10 UK Car Makes With the Highest MOT Failure Rates from 2024 DVSA Data
Which car makes recorded the highest MOT failure rates in the UK? Based on 2024 DVSA records, ten makes with at least 10,000 tests each recorded pass rates below 66%, against a UK-wide pass rate of 71.65% across all 34,233,620 MOT tests that year. In this guide you'll find the full bottom-ten ranking, the fault categories that made up most of their recorded failures, and – just as importantly – what these figures can and cannot tell you if you're buying a used car or keeping your current one on the road.
The Bottom 10: UK Makes With the Lowest MOT Pass Rates in 2024
Bottom 10 UK car makes by 2024 MOT pass rate
Class 4 + Class 7 MOTs · makes with at least 10,000 tests · sorted worst-first by pass rate
Per the 2024 MOT dataset, these are the ten makes with the lowest pass rates among those with at least 10,000 tests:
- Chevrolet: 55.35% across 58,918 tests
- LDV: 57.34% across 10,009 tests
- Daihatsu: 61.25% across 17,000 tests
- Chrysler: 61.52% across 23,114 tests
- Renault: 62.21% across 1,067,694 tests
- London Taxis International: 62.55% across 12,908 tests
- Citroen: 63.19% across 1,076,840 tests
- Iveco: 63.52% across 39,457 tests
- Saab: 63.77% across 49,379 tests
- Rover: 65.69% across 30,922 tests
Together these ten makes accounted for 2,386,241 MOT tests and 893,706 failures in 2024 – a combined pass rate of 62.55%, compared with 71.65% across all UK MOT tests.
Test volumes vary enormously. Renault and Citroen alone make up 89.9% of all the tests in this list, so the combined figure is mostly a picture of those two makes. At the other end, LDV, London Taxis International and Daihatsu each had fewer than 20,000 tests. The list also mixes different kinds of vehicle: in our data, Iveco's models are vans, and LDV's are vans and pickups, so they are not like-for-like with makes that sell mainly cars.
You can explore fault breakdowns for every make, including each one above, in our common UK car problems by make data hub.
Which Fault Categories Made Up the Failures?
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Top failure categories on the bottom 10 UK makes (2024)
Share of all MOT failures aggregated across the 10 worst-performing makes in 2024
Across the bottom-ten makes, these fault categories made up the recorded failure items in 2024:
- Electrical: 594,523 failure items – 28.71%
- Suspension: 456,786 – 22.06%
- Brakes: 360,065 – 17.39%
- Bodywork: 219,342 – 10.59%
- Tyres & Wheels: 183,971 – 8.88%
- Steering: 100,606 – 4.86%
- Exhaust: 83,328 – 4.02%
- Engine: 65,538 – 3.17%
Electrical, suspension and brakes together made up 68.16% of the failure items. A single failed MOT can record more than one failure item, which is why these counts are higher than the number of failed tests. For each make, the category that came up most often was electrical for Chevrolet, Daihatsu, Renault, Citroen, Iveco, Saab and Rover; brakes for LDV and Chrysler; and suspension for London Taxis International.
For more on the biggest categories, see common electrical problems on UK cars, common suspension problems on UK cars and common brakes problems on UK cars.
What These Figures Can and Cannot Tell You
A pass rate is simply the share of MOT tests on each make that ended in a pass in 2024. It measures outcomes at the test – it does not measure build quality, engineering or how dependable a car will be over time. The MOT does not examine an engine's internals or a gearbox, for example, so a car can fail its MOT on a minor item and be otherwise sound, or pass and still have problems the test does not look at.
Just as importantly, MOT data cannot explain why one make records a lower pass rate than another. The records show the result of each test, but they cannot separate the car itself from its age, its mileage, how it has been maintained or how it is used. So a lower pass rate is a real difference in test outcomes, not evidence on its own that a make is badly built.
Should You Avoid These Makes When Buying Used?
Not on this data alone. A brand-wide pass rate describes thousands of vehicles; the car you're looking at is one of them, and its own history tells you far more.
Whatever the make, check the vehicle's MOT history using the DVSA MOT history checker, ask for its service history, and have it inspected by a garage you trust before you buy. If the make is one in this list, it is sensible to ask the garage to pay particular attention to the category that came up most often for it – electrical, brakes or suspension, as listed above.
For help finding a garage familiar with your chosen make, browse car garages near you in our directory, and use our MOT checklist to see what the test covers before your car's next MOT.
Understanding the Data: Methodology and Limitations
This ranking uses 2024 DVSA MOT records. We only ranked makes with at least 10,000 tests in 2024, because a small number of tests can swing a percentage dramatically. The fault-category shares are shares of failure items recorded on these ten makes' tests, not shares of failed cars.
For full detail on how we process DVSA records, calculate pass rates and group faults into categories, read our methodology behind our MOT data analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which car make has the highest MOT failure rate in the UK?
Among makes with at least 10,000 MOT tests in 2024, Chevrolet recorded the lowest pass rate at 55.35% across 58,918 tests, followed by LDV at 57.34% and Daihatsu at 61.25% (Source: DVSA MOT data 2024).
Do low MOT pass rates mean these cars are unreliable?
No. An MOT pass rate records how often a make passed its MOT; it does not measure reliability or build quality, and the MOT does not test things like engine internals or gearboxes. MOT data also cannot tell us why a make's pass rate is lower.
Should I avoid buying a used Renault or Citroen based on this data?
Not on this data alone. Renault (62.21%) and Citroen (63.19%) had over a million MOT tests each in 2024, so their figures describe a very large and varied fleet. The individual car's MOT history, service history and a pre-purchase inspection matter far more than a brand average.
What's the most common reason these makes failed their MOT?
Electrical faults made up the largest share of failure items across the bottom-ten makes in 2024, at 28.71%, followed by suspension at 22.06% and brakes at 17.39% (Source: DVSA MOT data 2024).
Conclusion
Based on 2024 DVSA records, ten makes recorded MOT pass rates between 55.35% and 65.69%, against a UK-wide 71.65% – led by Chevrolet, with the high-volume Renault and Citroen making up most of the tests in the list. Electrical, suspension and brake faults made up 68.16% of their recorded failure items. These are real differences in test outcomes, but they are brand averages and cannot say why a make passes less often, so judge any car you're considering on its own history and condition. When you need an MOT or a repair, you can find trusted garages near you through our directory.
