smartdriving.co.uk Reviews 

281
TrustScore 4 out of 5

4.2

While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more

To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more

See what reviewers are saying

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have been really pleased with the level of support and response from smart driving throughout my ADI training journey. The training content is excellent and very detailed and any questions I have as... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Had Daryl as my driving instructor, he was very professional and helped me a lot on my Journey. Would 100% recommend, made me feel at ease and comfortable. Did not feel like I was being watched or jud... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Passed my ADI Pt1 theory test (first attempt) today, Friday 20 Feb 2026. I couldn't do all these without the continuous guidance and advise provided by smart driving support team. Exceptional advocat... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Course support is poor . contacting them is nye on impossible , facebook seesm to be the main resource where they use students to answer other students questions very understaffed and not we... See more

Company details

  1. Driving School
  2. Coaching Center

Written by the company

SmartDriving was founded in 1999 by industry expert John Farlam to help driving instructors realise their full potential and build lifetime careers in the driver training industry.


Contact info

4.2

Great

TrustScore 4 out of 5

281 reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

No recent history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative

Replied to 16% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 1 month

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

4.2

All reviews

(281)

39 reviews in the last 12 months

Write a review
Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

CBT DAY

I had my CBT a few weeks ago. The whole process was first class. I booked with Alan and had my CBT with John. I cant recommend SMART AYRSHIRE highly enough. I will book for driving lessons soon.i will also upgrade with CBT soon too.

October 25, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Training Team & Support

The training team are super helpful, making clear any questions I have had. Next steps are easy to follow, and the webinars I’ve attended are very useful. Big thanks for helping me on my journey so far.

November 10, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Just awful

The interaction i had with this company via a Facebook advert is absolutely shocking. I wouldn't trust this company to deliver satisfactory results and I certainly won't be recommending them. Whoever manages there social media is rude and passive aggressive and is not doing smart drivings bottom line any favours

October 22, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great advice and support

Met with alison at the driving instructor conference and what an experience. Went there doubting myself and thought i would not carry on but when I spoke to alison she showed me a whole different light of the situation as she said she will help with some of the study im struggling with also thank you to DRIVE for giving me a chance

September 28, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Smart Drive Driving Instructor Training - contract terms and timeline not made clear at the outset...

Not as a complaint but as a warning to others:
1. I was offered the online course for £1400 but with an additional option for fast-track for an additional £500 which I paid in Dec 24 (wish I hadn't in hindsight as there's no chance of fast-track due to backlogs in DVSA). **Please do not take the offer of a fast-track option for additional cash as it is misleading!
2. You need 40 hours tuition before you can get a trainee license. Smart Drive will sponsor you after completing 40 hours of tuition and initial online training with them but you can only start the 40 hours if you sign the contract. The catch here is that they want you to sign the contract which locks you in to paying £99 franchise fee per week from the point you get your trainee license. This contract does not however guarantee you enough customer bookings in your local area to cover the franchise fee and your related costs. (The "guarantee of customers" is not contractually binding on their part).
I've since moved to a different instructor offering part 3 tuition as the comms with Smart Drive did not help to reach a fair position and left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed with the contract terms which they were outright unwilling to amend in any way, shape or form.

The only positive for me was that the study content was useful to help with my study for both part 1 and part 2 however I would suggest that it was certainly not worth the £1900 that I paid and you could use apps and youtube videos to get through part 1 and part 2 (hindsight is a wonderful thing!)
Best of luck to those of you seeking a future career in driving instruction - it is rewarding but the journey to get there can be time consuming and somewhat expensive!

July 1, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12 star ⭐ service as always

Whenever I need to call the training team. Angela, Alice and the team are amazing. They're always willing to help and totally understand the problems that I have and they make you seem like I know them on a personal level which really helped me with my issue about having the training team and the whole lot of drives are bringing company and I'd recommend using it for trainers

September 8, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The study units on the website are…

The study units on the website are excellent and I very rarely need to contact support. When I do, everyone has replied promptly with the answers I required. Today, Adam has replied to my email with all up to date information and support for my issue with hazard perception videos. Great service from everyone.

September 2, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Polite, cheerful and courteous

When ever I need to make a call it's always met cheerfully and politely. Add to that efficiency without being spoken down to, it's always a pleasure. Luckily I don't have to call very often as the website is always most helpful

August 28, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Adam

Adam! Thank you for taking my call and answering all my questions in such a calm and professional manner. Your patience and clear explanations made the whole process much easier for me.

Smart Drive has provided the best service I’ve experienced so far, and your friendly, helpful approach has been a big part of that. I truly appreciate your support.

August 12, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Angela

Angela , thank you very much for taking my call and answering my questions in a very calm manner. Smart Drive has offered me best service so far .

August 14, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Not very happy with smartdrive paid a…

Not very happy with smartdrive paid a deposit a few hours later decided not to go with it they won’t give deposit back said wound hold for six months too decided what to do they don’t tell u if u change your mind u don’t get get deposit back

July 27, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Scammer

Scammers sending fake amazon prime emails from their recruitment email address

July 28, 2025
smartdriving.co.uk logo

Reply from smartdriving.co.uk

Hi Alex,

We don't send out any emails like this.

Please can you forward a copy of one to us so we can investigate? It may be that our email address has been spammed?


Thanks

training.support@smartdriving.co.uk

The Trustpilot Experience

Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.

We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.

Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.

Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.

Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.

Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.

Take a closer look