Your car's first MOT at three years old: the items that actually fail, and how they differ from a ten-year-old car

The short answer

A car's first MOT is the easiest it will ever sit. In tests carried out 2021 to 2025, cars aged three passed 87.8% of first tests (10,554,916 tests), against 68.9% for cars aged ten (10,798,230 tests). When a three-year-old car does fail, the reasons are different in kind from an older car's: wear items and settings, not corrosion or broken parts. The single most recorded fail on cars aged 3 to 5 was wipers that did not clear the windscreen, about 1 in 45 first tests (2.3% of 33,793,352 tests).

Tyres, brake pads, headlamp aim and washer fluid make up most of the rest. All of them can be checked in ten minutes the night before, and two of them can be fixed on the drive.

What fails a young car, and what fails an old one

Each cell is the share of all first tests in the age band that recorded the item as a fail, pooled across 2021 to 2025. The 10 to 14 column is there to show how the list changes once a car is on its third or fourth owner.

Read the two columns together and the story is plain. On a young car the fails are the things that wear with miles or were never set right: wiper rubbers, tyres, pads, headlamp aim. A tyre cut deep enough to reach the cords is actually slightly more common on young cars than on ten-year-olds, which fits a car that has met more kerbs than its owner noticed. The item that defines an older car, a broken coil spring, barely appears at three years (0.3%) and becomes the single biggest line at 10 to 14 (4.1%). A dipped headlamp bulb that has stopped working shows the same shape: 0.4% at 3 to 5, 2.1% at 10 to 14.

Two first-test items worth knowing by name. Headlamp aim too high is as common as too low on young cars (0.7% each), often from a heavy boot or a towbar fitting that was never followed by an aim check. And a tyre pressure monitoring system showing a fault failed 0.4% of tests on cars aged 3 to 5; it is a fail, not an advisory.

When it is due and what it costs

A car needs its first MOT by the third anniversary of its registration, so a car first registered in October 2023 is due now. The maximum fee a test centre can charge for a car is £54.85, with no VAT on top; many charge less. Driving without a valid MOT can bring a fine of up to £1,000. The rules and the fee table are on GOV.UK getting an MOT. DVLA has said it plans to add MOT reminders to the online driver account by the end of 2026; until then, you can set a free text or email reminder yourself.

The night-before check

1. Wipers. Run them on a wet screen. Smearing, juddering or a streak that stays put is the top first-test fail. New blades are a five-minute job.
2. Washer fluid. Fill it. An empty bottle is a fail, and it accounted for 0.7% of first tests on cars aged 3 to 5.
3. Tyre tread. The legal minimum is 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters of the tread, all the way round, as set out in Highway Code annex 6. Check the wear bars in the grooves and run a hand round the inner shoulder, where a car with a knocked tracking wears first.
4. Tyre sidewalls. Look for cuts, bulges and any sign of the cords. A cut to the cords is a fail on a tyre with plenty of tread.
5. Brake pads. Look through the wheel spokes with a torch. Pads below 1.5 mm are a fail; a squeal on light braking is the wear indicator telling you.
6. Lights. Walk round with everything on, then dipped beam against a wall or garage door: both pools the same height, neither one pointing at the sky.
7. Dashboard. Any warning lamp that stays on, including the tyre pressure lamp, is a fail at the test.

If the car fails on wipers, washers, lamps (other than headlamp aim), tyres or the tyre pressure system, it can be retested free at the same centre before the end of the next working day, and a car left at the centre and retested within ten working days needs only a partial retest with no fee, as set out on GOV.UK retests.

What this does not mean

These are fleet figures across every make and model, and they describe what testers recorded, not why. An 87.8% pass rate at age three means about one car in eight did not pass first time, and the table shows what those cars were most often marked down for. It does not say your car will pass or fail, and it does not say any model is better or worse. A car that has never been serviced can fail at three; a well-kept car can sail through at thirteen. The first MOT is a check on the day, not a verdict on the car.

Sources and method

Item shares are the number of class 4 first tests in each age band (test year minus first-used year) that recorded the item as a fail, divided by all first tests in the band, pooled over 2021 to 2025: 33,793,352 tests aged 3 to 5 and 44,980,002 aged 10 to 14. The wipers item was recorded on 768,401 tests aged 3 to 5 and 968,415 aged 10 to 14; the coil spring item on 113,515 and 1,824,261. Pass rates by age are national, from 10,554,916 first tests on cars aged three and 10,798,230 on cars aged ten. The items shown are the most recorded in each defect family at 3 to 5 years; a test can record several items, so rows do not add up.

• DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
• GOV.UK: Getting an MOT
• GOV.UK: MOT test fees
• GOV.UK: The Highway Code, annex 6
• GOV.UK: MOT retests
• GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle

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.