The short answer
A pass with advisories is still a pass, and on an older car it is the normal kind. Among 2010 Nissan Qashqai tests carried out in 2025, about 3 in 10 passes carried no advisory at all (29.5% of 12,862 passes). Among 2019 BMW 3 Series tests in the same year, about 2 in 3 did (67.9% of 22,105 passes). Every one of the eight popular models below sits between those two figures, and every one of them shows the same slide: the older the car, the rarer the clean sheet.
For a buyer, that means two things. A clean pass on a six-year-old car is unremarkable. A clean pass on a fifteen-year-old car is worth a second look, either because it has been looked after or because the tester chose not to write anything down, and you cannot tell which from the certificate.
Clean passes by model and age
Each cell is the share of passes in 2025 tests that recorded no advisory, for cars first used in the year shown. A 2019 car was six years old at the test, a 2010 car fifteen. Models are listed alphabetically by make.
| Model | First used 2010 | 2013 | 2016 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW 3 Series | 41.8% | 50.9% | 59.7% | 67.9% |
| Ford Fiesta | 35.6% | 42.7% | 52.1% | 61.0% |
| Ford Focus | 37.5% | 45.8% | 57.7% | 58.3% |
| Kia Sportage | 34.8% | 39.7% | 52.9% | 56.8% |
| Nissan Qashqai | 29.5% | 36.0% | 46.8% | 54.8% |
| Toyota Yaris | 41.2% | 50.2% | 56.2% | 63.3% |
| Vauxhall Corsa | 37.7% | 42.6% | 49.7% | 60.6% |
| Volkswagen Golf | 36.2% | 46.1% | 53.7% | 59.9% |
The spread between models at any one age is real but modest, roughly ten to fifteen points. The spread between ages within one model is larger than that in every row. Age, not badge, is the main thing the clean-pass figure is telling you.
The figure above is a share of passes. As a share of all tests, which also counts the cars that failed, the picture is starker: 51.7% of all 2019 Ford Fiesta first tests in 2025 ended in a clean pass (78,063 tests), against 19.7% of 2010 Ford Fiesta tests (81,049 tests). Four in five of the older cars either failed or passed with something noted.
What an advisory actually is
The MOT manual describes an advisory as the tester's note on an item that is not deteriorated enough to justify rejection. Recording one is optional; minor defects, by contrast, must be recorded where appropriate, and neither stops the car passing. That optional part matters when you read a history. Two testers can look at the same brake pipe and one will write 'slight corrosion' while the other says nothing. The absence of an advisory is weaker evidence than the presence of one. The definitions are in the MOT inspection manual introduction.
How to read a history as a buyer
- Pull the full record. GOV.UK check MOT history shows every test since 2005 with the result, the mileage and, for tests in England, Scotland and Wales, what failed and what was noted.
- Judge the clean pass by the age. On a car of six, a clean pass is what most cars get. On a car of twelve or fifteen, it is the minority outcome, so ask what was done to earn it: a recent service, new tyres, a pre-MOT visit.
- Look for advisories that vanish. A corrosion or oil-leak advisory one year and nothing the next usually means a repair or a different tester, not a car that healed. Ask for the receipt.
- Look for advisories that repeat. The same tyre, the same slight play in a joint, the same pipe, year after year, is a job nobody has done. Price it in.
- Check the gap between tests. A car tested in January, failed, then passed in March with a different mileage spent two months somewhere. The pass tells you it was fixed; the gap tells you how.
What this does not mean
These are fleet shares for eight models in one test year. They say nothing about the car in front of you, and a model with a lower clean-pass share is not a worse car: it may be driven harder, serviced less or simply tested by people who write more down. The figures count advisories as recorded by testers, who are free not to record them. A clean pass is not proof of a sound car and a pass with three advisories is not proof of a bad one. Treat the certificate as a conversation starter with the seller, not a verdict.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. An advisory is the tester's note on an item that is not worn or damaged enough to fail. The car has a valid MOT. On older cars a pass with advisories is the usual result: among 2010 Nissan Qashqai tests in 2025 only about 3 in 10 passes carried none.
It depends mostly on age. For the eight popular models here, between 54.8% and 67.9% of passes on cars first used in 2019 were clean in 2025 tests. For cars first used in 2010 the range was 29.5% to 41.8%.
No. The MOT inspection manual says recording an advisory is optional, unlike a minor defect, which must be recorded where appropriate. That is why the absence of advisories tells you less than their presence.
On the free GOV.UK MOT history service. Enter the registration and it lists every test since 2005 with the result, the mileage and, for tests in England, Scotland and Wales, the items that failed and any minor problems noted.
Sources and method
Clean-pass shares are passes with no advisory recorded, divided by all passes, for class 4 first tests carried out in 2025 on cars of the first-used year shown. Passes behind each cell, in the order 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019: BMW 3 Series 15,645, 24,284, 25,997, 22,105; Ford Fiesta 44,841, 66,309, 76,063, 66,153; Ford Focus 27,908, 43,696, 48,630, 45,045; Kia Sportage 2,054, 10,539, 27,590, 27,487; Nissan Qashqai 12,862, 23,393, 41,427, 41,425; Toyota Yaris 11,271, 19,921, 23,015, 24,236; Vauxhall Corsa 25,179, 40,552, 50,083, 42,595; Volkswagen Golf 26,174, 40,870, 54,255, 49,013. The share-of-tests figures for the Ford Fiesta use 78,063 first tests (2019 cars) and 81,049 (2010 cars). There is no national clean-pass figure in this dataset; the national 2025 pass rate was 72.3% of 33,210,951 first tests.
- DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
- GOV.UK: MOT inspection manual, introduction
- GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle
About these figures. Figures are computed by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (class 4, first tests only, test years 2021-2025), published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Pass rate = passes divided by first tests, with pass-after-rectification counted as a fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Test class 4 only, first tests only; retests are excluded. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. Alias spellings of a make are counted under one make name and all trims of a model under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables.
This article is general information drawn from published test records. It is not professional, mechanical or legal advice, and an MOT pass or a clean MOT history does not guarantee that a car is roadworthy today. If you are unsure about a car, have it inspected by a qualified mechanic. You can check any vehicle's MOT history free on the official GOV.UK MOT history service.
Check a car's MOT history free
Enter a registration to see its DVLA record and full MOT history, free, no sign-in.