UK car ownership, in numbers.
Independent studies from 73 Auto, built from our Real Car Cost Examples and DVSA's anonymised MOT test records. Official data and our own analysis are always labelled separately.
Ownership cost studies
Cheapest and Most Expensive Cars to Own in the UK: 2026 Study
53 cars ranked by estimated yearly ownership cost, with where the gap comes from and a downloadable CSV.
Electric vs Petrol and Diesel: UK Car Ownership Costs Compared
10 electric cars against 40 petrol and diesel cars, category by category, with sample sizes and data gaps disclosed.
UK Car Ownership Cost Statistics 2026
Average, median and per-mile costs and the category breakdown, each figure with its own sample size, plus a CSV.
Petrol vs Diesel: UK Car Ownership Costs Compared
24 petrol and 16 diesel cars compared on median and average yearly cost.
Failure patterns by car age and make, the most common failure reasons and dangerous defects, from DVSA's anonymised MOT data.
Every study comes with downloadable CSVs. Rankings and cost estimates are 73 Auto analysis and are labelled as such.
MOT statistics studies
Built from DVSA's anonymised MOT tests and results (Open Government Licence), counted test by test. Each study states its sample, period and method, and separates DVSA counts from 73 Auto's adjusted analysis.
- DVSA data
UK MOT statistics 2023–24
28.5% of UK MOT tests in 2023–24 did not pass first time: 18,656,905 of 65,477,892 tests (DVSA data).
- DVSA data
Which car makes fail the MOT most? A ranking adjusted for age and mileage
Of the 21 car makes with over a million MOT tests in 2023–24, BMW cars failed 24% less often than comparable cars of the same age, mileage and fuel (73 Auto analysis of 3,694,719 DVSA tests).
- DVSA data
The cars that fail the MOT least and most, class by class
Of 190 models with 20,000+ MOT tests, the BMW M3 had the lowest failure ratio against cars of the same age, mileage and fuel (0.41, 31,544 tests, 2023–24).
- DVSA data
How MOT pass rates fall with age and mileage
87.1% of 3-year-old cars passed their first MOT first time in 2023–24, against 67.5% of 10-year-old cars (DVSA data, 3,907,416 and 4,163,623 tests).
- DVSA data
The most common reasons cars fail the MOT
The most common reason for failing an MOT in 2023–24 was “Position lamp: not working”, found on 2.6% of all tests (1,684,901 tests, DVSA data).
- DVSA data
Which MOT failures rise most as cars get older
Steering failures rise the most with age: 0.13% of MOT tests on 3-year-old cars against 3.4% at 15 years, 26 times as often (DVSA data, 2023–24).
- DVSA data
MOT failure rates by test area: brakes, tyres, lights and more compared
Lights, reflectors and electrical is the MOT area cars fail on most: 11.2% of all tests and 39.1% of failed tests (2023–24, DVSA data).
- DVSA data
Dangerous MOT defects: how many cars have them and what they are
5,141,819 MOT tests in 2023–24 found at least one dangerous defect: 7.9% of all tests, about 1 in 13 (DVSA data).
- DVSA data
Petrol vs diesel vs hybrid: MOT pass rates compared
At ages 3–10, 85.6% of hybrid MOT tests passed first time, against 79.6% for petrol and 75.5% for diesel (DVSA data, 2023–24).
- DVSA data
Electric car MOT statistics: how EVs compare with petrol and diesel
83.5% of MOT tests on electric cars aged 3–10 passed first time in 2023–24, against 79.6% for petrol cars of the same ages (DVSA data, 330,180 EV tests).
How this research is built
73 Auto Research publishes independent UK car ownership cost studies, built entirely from 73 Auto's own published Real Car Cost Examples dataset — the same category-by-category cost models (depreciation, fuel or energy, insurance, servicing, repairs, tax and finance) behind every individual report on the site, aggregated across the full dataset to find and explain patterns. It also publishes MOT statistics studies counted from every one of DVSA's anonymised MOT test records, with each table marked as official data or 73 Auto analysis and a CSV of the figures behind it.
For exactly how each cost category is modelled, see Methodology. For which figures are official data (DVLA, DVSA) versus 73 Auto estimates, see Data Sources. More studies will be added as the dataset grows; see it broken down car by car in Real Car Cost Examples.
