UK MOT Failure Rates by Car Age: When Cars Start to Fail

If you want to understand the UK car MOT failure rate by age, the DVSA's own test data tells a clear story. A car's very first MOT, at three years old, has a failure rate of 13.3%. From there the rate climbs every year until it peaks at 43.97% for cars aged 18 – then, perhaps surprisingly, it falls again for the oldest cars still being tested. Whether you're buying a used car or wondering when cars start failing MOTs, this guide walks through exactly how the failure rate changes with age, using 2024 DVSA records rather than guesswork.

How MOT failure rates change as a car ages

Based on 2024 DVSA records, the failure rate rises through a car's early years, climbs further through its second decade, peaks in mid-life, and then eases off for the oldest vehicles. Across every car at MOT age (three years and over) in 2024, 71.39% of tests were passes and 28.61% were failures, across 33,885,081 tests.

UK MOT failure rate by vehicle age (2024)

Class 4 + Class 7 · vehicles with a recorded first-use date · bar length = number of MOT tests · label = % that failed

Source: DVSA MOT data 2024. Bar length is the number of tests in each age band (older cars are fewer); the label is the share that failed.

It's worth being clear about what these numbers mean. The failure rate at each age is the share of MOT tests on cars of that age that ended in a fail. It measures the outcome of the test – it does not measure a car's engineering or how long it will last. And while the data shows clearly how the rate changes with age, it cannot tell us why: MOT records do not capture a car's mileage history, maintenance or how it has been used. In the bar chart, the length of each bar is the number of tests in that age band, which is why the oldest bands are much shorter.

3 years: 13.30% failure rate (1,998,330 tests)
4–5 years: 14.93% (4,469,023 tests)
6–7 years: 19.37% (5,270,983 tests)
8–9 years: 25.27% (5,479,641 tests)
10–12 years: 33.03% (6,401,088 tests)
13–15 years: 40.13% (4,583,573 tests)
16–20 years: 43.51% (4,307,696 tests)
21–29 years: 40.38% (1,163,580 tests)
30+ years: 27.19% (211,167 tests)

The first MOT at three years: a 13.3% failure rate

Cars don't need an MOT until they are three years old. At that first test, 86.70% passed and 13.30% failed in 2024 – the lowest failure rate of any age, across 1,998,330 tests. Our car problems hub lets you check make-and-model-specific failure patterns, and the breakdown by fault category shows which systems fail most often across the UK fleet.

Years four to nine: the climb begins

From the fourth year onward, the failure rate rises each year. Cars aged four to five failed at 14.93%, rising to 19.37% at six to seven years and 25.27% at eight to nine. By nine years old the rate is 26.87% – double the 13.30% at the first MOT.

This is the age at which it becomes worth taking a car's MOT history seriously when you buy. You can view any vehicle's past MOT results, including failures and advisories, with the DVSA MOT history checker.

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Ten to twenty years: the peak failure years

This is where the MOT gets genuinely tough. The failure rate reaches 30.42% at exactly ten years, 33.03% across cars aged 10 to 12, and 40.13% at 13 to 15. It peaks at 43.51% across cars aged 16 to 20 – and the single highest year is 18, when 43.97% of tests ended in a fail. The line chart shows the rise year by year.

MOT failure rate by exact vehicle age (2024)

Share of MOT tests failed at each age, from the first MOT at 3 years to 30+ years

Source: DVSA MOT data 2024. Failure rate = failed tests ÷ all tests at that age × 100.

The rate rose in every single year of age from 3 to 18, and from 16 to 20 it stayed between 43.26% and 43.97%. For the specific systems that fail most often across the UK fleet, the fault category breakdown is built directly from DVSA records, and you can read how we analyse DVSA data to see how those figures are produced.

The twist: the very oldest cars fail less

Here's the part that surprises most people. After its peak, the failure rate falls again – and it falls in every year of age from 20 onwards: to 40.38% across cars aged 21 to 29, and to 27.19% for cars aged 30 and over. That makes the failure rate for 30-year-old-plus cars lower than for a typical ten-year-old car (30.42%).

What the data does show is that far fewer cars are tested at these ages: 211,167 tests on cars aged 30 and over in 2024, against 2,434,826 on ten-year-old cars alone. What it cannot show is why the rate falls. MOT records don't tell us how many miles these cars cover, how they are kept or which cars were taken off the road along the way, so the fall is a real feature of the data – but not evidence that older cars are better built.

Does make and model matter?

Pass rates also vary between makes and models, so it's worth checking the real numbers rather than relying on reputation. Our analysis of the makes with the best MOT pass rates – including a ranking of cars aged 5-10 years – and the manufacturers with the highest failure rates are both built from DVSA data. If you're researching a specific used car, searching its make on the car problems hub shows the faults most commonly recorded against it.

Preparing an older car for its MOT

These figures are averages across millions of tests, and any individual car can do better or worse than the average for its age. With failure rates above 40% for cars in their mid-teens, it makes sense to have an older car looked over before its test. Our MOT checklist sets out what the test covers, and you can set up a free MOT reminder using just your registration so the date never catches you out.

UK MOT Failure Rates by Car Age: When Cars Start to Fail - expert garage advice

If anything looks borderline, one of our listed MOT testing garages or car servicing garages can check it before the test.

Frequently Asked Questions

At what age do cars start failing MOTs more often?

The failure rate rises from the very first MOT. At three years 13.30% of tests end in a fail; this reaches 19.37% at six to seven years, 25.27% at eight to nine, and 33.03% at 10 to 12 years (30.42% at exactly ten). It peaks at 43.97% at 18 years, based on 2024 DVSA records.

What do older cars most commonly fail on?

This age analysis does not break failures down by type at each age. For the systems that fail most often across the UK fleet, see our fault category breakdown, and use the car problems hub to see the faults recorded against a specific make and model.

Do the oldest cars really fail less than mid-life cars?

Yes. In 2024, cars aged 30 and over failed 27.19% of their MOT tests – a lower rate than ten-year-old cars (30.42%) and well below the peak of 43.97% at 18 years. Far fewer of them are tested (211,167 tests), and MOT data cannot tell us why their rate is lower, so it is not evidence that older cars are better built.

Can I improve my older car's chances of passing?

The figures here are averages, and an individual car's result depends on its own condition on the day. Having an older car checked by a garage before its test gives you the chance to deal with anything borderline beforehand rather than after a fail.

Conclusion

The UK car MOT failure rate by age follows a clear arc: 13.30% at the first test, a rise in every year of age to a peak of 43.97% at 18, and then a fall for the oldest cars to 27.19% at 30 and over. Knowing where your car sits on that curve helps you plan ahead for its MOT – so check your due date with a free MOT reminder and find trusted help through our UK garage directory when your test approaches.