73 Auto Research · MOT statistics

UK MOT statistics 2023–24

71.5% of the 65,477,892 MOT tests on cars and light vans in Great Britain in 2023–24 passed first time, according to 73 Auto's count of DVSA's anonymised MOT records (1 January 2023 to 30 December 2024). 22.9% failed outright, 5.6% passed only after a repair at the test station, and 7.8% had at least one dangerous defect.

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT data, 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-30 (n = 65,477,892 tests). Download the data (CSV)

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Data to 2024-12-30 · Page updated 2026-09-28 · Publisher: 73 Auto

Key findings

DVSA data28.5% of UK MOT tests in 2023–24 did not pass first time: 18,656,905 of 65,477,892 tests (DVSA data).
DVSA data7.8% of MOT tests in 2023–24 found at least one dangerous defect, about 1 in 13 tests (DVSA data, n = 65,477,892).
DVSA dataCars aged 3-4 passed first time 86.1% of the time; cars aged 16+ years passed 57.8% (DVSA data, 2023–24).
DVSA dataCars with under 40,000 miles passed 86.1% of MOTs first time, against 57.7% for cars over 120,000 miles (DVSA data, 2023–24).
DVSA dataThe most common failure area was lights, reflectors and electrical: 11.2% of all tests failed on it (DVSA data, 2023–24).
DVSA dataA car that failed its MOT had 2.1 separate fail-level defects on average; 49.1% of failed tests had just one (DVSA data, 18,656,275 failed tests).
DVSA dataThe first-time pass rate was 71.4% in 2023 and 71.6% in 2024 (DVSA data).
73 Auto analysisAllowing for age, mileage and fuel, MOT failures were highest in April 2023 (ratio 1.04) and lowest in December 2024 (0.95), 73 Auto analysis of DVSA data.

At a glance

UK MOT statistics 2023–24: headline figures
Figure	Value	Basis	Type
MOT tests analysed	65,477,892	2023-01-01 to 2024-12-30	DVSA data
Vehicles tested	34,140,187	distinct anonymised vehicle ids	DVSA data
First-time pass rate	71.5%	n = 65,477,892	DVSA data
Failed outright	22.9%	14,978,933 tests	DVSA data
Passed after repair at the station (PRS)	5.6%	3,677,972 tests	DVSA data
At least one dangerous defect	7.8%	n = 65,477,892	DVSA data
Average age at test	9.6 years	cars at least 2.5 years old	DVSA data
Median recorded mileage	65,659 miles	n = 65,477,892	DVSA data
Fail-level defects per failed test	2.1 (median 2)	18,656,275 failed tests	DVSA data

Official data

Counts and rates taken directly from DVSA's MOT records: 73 Auto counted them, but applied no model or adjustment.

Test outcomes

DVSA data

UK MOT test outcomes, 2023–24
Outcome	Tests	Share
Pass	46,820,987	71.5%
Fail	14,978,933	22.9%
Pass after rectification at the station (PRS)	3,677,972	5.6%

PRS tests count as initial fails in every pass rate on this page.

Pass rate by test year

DVSA data

UK MOT first-time pass rate by year of test
Year	Tests	First-time pass rate	PRS share	Failures vs same age, mileage and fuel
2023	32,592,702	71.4%	5.7%	1.01
2024	32,885,190	71.6%	5.5%	0.99

The last column is 73 Auto analysis: 1.00 is the two-year average for comparable cars.

Pass rate by age

DVSA data

UK MOT first-time pass rate by age band
Age at test (years)	Tests	First-time pass rate
3-4	8,541,039	86.1%
5-6	9,865,001	81.7%
7-8	10,435,918	75.8%
9-10	8,869,710	69.1%
11-12	7,005,745	63.6%
13-15	8,489,673	58.7%
16+	9,448,572	57.8%

Pass rate by mileage

DVSA data

UK MOT first-time pass rate by recorded mileage
Recorded mileage	Tests	First-time pass rate
under 40k	16,733,795	86.1%
40k-80k	23,682,779	73.2%
80k-120k	15,148,013	61.8%
120k+	9,789,839	57.7%

Tests with no recorded mileage are not in any band.

Pass rate by fuel

DVSA data

UK MOT first-time pass rate by fuel
Fuel	Tests	First-time pass rate	Dangerous defect
Petrol	34,937,909	71.9%	7.2%
Diesel	27,548,909	69.6%	9.0%
Hybrid	2,050,967	85.6%	4.3%
Electric	573,932	84.6%	6.0%
Other	366,175	81.1%	5.1%

Unadjusted: electric and hybrid cars are much younger on average. The petrol vs diesel vs hybrid study compares them at the same ages.

Failures by test area

DVSA data

Share of UK MOT tests failing in each area
Area	Tests failing in area	Share of all tests	Share of failed tests
Lights, reflectors and electrical	7,302,695	11.2%	39.1%
Suspension	5,816,370	8.9%	31.2%
Brakes	4,443,267	6.8%	23.8%
Tyres	4,195,007	6.4%	22.5%
Driver's view of the road	3,100,363	4.7%	16.6%
Body, chassis and structure	2,261,891	3.5%	12.1%
Noise, emissions and leaks	2,064,198	3.2%	11.1%
Steering	1,243,166	1.9%	6.7%
Seat belts and airbags	665,630	1.0%	3.6%
Road wheels	241,800	0.4%	1.3%
Registration plates and VIN	231,352	0.4%	1.2%
Speedometer and driving controls	3,028	0.0%	0.0%

A failed test can fail in several areas, so the last column adds up to more than 100%.

How many defects a failed car has

DVSA data

Fail-level defects per failed MOT test
Fail-level defects	Failed tests	Share of failed tests
1	9,163,942	49.1%
2	4,449,224	23.8%
3	2,301,185	12.3%
4	1,233,789	6.6%
5	669,646	3.6%
6+	838,489	4.5%

73 Auto analysis

Figures 73 Auto derived from the same records: adjusted ratios, intervals and rankings, explained in the method below.

Failures by month of test, adjusted

73 Auto analysisRaw monthly pass rates mostly reflect which cars are due (new-plate months bring a wave of 3-year-old cars). The ratio compares each month with the national rate for tests of the same age, mileage band and fuel.

MOT first-time pass rate and adjusted failure ratio by month
Month	Tests	First-time pass rate	Failures vs same age, mileage and fuel
Jan 2023	2,942,400	70.4%	1.02
Feb 2023	2,699,078	71.2%	1.02
Mar 2023	3,388,552	72.9%	1.00
Apr 2023	1,902,152	70.9%	1.04
May 2023	2,167,101	71.5%	1.03
Jun 2023	2,573,655	72.5%	1.01
Jul 2023	2,542,710	71.5%	1.02
Aug 2023	2,794,344	71.4%	1.02
Sep 2023	3,234,959	72.6%	1.00
Oct 2023	3,226,378	70.2%	1.01
Nov 2023	2,987,598	70.0%	1.01
Dec 2023	2,133,775	71.3%	0.98
Jan 2024	2,960,291	70.0%	1.02
Feb 2024	2,794,934	71.3%	1.00
Mar 2024	3,158,226	72.8%	0.99
Apr 2024	2,341,968	71.1%	1.03
May 2024	2,357,610	72.3%	1.00
Jun 2024	2,501,249	72.6%	0.99
Jul 2024	2,755,067	71.5%	0.99
Aug 2024	2,702,919	72.0%	0.97
Sep 2024	3,138,699	72.9%	0.96
Oct 2024	3,263,910	70.8%	0.98
Nov 2024	2,843,559	70.8%	0.97
Dec 2024	2,066,758	71.8%	0.95

Method

Source: DVSA's anonymised MOT tests and results for 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-30, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. 73 Auto counted every record itself; no figure is taken from a secondary report.

Scope: class 4 vehicles (cars and light vans), normal tests only (retests excluded), vehicles at least 2.5 years old at test, whose make matches 73 Auto's vehicle catalogue: 65,477,892 tests in 2023–24.

First-time pass rate: the share of normal tests with the result Pass. A test where a defect was fixed at the station and the car passed the same day (PRS, pass after rectification) counts as an initial fail, as DVSA counts it.

Failure areas and items: a test counts once for an area or item if it had at least one fail-level (Major or Dangerous, or pre-2018 fail) defect in it, however many locations were affected. Advisories and minor defects are not failures.

Test month uses the DVSA test date. Year-on-year and monthly ratios use the same standardisation as the model pages.

Adjusted ratio (observed ÷ expected, O/E): indirect standardisation. Each test is given the national failure rate for tests of the same age in whole years, mileage band and fuel; summing those gives the failures a group would have had if it failed like the average comparable car. O/E = actual failures ÷ expected failures, so 1.00 is average for comparable cars and 0.80 means 20% fewer failures. It removes most of the effect of an older or higher-mileage fleet, not differences in how cars are looked after.

Publication test: At least 1,000,000 tests nationally; every age band, mileage band and fuel reported has at least 100,000 tests. National tests: 65,477,892 (minimum 1,000,000); Smallest age band (tests): 7,005,745 (minimum 100,000); Smallest mileage band (tests): 9,789,839 (minimum 100,000); Smallest fuel group (tests): 573,932 (minimum 100,000).

Limitations

Only tests whose make matches 73 Auto's catalogue are included (the scope line above); the excluded 0.3% are mostly rare makes, coachbuilders and motorhome converters.

DVSA's anonymised files do not say why a car was presented or who owns it, so private and fleet cars are counted together.

Cars younger than 2.5 years are excluded: in Great Britain most cars have their first MOT at three years old.

Citing this study

Cite as: 73 Auto, “UK MOT statistics 2023–24”, 2026-09-28, https://73auto.com/research/uk-mot-statistics. Based on DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results, Open Government Licence v3.0. The data behind every table is free to reuse with attribution.

More MOT studies

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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).

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Where these figures come from

Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023 and 2024 — Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). Open Government Licence v3.0.

Figures labelled as 73 Auto estimates are our own analysis of these sources, set out in the methodology and data sources. To report a factual error, see corrections.