in front of me to pull in and out 20 times because it (clearly)wasn't taught when they were learning to drive.

Good luck!

Drivers ed is not free anymore. It's $325 which is a lot cheaper than you paid however you don't get as much actual driving time. Teachers do talk, mess with the radio, say hey look at that etc If she is at the tail end she's not done yet. She needs to speak up and ask when will we learn this. Or you do. In Illinois it is still sometimes on the test. We live in Montgomery Illinois and it was on my son's test last summer. Are you driving with her? They need 50 hours of driving tracked on a form before taking the test. What they should actually have is about 500 hours. Take her and drive as much as you can and if they don't teach her the parking you will have to.

You and her father will be the best instructor she will ever have. Her driving your cars while you or her father ride up front with her.

The parallel parking is something you all can start practicing now in a empty parking lot. Each chance you get.

Here you have to pay a fee for the driving classes offered in schools, not $600. But still $350 -$400.

Our daughter took the theory portion of the driving classes at a private place, because she did not have time during her school day. And then she drove our car as much as possible with me or my husband. She passed it with flying colors. It was not until she was in college, one of her classmates was able to really guide her into smoothly parallel park.

As long as they do not bump or knock down the poles they will pass.

I never took drivers ed. I learned to drive in Oregon and it just wasn't a required class. My dad taught me to drive when I was 12. My grandpa took me out on the main roads to drive when I was 14. I'm not saying that it's ok to do that, but unless the class is actually required for her to get her license, I would have skipped it and just taught her myself. My dad taught me to parallel park and when I took my drivers test, I did not have to do that. They just had me pull up to a curb and drive in reverse for a few feet. I was 17 when I got my license though so a bit older than your daughter.

My niece took a class for $375 and no it did not cover parallel parking. I don't think I even had it when I took drivers' ed in HS. There was quite a bit about 3 pt turn though so maybe that covered it. Honestly, there are a lot of drivers out there that forget how to parallel park when all they have to do each day is pull into a parking space or driveway everyday. I believe the emphasis now in IL is safe driving vs parking since they changed the rules for teens to have licenses.

Last time I was aware of test to get driver's license one could choose between parallel parking and a 3 point turn. Perhaps they teach to the test?

I don't know how one could drive and not know how to parallel park. I avoid parallel parking but still have to do it often.

I would talk to the training instructor or the owner of the school and ask why there is no parallel parking instruction since that is required by the state.

We paid a lot for the sks' driver's ed, but it was with the police and they did a good job. It was not an option for my sks to take it during school. If you are not satisfied, say so. I recall a good bit of the course was classwork and then there was x hours of actual road training.

ETA: I also agree that the driving in class is not the end all. You will need to drive with her and practice everything before she goes for her license. You can get cones or inexpensive reflectors for her to practice parking with. My SS had to have his learner's permit renewed before he was ready and my SD passed before hers expired. Actual driving confidence depends on the kid. We told the kids it didn't matter their age or if they had a license. They were not getting behind the wheel in our home til we were happy with their driving.

It sounds a lot like the private driver's ed class I took when I was that age. Although our instructor would have us drive through his neighborhood and pull over so he could chat with his friends and neighbors. I don't think we learned parallel parking there, I just remember the videos. For what it's worth, I did a horrible job parallel parking on my test and still passed. Just take her out for some practice on your own and go the public school route with the next kiddo!

Parallel parking was not included in our daughters course which is not offered at our high schools. Everyone takes a separate driver course beginning at age 15 with parental approval and gets a permit. We opted for a 3 week course, m-th 6-9pm for 3 weeks plus separate drive times with instructors which does not include and private instructor training. Anither option is to take the class one or two nights a weft for 9 weeks or so. Our schedule with cheer did not work with that option.

We also hired a private instructor who taught her the parking skills. We also wanted extra instruction because the DFW area can be very tricky with all the expressways. We paid about what you paid from start to finish. She had a good overall course.

The students have the opportunity to practice the drive test as much as they want, including parallel parking at the driver license office.

If you are unhappy with your program, voice your concerns to the driving school. I also encourage your daughter to take any course offered at her school as well. You can't get too much knowledge... The repetition of the info will end up with her retaining more info!

Good luck. This stage is no fun, especially for parents!!

ETA: in my day... Drivers Ed was a part of each students curriculum. Now.., no school around here offers drivers ed. Everyone takes a separate driver course which averages $400-$450 not including any private drive time with an instructor.

If parallel parking is not apart of the driver's test then they won't teach it. Atleast not in Florida anymore. If you don't think it is has lived up to what is promised then pursue that avenue and get a partial refund. What did the brochure say about the class, the time of driving and such.

The instructor probably wanted her to talk b/c he knows that people tend to talk while driving and wanted her to get used to that distraction.

Yikes, $600! Our high school drivers-ed is only $50, and the kids take it when they are 15. When I took it, nearly 30 years ago, we spent lots of time on parallel parking. It was on the test. I am assuming if it is still on the test then it is still taught.

One one hand the only way you can learn parallel parking is practice, more than you could get in any driver's course.

A funny story. We were driving to the testing place with my oldest. Oh, I never taught you to parallel park, want to go over that. No, I got it. Oh okay.

He failed his test, in my defense not just because of parallel parking.

Mom, parallel parking is not what I thought it was. What did you think it was? Going back and forth until your car is in the spot. Um, no.

He passed the next time but still failed parallel parking, I passed while failing parallel parking. My perfectionist passed on the first try but while failing parallel parking.

If you don't get what I am saying, most kids do not pass parallel parking so I can see why they don't dwell on it.

My son took Driver's Ed last June and got his license in January. We paid $320 for his class, and it was 30 hours of class time/12 hours of drive time. Then he had to log 20 hours of drive time with parents (10 of them at night). Driver's Ed isn't offered at his high school.

It was a great course, and they did teach him how to parallel park. His driving teachers did an excellent job, and I feel we got our money's worth.

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. It sounds awful.

i second your rant! back in my day (dinosaurs) it was part of HS, and we had simulators, written work and LOTS of driving practice, including PP with cones in the parking lot. it sucks that this is so seldom the case any more.
if the state wants to save money, they should just let the parents teach it OR pay for a course if they want. but MD in its infinite greed requires that you spend hundreds on a crappy DE course even if you yourself can teach your child far better. i mean, if the tests are truly a measure of competence, why the hell should they care how the kid learns? if they can pass the freakin' test, they should get the license, period. and if they can't, they don't.
hmph.
i'm getting madder the more i think back to it.
the course to which we got strong-armed into sending our kids wasn't as bad as yours, but almost. it has nothing to do with creating competent drivers. i suspect a strong lobby camped out in front of the legislators' offices.
when i am queen........
khairete
S.

Ours stars in march. She did have to wait and earn it with behavior/good grades (she is 16). It's 350 for private and 450 at the school (the same school I took it age 15 for free, lol).
When I was in drivers Ed the instructor slammmed on his break while I was passing a parked car on a side street. Then he told me to back up and pak behind it. When I did he pulled out a tape measure to measure the difference. He said perfect (the only thing he said I did perfect-he chastised me over and over for doing 'California rolling stops' and made me do figure 8s around tge school until I stopped completely) That was the
extent of my parallel parking instruction. Many years ago.

I'm from Illinois. I had to take Driver's Ed, as well. The laws about licenses have changed a bit in the last, ehm, 25 years, but I had to take both "Classroom" and "Behind the Wheel."

I don't remember actually learning anything in "Behind the Wheel" other than maybe a tip or two about taking the test when I went to the DMV to get my license.

Honestly, our parents were expected to teach us. The class was more of a checkmark on a list of requirements.

ETA - I also had to wait to get my license. I turned 16 in May and didn't even take "Behind the Wheel" until August. I finally got my license in September. I remember being very bitter at the time, so I completely understand her wanting to take the class.