Marlowe Avenue, Cleveland · Since 2012
Every license, one rule: nobody gets shouted at
Dashline is 15 instructors, 32 cars, motorcycles and trucks, and two sites in the Cleveland area. We teach people who are nervous, people who are in a hurry, and people who were taught badly the first time.
The school
Why it started
I learned to drive in my dad’s pickup, with my dad yelling. It took me three road tests. When I started teaching, most of the people who came to me had a story like that, and the fix was never a new technique. It was someone calm in the passenger seat.
I started Dashline in 2012 with one car and a phone. Motorcycles came in 2016, when two of our riders wanted to teach; trucks in 2020, when local carriers could not find drivers. Now there are 15 of us. Every instructor is licensed for what they teach, has taught for at least four years, and has spent a week shadowing a senior instructor before teaching anyone alone.
Dana Whitfield, owner and instructor
How we teach
The instructors’ approach
Explain, then drive
Every new skill gets two minutes parked first: what we are about to do, what you will see, what to do if it goes wrong. Then you do it.
The second brake is a last resort
Instructors talk first and brake last. If we had to use it, we stop afterwards and say why, so it never feels like a punishment.
A written lesson log
After each lesson you get a short note: what you did well, the one thing to work on, what we will do next time. Parents of teens get a copy.
Same instructor, where we can
You keep one instructor from first lesson to road test unless you ask to switch, which is always fine and never awkward.
Where we teach
Two sites, 32 vehicles
The office and classroom are on Marlowe Avenue. The motorcycle range, the truck yard and the skid pad are on twelve acres outside the city. Every learner car has a passenger-side brake, an extra mirror for the instructor and a roof sign; everything is cleaned between lessons and serviced on schedule.
See the whole fleet
Policies
The rules, in plain words
- Permits and licenses
- Car learners need a valid learner’s permit (an Ohio temporary instruction permit, or the equivalent if you are licensed abroad) before the first drive; riders need a motorcycle permit before they ride on the road; CDL students need a commercial learner’s permit before driving a truck on public roads. SUV, performance and track sessions need a full license. We look at the card itself at the start of every first lesson. No card, no driving, and the lesson counts as a late cancellation.
- Under 18
- Students under 18 need a parent or guardian’s signed consent form before the first lesson. One form covers every lesson and course with us.
- Canceling and moving lessons
- Give us at least 24 hours’ notice and moving or canceling costs nothing. Less notice, or not being there when we pull up, and the lesson is charged or taken from your package. We wait 15 minutes before we count it as a no-show.
- Bad weather
- Rain, wind and dark are part of driving, so they are part of lessons. Ice, snow covering the road, or a severe weather warning are not. In that case we cancel, call you at least two hours before the lesson (by 6:30 am for early ones) and rebook at no charge. Your instructor can also stop a lesson on the road if conditions turn.
- Packages
- Lesson packages are valid for 12 months from the day you buy them. Unused lessons after that lapse; we are not able to refund them. A package belongs to one learner.
- Fit to drive
- We end a lesson, and charge for it, if a learner seems impaired by alcohol, drugs or medication. Tired is different: tell us, and we will spend the hour on something gentle.
So you don’t waste a call
What we don’t do
- School bus, passenger (P and S) and hazardous materials (H) CDL endorsements
- Wheel-to-wheel racing or racing licenses: our track days are coached, not raced
- Court-ordered remedial courses for license suspensions
- Vehicle rental without an instructor, other than on your own road test day
Book a first lesson
Tell us what you need and when you are free. We reply with times and a price before anything is booked.