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Acclaim Driving Reviews 1,310

TrustScore 5 out of 5

4.8

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 390 reviews, reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company. Customers consistently highlight the exceptional staff, particularly the instructors, for their patience, professionalism, and supportive approach, which greatly contributes to building confidence behind the wheel. Many people appreciate the clear instructions and the smooth, organized user experience, making the learning process easy and enjoyable. The service is frequently described as brilliant, with many achieving success, often passing their driving tests on the first attempt. However, some customers also noted issues with the company's reliability and communication, experiencing missed lessons and a lack of support when problems arose. A few other people also felt that some instructors were not professional enough or lacked genuine teaching support.

What people talk about most

Staff

Reviewers highlight positive aspects of staff, with many praising instructors for their patience,... See more

User experience

Users describe positive interactions with the user experience, highlighting that everything was super smooth... See more

Instructions

Customers consistently note positive experiences with instructions, praising instructors for their clear and... See more

Service

Reviewers mention positive feedback about service, with many highly recommending the driving school and... See more

Customer service

Clients share positive opinions on customer service, with many reviewers highlighting the helpfulness and... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I had a great experience with Acclaim. Pavan was an excellent instructor - I would definitely recommend him. He explained everything clearly and was always happy to answer any questions I had. Pavan w... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I did the 40 hour intensive course with acclaim. Everything was super smooth and organised. But most importantly Andy my instructor was absolutely superb and took me from no driving experience to pass... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Simon Betsva is an amazing instructor- Calm and clear with his instructions - He built my confidence up massively, we did a few individual lessons and then a 3 day crash course right before my test, h... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Passed Driving Test! Rich Cotter has been my driving instructor for about 40 hours and you couldn’t ask for a better teacher. He is very patient, understanding, flexible and articulate with... See more

Company replied


Company details

  1. Driving School
  2. Drivers License Training School
  3. Driving Test Centre

Written by the company

Acclaim Driving is a renowned National driving school, with nearly 40 years of experience in the industry. Known for our excellent first-time pass rates, we offer a range of driving lessons tailored to meet individual needs, including standard weekly lessons and intensive driving courses that can help learners pass their driving test in as little as five days. We pride ourselves on our team of highly experienced and friendly instructors who provide personalised and supportive instruction to ensure learners become confident and most importantly safe drivers. At Acclaim Driving we offer a modern fleet of manual and automatic cars, catering to all preferences and learning styles. In addition to driving lessons, we provide comprehensive theory test preparation through partnerships with leading revision apps. Our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction is reflected in our competitive rates and special offers, making us a popular choice for learners. Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to refresh your driving skills, Acclaim Driving’s flexible and professional approach ensures a positive learning experience and successful outcomes. Book your lessons online for instant confirmation and start your journey towards becoming a safe qualified driver with Acclaim Driving.

Pass your driving test with confidence. Book your driving lessons now!

Written by the company

Nearly 40 years of experience teaching learners to drive
Our driving instructors and friendly team in the office will offer the care, support and expertise that make learning to drive a pleasure. We are committed to offering great value for money whilst creating safe and responsible drivers.
Become an Acclaim Driving Instructor
If you are looking for a new career, why not train to become a Driving Instructor? Work flexible hours to suit your lifestyle. A rewarding career with a secure future. Contact us for more details.

Contact info

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Save money by buying a 10 hour block

You can save up to £20 if you purchase a block of 10 hours.

4.8

Excellent

TrustScore 5 out of 5

1K reviews

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Asks customers to review

This company invites their customers to review, whether positive or negative

Replied to 83% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 24 hours

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Adrian Mckinlay

Many thanks to Adrian Mckinlay for helping me pass first time. His cheerful positive attitude made lessons enjoyable and gave me the confidence boost I needed to pass.

May 15, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Congratulations on passing your test with Adrian

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Would not recommend Elizabeth whiteley…

Would not recommend Elizabeth whiteley (Leicester based) very unprofessional, not trust worthy, paid her directly for 10 hours she kept cancelling my lessons and changing the dates, asked her for a refund for 4 of the 5 lesson I paid for and shes refusing to give me the money back. Acclaim are telling me they are not liable. But this woman is tarnishing their name driving around in a car with their name and number all over it.
Would not recommend acclaim at all. Unreliable company with inconsistent instructors.

May 14, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My instructor Tanzeem Effendi Crawley

My instructor Tanzeem Effendi was incredibly patient and understanding throughout my lessons. He helped build my confidence step by step and always created a relaxed learning environment. I really appreciate his clear explanations and guidance. He is absolutely professional, patient and ensures to fine tune my weaknesses. I have been lucky to have him as my instructor and thankful to him for transforming me into a confident driver on the road. I have passed my exam in first attempt and truly enjoyed entire experience of learning. Also, he is punctuality, clear explanations, mock tests, motorway, parallel parking, flexibility with lesson times, and helped overcome nervousness.

I would highly recommend them to anyone learning to drive.

May 7, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Great to hear that through Tanzeem's calm and structured approach to your learning you were able to get a pass first time"

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My instructor

My instructor, Chris, helped me so much throughout my experience. I couldn’t have done it without him!

May 5, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Congratulations on passing your test with Chris Godleman

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

5* experience with Rich Cotter @ Acclaim Driving

I had an amazing experience with acclaim driving, thanks to my wonderful instructor Rich Cotter.
He was incredibly kind and extremely patient, especially at times when I was most nervous in difficult situations.
Rich’s teaching style made my learning enjoyable, and engaging.
He’s the perfect fit for the job!
I couldn’t recommend Rich and Acclaim Driving highly enough :)

May 8, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Thankyou for sharing your experience of learning to drive with Rich Cotter in the Wiltshire area

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

My experience with Acclaim Driving

My experience with Acclaim Driving was amazing. My instructor, Pavan, was very patient and gave me helpful tips that made it easier to improve. I struggled most with confidence and nerves, but his calm approach really helped me stay relaxed. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

May 5, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Great result Queensley!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The driving instructor was brilliant

My driving instructor was brilliant, really grateful to Rich Cotter in Wiltshire for his patience and determination in helping to get me through my test. Rory M.

April 30, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Well done on passing from all at Acclaim

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Book Stephen as your instructor!!

Cannot recommend Stephen Whinnery as a driving instructor enough! He was the most supportive, patient and professional instructor ever, driving is nerve wrecking as a learning and he made every lesson something to look forward to and enjoy. I passed first time with Stephen as my instructor and had zero doubts that I wouldnt! If you are looking to start your driving lessons Stephen is the instructor that you should choose especially if you want to enjoy driving!!

April 24, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Thankyou for you reccomendations

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Amazing experience

Amazing experience, passed today as my instructor had prepared me exceptionally well.

April 30, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Amazing result Ben, Zero faults!
Thankyou for learning with Acclaim and your instructor Tony Sykes

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Very good and helpful

Very good and helpful.
Sloane (driving instructor) was very good.

April 29, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Thankyou for learning with Sloane Francis in leicester area

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Steven Bostock is an amazing driving…

Steven Bostock is an amazing driving instructor! He gave my son confidence and passed his driving test today. I highly recommend using acclaim! And thank you Steven for everything. 10/10 😊

April 29, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Glad we were able to help logan pass his test.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unprofessional and disrespectful.

Looking for driving lessons I saw Acclaim over everywhere, so I decided to contact them to find an instructor. BIG MISTAKE.

The day of my introduction 2h lesson the instructor arrived on time and looked nice at first. After saying hi he asked to see my provisional licence, to which I handed him my full driving licence (as I passed my full motorbike license) and straight away he was confused. He told me I couldn't learn until I had a provisional and had to request one, and I told him I can't request a provisional licence because that is my license there, and I had no issues when I did my theory test. He googled it twice to check if I was entitled to learn to drive and eventually we checked my licence details with the Gov. Website, and I indeed was entitled to learn. A rocky start but I thought that it was probably because he had never seen anyone with a full motorcycle licence but not a car one.

After this I told him that I've been riding for 4 years daily on a motorcycle and a year ago I passed my motorbike A licence and I've been riding a 600cc since then. I commute a total of 60 miles a day. And I've also had lessons with my partner on his automatic car and I've had no issues with driving so far, I just needed to get used to gears in a car. I did learn to drive a manual car but that was over a year ago. I then told him I had my test date booked in 8 weeks time.

His reaction to all this? He laughed. He laughed on my face and not in a nice way. He asked me multiple times if I was joking. He said there and then that I was going to fail and I would need to move my test forward. This conversation went on for a while. Eventually after telling me that DVSA recomend x hours of learning etc he checks his diary and realised he had a test booked just before mine, and wouldn't leave him enough time in between both tests so he wouldn't be able to take me in as a student. And then HE LAUGHED AGAIN and said that he wouldn't had taken me anyway because DVSA tell instructors not to take in any students who are not test ready because it would be a waste of time (he didn't see how I drive yet and was assuming I was going to fail).

The he said to me he didn't know what to do now. And I said I paid for the 2h so I wanted to drive for what was left of the lesson.

He drove us to the test centre area (which is 5 minutes down the road from me) and then I basically just drove around the block. He was so surprised my driving was smooth. 30 minutes before the end I parked the car and he told me that there is basically nothing else to do today. So I kept asking him questions about the driving test just to drag the time I paid for. At some point he said that I must still remember how it goes because the motorbike test must not be too different for the car one, and I said yes I remember it, and I actually did it fine, I passed both Mods first time with no faults, and he was again very surprised for some reason?

I was home 15 minutes before the end of the lesson and before leaving he told me to not get too excited when I go back home because the lesson went well, there's a lot more that goes into driving than that and I'm probably going to fail. I asked him what he meant by that and he couldn't quite respond.

Spoiler I passed first time.

I'm very disappointed with this being my first experience with a "professional " driving instructor. I found an actual instructor from YM driving who was not only professional, but realistic with my driving. He saw my areas of improvement and worked with me to polish my driving (at this point 6 weeks before my test date).

I passed my test 3 days ago, never changed my test date.

I wouldn't recommend Acclaim to anyone. Horrible experience. No professional instructor should tell their student they're a waste of time who will fail before they even touch the steering wheel.

March 13, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience with one of our franchise instructors. If you could call our customer service team or provide a name we can contact you to look into this further. It is important to us that we address this with the instructor involved.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Big thanks to Wakeel Effendi

I want to say a big thank you to Wakeel Effendi (Wakeelji, the way I call) my driving instructor for all his help and guidance. His patience and calm approach really made a difference in my learning journey. I especially appreciate how he helped me unlearn some of my old driving habits and replace them with, more vehicle friendly and safer techniques.
Although I was confident of my driving skills and my training, Passing my UK driving test on the first attempt after just 12 lessons is something I am extremely happy about and it’s a testament to how effective Wakeelji's teaching style is. He made every lesson feel constructive and encouraging. What really stood out was his calm, supportive, and non-judgemental approach. Every lesson felt stress-free, which made a huge difference in building my confidence behind the wheel.
My test route was also one of those routes he had taken me on and had given clear instructions about what could be the common mistakes people make and fail which indeed was very helpful for me to Pass. I would highly recommend acclaim driving and Wakeel to anyone looking to learn driving the right way and for a calm, supportive and stress free way to learn.

April 27, 2026
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Great result! good to hear Wakeel was able to help you iron out those old habits and get you familiar with UK roads in preparation for you taking and passing your test. Congratulations.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Thank you Tom Harris for helping me…

Thank you Tom Harris for helping me pass my test you made me feel confident behind the wheel and get me full self belief you are easy to talk to and know exactly what your talking about when it comes to the teaching side wouldn’t recommend any one else 👍🏼

April 26, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Acclaim Driving

Congratulations on your pass at the weekend! Great to hear Tom was able to support you in gaining your licence

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