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Why MOT pass rates differ between websites, and how to read them

Updated 1 Nov 2026

MOT pass rates differ between websites because each site makes its own counting choices from the same DVSA records. Does a repair at the test centre count as a pass? Are retests included? Which vehicle classes, first-use years and data year are covered, how are model names grouped, and how many tests sit behind the figure? Only compare two pass rates that were worked out the same way.

Search results we looked at on 29 October 2026 for “ford fiesta mot pass rate” gave the Ford Fiesta pass rates from 65.2% to 83.9%. The highest covered only Fiestas first registered from 2016 to 2021. Some pages said they used 2024 data, others 2025. One page gave a single Fiesta trim name a 97.1% rate from 244 tests. So check what each figure counts.

First-time pass, final pass and PRS

DVSA records an outcome called PRS, “Pass with Rectification at Station”. The vehicle starts the test in a fail condition. Defects are repaired within one hour after the test, before the result is recorded, so it is in a pass condition when the PRS result is entered.

DVSA gives two fail rates:

In DVSA’s own table for April 2025 to March 2026, classes 3 and 4 had 33,310,534 initial tests. The initial fail rate was 27.51%, while the final fail rate was 22.30%.

So the same tests give 72.49% passing first time (100 minus 27.51), or 77.70% once PRS counts as a pass (100 minus 22.30). The gap, about five points, is the PRS results. Neither figure is wrong: they answer different questions.

That table, from DVSA’s MOT testing data for Great Britain, counts initial tests only, leaving out retests and abandoned or aborted tests.

Retests

DVSA’s data has separate test types for the normal test, partial retests, full retests and appeals. A car that fails and is retested appears more than once, so a rate that counts every test mixes first attempts with second attempts by cars that have just been repaired. That is not a first-time pass rate.

GOV.UK’s retest rules explain when a partial retest is free (for example, if the car stays at the test centre for repair and is retested within 10 working days) and when a fee may be charged.

Vehicle classes

Class 4 covers cars and passenger vehicles with up to eight passenger seats, plus goods vehicles up to 3,000 kg design gross weight and some other types. Classes 1 and 2 are motorcycles. Class 7 covers goods vehicles over 3,000 kg up to 3,500 kg.

In DVSA’s 2025 to 2026 table, the initial fail rate was 13.40% for classes 1 and 2, 27.51% for classes 3 and 4, and 34.00% for class 7. The rate for all classes together was 27.30%. So an average across every class is not an average for cars.

First-use year and age mix

Most cars need a first MOT by the third anniversary of registration, then one every year, so one model’s tests cover many ages. Older cars fail more often. In DVSA’s 2025 data, all class 4 vehicles first used in 2005 passed first time 57.6% of the time, against 71.9% for those first used in 2015 and 86.0% for 2020.

The Ford Focus follows the same pattern:

Add up all 24 first-use years of Ford Focus we publish and you get 885,904 MOT tests in 2025 (retests not counted), of which 283,333 failed. That leaves 602,571 passes, and 602,571 divided by 885,904 is a pooled first-time pass rate of 68.0%. That is below the 2015 figure because the pool includes many older cars, so a whole-model rate depends on the age mix.

Data year

DVSA publishes its anonymised MOT data as separate files for each calendar year. The 2025 files were added on 22 June 2026. DVSA’s own pass and fail table instead runs by financial year, from April to March.

The data year also changes the cars’ age: a 2015 car was two years younger in 2023 tests than in 2025 tests, and younger cars pass more often. Pooling several years mixes cars tested at different ages.

Sample size

One car moves a rate by 100 divided by the number of tests, in percentage points: one point with 100 tests, about 0.4 with 244, about 0.001 with 74,065. So a rate from a few hundred tests can swing more by chance than one from tens of thousands. We only publish a first-use year with at least 1,000 first tests.

Make and model names

Make and model names come from DVSA’s vehicle dataset, and the same car family can appear under several names.

In DVSA’s 2025 data, BMWs first used in 2017 had 1,455 first tests under “520” and 13,036 under “5 SERIES”. For 2020 cars, there were 2,872 tests under “520D M SPORT MHEV AUTO” and 4,066 under “5 SERIES”.

One site might group these names, another might keep them apart. Neither is necessarily wrong, but different groupings can give different rates.

How we count

Our model pages use DVSA’s anonymised MOT data for 2025, the most recent complete year, and each page shows the data year and the number of tests. The full rules are on our methodology page.

We count:

We leave out abandoned and aborted tests, vehicles with an unknown make or first-use date, and the first-use year 1971, which DVLA gives to vehicles with an unknown date of manufacture.

We tidy capitals and spaces, merge a few spellings (VW into Volkswagen, Mercedes into Mercedes-Benz), and group DVSA’s model names into model families, so “520”, “520D M SPORT MHEV AUTO” and “5 SERIES” all count as the BMW 5 Series. Each model page lists the DVSA names it includes, and the rules are on our methodology page.

We compare a model one first-use year at a time: each year is shown next to all class 4 vehicles first used in the same year.

For example, Ford Focus cars first used in 2015 had 74,065 MOT tests in 2025, retests not counted. Their first-time pass rate was 72.4%, compared with 71.9% for all class 4 vehicles first used in 2015.

How to read any pass rate

Compare like with like. Check the data year, the vehicle classes, how model names are grouped, whether retests are included, and whether PRS counts as a pass.

Look at the sample size. Be wary of a figure built on a few hundred tests.

Compare with cars of the same age. In 2025, Ford Focus cars first used in 2018 passed first time 81.8% of the time. That is well above the 72.3% for all class 4 tests in our data, but all vehicles first used in 2018 managed 80.9%, so for its age the Focus was close to average.

Remember it describes a model, not your car. A pass rate describes a group of tested cars. For the one in front of you, look at its own MOT history. Our free check shows it from DVSA records, newest first, and shows a fail and its retest together (we treat a test within 10 working days of a fail as its retest). You can also use the official GOV.UK MOT history service. The record has limits too: see what an MOT history doesn’t show.

Sources

See a car's MOT history

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