Low mileage on a 2019 or 2020 car is normal: what three-year-old cars showed at their first MOT, 2022 to 2025

The short answer

Cars first used in 2019 and 2020 arrived at their first MOT, in 2022 and 2023, with the lowest mileages of any three-year-olds in the past five years. Honda Jazz cars at their first test had a median reading of 12,100 miles in 2022 (16,998 readings) and 15,300 miles in 2025 (10,693 readings). The same dip and recovery shows in every one of the eight models below. Those cars spent their first two years on the road in 2020 and 2021, when most people drove far less than usual, and the readings fit that.

So a 2019 or 2020 car with a reading well under what you would expect for its age is, as a rule, telling the truth. The way to confirm it is the mileage trail on the MOT history, not the number on its own.

What a three-year-old car reads, by test year

Each cell is the median odometer reading at the first MOT, three years after the car was first used, for the test year shown. Half of the cars read less, half more. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred miles; the number of readings behind each cell is in the note at the foot of the page. Models are listed alphabetically by make.

Two readings of the table. Across the rows, the 2022 and 2023 columns are the low point for every model that has them, and 2024 and 2025 are higher. In 2021, before the dip, the medians were already close to today's: 17,300 for the Dacia Sandero, 15,600 for the Fiat 500, 13,500 for the Honda Jazz, 28,800 for the Skoda Octavia. Down the columns, the spread between models is wide and stable: a Honda Jazz at three years has done roughly half the miles of a Skoda Octavia or a Tesla Model 3 in every year, which says more about who buys each car and what for than about the cars.

The middle is not the whole story. Among Tesla Model 3 cars tested in 2025, a quarter read under 25,700 miles and a quarter over 53,000; among Honda Jazz cars the quarter marks were 10,200 and 22,200. A three-year-old Skoda Octavia in the top quarter had passed 53,000 miles. A high reading on a car of that kind is as normal as a low one on a small hatchback.

How to check a low reading is genuine

1. Check the record. GOV.UK check MOT history lists the mileage recorded at every test since 2005. A three-year-old car has only one or two entries, so the service history and any sale paperwork carry the rest of the trail.
2. Ask for the service record. Each service stamp or digital entry carries a mileage. The readings should climb steadily; a reading that is lower than an earlier one is the thing to query.
3. Match the car to the reading. A Honda Jazz tested in 2025 reading 15,300 miles sits on its model's median. A Tesla Model 3 of the same age reading 15,300 would sit far below the 25,700 that marks the bottom quarter of its range, and deserves a question about how it was used.
4. Look at the wear, not the number. Pedal rubbers, the driver's seat bolster, the steering wheel at ten and two, stone chips on the bonnet. A car with genuinely low miles looks like it.
5. If the trail does not add up, say so. Altering an odometer and selling the car without disclosing it is a fraud. Report it to Action Fraud and walk away.

What this does not mean

These are medians across tens of thousands of cars per model and year. They tell you what is typical, not what is true of the car you are looking at. A low reading on a 2019 car is consistent with the record for its year; it is not proof the reading is genuine, and a reading in the normal range is not proof either. The figures record the odometer as the tester read it. They do not record how the car was used, stored or maintained in the miles it did cover, and a car that sat for two years has its own questions: tyres, brakes and a battery that were idle. Mileage is one line in a history, not the history.

Sources and method

Medians are the odometer reading at class 4 first tests on cars tested three years after their first-used year, from tests with a recorded reading, rounded to the nearest 100 miles. Readings behind each cell, in the order 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025: Dacia Sandero 13,063, 9,188, 8,042, 13,171; Fiat 500 21,458, 13,762, 15,297, 17,033; Honda Jazz 16,998, 10,784, 14,685, 10,693; Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 22,865, 18,147, 14,393, 11,071; MG HS none, 3,086, 8,508, 18,865; Seat Leon 20,100, 13,819, 11,441, 3,525; Skoda Octavia 20,385, 12,147, 9,794, 6,218; Tesla Model 3 9,002, 20,349, 32,773, 19,068. Quartiles quoted in the text are from the 2025 rows of the same files. The 2021 medians quoted in the text are from the same recipe for cars first used in 2018.

• DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
• GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle
• GOV.UK: Getting an MOT
• Action Fraud

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.