South West
Driving test centres in Devon
Every DVSA practical test centre in Devon, with a guide to the road types each one's routes use. 5 centres covered, including Barnstaple, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Torquay.
All 5 centres in Devon
How Devon test routes differ from each other
Routes out of Devon's 5 centres between them cover high street, suburban streets, rural fringe, city streets, a38 dual carriageway and suburban hills, and more besides. That spread is why two centres fifteen miles apart can feel like different tests.
Anyone selling you "the Devon test route" is selling a guess — the DVSA withdrew published routes in 2010. What is knowable is the road types, starting with high street, and those are what our instructors drill.
Centre by centre — Barnstaple: high street, suburban streets and rural fringe. Routes leave the built-up area quickly, so speed adjustment between limits is heavily assessed.. Exeter: city streets, a38 dual carriageway and suburban hills. Expect a fast dual-carriageway section and a return through tight city roads.. Newton Abbot: town-centre streets, a-roads and residential estates. Routes leave the built-up area quickly, so speed adjustment between limits is heavily assessed.. Plymouth: steep hills, busy junctions and dual carriageway. Gradient control is the local challenge.. Torquay: seafront, narrow hilly streets and a380 links. Summer traffic changes the character of routes significantly..
Devon: the things that catch learners out
Routes leave the built-up area quickly, so speed adjustment between limits is heavily assessed., Expect at least one manoeuvre on a residential street with parked cars., Most candidates here travel in from around Devon, so allow for the journey when you pick a slot., Expect a fast dual-carriageway section and a return through tight city roads. and Junction observation on the approach roads is the recurring theme.. None of that is a route, and none of it is a guarantee — it is what comes back from instructors teaching these centres week in, week out.
Preparing for a test in Devon
Practice on the real roads
Your last sessions before the test are worked around your booked centre, not generic estate roads.
A marked mock test
Run the way an examiner runs it, with a written debrief of every fault.
All four manoeuvres
Practised in the kind of locations examiners in this area actually use.
Test-day rehearsal
Paperwork, show me / tell me and the independent drive, covered in advance.
Devon test centre FAQs
How many driving test centres are there in Devon?
We cover 5 DVSA practical test centres in Devon: Barnstaple, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Torquay. Each has its own page setting out the road types local routes use and the faults learners most often lose marks on there.
Which Devon test centre should I book?
Book the centre whose roads you can realistically practise on before test day. Pass rates get quoted a lot, but a centre 30 miles away with a higher published rate is worse value than the one your instructor teaches around every week. If you are unsure, tell us your postcode and we will say which centre most of our learners in your area use.
Do you have instructors near every centre in Devon?
We cover 3 towns in Devon — Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay — plus the surrounding villages. Put your postcode into the search and we will tell you honestly whether an instructor can reach you.
What does a course cost?
Our rate is the same everywhere in the UK: £61.23 an hour, so a 20 hour intensive course is £1,224.55. The DVSA test fee is paid separately to the government.
Not sure how many hours you need?
Answer four quick questions and we will recommend a course based on your experience, not a sales target.