The short answer
Yes, cars are passing more often, and no, it is not just a younger fleet. The national class 4 pass rate was 70.5% in 2021 (31,301,558 first tests) and 72.3% in 2025 (33,210,951 tests). That is the figure GOV.UK publishes, and it hides the more interesting one. Compare cars of the same age in each year and the rise is bigger: ten-year-old cars passed 65.8% of first tests in 2021 (1,794,172 tests) and 71.9% in 2025 (2,576,147 tests). Something about ten-year-old cars, or how they are prepared, or how they are tested, changed over those five years.
What the data cannot tell you is which. It records results, not reasons. The candidates are set out below so you can weigh them yourself.
Pass rate by age, three test years
Each cell is the share of class 4 first tests in that year, on cars of that age, that passed outright. Age is the test year minus the year the car was first used. The last row pools every car aged twenty or more.
| Age at test | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 87.6% | 87.7% | 88.5% |
| 5 years | 82.7% | 84.2% | 86.0% |
| 7 years | 76.3% | 78.6% | 80.9% |
| 10 years | 65.8% | 68.3% | 71.9% |
| 12 years | 60.5% | 63.0% | 65.8% |
| 15 years | 55.5% | 57.4% | 59.3% |
| 18 years | 54.0% | 56.3% | 57.4% |
| 20 and over | 60.7% | 61.1% | 61.0% |
Three patterns. First, the rise is smallest at the top: three-year-olds went from 87.6% to 88.5%, barely moving. Second, it is largest in the middle years: eight-year-olds went from 72.1% to 78.2%, ten-year-olds from 65.8% to 71.9%. Third, the twenty-and-over row is flat, and higher than the row above it, because it is a different population: cars that have survived that long are the cherished ones.
The fleet did get older over these years, which is why the national figure moved less than the rows did. In 2021 there were 2,775,020 first tests on five-year-old cars and 1,794,172 on ten-year-olds; in 2025 the five-year-olds numbered 1,758,904 and the ten-year-olds 2,576,147. More old cars in the mix pulls the headline down even as every age group improves.
What might explain it
The data does not say, so these are possibilities, not findings. The cars reaching ten in 2025 were first used in 2015; those reaching ten in 2021 were first used in 2011. Four model years is a long time in car design, and newer designs may simply reach ten in better shape. Owners may be preparing cars better, with pre-MOT checks now routine at many garages. The mix of cars at each age has shifted as well: more automatics, more petrol, fewer high-mileage diesels in some bands. And testing practice can change at the margins. None of these can be separated in a dataset that records the result and not the reason, and this article does not try.
What it means if you are buying or testing
- Age is still the strongest signal. Even in 2025 the gap between a five-year-old (86.0%) and a ten-year-old (71.9%) is far larger than any year-on-year movement. Choose the car by condition and history, and let the age set your expectations.
- A 2015 car today is not a 2011 car in 2021. If a friend's experience of a ten-year-old car dates from a few years ago, the odds have shifted since. The record is in GOV.UK check MOT history for any car you are considering.
- The first test has not changed. At three years the pass rate has sat near 88% throughout. A car is due its first test by the third anniversary of registration, as set out on GOV.UK getting an MOT, and the things that fail it are wear items you can check yourself.
- Do not read a rising rate as a softer test. The same rise shows at every age at once, which fits a change in the cars or their preparation at least as well as a change in testing.
What this does not mean
These are national averages across every make, model and region. A rising pass rate for ten-year-old cars does not mean your ten-year-old car is more likely to pass than it was; it means that, across two and a half million tests, more did. The figures record outcomes and not causes, and a pass is a check on the day, not a statement about the car's condition next month. Pass rates describe fleets. Individual cars are decided by how they were driven and looked after.
Frequently asked questions
For class 4 vehicles, which is cars and small vans, 72.3% of first tests passed in 2025 (33,210,951 tests), up from 70.5% in 2021. GOV.UK publishes the same figures as 72.36% and 70.55%. A pass after rectification is counted as a fail in both.
No. The fleet being tested actually got older between 2021 and 2025, with more ten-year-olds and fewer five-year-olds. Held at a fixed age the pass rate rose more than the headline: ten-year-old cars went from 65.8% to 71.9%.
The middle years. Eight-year-olds went from 72.1% to 78.2% and ten-year-olds from 65.8% to 71.9% between 2021 and 2025. Three-year-olds barely moved, from 87.6% to 88.5%, and cars aged twenty and over were flat at about 61%.
The data cannot say. The rise appears at every age at once, which fits a change in the cars reaching each age, or in how they are prepared, at least as well as a change in testing. The article lists the candidate explanations without choosing one.
Sources and method
Pass rates are outright passes divided by all class 4 first tests on cars of each age (test year minus first-used year) in each test year, from the national roll-up. First tests behind the table, 2021 then 2025: age 3, 2,574,090 and 1,765,878; age 5, 2,775,020 and 1,758,904; age 7, 2,464,180 and 2,471,793; age 10, 1,794,172 and 2,576,147; age 12, 1,657,265 and 2,025,441; age 15, 1,310,325 and 1,406,407; age 18, 639,680 and 919,503; age 20 and over, 1,107,440 and 2,119,036. National totals: 31,301,558 first tests in 2021 and 33,210,951 in 2025. The 20-and-over row pools every age from twenty upwards.
- DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
- GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle
- GOV.UK: Getting an MOT
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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