Sourced from official DVSA data
UK MOT statistics
How many cars actually pass their MOT, what makes them fail, and how much that varies by brand, drawn from DVSA's own published test data rather than assumptions.
Sourced from official DVSA data
How many cars actually pass their MOT, what makes them fail, and how much that varies by brand, drawn from DVSA's own published test data rather than assumptions.
~27-29%
Initial failure rate
2.4
Avg. defects per failed test
£54.85
Maximum test fee (car)
~8%
Tests failed with a dangerous defect
Most common reasons for failure
Share of all recorded failure items, by category, from DVSA's 2025 test year data.
Source: Brumble analysis of DVSA's 2025 MOT test year dataset (23.5 million failure items), published under the Open Government Licence, plus RAC analysis of DVSA data. Figures for tyres and visibility are approximate, rounded from overlapping DVSA reporting periods rather than a single dataset. The top five categories combined account for roughly 58% of all failures. A car can fail for more than one reason, so these percentages aren't additive to a single total.
MOT pass rate by manufacturer
Based on DVSA's 2025 test year data (released June 2026), the highest and lowest pass rates among major brands.
Source: Brumble analysis of DVSA's 2025 MOT test year data, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MG notably ranks ahead of BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Renault has the lowest pass rate of any major brand, with Citroen close behind.
Pass rate by vehicle age
Older cars fail more often, a consistent pattern across DVSA's published data.
Illustrative figures from published analysis of DVSA MOT age-banded pass rates. The general pattern, older cars failing more often, is consistent across every dataset reviewed; the exact percentage at each age varies slightly by year and source.
What this actually means for you
Just over a quarter of cars fail their MOT the first time they're tested, and lighting faults, not something dramatic like an engine or gearbox problem, are the single biggest cause. Most of the top five failure categories (lights, suspension, brakes, tyres, visibility) can be at least partly caught with a five-minute check before the test: bulbs, tyre tread, wiper condition, and washer fluid are all things worth checking yourself first.
The manufacturer data is worth knowing if you're choosing between makes for your next car, not as the only factor, but as one genuine signal among several. A car from a brand with a consistently lower pass rate isn't necessarily a bad individual car, but it's a real, DVSA-sourced pattern worth being aware of alongside checking the specific vehicle's own history.
Frequently asked questions
The initial MOT failure rate for cars and light vans has run at roughly 27 to 29 percent in recent DVSA data, meaning around 71 to 73 percent pass on their first attempt, before any retest.
Lamps, reflectors, and electrical equipment is consistently the single largest category of MOT failures, accounting for roughly a quarter of all failure items, ahead of suspension, brakes, tyres, and visibility.
Based on 2025 DVSA test year data, Porsche recorded the highest MOT pass rate among major brands at 87.49 percent, with Lexus and Tesla close behind. Renault recorded the lowest at 62.42 percent.
Check any specific car's own MOT history and current status by registration number.
Check MOT history