The short answer
Yes, within this group of cars, low mileage went with a much better MOT record. Among cars first used in 2010 to 2014 and aged ten to fourteen at the test, about 5 in 6 of those with under 30,000 miles passed (83.0% of 1,320,292 first tests in 2021 to 2025). Of those with 150,000 miles or more, under 3 in 5 passed. The middle bands sit between, and the fall flattens out past 90,000 miles.
Two cautions before you pay a premium for a low reading. Low-mileage examples of this age are scarce: the under-30,000 band is a small slice of the cohort, and most of these cars arrive at the test with 60,000 to 90,000 miles on the clock. And the pass rate is a group result. It tells you the odds, not the car.
What the data shows
Each cell is the share of first tests that passed, for cars first used in 2010 to 2014, grouped by the odometer reading at the test and the car's age that day. Pass after rectification counts as a fail, which is the GOV.UK convention. The test counts behind each column are in the note at the foot of the page.
| Miles on the clock | Aged 6-9 | Aged 10-14 | Aged 15+ | All ages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 30,000 | 85.1% | 83.0% | 80.4% | 84.0% |
| 30,000 to 59,999 | 76.4% | 72.9% | 69.5% | 74.3% |
| 60,000 to 89,999 | 69.6% | 64.6% | 60.6% | 66.0% |
| 90,000 to 119,999 | 65.9% | 60.5% | 56.1% | 61.3% |
| 120,000 to 149,999 | 64.4% | 59.1% | 55.3% | 59.6% |
| 150,000 and over | 63.9% | 59.0% | 56.0% | 59.4% |
Read down the aged 10-14 column and the pattern is clear: 83.0% under 30,000 miles, 72.9% in the next band, 64.6% in the next, then 60.5%, 59.1% and 59.0%. The last three rows are within a point and a half of each other. Beyond about 90,000 miles, more miles made little further difference to the group's chance of a pass.
The aged 15 and over column is thin: it holds only 2010 cars tested in 2025, so those cells rest on tens or hundreds of thousands of tests rather than millions. They are shown for completeness and follow the same shape.
Why the low-mileage older car is rare
The largest band in this cohort is 60,000 to 89,999 miles, with 15,465,542 tests. The under-30,000 band has 2,577,681. So the car in the advert with a very low reading for its age is unusual, and unusual deserves a question: why has it done so little? A car that has sat for long spells can carry faults a daily driver does not, such as seized brakes, perished rubber and flat-spotted tyres. The MOT record will often show them as advisories.
For context across every cohort, not just these years, the pass rate by age alone runs from 68.9% at ten to 58.9% at fourteen. Within this cohort, a low-mileage car aged ten to fourteen beat both of those figures comfortably, and a high-mileage one sat at or below them.
What to check on a low-mileage older car
- Check the mileage trail, not the total. On GOV.UK check MOT history every test since 2005 records the mileage that day. A reading that climbs by a similar amount each year is one kind of car; one that did most of its miles early and then stopped is another.
- Read the advisories for standing faults. Corrosion on brake pipes and suspension parts, tyres cracking with age rather than wearing, and binding brakes are what long rest leaves behind.
- Look at the tyres' date codes, not just the tread. A low-mileage car can have deep tread on tyres that are old enough to be hard and cracked.
- Ask where it lived. A garaged car and one left on a damp drive for years test very differently at the same mileage.
- Query any reading that falls. A mileage that goes down between tests is a question for the seller before it is a bargain.
What this does not mean
These are pass rates for very large groups of cars first used in 2010 to 2014. They do not tell you whether the low-mileage car you are looking at will pass next month, and they do not say that mileage causes a fail. Mileage travels with age, use, climate and upkeep, and the data records what the tester found, not why. The cohort is fixed here, so the usual warning that older cars simply have more miles applies less than in an all-ages table, but it does not vanish: within the cohort, the older cars still tend to the higher bands. Tests with no reading, or a reading under 100 or over 400,000, are left out (73,169 of them).
Frequently asked questions
Within cars first used in 2010 to 2014 and aged ten to fourteen, the pass rate ran from 83.0% at under 30,000 miles to 59.0% at 150,000 and over. That is a wide gap, and it is wider than the gap between age bands at the same mileage, so yes, within this group mileage made a large difference.
The group figures favour it: cars of this cohort aged ten to fourteen in the 30,000 to 59,999 band passed 72.9% of the time, against 64.6% in the band above. But check how the miles were gained. A steady trail on the MOT history is a better sign than a low total.
The data does not say. In this cohort the three highest bands sit at 60.5%, 59.1% and 59.0% for cars aged ten to fourteen. A reasonable reading is that the wear items the test finds have usually been replaced at least once by then, so the result depends more on upkeep than on distance. That is a reading, not a finding.
From every class 4 first MOT test in Great Britain from 2021 to 2025 on cars first used in 2010 to 2014, grouped by the odometer reading the tester recorded and the car's age at the test. Pass after rectification is counted as a fail, as GOV.UK does.
Sources and method
Cells are passes divided by first tests for cars first used in 2010 to 2014, in each age band (test year minus first-used year) and odometer band, all class 4 first tests 2021-2025 pooled. Tests behind the all-ages rows: 2,577,681 under 30,000 miles; 11,591,012 at 30,000-59,999; 15,465,542 at 60,000-89,999; 10,548,639 at 90,000-119,999; 4,936,129 at 120,000-149,999; 3,189,327 at 150,000 and over. The aged 10-14 cells quoted in the text rest on 1,320,292 tests (under 30,000) and 2,567,179 tests (150,000 and over). The aged 15 and over column holds only 2010 cars tested in 2025 and its cells rest on 32,906 to 390,586 tests. Tests with no reading, or a reading under 100 or over 400,000, are excluded: 73,169 tests.
- DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
- 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.
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