Presto Driving School has maintained its position at the top of the ranking. The year 2018 was a year of significant growth for the school. In terms of the number of branches, it has gained a strong lead in Latvia, becoming the largest driving school in the country, while in terms of the number of students it ranks among the six largest schools. We positively note that despite this growth, the school has not compromised the quality of its training.
From the perspective of CSDD statistics, Presto’s high performance in 2018 remained consistent:
- In theoretical training across all categories, 93% of students pass the exam on their first attempt.
- Practical training: in category B, on average 49% pass the exam on their first attempt. These indicators are record-high not only in Riga but also across Latvia.
It should be noted that several students have written to us saying that the theory exam at Presto is very strict. In reality, all driving schools use the same evaluation criteria — the selected answer is either correct or incorrect. Perhaps Presto should consider increasing the number of allowed mistakes?
Presto’s service remains unmatched in Latvia, and no other school has yet introduced remote contract signing or an equivalent electronic driving lesson booking system. We also observed that in 2018 Presto became active on Instagram and YouTube, and its YouTube channel is gaining popularity.
This year, just like in the previous year, we conclude that Presto’s training prices are even below the average market level, and its price-to-quality ratio has no equivalent in Latvia.
Driving school DBS is a stable school that continues to maintain strong leadership positions. Driving school DBS continues to make an invaluable contribution to public safety through numerous activities throughout the year:
- Regular safe driving campaigns, including training to refresh driving skills;
- An annual free vehicle technical inspection to determine readiness for winter driving;
- Participation in the social initiative against the use of mobile devices while driving “Laiks atmest” (in cooperation with the State Police and ERGO insurance);
- The school also actively communicates through various channels — Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Its YouTube channel is educational, providing practical advice on safe driving.
Although CSDD statistical indicators improved in 2018, they are still not outstanding. In practical driving, results are slightly below the industry average — on average 34% of students pass the driving exam on the first attempt. Meanwhile, an average of 86% of students pass the theory exam on their first attempt.
The contribution of Driving school DBS to improving the driving culture of Latvian drivers is invaluable. As a driving school, DBS is very good, but unfortunately its prices are the highest in Latvia. In our opinion, this school is a good choice for those who experience certain difficulties with driving.
Driving school Kristīne is not a large school — it has two branches in Riga and one branch in Salaspils, although the school has existed for almost 10 years. Nevertheless, it has rapidly secured a place among the top three driving schools. Kristīne’s theory results have increased significantly (in the second half of the year an average of 93% of students passed the exam on the first attempt), occasionally entering Latvia’s TOP 3 according to CSDD statistics. The results of category B practical training have also been high in the last six months, with 48.91% of students passing the exam on their first attempt.
Despite the excellent CSDD indicators, we recommend carefully reviewing the contract to check for any hidden costs. The school’s Facebook page and website constantly advertise a promotional price for theoretical training, reducing it from 120 EUR to 20 EUR, which is the price manipulation mentioned at the beginning of the ranking. We remind readers that discounts of this nature are usually compensated in other ways — typically by increasing the number of driving lessons.
When choosing a driving school, we recommend looking not only at training results or reviewing contract terms, but also evaluating the school’s service level (i.e., the level at which other services included in the price are provided — factors that improve and accelerate the training process). School facilities and convenience fall into this category. We have received feedback from Kristīne students stating that the school’s premises are in very poor condition. This suggests that the reduced price-to-quality ratio at Driving school Kristīne is reflected in its service level.
In 2018 Driving school Einšteins caught up with Latvia’s largest driving school CredoAutoprieks in terms of the number of students. Its performance is at a high level — on average 48% of students pass the category B driving exam on the first attempt, while an average of 96% pass the theory exam on the first attempt.
The school’s drop from 1st place in the 2016 ranking to 4th place in 2018 can be explained by Einšteins’ unfair marketing activities:
- During our monitoring we discovered that Einšteins manipulates the price of its services, especially for category B training. These manipulations are particularly frequent on social networks during promotional campaigns. In our observations we recorded three different prices for category B theory training (see screenshot gallery). As mentioned in the introduction to the ranking, the average market price is around 60 EUR, while Einšteins’ promotional prices ranged from 41.00 to 99.95 EUR.
- The price of category B practical training is also manipulated. The advertised prices are often misleading — even if driving lessons are advertised starting from 25 EUR per lesson, lessons at the lowest price are often unavailable, while more expensive lessons at 31 EUR are available. Since the higher-priced lessons are conducted using new vehicles used in CSDD exams, this leads us to believe that lesson availability is manipulated in order to more quickly recover the cost of newly purchased vehicles at the expense of students.
- If the price is reduced in one aspect, it must be compensated through other sources of income. We have received information that this is done at the expense of instructors, who are not paid for every driving lesson. As a result, there is a high probability that instructors intentionally prolong the training period in order to compensate for the loss of their income.
Such price dumping distorts the driver training market, making it difficult for students to understand the true cost of the training process. In terms of academic performance and quality, Einšteins is an excellent school, however we recommend carefully evaluating the cost of training at Einšteins and reviewing the contract terms to check for hidden expenses. As we have repeatedly pointed out, any training discounts are usually “compensated” by increasing the number of driving lessons — meaning that the total cost of training will be higher than it initially appears.
Driving school CredoAutoprieks has returned to the TOP five, last holding 5th place in the 2015 analysis. As we mentioned at the time, it is the largest driving school in Latvia. It has more than 15 years of experience and branches in nine cities.
In previous years’ anti-TOP we highlighted aspects of the school’s contract that indicated a lack of fair practice, and we also warned about the school’s tendency to manipulate prices, at times misleading consumers with slogans that concealed the true total cost of training. In 2018 we observed that CredoAutoprieks increased the prices of its services, thereby bringing them closer to their real market value. We hope this indicates the school’s willingness to operate in a more transparent and honest manner, and that our industry review contributed to this change of direction.
The school’s CSDD statistical indicators in 2018 were also good. On average, 88.5% of students passed the theory exam on their first attempt, while the category B driving exam is passed by an average of 41% of students.