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THE EXPERIENCE

The wait is over. After 5 years of fine-tuning our craft, SHIFTR is now available in your area.

We're the preferred choice for professional quality stick shift lessons. If you want to learn how to safely and properly drive a manual transmission vehicle, then you've come to the right place. Whether it's your first time or it's been a while and you want to work off the rust, we provide a variety of lessons tailored towards your goals.

Your day will start off learning the fundamentals of stick shift driving including conceptual topics, first gear, reverse gear, parking, upshifting and downshifting, proper hill control, as well as more adventurous real-world practice on city streets and surrounding areas. Regardless of the lesson you choose, you'll walk away with practical knowledge that you'll be able to apply right away.

Learn to drive a stick shift with SHIFTR
The Experience

A NOTE ABOUT SAFETY

Did you know some companies that offer stick shift lessons don't provide a professional experience? While their prices may seem tempting, these low prices carry personal and financial risks that you should be aware of before considering them.

There is no guarantee that you'll receive a proper, structured lesson. Parking lots are red flags!

Each instructor conducts the lesson their own way and there may not be a structured lesson plan to follow. Be especially careful when the entire lesson is taught in a parking lot, since you can't learn all the skills necessary to safely drive a manual car from just a parking lot. We've had numerous customers who have taken lessons with these companies, didn't learn much, and came to us for a proper lesson. The incorrect techniques that they were initially taught at these other companies shocked us!

You're fully liable in case of an accident.

There's a reason why these other companies require you to have your own insurance and/or use your own car. Their insurance won't cover an accident or a collision with others; therefore, you're financially on the hook, even if the accident is not your fault.

 

There is no guarantee that their instructors are background checked.

The hiring model these companies follow puts revenue ahead of safety, and they hire just about anyone to provide lessons to you. You cannot be assured that your instructor doesn't have a questionable background.

These companies don't have maintenance requirements for the vehicle used during the lesson.

There may not be any sort of quality standards for the instructor's vehicle and the instructor may not have to follow any sort of maintenance schedule to ensure that the vehicle used for the lesson is safe. We've heard stories of customers learning for 2 to 3 hours in a car that was smoked in and barely drivable.

SHIFTR is different. With us you'll have a safe and relaxed experience.

  • We provide professional training to our instructors with the goal of providing you with a consistent and structured educational experience so that you can be confident your time and effort are well spent. SHIFTR's CEO initially founded Shift Bay Area, and Shift Bay Area's 95+ five star reviews on Google highlight the unique approach we've developed to help you learn this skill.

  • We conduct our lessons on quiet open roads to ensure that you properly learn ALL the skills. Unlike other companies, we won't keep you stuck in a parking lot for your entire lesson.

  • SHIFTR provides automobile insurance for the instructor's vehicle, which means that your lesson is fully insured to provide a safe learning environment.

  • Our instructors are background checked, which gives you peace of mind knowing that you're spending hours with a person who has a clean background.

  • We have standards for our instructor vehicles and we personally inspect them before they're used to conduct lessons, which means they must be maintained to provide the best learning environment.

 

Our goal is to inform you of your options and give you the tools to ask the right questions so that you can make an informed decision. As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for" and some of these other companies are cheap for a reason. Stay safe out there!

A Note About Safety

OUR LESSONS
WERE BORN TO BE 5 STAR QUALITY

We took our 5 years of experience running the most successful stick shift driving school in Northern California and have expanded our model with SHIFTR. Now you can expect the same high quality lessons in your local area.

Discover what our customers are saying about us. If you'd like to read all of our Google Reviews, click on the link below.

SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson reviews on Google
SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson google review

Andrew Martin

Dan is an excellent instructor. His ability to tailor the lesson on-the-fly was very helpful. If I decide to get more seat time with an instructor, I will definitely book with them again.  View on Google

SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson google review

Alejandro

Excellent teaching, safe, clear, consistent. Not sure what could have made it a better experience, 10/10 recommend.  View on Google

SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson google review

Nash Oldach

David was a great teacher, I throughly enjoyed my lesson and recommend for anyone wanting to learn how to drive manual.  View on Google

SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson google review

Michael Dellamano

The instructor was very patient and explained things clearly and thoroughly to make sure I was grasping concepts. After 2 hours with the instructor, I wished I had been driving home in a manual car. Awesome experience.  View on Google

SHIFTR 5 star stick shift lesson google review

Nicholas Chiara

Dennis is an absolutely fantastic instructor, and I highly recommend SHIFTR Norcal for anyone who is interested in manual training sessions for a fair price!  View on Google

PRICING

Our prices start at $239 for a basic lesson and $349 for a complete experience. We also offer custom lessons starting at $129 per hour, which we can tailor to your specific goals. Learn more about each course below, and if you're ready to take the next step it only takes a minute to book your lesson.

Pricing
Learn to drive a stick shift with SHIFTR

WHY SHIFTR

A different approach, focusing on safety and quality.

When I started Shift Bay Area 5 years ago, my goal was to teach the proper skills and confidence to drive a manual transmission vehicle while making sure that you have fun in the process. After growing tremendously in the San Francisco Bay Area and successfully instructing thousands of customers, I founded SHIFTR so that we can bring safe, fun, and high quality lessons to your area.

As an auto enthusiast, a pilot, and throughout my career of mentoring others, I've observed various teaching techniques that are effective in making sure that students walk away from a lesson with the confidence to put those skills to use. That's the mission that I instill in every instructor on my team, with the added requirement that learning should also be a fun experience. I invite you to give us a try!

 

Sincerely,

Dennis Chernyukhin 

Founder, SHIFTR

About Us
How to drive a stick shift eBook

Author: Dennis Chernyukhin

Price: $9.99

How to drive a stick shift eBook on Apple Books
How to drive a stick shift eBook on Google Play

HOW TO DRIVE A STICK SHIFT eBOOK

A complete step-by-step guide that will teach you everything you need to know to be able to drive a manual transmission car.

 

Since starting with Shift Bay Area in 2018, we've successfully instructed thousands of students and grew to become Northern California's preferred stick shift driving school. Based on customer demand we decided to take our most popular behind-the-wheel End-to-End stick shift driving lesson and expanded it into an eBook with over 150 illustrations to aid the written content.

This eBook covers high-level conceptual topics, 1st gear and clutch control, reverse gear, how to upshift to 2nd gear, proper upshifting and downshifting techniques in the higher gears, and hill control, where you'll learn about parking on hills and how to start on inclines. At the end of this eBook you'll have a complete overview of how to safely operate a manual transmission car, and it will help build your confidence so that you can use the skills you learn in the real world.

eBook

CONTACT

Looking to book a lesson? Use our booking page. If you want to contact us for any other reason you can get a hold of us here.

SHIFTR, LLC

PO Box 1552

Lincoln, CA 95648

E: info@helloshiftr.com

Tel: (279) 888-1975

 

We're open 24/7 via email, and we'll return your call as soon as we park the car.

Contact Us

Thanks for contacting us! We'll get back to you as soon as we park the car.

Contact
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