# Devon

URL: https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/car-hire/devon

Performance & Prestige has no depot, branch or rental counter in Devon and holds no premises there. Every lease is delivered to an address you choose and collected from it afterwards.

Devon is two counties wearing one name: a fast, open eastern half around Exeter and the estuaries, and a slow, sunken western half of lanes, moor and hills. We deliver into Exeter, Topsham, Exmouth, Sidmouth and Budleigh, out through Newton Abbot to Torquay and the south hams at Totnes, Dartmouth and Salcombe, and across to Tavistock, Chagford and the Dartmoor edge. The motorway stops at Exeter, and everything after that is A road, B road and then something with grass growing down the middle of it. That progression is the whole story of a Devon delivery, and it is why we ask what the last mile looks like rather than assuming. We hold no premises in Devon, so nothing here asks you to travel to collect anything.

Typical delivery: Which side of the county you are on does most of the work. An address around Exeter or the east Devon coast is reached on good road nearly the whole way. A house in the south hams or on the moor edge finishes down a lane where the width, not the distance, is the constraint. Summer changes both, because the A30 and A38 carry holiday traffic that turns a straightforward afternoon into an afternoon spent stationary. The window is set against those facts by a person, talked through with you, and committed only once you have agreed it.

Devon lanes are the defining feature. They run between earth banks high enough to hide an oncoming vehicle entirely, with no verge to move onto and passing places that were never formally made. A covered transporter cannot use them, so the final leg is driven, slowly, and often with somebody walking ahead at a pinch point. On the moor edge, cattle grids mark where the fences stop and the livestock begin. In the estuary towns the problem changes shape: Salcombe, Dartmouth and the older parts of Totnes are steep, narrow and heavily parked, so we agree a handover point on flatter ground and walk the car in afterwards.

Postcode areas covered: EX, TQ, PL.

## What are Devon lanes really like for a wide car?

Tighter than anything a satnav's estimated time implies. The banks are earth and stone, they are older than the traffic on them, and they do not give. A car the width of a modern performance saloon uses most of the available surface, which means reversing to a gateway is a normal part of any journey rather than an emergency. After hedge-cutting the lanes are strewn with cut blackthorn, which is a well known cause of punctures in this part of the world. Mud from farm traffic sits on the surface through most of the winter. None of that is a reason to stay off them, and all of it is a reason to go slowly.

## Is Dartmoor worth taking the car onto?

Yes, in the right conditions and at the right hour. The roads across the moor are unfenced, which is the fact that matters: ponies, sheep and cattle wander onto the tarmac and lie on it at night because it holds the day's heat. Cattle grids mark every boundary. The B3212 between Moretonhampstead and Two Bridges is the classic crossing, and the lanes towards Widecombe are narrower and prettier. Moor weather turns quickly, and hill fog can reduce visibility to a few car lengths on a clear morning. Go early, keep the speed down, and accept that this is a place to look at rather than to press on.

## Which weeks make the A30 and A38 impossible?

The summer changeover Saturdays above all, and school holidays generally. The motorway network ends at Exeter, so everything heading further west funnels onto two roads at the same point, and a queue at one junction backs up for a long way in both directions. If your dates land in that window, an early handover on a weekday is worth far more than a convenient one on a Saturday. Tell us the dates when you enquire and we will set the time against what is actually happening on the road rather than against a map.

## Where can the car go in Salcombe, Dartmouth and the estuary towns?

Carefully, and not everywhere. The old parts of both towns are steep, single-track in effect, and lined with resident permit bays that a leased car has no standing in. Car parks fill early through the season. The Dart is crossed by two vehicle ferries rather than a bridge at Dartmouth, and the ramps at each end are short and steep, which is exactly the geometry that grounds a low front. If you are staying somewhere with its own parking, that solves most of it. If you are not, take the handover on the edge of town and walk the last part.

## Do you come to north Devon and Exmoor as well?

Barnstaple, Bideford, Croyde, Woolacombe, Braunton and the Lynton side are part of the same run, and the villages along the Exmoor edge are delivery country too. What changes up there is gradient. The hills between Lynmouth and the moor are among the steepest main roads in England, with hairpins and long climbs that ask a great deal of brakes on the way down. The moor roads are unfenced in the same way Dartmoor's are. Send the postcode with a line about the approach and we will be straight about what the last part involves.

## Is a coastal address a problem over a three-month term?

It is a maintenance question rather than an obstacle. Salt air reaches everything parked near the water, blown sand collects on the coast roads and behaves like loose gravel under a wide tyre, and after a storm there is shingle on the carriageway along the exposed stretches. Beach car parks are frequently unsurfaced, and grass overflow turns soft after rain. A garage or a covered bay makes a real difference over that length of time. Tell us the parking arrangement when we agree the dates, because it occasionally changes which car makes sense for the term.

*Pre-launch note: the driver criteria, deposits, excesses and mileage allowances quoted here are read from Performance & Prestige's own catalogue data, which is still being confirmed with the owner and the insurer. Read them as the shape of the figures rather than as a quotation. What binds is your written quote and your agreement.*