850  981-3355


Contact Information:


If  you call or email us and ask the following questions, these are the answers.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The total varies depending on the services selected.  Most drivers fall under the financial packages of Contract Six found at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page.

WHEN ARE LESSONS?
Mr. Collins teaches behind-the-wheel lessons Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 10pm.  

HOW LONG DOES IT (THE TRAINING) TAKE?
There are two Course divisions. The first is the time-related course which is a specific number of minutes or hours. This is, usually, to satisfy an Insurance providers requirement for minimum behind-the-wheel training in order to qualify for Insurance discounts. So, that training takes exactly as long as your Insurance provider requires.  The most I've ever know an Insurance provider to require is six hours.  The least is 15-minutes. Every insurance provider sets their own time criteria.

The second kind of training is skill based where you tell us what skill level you want the driver to reach and after the first lesson, Mr. Collins will tell you how many more lessons, if any, he thinks will be needed to reach your specified driving skill level.  

Do you desire a time-limit Course or skill-level based training?

CAN YOU GIVE ME A BALL PARK FIGURE ON HOW MANY LESSONS MOST DRIVERS REQUIRE JUST TO PASS THE STATE DRIVING EXAM?
Sure.  Once a driver can drive at 25mph and stay in his or her lane, make safe and legal right turns and do proper hand over hand steering, it takes the average driver one 75-minute driving lesson to pass the State exam at the minimum skill level plus the amount of time it takes the driver to memorize the Lane Change Procedure and the steps for parking and three point turn. See GREEN print in Section One to your left.   That is $140 tuition Tue-Fri and $145 on Saturday (both figures non-credit card fee).

HOW MANY LESSONS DOES IT TAKE FOR MOST DRIVERS TO BE SAFE (GOOD) DRIVERS?
After providing driver's training to more than 1,400 new drivers, our records show that the average new driver requires three to five lessons to be a safe driver among other safe drivers and five to seven lessons to become a safe driver among crash-prone drivers.  Of course, that depends on how a person defines average, the driver's listening skill, IQ and personal motivation towards learning.  
     However, at the end of the first lesson, Mr. Collins will tell you how many more lessons, if any, he thinks will be needed to reach your (or the driver's stated goal).  Mr. Collins has provided more than 1,000 such estimates and his estimate has been accurate more than 90% of the time. At the end of the first lesson he will provide that estimate in writing. 

DO YOU PROVIDE DOOR-TO-DOOR PICK UP SERVICE.
Yes, we do charge about 45% of what a taxi charges for door to door service. Give me your zip code and I can give you an estimate that will be within $5 one way or the other of the charge.

WHERE DO LESSONS START AND END.
When no door-to-door service is asked lessons begin at the Intersection of Interstate 10 at Exit 26 in Milton, which is six miles East of Pensacola. The address is 3804 Garcon Point Road which is less than one-tenth of one mile off of Interstate 10 at Exit 26 in Milton.

THAT (MILTON) IS A LONG WAY FROM PENSACOLA?
It is seven minutes East of Pensacola. Some people consider seven minutes from Pensacola a long way away and others do not.  Milton is a safer driving environment for new drivers to learn to drive compared to Pensacola.

DO YOU ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS
Yes, we accept Visa and MasterCard.  However, we provide a 5% discount for not using Visa or MasterCard because the smaller a business, the larger the percentage that the business pays Visa and MasterCard. In 2016, we charged a little more than $1,700 to Visa and Mastercard and we paid more than $600 in Visa and MasterCard fees.  All the prices we quote are for non-credit card payments, unless otherwise stated, and include the 5% discount.

DO YOU PROVIDE LESSONS ON CREDIT OR PROMISE TO PAY LATER?
No.  All lessons must be paid for in advance of training, not later than the start of the training session

DO YOU PROVIDE ANY DISCOUNTS
Contact Six located at www.jodacollins.com , Agreement page contains methods to save money.  If you do not qualify for Contract Six, there are no discounts.

CAN I SCHEDULE NOW
Yes, what is your best day and time? and I will see if we have that day and time available.

DO YOU ACCEPT CHECKS?
Yes, for a l

DO YOU PREFER CHECK OR CASH?
Cash is always good, but if we approve your check, your check is fine.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DRIVING ACADEMY?
Sure. I am happy to do that.  I will give you a brief overview and if there are any remaining questions, you can ask them after.  We are a small business.  I (Joda Collins) am the only instructor.  I teach Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 10pm.  Drivers must have a permit or a license in order to drive on public roads or land that is not owned by the driver.  Each lesson comes with 10 to 30-pages of reading material or three hours of devoted reading, whichever is less for the student-driver. Drivers who read that information carefully progress through training about twice as fast and at half the expense because that is a lot of information I do not have to explain to the driver during their driving time, with the car is setting still.  However, that reading is optional, not mandatory.  Each lesson costs between $126 and $147 depending on how many lessons are taken and if taken on a weekday or a Saturday.  These charges include a 5% discount for not using Visa or MasterCard, although we do take Visa and MasterCard.  
     At the end of the first lesson I will tell you how many more lessons, if any, I think the driver (or "you") will need to reach his or her (or "your") driving goal and he provides that estimate as a non-binding estimate. It is just my best educated guess. There are a lot of factors out of my control.
    Unless door-to-door service is asked for and provided, all lessons begin and end at the Intersection of Interstate 10 at Exit 26 in Milton. This is seven minutes East of Pensacola less than one-tenth of a mile off of Interstate 10.  

DO I GET A DISCOUNT FOR....?
I do not give discount prices, because we do not give discount service and because I already provided a method (homework) by which a driver can progress at about half the normal expense (which I think is generous on my part).  In addition, I pass along some, most or all of the savings I incur when a Client pays for more than one pre-scheduled lesson at one time. Doing that saves me administration expense and I pass that administration savings on to the Client.  
     Also, for most lessons, I provide written feedback that allows the Student-driver to think about driving skills and practice specific skills between lessons. Drivers who read those feedback emails and do the assigned work contained in those reports progress about 10% faster and a 10% savings compared to those who do not read those feedback reports.
     I provide a 5% discount for not using Visa or MasterCard.
     I will, upon request, instruct a licensed driver on how to help the Student-driver gain some or all of the driving skills that are scheduled to be taught at the next lesson.
     If more than one student-driver is taking lessons, I allow the second student to ride along with the first and listen and learn about rules of the road and specific safe-defensive driving techniques. 
     I will take your phone call or email and answer any question or questions you have at no charge to you, so you can get your questions answered without taking behind the wheel time to ask those questions.


SAVE MONEY
Dear Friends,

This may be the only time and the only place where you will hear or read about these free benefits. Time is money and the more time we spend trying to convince people to take things from us for FREE the less likely we will be able to offer FREE things.

          None of these FREE or money saving opportunities are guaranteed because we do not know the future.  

          We reserve the right to alter, add or delete any service/offer at any time.  Service value only. No cash value.
          One thing to remember about FREE and money saving offers is that there are, usually, some kind of limitations or restrictions. These FREE offers are no different. We try to be gracious with the limitations, but limits are necessary to keep the less-scrupled from taking advantage of our generosity.  
          Please avail yourself to as many offers for which you qualify.  We are delighted to provide them to you.


In First person ("I", "We" or "Me") is reference to Joda Collins or the Joda Collins Driving Academy.  Any second person reference ("You") is a reference to the Client (financially responsible person) or the Student-driver.


SECTION ONE

MEMORIZE THE LANE CHANGE PROCEDURE

You will need to memorize the following as the first thing for your first lesson:

     "Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal,

      Ahead, Behind, Mirror, Shoulder, Move." 

You can memorize these words on your own time for FREE before the first lesson or during paid driving time. 

     I am not the least bit adverse to using paid behind-the-wheel time to help any student memorize anything and/or everything. The choice is yours.  Either way works for me. 


SECTION TWO

FREE PARKING AND THREE POINT TURN TRAINING IF  YOU DO THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASKING FOR PARKING AND THREE POINT TURN TRAINING

1).   Memorize well enough to quote without hesitation and upon request the procedure above that begins with "Ahead, Behind....": 

2.  Memorize well enough to quote without hesitation and upon request the parking and three point turn procedures found at www.jodacollins.com, Agreement page, Section One, red print.  If parking and three-point turn is part of your training goal you can memorize the steps on your own time for free rather than pay by the minute to memorize the steps during paid driving time. Find the steps on this web site on the Agreement page, section one, colored print.  You can opt to memorize all of it, or part of it in these sections (1). Entering a parking space.  (2). Existing a parking space.  (3). The three point turn up until transmission is placed in reverse. (4). Three point turn from the time the car is placed in reverse to the acceleration out of the three point turn procedure. You must ask for this benefit. It is not automatic.

3.  Parking and/or Three Point Turn training occurs no later than the start of lesson three and no sooner than the driver scores at least 90 points on our General Safety Point list.

4.  We use the Client's or Driver's car for parking and three point turn training and not the Joda Collins Academy vehicle for parking and three point turn training.

5.  Driver and/or Client provides at least a 24 hour notice of when driver is going to ask for parking and/or three point turn training.


SECTION THREE

HAND OVER HAND STEERING

There is no such thing as a perfect steering method. Every steering method has positives and negatives.  You, as the driver, have to determine what list of positives and negatives you prefer.  Unless otherwise directed, I use and teach 10/2 hand-over-hand steering.  You can learn hand-over-hand steering on your own time for FREE if you want to.   

     To learn 10-2 hand-over-hand steering go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ArlcIqmOg


SECTION FOUR

RULES OF THE ROAD

You can pay by the minute for me to tell you the rules of the road or you can learn them on your own time for FREE.  The best resource for the rules of the road is found in Chapters 4 through 9 of:

https://www.flhsmv.gov/handbooks/englishdriverhandbook.pdf


SECTION FIVE

SELF-STUDY WORKBOOK

Driving schools make more money when the vehicle is setting still and the Instructor is explaining the rules of the road, the meaning of signs, signals and road painting and/or safe-defensive driving skills to the Student-driver.   I wrote a book that clarifies all of these things. Each lesson is designed to cover about 30-pages of that Workbook for the average student.  A student-driver can read the information for FREE on his or her own time in preparation for each driving lesson starting with lesson two, rather than pay me by the minute to tell you the same things during paid driving time. This means you get more behind-the-wheel training every lesson.

     Most drivers progress up to twice as fast through driver's training and at half the expense when completing the assigned optional homework.  

    To get the most, read the first 10-pages before the start of lesson one.  The workbook is attached to the first email you receive from us. You can by a paperback copy on line at:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/joda-collins/joda-collins-driving-academy-course-workbook/paperback/product-23227590.html . If clicking this link does not work, cut and paste it. We no longer pay the monthly maintenance fee on that web site, so we cannot get into it to delete the comment that we sell the book. We no longer due because we do not have a sales tax license and do not want to go to the trouble to get one when we only sell two or three books per year. Most students have no interest in homework. 


SECTION SIX

AFTER LESSON CONFERENCE WITH CLIENT

Most Clients want a report of progress after each lesson. Driving schools are happy to provide it and the instructor arrives five or 10-minutes in order to have the time to share with the Client.  However, as stated, most driving schools take that time from the driver's behind-the-wheel training. I do not.  After the lesson, if the Client approaches my vehicle upon arrival (at the end of the lesson) I will engage in a brief conversation with the Client at my expense and on my time.


SECTION SEVEN

LEARN FROM THE INTERNET

When I first started this business (2008) there was very little on the Internet about safe-driving and or defensive-driving skills/techniques.  Now there is a plethora of information!  If you are struggling with something, whether it be steering, braking, rules of the road or anything else, just type in to your search engine,

"you tube", followed by anything you want to know such as "right turns in vehicle". 

and you will get a great deal of information.  Learn if for FREE on your own time and use paid behind the wheel time for practicing what you learned.  Save money!

    If you need any help finding anything on the Internet for your behind-the-wheel progress, let us know and we will find it for you and email you the link.  

    DISCLAIMER:  Not everything on the Internet is good, some is contradictory to other Internet sites and some is contradictory to what I teach. Thank you for not challenging anything I am teaching you by introducing contradictory methods with the words, "But, I saw on the Internet...."  


SECTION  EIGHT

PROGRESS REPORTS/EVALUATIONS

Unless you are directed to this section, you can ignore it.

ESTIMATING THE FUTURE PROGRESS

for anyone is not easy as there are many variables that are out of my control. This is my best, most educated guess and assumes driver will take at least one lesson per week, will do no less than three hours of self study in the workbook in prep for each lesson and turn in the written work, unsolicited, at the start of each lesson, and maintains a positive attitude toward driver's training.  It is important to understand I am devoted to teaching the driver to be as safe as he can be, not be as safe as others might be.  I suggest Parent's evaluate the drivers progress after each lesson or two and only continue training if progress meets parents and/or drivers satisfaction.  Also, sometimes drivers reach a skill level that the driver and/or the client feels is generally safe among other safe drivers before I reach that skill level as I define it. Or, sometimes, driver reach a level of defensive driving that satisfied the driver and/or the parent before I reach a level of defensive driving safety I am shooting for. If that happens earlier than my estimate of progress, just quit.  All unused funds requested with at least 24 hours notice are refundable upon request.  Rebates are on actual lessons taken, not on lessons scheduled but not taken.


PURPOSE OF PROGRESS REPORTS

Progress reports focus on driving needs not positives because these are free reports. To keep them free we must make them as brief as possible. Plus, driving needs will cause crashes, not driving positives. Just because we mention few or no positives, does not mean that many positives do not exist.  Drivers who read and think about the content of Progress Reports always progress faster and at less expense compared to drivers who do not read and think about the content of Progress Reports! Save Money!!!

1.  WALKER'S TURNS (WIDE RIGHT TURNS). Rather than turning the vehicle into standard 45 degree right turns with right front time no more than four feet from the right curb at least half way through the turn, drive is waiting until the front right tire passes three to six feet past the designated proper start location for the right turn to begin steering fully or mostly into his or her right turn.

2.  STOP A FOOT BEHIND STOP SIGNS AND BARS

3.  THE THREE-POINT TURN PROCEDURE AND PARKING

Be sure to look both was before removing foot from brake.

4.  FOLLOW THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU AT A SEVEN SECOND FOLLOWING DISTANCE.

5.  BE AT 23MPH ON FULL BLOCK BEFORE YOUR STOP LOCATION IF YOU HAVE TIME TO GRACEFULLY REACH 23MPH ONE BLOCK AWAY. DO HALF OF YOUR BREAKING IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE REMAINING BLOCK AND HALF OF YOUR BRAKING IN THE LAST HALF OF THAT BLOCK.  If you do not have the space or time to bring your car down to 23mph one block away from a stop location, do half of your braking in the first half of the space you have and half of your breaking in the last half.

6.  DELAY ACCELERATION FOR TWO SECONDS AFTER THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU BEGINS MOVING. And then accelerate no faster than one mph slower than the vehicle ahead of you until you have your full seven seconds following distance.

7.  GREEN DOES NOT MEAN GO, it means go when safe and you cannot know if it is safe unless you first check left and right.

8.  WHEN APPROACHING A GREEN TRAFFIC LIGHT AND THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU HAS BRAKE LIGHTS ON, TREAT THE GREEN LIGHT LIKE A RED LIGHT.

9.  STOPPING DISTANCE:  My best guess is that driver thinks car will stop five to six times faster than it will actually stop which is a major contributing factor to student diving too fast for conditions. We walked of minimum stopping distance in the hopes this will help driver realize he is driving too fast for his skill level all of the time and too fast for my skill level much of the time.

10.  INADEQUATE FEAR: While not uncommon for new drivers, it is, nonetheless, extremely dangerous not to have adequate fear of just how serious crashing can be and how easy it is to get into a crash. One mistake behind the wheel can cost an arm, leg, sight, mind and even a life and it happens in a matter of seconds.  Driver is too calm.  Not that I want drivers to be nervous. The opposite of calm is not nervous or agitated. By calm I mean at rest or casual.  The opposite of at rest/calm is mentally sharp and emotionally involved. For example, when a surgeon is operating we do not what him to be mentally and emotionally disengaged; we want the surgeon mentally and emotionally (mind and heart) engaged with a sense of life and death seriousness.  There is a certain amount of godly fear that is necessary to drive safely. I do not think driver really understands on an emotional or logical level that he can get killed in a split second after he makes one wrong driving decision or that he can get killed in a split second if a driver near him makes one wrong driving decision.  Unless a driver able to develop the right degree of godly fear, we call that "lacks the maturity to be entrusted with a vehicle that can kill or cripple in a split second."  At the start of all three lessons that defined the driver. I am trying to instill the proper level of godly fear in the driver before the crash, or loss of limb or life does it for him.  This is not criticism of the driver.  Our society denotes those under 18 as children. However, driving is not an activity a child should be doing.  Once behind the wheel a person has to think and act on a adult level no matter his or her age; maturity must come quickly. It is time, now. Some progress was made today, I think.  If parents approve I suggest driver watch the following. Most people curse when they crash. To avoid hearing cursing, watch with no volume. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdyhsfmGJ7g and

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wf5u2t-nY and

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc-qxPWxFrk .

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                        Welcome to

JODA COLLINS

DRIVING ACADEMY LLC

Behind-the-Wheel Training ​

Serving Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties since 2008!




RECOMMENDATIONS:  

The following email is not working and has never worked.  I am not able to remove if from this web page.  After hours and hours of trying to remove it we gave up.  Just ignore it, please.

Please forgive the inconvenience. You can contact us email at jodacollins@aol.com or call

850 981-3355. 

Until February 9, 2016, I kept five or six recent/current/new recommendations on this page. However, I have now been in business for more than fifteen years and trained more than 2,200 drivers, covering 9,400 lessons and over 11,000 hours of training and more than 190,000 miles. I no longer invest the time to keep current recommendations on this page. 

     Besides that, most recommendations on most web sites list only a first name and city, followed by some glowing positive words.  No one checks the validity of those recommendations.  Most companies who who use untraceable-generic reference lie about them.  I did not, but what is their verifiable value? I do excellent work and am always in the process of teaching new students who are the younger siblings of previous students. Returning clients with more students to each is an ongoing testimony of recommendations.  If you require some personal testimonies, let me know and I will give you as many as you want. 

After serving more than 3,000 people (2,200 drivers and more about 1,800 clients) I can tell you that, to the best of my knowledge, there are twelve people who do not like me.  No one can please everyone! 

By any criteria, 3,986 happy people out of 4,000 served is a great service record. 

Let me serve you.  I do a superior job of training and believe in providing a dramatically high level of customer service. 

I will treat you like my father or mother if you are 20-years or more older than me, like my sibling if you are near my age, like my own child or grand child if you are 20-years younger than I am. 

I promise my best efforts on your behalf and I will treat you with great consideration and the highest respect.

Here is my mindset.  If you are ever unhappy about anything, let me know and I will do everything in my power to make you happy. The only things I will not consider are reducing my prices, because my service is worth every penny and more.    

Sincerely,
Joda Collins