Which used cars fail their first MOT most often? Failure rates by model and age (2025 data)

The Ford Ranger failed its first MOT most often in 2025. It got at least one initial failure item at 18.0% of 15,070 tests. The Toyota RAV4 failed least often: 5.4% of 7,026 tests. Both figures come from cars tested for the first time, at age three. This article sets out failure rates by model and age. It runs from the first MOT to cars aged 15 to 19 years.

About these figures

Plateop draws these figures from DVSA MOT test results, open data, for the 2025 test year. The window runs from 1 January 2025 through 31 December 2025. Plateop compiled this edition on 2 September 2026. An edition is frozen after publication, so the figures in this article will not change. A later edition can show different figures. Plateop tracks 258 models from 28 makes for this edition, 5,893 data cells in total. A model only counts in an age group at 1,500 tests or more. That threshold keeps small samples from producing a fluke result.

Initial failure rate by age group: the whole fleet

The failure share rises steadily with age, up to 15 to 19 years.

Age	Tests	With initial failure	Share
3-5 years	5,343,752	682,048	12.8%
6-8 years	7,506,386	1,437,618	19.2%
9-11 years	7,578,792	2,127,395	28.1%
12-14 years	5,235,643	1,900,839	36.3%
15-19 years	5,235,978	2,200,173	42.0%

The share more than triples between the youngest and oldest group shown here. These figures cover the whole GB MOT fleet, not just the tracked models. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

3 to 5 years old

Only models with at least 1,500 tests in this age group are included.

Lowest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Porsche Macan	11,324	6.6%
Honda Cr-V	15,949	7.6%
Audi Q2	36,304	7.8%

Highest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Renault Kangoo	2,415	28.0%
Citroen Berlingo	16,516	26.9%
Peugeot Partner	17,542	24.1%

The Porsche Macan has the lowest failure share here, at 6.6% over 11,324 tests. The Renault Kangoo has the highest, at 28.0% over 2,415 tests. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

6 to 8 years old

Lowest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Porsche 911	6,020	5.5%
Porsche Cayman	2,191	5.9%
Porsche Macan	13,966	8.7%

Highest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Renault Kangoo	7,540	38.1%
Mercedes-Benz Citan	8,478	37.9%
Citroen Berlingo	38,319	36.7%

Porsche takes all three lowest places in this age group. The Renault Kangoo again has the highest share, at 38.1% over 7,540 tests. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

9 to 11 years old

Lowest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Porsche 911	4,946	6.1%
Porsche Cayman	3,288	7.3%
Porsche Boxster	3,515	7.8%

Highest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Citroen DS3	25,594	46.4%
Renault Kangoo	10,258	46.3%
Renault Clio	72,010	45.1%

The Porsche 911 has the lowest share here too, at 6.1% over 4,946 tests. The Citroen DS3 has the highest, at 46.4% over 25,594 tests. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

12 to 14 years old

Lowest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Porsche 911	3,873	6.6%
Porsche Boxster	2,303	8.8%
Porsche Cayenne	4,952	17.0%

Highest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Renault Trafic	13,978	52.1%
Renault Kangoo	9,940	51.0%
Renault Clio	49,811	50.9%

The Porsche 911 has the lowest share again, at 6.6% over 3,873 tests. The Renault Trafic has the highest of any model in this table, at 52.1%. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

The first MOT: cars registered in 2022

A car needs its first MOT at the third anniversary of its registration. Cars first registered in 2022 reached that age in 2025, so this is their first-ever test. Plateop counts a model here at 1,000 tests or more. That is a lower bar than the 1,500 used for the age groups above. The tables below show the ten models with the lowest and the ten with the highest first-MOT failure share.

Lowest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Toyota RAV4	7,026	5.4%
Porsche Macan	4,249	6.3%
Audi Q2	10,787	6.6%
Honda Cr-V	5,050	6.7%
Mazda CX-30	1,393	7.0%
Volkswagen Golf	1,904	7.1%
Toyota Aygo	1,588	7.2%
Toyota Prius	1,684	7.6%
Volkswagen T-Cross	3,652	7.7%
Citroën C3	1,030	7.8%

Highest failure share

Model	Tests	Share
Ford Ranger	15,070	18.0%
Mercedes-Benz Vito	1,645	17.1%
Volkswagen Passat	1,235	14.8%
Peugeot 5008	1,021	14.8%
Tesla Model 3	5,640	14.8%
Hyundai Ioniq	5,173	14.8%
Kia Ceed	3,919	13.9%
Volkswagen Tiguan	2,826	13.6%
Kia Sportage	2,782	13.5%
Hyundai Kona	4,967	13.3%

The Toyota RAV4 has the lowest first-MOT failure share of any model tracked, at 5.4% over 7,026 tests. The Ford Ranger has the highest, at 18.0% over 15,070 tests, the largest sample in either list. Three more models sit close behind: the Mercedes-Benz Vito, Volkswagen Passat and Peugeot 5008, all between 14.8% and 17.1%. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition, first-MOT cohort.

Fuel type

Compare fuel types only within the same age group, since the fleet mix differs by age per fuel. Hybrid cars had the lowest failure share at 3 to 5 years: 10.4%. Diesel had the highest at that age, 17.3%. By 6 to 8 years, hybrids still led at 14.5%, against 21.1% for diesel. Plateop needs at least 500 tests per fuel type in an age group to publish a figure. Some rarer combinations are left blank as a result. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

Where most defects are found

A test can fail for more than one reason, so these shares do not add up to 100%. This is measured across the 258 models Plateop tracks, 6,326,943 tests in total.

Category	With initial failure	Tests	Share
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	1,583,815	6,326,943	25.0%
Suspension	1,264,026	6,326,943	20.0%
Brakes	963,107	6,326,943	15.2%
Tyres	791,410	6,326,943	12.5%
Visibility	298,521	6,326,943	4.7%
Body, chassis, structure	215,959	6,326,943	3.4%
Noise, emissions and leaks	141,008	6,326,943	2.2%
Steering	83,599	6,326,943	1.3%
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems	1,946	6,326,943	0.0%
Identification of the vehicle	520	6,326,943	0.0%
Road Wheels	411	6,326,943	0.0%

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment is the single most common category, at 25.0%. Suspension and brakes follow, at 20.0% and 15.2%. Worn tyres show up in 12.5% of tests, the fourth most common category. Source: Plateop MOT Monitor, 2025 edition.

Figures by model and generation

Plateop publishes MOT figures by model and generation on its model pages. That level of detail goes beyond the age-group tables above. Pages are live for models including the Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Yaris and Toyota RAV4.

What these figures do not tell you

This says something about the model, not about the specific car you are looking at. A low rate is not a guarantee. The Toyota RAV4 recorded the lowest first-MOT failure share, 5.4% over 7,026 tests. That is an average across thousands of different cars. One badly maintained example can still fail, whatever the model's usual record. The opposite also holds: a model with a high failure share can still include well-kept individual cars. A Plateop report checks the registration of the specific car in front of you. It shows that car's own MOT history, not a model average. Look up a UK-registered car before you buy, at plateop.com.