MOT failure rates: the complete UK picture
57,663,348 tests · DVSA data · Updated February 2026
Roughly one in five cars fails its MOT. Across 57,663,348 DVSA test records, 78.3% of vehicles passed outright, and 21.7% failed on at least one item. That is around 12.5 million individual failures: cars sent away with defects ranging from a blown bulb to dangerous brake wear.
But the headline number hides enormous variation. The make you drive, the age of your car, and the category of vehicle all shift the odds significantly. A three-year-old Lexus and a fifteen-year-old Citroen are not facing the same test.
MOT fail rates by car brand
Filtering to mainstream car brands with 50,000 or more tests (excluding motorcycle-only manufacturers), the spread between best and worst is over 20 percentage points.
Lexus leads at 86.4%: fewer than 14 in 100 tests end in failure. This is consistent with external evidence. The Warranty Solutions Group 2025 report, based on over 15,000 warranty claims, named Lexus the UK's most reliable manufacturer with a claim rate of just 5.79%. Consumer Reports' 2025 survey of 380,000 vehicles placed Lexus in the top three globally, alongside Toyota and Subaru.
At the other end, Chevrolet sits at 65.7%, meaning roughly one in three Chevrolets fails. The gap between Lexus and Chevrolet is 20.7 percentage points.
German brands perform surprisingly well. BMW and Jaguar share joint second at 84.4%, with Audi at 83.9% and Mercedes at 82.0%. Consumer Reports' 2025 rankings placed BMW in the top ten most reliable brands globally, the only European manufacturer to make the cut. The MOT data confirms that picture: on safety-critical items at least, German engineering holds up.
French brands cluster at the bottom of the MOT table. Citroen (71.3%), Renault (71.8%), and Peugeot (73.3%) all sit below 74%. It is worth noting that the What Car? 2024 reliability survey found newer Citroen, Renault, and Dacia models performing much better, suggesting the brands are improving. But the MOT data covers all ages, and the older fleet drags their averages down.
Ford, the UK's most tested brand with 7.6 million records, passes at 75.1%. Vauxhall, with 4.7 million tests, manages just 73.3%.
MOT pass rate by vehicle age
Age is the single biggest predictor of whether a car will pass its MOT. A three-year-old car passes 89.3% of the time. By age ten, that drops to 77.2%. By fifteen, it is 69.5%.
When do cars start failing?
The data shows a clear pattern. Pass rates hold relatively steady from age three to around age six, staying above 85%. Then the decline accelerates. Between ages six and twelve, cars lose roughly two percentage points per year. This is the age cliff: the period where suspension bushes wear out, brake components degrade, and corrosion starts to bite.
The decline slows again after about age 17, where pass rates sit around 68.2%. Cars that survive to 20 years old stabilise at 67.7%. By 25, pass rates climb back to 73.0%. This is the survivor effect: the worst cars have been scrapped, and what remains tends to be well-maintained classics or mechanically simple vehicles that are easy to keep on the road.
If you are buying a used car in the 7 to 12 year age range, you are in the steepest part of the decline. A pre-MOT check through BookMyGarage can flag the most likely failure points before you commit.
What fails most?
Lights, tyres, brakes, and suspension account for the majority of MOT failures. Some of these are cheap fixes: a blown bulb costs under five pounds. Others, like worn suspension arms or corroded brake lines, can run into hundreds.
We have a full breakdown of the most common MOT failure items, ranked by how often they appear in the data, on our common MOT failures page.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of cars fail their MOT?
21.7% of all MOT tests result in a failure. That is roughly one in five cars. Based on 57,663,348 DVSA test records.
Which car brand has the lowest MOT fail rate?
Lexus has the highest pass rate at 86.4% across 265,739 tests. BMW and Jaguar follow at 84.4% each.
Which car brand has the highest MOT fail rate?
Among mainstream car brands with 50,000+ tests, Chevrolet has the highest fail rate at 34.3% (pass rate 65.7%). Citroen (71.3%) and Renault (71.8%) are the worst among major-volume brands.
At what age do cars start failing the MOT more?
The steepest decline is between ages 6 and 12. A six-year-old car passes 85.8% of the time. By twelve, that drops to 73.6%. After about age 17, the decline levels off as only well-maintained cars remain on the road.
Does a car's MOT pass rate indicate reliability?
MOT pass rates measure how often a vehicle passes a standardised safety and emissions test. They are influenced by build quality, vehicle age, mileage, and owner maintenance. They are a useful proxy for how trouble-free a car is likely to be, but they do not capture every aspect of mechanical reliability.
Dig deeper into the data
See which individual models perform best on our full MOT pass rate rankings, or check how new cars hold up at their first MOT.
Some links are to services we may earn from. Disclosure.
Sources
- Primary data: DVSA anonymised MOT test results, 2024 test year. 57,663,348 test records. Published under Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Methodology: Pass rate = P / (P + PRS + F). PRS (pass after rectification) counted as fail. Full methodology: motdata.uk/methodology.
- Warranty Solutions Group (2025): UK's Most Reliable Car Manufacturers 2025. Based on 15,000+ authorised warranty claims.
- Consumer Reports (2025): Annual auto reliability survey of 380,000 vehicles. Lexus, Toyota, and Subaru top the brand rankings. BMW the only European brand in the top ten.
- What Car? (2024): Britain's most reliable cars. Notes newer Citroen, Renault, and Dacia models improving in reliability.
MOT data from DVSA anonymised test results, 2024 test year. Crown copyright, OGL v3.0. See methodology.