Modern Driver Institute offers 2-hour driving sessions with a professional driving instructor who has years of experience as a traffic safety researcher and teacher.  Sessions are customized to meet the needs of individual students and to provide opportunities for them to learn and master critical defensive driving skills at their own pace.

My fees are comparable or less than many other driving schools in the region.  I haven’t raised fees in years, despite inflation and other conditions – in fact, inflation has grown more than my fees over the past decade.

Enrollment Fees:

Unlike some driving schools, Modern Driver Institute does not charge registration or enrollment fees.  You can enroll for free by clicking here.

Behind-the-wheel Training

Behind-the-wheel training is performed in approximately two-hour sessions.  Sessions are arranged door-to-door from your work, school or home, within our service area.

• 2-hour driving session: $170.00

For students outside our normal service area, we can arrange to meet someplace within that service range.  In some cases, at-home pickup may still be available, though an additional “out-of-service-range” fee will apply to all sessions.  This fee covers additional instructor drive time, mileage/wear-and-tear on the vehicle, fuel costs and toll costs.

• Out of Service Range Fee: $30.00

Cancellation Fee

A cancellation fee will apply to any scheduled driving lesson to which the instructor arrives at the designated location at the designated time, but, for whatever reason, the student is unprepared to drive.  This includes the student not having their original learner’s permit, or the student being in a condition the instructor deems unsafe for driving.  If the instructor shows up at the student’s home or pre-arranged meetup location, and the student is not present or not able to drive, the full fee for the lesson is applied to the account to cover travel costs and instructor time.

• Cancellation Fee: $170.00

Because of the ongoing pandemic, cancellations made by students due to illness will NOT initiate the cancellation fee, so long as the following conditions are met:

• The instructor is notified AT LEAST one hour prior to the start of the scheduled session, and
• Illness cancellations are not frequent and regularly last-minute.

Theory Tutoring

Working toward a learner’s permit, but having trouble learning all the material to pass the knowledge test?  Modern Driver Institute offers private theory tutoring in your home or at a local meeting place (library, coffee shop).  Sessions are one hour in length and target a particular content area.  The number of sessions required depends upon the learner.

• 1-hour private theory tutoring session: $85.00

Notes

Because each of us learns differently, and acquires skills at a different pace, there really is no universal amount of time needed – the golden standard of 6 hours of professional training set back in the 1930’s is an obsolete model that does not reflect the cognitive complexity of modern driving.  Modern Driver Institute does not offer training packages requiring prepayment of large sums of money – instead, we use a “pay as you go” model, where clients only pay for the sessions they book, as those sessions are performed.

Nevertheless, as a private driving school licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Modern Driver Institute is authorized to issue a Certificate of Completion following professional training consisting of at least 6 hours.  This certificate can garner discounts from some insurance companies.  Please note that, under current PA law, student drivers on a learner’s permit are not required to be listed on your insurance policy or get their own insurance policy until they earn their license.

All sessions are conducted on an individual basis – Modern Driver Institute does not practice shared lessons (making you pick up the next student and share a portion of the time) as other schools do.