Exeter Driving Test Centre
Exeter in Exeter currently passes 47.9% of tests, 0.8 points below the UK average of 48.7%. The sections below cover the year-by-year trend, who passes most often, how long learners wait, and how it stacks up against neighbouring centres.
DVSA data last updated July 2026
Exeter sits in the bottom half of car pass rates nationally (Bottom 32%, rank #221 of 323). The strongest car alternative nearby is Barry, about 48.4 miles away.
Pass vs fail at a glance
All-time 53.0K passed, 53.9K failed, 106.9K total
How Exeter compares
Exeter sits within a percentage point of the UK figure and is ranked 221 of 323 in its category: the venue itself is unlikely to move your odds either way.
Where Exeter ranks among 323 centres
Pass-rate trend by year
Stability is the story at Exeter: 48.5% in 2017-18, 47.9% now, and every year in between inside a 4.1-point band.
Pass rate by demographic
Waiting time at Exeter
The headline figure for reaching 10% availability is 21.8 weeks, but the typical (median) learner who took their test at Exeter in May 2026 had waited 7.4 weeks from booking to test day.
Official DVSA data, May 2026. The median is the time between booking and taking the test; for live availability use the DVSA booking service.
Centre details
Address
Source: DVSA find a driving test centre (Open Government Licence v3.0), captured 2026-05-12.
Tests offered at Exeter
- car
- motorcycle module 1 (off-road)
- motorcycle module 2 (on-road)
- ADI part 2
- ADI part 3
Accessibility & facilities
Parking and toilet details aren't included in DVSA's published feed. For the current on-site facilities, check the DVSA find a driving test centre tool with postcode EX2 8FS, or call DVSA Customer Services on 0300 200 1122.
About this test centre
Drivers booked at Exeter report to a DVSA centre in Exeter, Devon and Torbay. The car routes used here are drawn from the streets the centre's examiners drive every week, so the test reflects local conditions rather than a generic syllabus. 106.9K tests over 2017-18-2024-25. That's enough volume that the headline pass rate here moves slowly, a single bad quarter shifts it by a fraction of a percentage point rather than visibly.
By raw pass rate Exeter sits at 47.9%, with the DVSA's national car average over the same window running at 48.7%. The gap (within a point of the UK figure) places the centre at rank #221 of 323, inside the lower half of the country's car test centres. Exeter is one of the tougher venues for a first attempt. The DVSA reports 46.7% first-time pass against a UK average of 49%, 2.3 points down on the national figure.
All figures shown are aggregated from the DVSA quarterly statistical release covering the most recent reporting periods available. Pass-rate calculations exclude tests cancelled by the candidate or examiner. Sample sizes and methodology are described in the source attribution at the foot of this page.
What learners should know about Exeter
- Centre difficulty is roughly average at Exeter. The same fault categories that fail candidates nationally (junctions, mirrors, observation) are what fail candidates here, in similar proportions.
- Exeter is a high-volume centre. Booking pressure is real, check the DVSA booking service daily for earlier slots rather than relying on the headline available date.
- Practising the roads around the centre is the preparation that most reliably pays off. Most ADI instructors in Exeter will know the road types and junctions learners commonly meet near the centre.
- Book through the official DVSA service (gov.uk/book-driving-test). Third-party "fast-track" sites charge a premium for the same booking; the official DVSA booking service is free.
Other test centres nearby
On the day at Exeter
Aim to be at Exeter ten minutes early. Because parking and waiting facilities are not the same at every DVSA centre, check the approach on the DVSA centre finder before the day. Demand is high and the modelled wait is close to 15 to 19 weeks, so an early booking and a cancellation alert are both worth setting up. The examiner needs to see your provisional photocard licence to begin, and the car you bring must be roadworthy, fitted with L plates and a working interior mirror. If Newton Abbot is fully booked, Exeter is the next closest centre, roughly 14 miles away.
The test runs for around 40 minutes and follows the same DVSA format used at every centre. The examiner checks your eyesight at 20 metres, asks you a tell-me safety question, then sits in for the drive, with one show-me question while you are driving. About 20 minutes of it is independent driving, either following a sat nav the examiner sets up or following road signs to a named place. You will do one of four set manoeuvres, and roughly one in seven candidates is asked to perform an emergency stop. The drive works through whatever mix of urban and outlying roads sits within about a twenty-minute radius, and at a centre this busy that usually means heavier traffic to read. Across DVSA marking nationally, the fault recorded most often on car tests is junctions - observation, worth drilling on the local routes before your date.
You find out there and then, back at Exeter. The examiner runs through the faults on the DL25 feedback form and, on a pass, keeps your provisional licence so a full licence follows in the post. Clearing the test means staying under 16 driving faults, that is 15 or fewer, with no serious or dangerous fault; 47.9% of candidates here manage it on the current marking.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate at Exeter?
Is Exeter an easy or hard test centre?
How does Exeter compare to the UK average?
How many driving tests does Exeter record?
Which driving test centres are near Exeter?
When is the best time to book a test at Exeter?
How do I book a test at Exeter and what do I need?
How long is the wait for a driving test at Exeter?
Data: DVSA quarterly statistical release, released under the Open Government Licence v3.0. PassRates.uk aggregates DVSA centre-level totals across reporting periods.
Edited by Vikas. DVSA data period: 2024-25.