Pagan’s Driving School

What makes this driving school stand out are the cheap prices compared to many other Manhattan schools. I chose them for that and because of their convenient location.
They have a $ 120 package that includes the dreaded 5-​hour movie, one driving lesson, scheduling the road test, and a car for the road test. Great if you already know how to drive but have not taken the test in the US yet.
5-​hour movie:
Video clips from the 80s, 90% of them are about how drunk driving is bad, in a windowless room in the back. Bring coffee and make sure your phone/​kindle is fully charged. There is one break about halfway through. Not sure if this is any better at other driving schools. I heard similar stories about people’s experiences at other places, but I’m sure there are places where they seat you on memory foam couches while giving you back massages during the movie if you are willing to pay for it. For the price, the experience here was ok.
Driving lesson:
I had my lesson with Pagan as my instructor. He is definitely not the friendliest most talkative person and may not be the right instructor for everyone. He asked about my previous driving experience, I told him I knew how to drive and just wanted to go over the things for the test plus get some tips and practice to fix my parallel parking. That’s exactly what we did during the lesson. He showed me his foolproof parking method, pointed out a few minor things I do that I should avoid during the test, and didn’t say much else. Perfectly fine for what I wanted. Not sure how well he does with complete driving beginners.
Scheduling the road test:
Very painless, they did everything for me and were able to work with my schedule.
Road test:
Me and another girl met at the driving school in the morning and Pagan drove us to the test site in the Bronx. The other girl was pretty nervous, and Pagan told her that there was no reason to be nervous, she had practiced everything, and she would be fine — I was surprised to hear him talk that much. When it was our turn, we both passed despite having the grumpiest rudest tester ever — taking the test the day after Thanksgiving may have not been the best idea.
Conclusion:
They won’t baby you here, but they will teach you how to drive for less than most other places.

Pagan is the best driving school proven, about 15 years ago they helped me get my driver’s license. I had never driven a car in my life at all, the teacher I had taught me how to drive perfectly and guided until the day I passed the road test. This year they helped my wife also a new driver with no experience, she passed the road test this week on her first try. Would recommend them to anybody in a heart beat.
Thank you Pagan!

I don’t recommend nobody to go to this driving school these people are animals. They treat you bad and try to downgrade you instead of teaching you how to drive and do things. The owner pagan is the worse one he talks to people really rude and does not even look at you when you speak or greet him. Luis was rude at one point as well then try to be nice after I put him in his place. People should stay away from these driving school I have taken 3 classes and all I have now is fear and don’t wanna drive anymore.

My experience here wasn’t bad. I had Pagan as my driving instructor. He’s pretty good but he’s so serious and is kind of intimidating but he knows his stuff so I guess I didn’t mind it that much. The prices at this place is not bad either it’s much cheaper compared to other places that I checked and plus it is in uptown so it’s much affordable if you live in Manhattan.

terrible, terrible customer service and instrcutors !!!
they attract students because they do offer cheaper prizes than most schools in the washington heights area. but do not get fooled. i repeat do not get fooled. they suck !!
when i first step foot the owner pagan was there and i basically told him about how i was interested in taking classes and he never looked up to acknowledge me. only asked me which package i was interested and if it was cash or credit. he later told me that someone will be in contact with me for my road test exam. a couple of days later i got a call from yesenia (the only sane employee, pagan has) we schduled my classes.
my first class was with mercedes, in a little car (honda civic), she picked me up ask for my id and asked if i ever driven before. i said no, it was my first time. she drove to payson ave and she said okay now its your turn. my nerves got the best of me and she didnt like that and you could tell in her tone of voice she was getting super frustrated with me. every time that i would make a mistake she would said in spanish, mama is that how you plan to drive on the road test, your going to fail (geesh thank you for the motivation, lol) and she did this every class and what also lit my little behind was that our class was 45 mins long and she was on her phone 30 mins. when i complained to the irresponsible owner he said i was lying.
long story short i told her about my frustrations with her and she tried changing for a lesson and then went about her old ways. me and 2 other people took the road test and all failed !!!
i feel like they dont care as much as other schools, they are more money hungry :(
i do not recommend this school at all !

Took three lessons with the instructor called Luis. He was not very helpful, and wouldn’t give me any instructions, unless I explicitly asked him. He even didn’t give me any help when I asked him about parallel park. He just would say turn right, turn left, etc, and whenever I made a mistake, he would say «Boss, what are you doing? Boss, you will fail if you drive like this», etc. Also he had an old car, that I got used to, but for the road test, they gave me a new Nissan, which was not helpful.
So if you are a good driver, and you want to skip the training, maybe this is the driving school for you. But I don’t recommend taking the lessons.

Here’s a long review to go over the good and the bad… my experience was pretty rocky, so here’s what I can share:
To start, I showed up to ask about the different plans. The secretary is super nice and explained everything to me — I ended up buying the 10 lesson package that includes the road test and 5-​hour lesson for $ 325. Amazing deal. The secretary helped me schedule all my lessons in advance. So far, so good.
The 5-​hour lesson was absolute hell. I went on Wednesday night and it started around 5:10 p.m. We were all put in a hot room and then the door closed and we sat there, in front of the TV, for 5 hours with one 20-​minute break. I never got introduced to the instructor, since there wasn’t one there as far as I could tell, and the TV just had a continuous stream of videos playing from the 80s. Pro tip: Bring your phone charger!
My first lesson was so bad I almost tried to get my money back and stop the whole process. My instructor was Pagan, who is the owner, and he’s just a very difficult person to get along with. He didn’t introduce himself the whole drive and speaks in one-​word sentences and doesn’t want anything to do with small-​talk or niceties. That teaching approach might work for some people, but not for me… I was pretty unhappy. His English also is pretty bad.
I spoke to the secretary and got switched to another instructor, Luis. It was a huge pain because I had to reschedule all my lessons, and there were fewer available times, but it worked out. Luis is great. Talkative, supportive, laid-​back, but very attentive and a good instructor. He’s a lot less careful than Pagan, though, and will encourage you to make some quick moves and do certain things that you absolutely shouldn’t do one the road test… for example, he’ll always pressure you to make your right turn even when a pedestrian is still crossing. In the city, that’s probably for the best (gotta be quick) but on the test it’s a no.
The remaining lessons all went well and in no time it was time for my test. Luis was confident I would pass and I was nervous but excited to get it over with.
I took a morning off from work. Unfortunately, because my original lessons were with Pagan, he was the one driving me to the test in his car. I hadn’t practiced in his car since the first lesson, so that was definitely not ideal. When I got to the driving school it turned out that I wasn’t the only one with a test that day — three others drove up with us. You have to wait in a long line of cars for your turn, and Pagan had two other students go before me. We then had to get BACK in line and wait another 2+ hours to get back to the front. By that time I had been there from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. waiting… my test was supposed to be at 11 a.m. I ended up taking my test at 12:45 and I passed, thanks to Luis!
All in all, you get what you pay for. Ask for Luis as your instructor. Good luck!

Bought a lesson because I thought it had decent reviews and price is prety gd. The place didn’t have an english speaker driving instructor and that made my lesson a bit difficult. He was also grouchy reminded me of my grandfather, I laughed it off. If you don’t like pressure don’t go there. I won’t be returning that’s for sure.

I had a wonderful experience in thsi driving school, bot only did i learn how to drive in a congested street, st nicholas btw but I felt comfortable & at ease. The instructor was very calm & passive, and @ first i was nervous and didn’t get ahold of the whole driving bit, but after my 2^nd lesson i was roaming thru the busy streets of washington heights, not only did i learn how to park, but I also learned a lot of driving skills i was lacking. Idk what experience the ppl before had, maybe they lacked patience or they don’t like following directions, but all in all I had an awesome time & I got my license! You can’t come to an establishment and think everything is gonna be peachy, u hve to follow rules & abide by them, but some ppl let situations get the best of them… I am referring all my friends to this driving school, & Like I said, you all are grown adults, & ppl still gotta tell u what to do, ya’ll need counseling, honestly. I’m a satisfied customer.
& F.Y.I. On the road test they tell u turn here & there with only seconds to spare, so pagan doing that is just getting you used to that so u donT F**k up!!!

After a negative experience with another (highly rated) local driving school, I decided to give Pagan a shot because they’re the closest school to me. I wish I’d gone to them in the first place!
I had my first two lessons with Luis who was really chatty and nice. He instantly made me feel at ease and boosted my confidence. I took my eight subsequent lessons with Pagan the owner. He was much less chatty, but gave helpful advice. Thanks to him, I passed the road test on my first try!
Plus the price can’t be beat: I paid $ 300 for ten lessons, the five hour, and the road test car. BAM!