Drivers Ed in Dakota County, MN: Costs, Steps, and How to Enroll
From a locally owned driving school based in Apple Valley, serving families across Dakota County and the ISD 196 area.
If you're a parent anywhere in Dakota County — Apple Valley, Rosemount, Eagan, or the surrounding communities — searching for driver's ed for your teen, you probably have three questions: what's involved, what does it cost, and who can you trust in the car with your kid. I'm Chris Scanlon — I run South Metro Driving School, right here in the south metro. Here's a straight answer to all three.
What driver's ed actually involves in Minnesota
To get a Minnesota license as a teen, your student needs three things:
30-Hours of Classroom Instruction — this is what qualifies them to take the Permit (Knowledge) Test.
An Instruction Permit to Drive — earned by passing the Knowledge Test at a DMV exam station.
6 Hours of Behind-the-Wheel Training with a licensed instructor, plus 50 hours of supervised driving with a parent (or 40 hours if you complete the Supplemental Parent Awareness class).
After all that and a passing Road Test, they earn their Provisional License. South Metro Driving School walks every family through this so nobody's guessing.
How it works with South Metro, across Dakota County
Our instructors are current and former local professional teachers — the same caliber of people who teach your kids at school, now teaching them to drive. Every lesson is one-on-one (never shared with another student), and our routes run the roads your teen actually drives.
From the roundabouts and Cedar Avenue in Apple Valley, to County Road 42 through Rosemount, to Pilot Knob, Diffley, and Yankee Doodle in Eagan, to County Road 46 and the busier corridors in Lakeville and Farmington — we teach on the real streets of Dakota County. And because most of our families test at the Eagan exam station on Cliff Road, we make sure your teen has practiced those routes before test day.
What it costs
Here's our current pricing, no surprises:
30-hour online classroom: $99 — self-paced, meets the state requirement.
6 hours behind-the-wheel (one-on-one): $438.
A Classroom + Behind-the-Wheel package is coming this fall — keep an eye out.
How to enroll (about 5 minutes)
Go to SouthMetroDrivingSchool.com and choose your teen's package.Complete the quick intake so we have your student's legal name and details for the state.Pay online.We confirm you're in the system and reach out to get lessons on the calendar.
We handle the state paperwork on our end and tell you exactly what's next at every step.Why Dakota County families choose us
We've earned a 4.9-star rating from local families, and it's because we treat this like what it is: putting your child behind the wheel of a car. Calm instructors, clear communication, and teachers who genuinely like working with teenagers.
Ready to get started? Enroll at SouthMetroDrivingSchool.com — or reach out with any questions. We're your neighbors, and we're happy to help.
Serving the ISD 196 area — Apple Valley, Rosemount, and Eagan — plus Lakeville, Farmington, Burnsville, Hastings, and the greater Dakota County / south metro.
