GoToTrafficSchool is one of the largest online driving schools around and they’ve been in business for over a decade now. They actually guarantee the lowest price, which in turn, makes them one of the most popular courses. While the course does lack a bit of quality as compared to other online traffic schools, you aren’t paying the premium price, either. Below is a full review of the GoToTrafficSchool defensive driving course and online ticket dismissal course.
Quick Overview
For those of you who don’t want to read a lengthy review, here’s a quick overview of what I thought. First of all, yes, they are legit. Not only that, but they are one of the most popular online traffic schools available with over 1,000,000 customers and counting. They also have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
The Good Stuff
Chances are you’re not taking the course by choice, but there are some good things about this course:
- Lowest price guarantee (they’ll beat any price you can find).
- Start and stop the course whenever you want (finish the course in hours or spread it out over days, whichever you like best).
- Extremely simple quizzes at the end of each chapter.
- Same day certificate processing.
- Approved for ticket dismissal and insurance reduction in most states (they will double-check for you).
- Over 1-million customers (guinea pigs).
- They’ve been listed on this site for over 2 years and I’ve never received a single complaint.
- While lower quality, they do have animations, videos, and things to help make time go by faster.
The Bad Stuff
Overall, I wouldn’t have any concerns signing up for GoToTrafficSchool. But here are some of the negatives I found in the course:
- Random authentication – you have to answer personal questions at random to be sure you are really the one taking the course (state requirement).
- Most courts require a timer to be used on each page so you can’t move on until the timer counts down.
- Must score 80% on the final to pass, otherwise, you have to take the final exam again.
- Extra charge for expedited shipping and the shipping charges are very high.
- A few site bug issues – froze upon us once and some sections with weird formatting (nothing that hinders the course, mostly just visual).
Course Length
This is going to depend entirely on where you got your ticket. For some courts, no timers are required and that means you can blow through it in about 30 or 40 minutes. If course timers are required, it’ll take you hours to finish. That’s not really the fault of GoToTrafficSchool, it’s just a court requirement.
Course difficulty: Easy
Other than being a bit time-consuming and a little boring, the course is extremely easy. The quizzes are so simple you can probably answer them without even going through the course.
There are only 2 questions at the end of each chapter and you only need to get 1 right to move on (at least that’s how it was for the course I took). You’ll definitely learn a few new things, but most of it is just common sense and stuff you’ve heard before.
The final exam does have some tricky questions, but it shouldn’t hinder you at all from passing. For most courts, you can’t fail it anyway. You just keep taking it until you pass.
Full Review Of GoToTrafficSchool
As usual, I go way overboard with my traffic school reviews. I hope this helps you make your decision though!
Sign Up Process
Signing up is pretty straightforward. You’ll need to enter in your personal info and they will verify if you’re eligible to take the course. You’ll also need to enter in all your ticket info. After that, you’re ready to begin. You don’t even need to enter your credit card info yet.
As you can see in the screenshot below, you can elect to start the course and pay later.
Taking The Course
There are several different sections to the course. Each section consists of multiple pages. The pages are a mixture of text, animations, and video, but it’s mostly text-based. You can also elect for a “read along” feature and have the text read to you but it costs a few extra bucks. I didn’t use that feature so I have no idea if it’s good or not. Surprisingly, they have a way of keeping your attention. It’s really not that bad. The course is offered in several languages as well so if you prefer to take it in Spanish or Chinese or whatever, you can do that.
Here’s a screenshot of the table of contents:
Section Quizzes
After each section, they ask a couple of multiple-choice questions to make sure you’ve been paying attention. They call them “validation questions” for some reason. Honestly, you should be able to get the questions right even if you haven’t been paying attention! If you get a question wrong, you just take it again and again until you get it right. This is one of the easiest courses I’ve taken. Just to show you I’m not kidding, here is a screenshot of one of the quizzes I was given.
Course Quality
Honestly, this course does lack a bit in the “quality” department, but that’s how they keep their price so low. They do still offer some animations and video, it just so happens to be older stuff, a little outdated, and lower quality. Again, this course is best suited for those who want to pay the cheapest possible price while still going through a reputable company. It’s certainly not terrible quality as I’ve seen much worse, but it’s not anything all that spectacular, either.
Here are a couple of screenshots from the course.
Starting And Stopping The Course
One thing GoToTrafficSchool did really well is create an easy-to-use interface. To save your progress, all you have to do is… Nothing! They keep track of everything for you. There’s no need to even hit a “Save” button. Simply log off and you can log back in from any computer with an internet connection. It’s that easy.
The Course Timer
Unfortunately, for most courts, you can’t just blast through the sections as fast as you want. Each page and each section is timed. You are forced to spend a certain amount of time on each page. That pretty much sucks, but it’s required by most states and is out of the control of GoToTrafficSchool. Oh well.
The Final Exam
After completing all of the sections, you’ll need to take a final exam. It’s relatively short and covers everything you learned in all sections. You must score between 70% and 80% (depending on your court) to pass. If you fail it, just retake it as many times as you want for no extra fees. It’s pretty darn easy guys. If you can’t pass their final exam, you probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place!
Notifying The Courts
Once you pass, they will issue you a certificate of completion. If you have taken the course for ticket dismissal, in most states, they will automatically notify the court for you. However, if you wait until the last minute and you need the courts to be notified immediately, it’s going to cost you. Online traffic schools are known for their high expedited shipping costs and GoToTrafficSchool is no exception. Below are the shipping options I was given.
Is Online Traffic School Better Than Classroom Traffic School?
Most definitely. Even the worst online traffic school is better than a classroom-based course. If you’re fortunate to be able to take your traffic school online, GoToTrafficSchool will fulfill all your requirements. Plus, you can do it at your own pace, on your own time, and you can use any computer (or smartphone or tablet) to get it done.
Why would you want to destroy an entire Saturday taking traffic school at some community college in a stuffy classroom with a boring teacher that just wants to lecture you about driving laws? Unless you have absolutely no willpower or self-motivation, take your traffic school online.
Alternative
Although GoToTrafficSchool is already one of the best and most affordable online traffic schools that you can find, we understand the importance of looking into other alternatives before deciding to commit. So here’s another online traffic school that I can also recommend:
MyImprov Traffic School
This simple and reliable online traffic school does not only offer an entertaining course, it’s also as informative and as effective as any online traffic school course. What sets them apart though is that the course is written alongside professional comedians from the renowned Improv Comedy Club for maximum humor.
MyImprov has this unique teaching style they call “edutainment”. They combine humor with science to make traffic school entertaining yet impactful, which can significantly reduce driving violations and crashes. They’ve utilized humorous micro-learning lessons, using hilarious comedy skits and witty visuals, in a fun and memorable format.
MyImprov is licensed and approved in several states and courts Plus, they are in partnership with many insurance companies, such as GEICO, and driving schools across the U.S. You can rely on its courses whether you’re looking for insurance reductions, point reduction, ticket dismissal, and even online driver’s ed.
Both its past students and the media have recognized MyImprov as one of the best online traffic schools. What’s more, they also boast a 99% test pass rate, making this course one of the easiest ones around.
Final Thoughts
I wouldn’t say GoToTrafficSchool is my top choice, but then again, you aren’t paying a top price, either. In fact, you’re getting the best price available, guaranteed. Because of their low pricing, they lack on quality a little bit.
As long as you’re ok with lower-quality animations and outdated videos, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t take this course. It’s legit, they have been in business for a long time, and millions of people have gone through this course successfully before you.
If this school and its pricing look good, don’t think twice. This is one of the good schools.
If not, check MyImprov to see if its course fits your learning style instead. They’re also one of the best there is, and the most entertaining, if you ask me.