Which cars pass their MOT first time? The 2025 ranking

We compared Britain’s 50 most-tested car models with the average car of the same age, using 31.6 million MOT tests of cars and light vans in 2025. The BMW 5 Series passed first time most often, 9.1 points above the same-age average. The Renault Clio passed least often, 12.8 points below.

Published 27 October 2026 · Figures: DVSA MOT tests in 2025 · Free to use with credit

Comparing at the same age matters, because older cars fail more often. A model that’s mostly four years old would beat one that’s mostly twelve, however well it was built. So each model is measured against what the average car would score with the same mix of ages.

What stands out

• Mileage doesn’t explain it. The BMW 5 Series had typically covered 39% more miles than the average car of the same age, and the Toyota Prius 80% more, yet both passed more often. The Renault Clio had covered 12% fewer miles, and still came last.
• Hondas did well. The CR-V came 2nd and the Jazz 3rd.
• Seven of the bottom ten were Renault, Citroen, Vauxhall or Peugeot models.
• Britain’s most-tested car, the Ford Fiesta, came 40th: 3.9 points below the average car of its age.

By make

The same comparison for every make with at least 100,000 car tests at ages 3 to 19, vans left out. Porsche and Lexus passed first time most often; Dacia, Renault and Citroen least often. A make’s figure mixes all its models, so one that mostly sells sports cars, which tend to be driven less, has an easier time.

Why cars fail

16.6% of tests (one in six) found a failure in lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment, the most common area, ahead of suspension (13.7%) and brakes (10.2%). And one in eight three-year-old cars failed their first MOT (12.2%).

The most common single reasons:

1. Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm failed 3.0% of tests
2. Position lamp: not working failed 2.9% of tests · what this means
3. Coil spring: fractured or broken failed 2.8% of tests · what this means
4. Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively failed 2.3% of tests · what this means
5. Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick failed 2.1% of tests · what this means

Many of these take minutes to check before the test: every bulb, including the number-plate light; the tyres’ tread and sidewalls; and the wipers and screen wash. See what an MOT checks.

How we worked it out

• The tests. Normal MOT tests of cars and light vans (class 4) aged three and over in Great Britain in 2025: 31,590,883 tests, from DVSA’s anonymised MOT data. Retests are left out.
• First-time pass rate. A “pass with rectification” (a fault fixed within an hour) counts as a fail, as in DVSA’s own figures.
• The same-age average. For each age from 3 to 19, the pass rate of every class 4 vehicle tested at that age, weighted by how many of the model were tested at each age. The data groups cars aged 20 and over together, classics included, so they’re left out.
• The models. The 50 car models with the most tests in 2025, each covering all its versions and generations, as DVSA names them. We left out vans, pickups and van-based campers, which mostly do a different job.
• Typical miles. The median mileage recorded at the test, against the median for all vehicles of the same age.
• Points are percentage points: a model at 80% against a same-age average of 75% is 5 points above.
• What it can’t tell you. The figures don’t adjust for mileage, or for how cars are used and looked after, which matters more for any one car than its model does.

Using these figures

Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures. Please credit carprices.uk and link to this page.

Download the ranking (CSV) · Pass rates for all 751 models

Questions, or want figures for another model or age? Email hello@carprices.uk.

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data for 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Our own analysis; not produced or endorsed by DVSA.