Defensive Drivers Institute (defensivedriversinstitute.com) has a 4.7 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 66 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Education & Training and its reputation is excellent. Praise is nearly unanimous, with 93% rating it 4 stars or higher; The business has replied to 100% of negative reviews. Last updated 2026-08-10.
It was very efficient and thorough.
Thank you for your 5-star review, Emmanuel! We're glad you found our course very efficient and thorough. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
Everything about the actual learning experience was great. Perfectly paced for me BY me. Quiz placement was intentional with questions from previous topic to make sure you are actually paying attention. And in general, the dashboard and mechanics of it all were super easy to navigate. Completion took me roughly 5-6 hours, I had a busy schedule so that was partly my fault. However, the only part that was not my fault was the initial sign on/onboarding experience. I signed up, created the account, PAYED for my course, submitted all necessary documents and was verified in a very timely matter. Went to begin my course and all of a sudden, it was blocked. My main gripe with this whole situation is that I tried calling the help support line, no joke, over 20 times. 20 TIMES. That's pretty wild in my opinion. I used the live chat box, no reply. I was calling for over an hour, and every call ended with "there is no one available..."I tried leaving a voice message like they said, NOTHING. My only savior at this point was the email option where all they replied with, after 30 min was "Thanks for reaching out! I have already unblocked your course, you should be good to log back in and continue with your course. Thanks for your time!" I will take it because at the end of the day I was able to complete my course but having to try to get a hold of someone, or something for over an hour is just something else. Totally understand, this is my ticket, my problem, my issue. It's just the lack of urgency that bothers me the most. This is purely feedback and I am not trying to completely bash the institute because I was helped at the end of the day. Just was not the greatest customer support experience I've had.
Thank you for this honest and detailed 3-star review, Jessica. We really appreciate your fairness in acknowledging that the course itself was great, but more importantly, we want to sincerely apologize for the customer service experience you had. You're absolutely right to be upset. Getting no answer on 20+ calls, no response on live chat, and no response to voicemails is inexcusable. That's not acceptable service, especially when you needed help accessing a course you'd already paid for. The 30-minute email response was also too slow given the urgency of your situation. This is feedback that stings because it's accurate. Our phone and chat support dropped the ball, and you shouldn't have had to spend over an hour trying to reach someone. The fact that you were eventually helped doesn't excuse the lack of responsiveness on multiple channels. We're taking this seriously internally. This kind of failure in support response is unacceptable, and we're committed to doing better. You deserved faster help on the first attempt, not the third. We're glad you were able to complete the course successfully, and we genuinely appreciate you sharing this feedback so constructively. It helps us identify where we're failing our students. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute, and again, our sincere apologies for the support experience.
The experience was 5 out of 5 stars. I was able to complete the course little by little since i am a stay at home mom with a business on the side. The course was very important and i am glad this system was implemented in order to keep us all save on the road.
Thank you for this wonderful 5-star review, Priscilla! We're thrilled to hear that you found the experience so positive. We're honored to be part of keeping you and others safe on the road. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
I enjoyed the course. The use of audio visual, life experience videos, explaining concepts, the tests at the end of each topic and quiz after each module was great for me.
Thank you for your feedback, Cordelia. We're confused by your 1-star rating, as your written review is entirely positive. You mention enjoying the course and praise the audio visual content, videos, explanations, tests, and quizzes. It seems there may have been a mistake when selecting your star rating. Could you clarify whether the 1-star was intentional, or if you meant to leave a higher rating that matches the positive feedback you provided in your review? We'd appreciate the opportunity to understand your actual experience. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute.
Everything was simple and easy to grasp.
Thank you for your 5-star review, Victoria! We're glad you found the course simple and easy to grasp. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
Thank you for your 4-star review, Ruot! We're glad you found our course great. Since it sounds like you had a positive experience overall, we'd love to know what we could have done to earn that 5th star. We're always looking for ways to improve. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
excellent review for my road test
Thank you for your 5-star review, Timothy! We're thrilled to hear that our course provided an excellent refresher to help prepare you for your road test. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
The course is a Minimum 5 hours. However, 10-15 hours are actually required to complete.
Thank you for your 4-star review. We understand your concern about the time discrepancy between the advertised 5 hours and the actual completion time. The 5-hour minimum refers to the instructional content mandated by the New York State DMV. However, the full course also includes multiple knowledge checks and assessments throughout, as well as the state-required timers between sections. These additional components do add to the overall completion time. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
I like how informative it was about important topics in driving, like alcohol and traffic signs.
Thank you for your 4-star review, Sophia! We're glad you found the course informative and appreciated the coverage of important topics like alcohol and traffic signs. Since it sounds like you had a positive experience overall, we'd love to know what we could have done to earn that 5th star. We're always looking for ways to improve. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
Great job!!
Thank you for your 5-star review, Frankie! We appreciate the encouragement and we're glad you had a great experience. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
Thank you for your 4-star review, Chixu! We're glad the course was good enough for you. Since it sounds like you had a positive experience, we'd love to know what we could have done to earn that 5th star. We're always looking for ways to improve. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
Nothing to add
Thanks for the 5-star review!
Thank you for your 5-star review, Alanna! We're glad you found our online course to be a good alternative. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
Thank you for your 5-star review, Damien! We're glad you appreciated the ability to take your time and think through the material. Learning at your own pace makes for better retention and understanding. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute!
The overall course was good knowledge to review and know for someone 1st learning how to drive. For a speeding ticket, not so much. The course was set up to run smoothly and go at your own pace with little quizzes in-between. However there were so time gaps in between what was being read to what was about to be read that made the course go longer than I needed to. Overall good knowledge!
Thank you for your 3-star review, Whitney. We appreciate your feedback and we're glad you found the knowledge valuable overall. Regarding the time gaps you experienced, those are related to Arizona state requirements for minimum time spent on each section. We wish we could make the course move faster for students who are ready to continue, but we're required to enforce these timers to maintain our state approval. As for the content level, Arizona mandates a comprehensive defensive driving curriculum that covers all aspects of safe driving, regardless of why someone is taking the course. While it may feel more basic for experienced drivers taking it for a speeding ticket, we're required to cover these topics as part of the state-approved program. We're glad the course ran smoothly and that you appreciated the self-paced format with quizzes. If there's anything else we could have done to make your experience better, we'd love to hear from you. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
Excellent course detail
Thank you for your 5-star review, Robert! We appreciate your advice to future students about paying attention to the course. You're absolutely right that engaging with the material helps students truly understand the rules of the road. We're glad you found the course detail excellent. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
Thank you for your 5-star review! We're glad you found our content very helpful. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute!
It’s user friendly and very easy to navigate the modules. The only thing I noticed in the second to last quiz, a couple of questions had typing errors which made the statements confusing.
Thank you for your 5-star review, Naly! We're glad you found our course user friendly and easy to navigate. We appreciate you pointing out the typing errors in the quiz questions. Accuracy is important to us, and we'll have our curriculum team review and correct those errors right away. Thank you for choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and drive safely!
Thank you for your 5-star review, Paula! We're glad you appreciated the convenience of completing the course on your own schedule. That flexibility is one of the key benefits we love offering our students. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
Thank you for your 5-star review, Steven! We're glad you found our course convenient and helpful. We appreciate you choosing Defensive Drivers Institute and wish you safe driving!
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