Driving schools in Dubai

Was commiserating with a fellow license aspirant - we were both drowning our sorrows in some gorgeous Mango melbafrom Hagen Daz - when one of our friends told us that he was not surprised that we both flunked our test, The trick was to go to a smaller driving school! According to him, big ones like Emirates Driving Institute are overbooked, and, statistically therefore, have a higher rate of fails! I am not sure how true his logic is but the next day even my rented car driver told me that I should have gone to Al Ahli cos they are smaller and faster! Reminiscent of the famous Avis tag line "we try harder"?

Which set me wondering how many driving schools there are in Dubai esp since R (despite being here for 6 months) has not started his classes? It seemed a good idea to do a comparison and see how the different institutes stack up!

It appears that teaching people to drive or rather get a license is a fairly lucrative business :-) cos a city like Dubai has 5 driving institutes!


1. Emirates Driving School ( http://www.edi-uae.com/) Established in 1991, as per their website, the largest and most successful in the Middle East. And listed as well I believe. According to my friend, it therefore enhances the pressure on them to have repeat tests, lol! But seriously in course of calls to decide which school, I found them the only school that was all there instead of all over the place!
Contact : 04-2631100

2. Belhasa Driving Centre ( http://www.bdc.ae/) Established in 2001, the second largest and the same business family as Emirates Driving School! Cousins I believe! Don't bother to call on the number listed on the website; they will only redirect you to the number listed below. Why this number is not listed as the "to call" number completely escapes me but then I am not running the company or the website! The course fees page has been "under construction" for the last 3 months, lol!

Contact: 04-3519099

3. GaladhariDriving Institute (http://www.gmdc.ae/) Established in 2004, it belongs to the Galadhari business family, it too claims to be the largest and most successful driving school in Dubai :) Someone needs to tell EDI and Galadhari that there can only be one "largest'!
Contact: 04-2676166


4. Dubai Driving Centre http://www.dubaidrivingcenter.net/
Established in 2003, as per its website, it’s a leading driving school in Dubai :-) but I must mention, they were the most unresponsive. The centre took a day to just call me back with details while the others responded when I called them. On top of that the person at the other end was all at sea when I asked her for charges! While she gave me some figures, I would take them with a fistful of salt, she had no clue what she was talking about!
Contact: 04- 3455855


5. Al AhliDriving Centre (http://www.alahlidubai.ae). A part of the Bujsaim& Al Ahli group, it was founded in 1980,and therefore predates EDI, but from what I understand from general conversation with people, it’s still the smallest. However, I have also heard that because of its smaller size, you start your classes earlier and get your license faster than you do with any of the other institutes.. but that's something one would only know after an actual experience!
Contact: 04 - 3411500

I did a comparative cost analysis since R was going to do classes and it’s quite funny how cost differs under each head, though by and large ball park the cost will not be too different, give take a few hundred Dirhams! The VIPclass charges are the ones which are the weirdest - the range is huge from Dhs 125 to Dhs 325! But what completely flummoxed me was the maximum number of classes you can do in a week! There are schools which charge you more for shift and you do lesser number of classes / week, huh? Now who in their right mind will pay higher charges to do lesser number of classes? Sounds bizarre! And then there was Belhasa which seems to do a garage and hill test for automatic which no other school does! According to them this is a RTA requirement which clearly bypassed all other schools :-)

Given below is a comparative chart! Hope it’s useful! But best to check with the schools once again cos they run special promotions on the prices!

OTHER CHARGES	GALADHARI	EDI	AHLI	DUBAI DRIVING	BELHASA
File Opening	360	400	460	930	575
Eye Test	100	100	100		100
Typing	30	20	30
Handbook	50		60		70
Simulator test		100
Mock test		50
Theory Test	260	260	230	230	230
Lecture Charges	300	490	300	320	300
Parking Test	50	100	50	70	100
Hill test					50
Garage test					50
Assessment	100	150	100	100	100
Road Test	250	260	250	250	250
Certifiate	300	150	220
License		210		270	335
learning permit	120		110
Service charge			100
Total	1920	2290	2010	2170	2160
PER CLASS COST	GALADHARI	EDI	AHLI	DUBAI DRIVING	BELHASA
Regular	50	55	55	50	60
Shift	60	100	80	65	100
Friday	75	105	75	65	80
VIP	150	325	125	150	150
TOTAL COST (AUTOMATIC)	GALADHARI	EDI	AHLI	DUBAI DRIVING	BELHASA
Regular - 40 classes	3920	4490	4210	4170	4560
Regular - 20 classes	2920	3390	3110	3170	3360
Shift - 40 classes	4320	6290	5210	4770	6160
Shift - 20 classes	3120	4290	3610	3470	4160
Friday - 40 classes	4920	6490	5010	4770	5360
Friday - 20 classes	3420	4390	3510	3470	3760
VIP - 40 classes	7920	15290	7010	8170	8160
VIP - 20 classes	4920	8790	4510	5170	5160
MAXIMUM CLASSES / WEEK	GALADHARI	EDI	AHLI	DUBAI DRIVING	BELHASA
Regular	6	8	12		6
Shift	20	12	12		6-8
Friday	4	4	24		10-12,  14-16 *
VIP	24	24	4		4
* depending on whether you pay 150 or 200 per class for VIP
Complementary pick-up from home	No	Yes	No	No	No