Third-party drive tests with state-certified examiners.
Class, permit test, and 6 hours of lessons.
Course online, testing and lessons in person.
Behind-the-wheel lessons with patient and certified instructors.
Colorado Springs teens take Colorado's highest-rated 30-hour classroom course with American Driving Academy. The five-day class meets teen permit requirements, with our expert-written workbook and videos filmed on Colorado roads. The class is just the start. Family-owned since 1999, we pursue the country's best safety record by exceeding state and industry standards. We prepare teens for safe, confident driving and support your family through permit testing, lessons, the drive test, and post-license Driver Skills Day.
Four Paths to Start
Every package includes the five-day, 30-hour class and permit test. Teens may begin as early as 14 years and 6 months. Compare lessons, the drive test, and Driver Skills Day.
400K+
Students Taught
Colorado family-owned since 1999
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In-person classes. Open 7 days a week. | |||
| Permit Ready $195 Enroll now → | Road Ready $515 Enroll now → | License Ready $595 Enroll now → | Driver Complete $825 Enroll now → | |
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| Ready to Enroll? → | Enroll Now | Enroll Now | Enroll Now | Enroll Now |
Not sure which package fits? Call our Colorado Springs team at (719) 442-0400, and we will help you choose.
Your teen needs the 30-hour class and permit test now, while your family plans to buy lessons and the drive test closer to when they happen.
Your teen wants a license before 16½ and needs the six professional hours Colorado generally requires, with three private lessons included.
Your family wants the drive test bundled now because it costs less in this package than purchasing the same exam on its own later.
Your family wants the full licensing package plus Driver Skills Day, so a new driver practices emergency braking, skid recovery, and car control.
Complete the live 30-hour class across five days.
In every packagePass the written permit test on Colorado road rules.
In every packageVisit the DMV on the 15th birthday or later.
At the DMVTake three private 2-hour lessons that permit year.
In Road Ready & upPass the Colorado drive test and apply for a license.
In License Ready & upNorth, Central and South
With North, Central, and South offices, Colorado Springs families can choose the classroom and appointment site that fits their part of the city. All three offer the class, permit testing, private lessons, and the Colorado drive test, while the Central office sits in front of the DMV.
The three Colorado Springs offices are backed by American Driving Academy's statewide network of 16 Colorado locations.
Local Roots, Statewide Reach
Colorado sets the required hours and topics. We go further with a workbook we wrote specifically for Colorado drivers, professional videos filmed on Colorado Springs streets, guided discussion, games, and exercises.
Schools and community partners help safety lessons stick. American Driving Academy is AAA Approved, partners with MADD Colorado, and works with Harrison School District 2 and other local high schools across the city.
Permit timing, practice hours, lesson rules, and test eligibility can be hard to organize. Call 7 days a week or visit a local office, and our team will explain what your teen has finished and what comes next.
Learning continues after the five-day class. Course review, lesson footage, progress notes, and Driver Skills Day give families more ways to reinforce safe habits during practice and after licensure.
Think Beyond the Rule
A classroom gives new drivers time to explain what they noticed, hear another student's reasoning, and change an answer when one detail changes the risk. The instructor can pause a situation, ask a follow-up question, and show why the safest response depends on space, speed, visibility, and the people nearby.
American Driving Academy pairs teaching with a Colorado-specific workbook, videos, exercises, and traffic observation. Lessons connect right-of-way, space, impairment, and weather to roads teens use. A gap that works on a neighborhood street is too short on Academy Boulevard, an I-25 merge must be planned early, and late braking on a mountain grade is hard to correct.
What the Course Covers
Fifteen topics move from core responsibilities to road judgment, with time for questions, practice, and review.
Who Is at the Front
We look for people whose careers demanded preparation, patience, sound judgment, and the ability to teach clearly.
Behind the Wheel
Road Ready, License Ready, and Driver Complete include six private hours, split into three 2-hour lessons. A patient, state-certified instructor works one-on-one with your teen in a dual-control, state-inspected car. Lessons run 7 days a week.
Each appointment starts with what your teen can already do. Early work may cover setup, steering, braking, turns, scanning, and intersections. As control improves, the instructor can introduce lane changes, parallel parking, freeway entry and exit, downtown Colorado Springs traffic, and mountain driving with grades, curves, and changing weather.
After each lesson, parents hear what their teen did well and what to work on next, helping guide practice at home. For a teen licensing before age 16½, the six hours meet Colorado's professional instruction requirement. The Lesson Review Promise and progress tracker apply to every included lesson.
The Final Step
Colorado Driver License offices do not administer the drive test. American Driving Academy is a State-approved third-party testing center and Colorado's largest drive-testing provider, giving more than 35,000 tests each year.
License Ready ($595) and Driver Complete ($825) include the exam. Colorado Springs drive tests run 7 days a week. Your teen may schedule after meeting Colorado's age, permit-holding, practice, and training rules. Permit Ready and Road Ready families may purchase the test separately.
Examiners give calm directions and explain the result after the route. Eligible students can upgrade the permit online after passing, and Colorado mails the physical license.
After the License
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that teen drivers are 50% more likely to crash in the first month of having a license than after a full year of experience. The drive test measures ordinary traffic skills, but it cannot safely recreate a skid, a sudden obstacle, or the split-second decision required in an emergency stop.
Driver Complete ($825) includes a 3.5-hour session after the license is earned. In a controlled space, your teen practices emergency braking, skid recovery, hazard response, and precise vehicle control. The instructor can reset the station and keep working the drill.
The controlled setting lets the instructor coach each response and show how a driver's choices shape the car's movement and outcome.
Sessions are scheduled after licensure at Colorado Springs-area sites, not at offices. Availability, weather, safety, staffing, equipment, location, and program policies apply.
Behind Every Package
Finishing the class does not end the support your family gets. Your teen can retake the course to review it, parents can request a lesson review, and eligible graduates may qualify for insurance or AAA benefits.
Completing the 30-hour course does not end your teen's access to it. They may return to the full class at no additional charge when a refresher would help. Families may also schedule instructor time for a new vehicle, a tricky intersection, a safety question, or the next practice goal. Availability and program terms apply.
Dash cameras operate in every lesson vehicle. Contact us within 7 days if something concerns you while footage may still exist. We will examine the experience and follow up. The promise does not guarantee a license, test result, refund, free lesson, instructor or schedule change, or another outcome.
Driver education, professional lessons, or another approved safety program may lower a teen's premium with some insurers. Eligibility, documents, and savings vary by company and policy, so confirm the requirements before counting on a discount.
An eligible teen graduate may qualify for a free AAA membership when dependent on an active AAA Primary Member living in Colorado. Eligibility, enrollment, territory, expiration, renewal, and other AAA program rules apply.
Beginning January 1, 2027, HB24-1021 requires driver education before Colorado issues a first permit. Applicants ages 15 through 17 must complete a 30-hour course. Applicants ages 18 through 20 may complete that course or a 4-hour driver awareness program.
The five-day classroom course meets the 30-hour requirement, so students who finish it before 2027 will not need a different course.
The permit rule is separate from behind-the-wheel training. A teen seeking a license before age 16½ must complete six hours of professional instruction through an approved driving school.
Read Colorado's 2027 Driver's Ed Guide for Parents →Accuracy reviewed by Kevin Hughes, Owner. Kevin is a Colorado driver-education expert who has created extensive Colorado-specific driver's ed content and provided driver-safety expertise to local news outlets. Classroom and licensing information for Colorado Springs families was checked against state driver-education standards, DMV requirements, HB24-1021, and regulator guidance. Last reviewed: August 2026
Straight From Families
Great company! Fair pricing and good coaches! Thank you for helping our kiddo get her license! So grateful for all of your staff for feedback and availability. Would recommend them for any new driver!
I came in inexperienced and scared, but left much less afraid and feeling like I had driven for a while. Jessica was extremely helpful and kind, and I would recommend her to anyone learning to drive.
Great experience from the friendly welcome through the drive test. My examiner, Ilse, gave clear and precise directions and kept the test easygoing. I would recommend American Driving Academy to anyone.
An eligible teen who completes an American Driving Academy course may qualify for a free AAA membership when dependent on an active AAA Primary Member living in Colorado. The teen membership expires on the Primary Member's renewal date. This is not an automatic or standalone membership. AAA eligibility, enrollment, territory, and program terms control. Families should confirm the current requirements before relying on the benefit. Existing AAA Members may call 877-244-9790 to add an eligible teen driver.
See AAA Eligibility and Membership DetailsTwo Ways to Learn
Both paths fulfill the same Colorado requirements for a permit and license.
Your teen learns best with a live instructor, a set five-day schedule, and other students discussing the same Colorado situations in real time.
All 30 hours happen face to face at the Colorado Springs office you choose, with questions answered on the spot.
Your teen prefers self-paced work, needs to fit driver's ed around school, activities, or a job, and is comfortable managing progress from home.
Colorado Springs online packages stay Colorado-specific and still include lessons, the drive test, and Driver Skills Day.
Colorado Springs classroom packages cost $195 for Permit Ready, $515 for Road Ready, $595 for License Ready, and $825 for Driver Complete. Every package includes the five-day, 30-hour class and permit test. Road Ready covers six hours of lessons, License Ready also covers the Colorado drive test, and Driver Complete extends training through Driver Skills Day.
Students may begin the 30-hour classroom course at 14 years and 6 months. Starting around 14½ gives a teen time to finish class, take the permit test at 14 years and 11 months, and receive the permit on the 15th birthday or later.
A minor can first become eligible at age 16. The student generally must hold the permit for 12 full months, record 50 supervised hours including 10 at night, complete any required professional instruction, pass the drive test, and satisfy current DMV rules.
Classes are scheduled on weekends during the school year and in fall, winter, spring, and summer breaks. Each class spans five days and usually meets from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. Current Colorado Springs dates and office options appear when a package is selected.
Six hours through an approved driving school are generally required when a teen plans to receive a license before age 16½. A student licensing later may not need them, although professional lessons can still improve observation, control, confidence, and readiness.
Driver Skills Day is a 3.5-hour, hands-on session included in Driver Complete. Students attend after earning a license and practice skid recovery, emergency braking, hazard response, vehicle control, tire safety, and vehicle checks on scheduled Colorado Springs-area dates.
ADA Safety Advantage™ belongs only to the original student and cannot be transferred. Complimentary re-enrollment applies to the American Driving Academy 30-hour driver education course and may be completed online or in person, subject to course availability, platform availability, and enrollment policies. It does not include permit tests, behind-the-wheel lessons, drive tests, private tutoring, state fees, third-party charges, or other paid services. Instructor support must be scheduled and remains subject to availability.
The benefit carries no cash value. It remains available during the original student's lifetime while American Driving Academy continues operating and continues to offer the applicable course or support service.
The Lesson Review Promise applies to behind-the-wheel lessons provided by American Driving Academy. When a student or parent is dissatisfied, American Driving Academy will examine the lesson experience and follow up with the student or parent. The promise does not guarantee a license, drive-test result, test eligibility, skill level, refund, free lesson, instructor change, schedule change, or another specific outcome. Documentation, footage availability, scheduling, and program policies govern the review and follow-up.
Driver Skills Day is included with Driver Complete for students who have earned a license. Sessions run on scheduled dates and are subject to availability, location availability, weather, safety requirements, staffing, equipment, and program policies. American Driving Academy may change station activities, vehicles, exercises, sites, or format when safety, facilities, staffing, equipment, weather, or operations require it.
If Driver Skills Day is not offered to a Driver Complete student, or is delivered without the core hands-on skills described on this page, American Driving Academy will refund $225 of the Driver Complete price. That refund is the student's sole remedy related to Driver Skills Day. The remaining package services, including the 30-hour class, permit test, six hours of lessons, and drive test, are unaffected.
Colorado permit and license requirements vary with the student's age, permit date, training history, supervised hours, documents, and current DMV rules. A student may begin the 30-hour driver education course at 14 years and 6 months and may take the permit test with American Driving Academy at 14 years and 11 months. The permit may be issued at age 15 after course completion, a passing permit-test result, and the required DMV process.
A Colorado minor must hold the permit for 12 full months before applying for a license. A student seeking a license before age 16½ generally needs six hours of behind-the-wheel training through an approved driving school. Exceptions may apply. Families must confirm current Colorado DMV requirements before permit issuance, drive testing, or licensing.
American Driving Academy does not guarantee permit approval, license approval, insurance discounts, AAA membership, or drive-test results.
If under the age of 16, you need to first complete a driver's ed course. In-person and online options are available.
This 25 multiple-choice test is offered at many of our locations.
After passing the course and the permit test, you will need to go to the DMV to get your driving permit. To make a DMV appointment…
If you are under 16.5 years of age, you are required to take six hours of driving lessons before getting your driver's license. Learn to drive with our state-certified, friendly, and patient instructors.
After holding your permit for one full year, it is time to take your driver's license test.
You need to pass this test to get your permit. It is 25 multiple choice questions. We offer this test at many of our locations.
After passing the permit test, you will need to go to the DMV to get your driving permit. To make a DMV appointment…
If you are new to Colorado or you don’t have driving experience, we offer driving lessons 7 days a week. These are 2-hour lessons with state-certified, patient, and friendly instructors.
You are required to pass the driver's license test in order to get your driver's license. After passing, you may be eligible to get your license that same day without even having to visit the DMV.
