The short answer
Between six and nine years old a car crosses from the age where fails are mostly wear you can see, tyres, brake pads and wiper blades, to the age where parts underneath start to break. Nationally, about 1 in 5 first tests on six-year-old cars failed including pass after rectification (18.4% of 13,027,034 tests, 2021 to 2025). By nine it was nearly 3 in 10 (27.9%). The pass rate fell from 81.6% at six to 72.1% at nine.
The items that drive that fall are coil springs and lamps. Both are cheap to check before you buy and both show up in the car's MOT history, which is free to read.
What the data shows
The table lists the fail items most often recorded on cars aged six to nine, with the same item at the ages either side so you can see what is new. Each figure is the share of all first tests in that age band that recorded the item as a fail. A test can record several items, so the rows do not add up.
| Fail item | Aged 3-5 | Aged 6-9 | Aged 10-14 | Aged 15+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyre tread below 1.6mm | 1.5% | 2.3% | 3.0% | 2.9% |
| Brake pads under 1.5mm | 1.3% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 1.8% |
| Coil spring fractured or broken | 0.3% | 2.0% | 4.1% | 3.4% |
| Wipers not clearing the screen | 2.3% | 1.8% | 2.2% | 3.1% |
| Tyre cut deep enough to reach the cords | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| Stop lamp not working | 0.3% | 1.2% | 2.8% | 3.8% |
| Position lamp (side or tail light) not working | 0.3% | 1.2% | 4.0% | 5.4% |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam | 0.4% | 1.1% | 2.1% | 2.1% |
Read it in two halves. The top half, tyres, pads and wipers, is already common at three to five and barely moves after that; these are the items that fail cars of any age because they wear out and get left. The bottom half is different. A broken coil spring is rare on a young car and the most recorded single fail item from ten onwards; the six-to-nine band is where it arrives. Dead bulbs follow the same curve. Below the table, two more suspension items appear in the band: a worn ball joint on 0.9% of tests and worn pins or bushes on 0.8%, with headlamp aim too low on 1.0%.
Why six to nine is the band to read carefully
A car in this band has usually had two or three owners' worth of decisions made about it. Its first keeper serviced it under warranty; whether its second did is the question. The MOT history is the only neutral record of that. A six-year-old car has had three or four tests; the pattern across them tells you more than any single certificate. Look for the advisory that turned into a fail, the item that keeps coming back, and the test where the mileage stopped rising. Our first MOT at three and cars aged 10 to 14 pieces cover the bands either side.
What to check before you buy
- Every test, not just the last one. The GOV.UK MOT history service shows each pass or fail, the mileage, what failed and what was advised. Four tests on a six-year-old car is a short read.
- Springs. Look at the car on level ground for a corner sitting low, and look for a shiny broken end at the bottom of each front spring with a torch. A spring advisory on the last test that is not matched by a receipt is a spring you will be paying for.
- Every bulb, with a helper. Side lights, tail lights, both dipped beams, brake lights with the pedal pressed, number plate lights. The bottom half of the table is the cheapest set of fails on it.
- Tyres. Tread across the whole width, and the inside shoulder you cannot see without turning the wheel. A cut or a cord showing is a fail, and a new tyre on one corner only is worth a question.
- Pads and wipers. Look through the wheel spokes at the pad thickness, and run the wipers with washer fluid. Both are small money, but both tell you how the car has been kept.
- Dates. A car bought with a fresh MOT has a year before the next test; one bought with a month left has a test due that may find the items above. GOV.UK's MOT guidance explains how the due date works.
What this does not mean
These are national shares across tens of millions of tests. They say what was found on cars of this age as a group; they do not say what will be found on the one you are looking at, and they do not say why a spring broke or a bulb failed. Use, roads, mileage and the previous keeper all sit behind the numbers. A six-year-old car with a clean history and a receipt for its springs is a different proposition from the average, and the average is all this page describes. Nothing here is a reason to avoid a car of this age; it is a list of where to look.
Frequently asked questions
It is the age where the big early depreciation has happened and most of the car's wear items are on their first or second replacement. The data says the pass rate is still above four in five at six and falls each year after. What matters more than the age is whether the history shows the wear items being replaced as they came up.
The MOT records that they broke, not why. Springs are steel under constant load, exposed to salt and water, and they corrode and fatigue with time and miles. That is why the item is rare at three to five and common from ten onwards.
Yes. A stop lamp, side light, tail light or dipped headlamp that does not work is recorded as a fail item, and they are among the most common items on cars from six years upwards. They are also the cheapest thing on this page to put right before a test.
A fault found during the test and fixed on the spot, so the car leaves with a pass. GOV.UK counts it as a fail when it calculates the national pass rate, and so does every figure here.
Sources and method
Shares are national: 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, test years 2021 to 2025 pooled. Bands hold 33,793,352 (aged 3-5), 50,103,915 (6-9), 44,980,002 (10-14) and 31,405,150 (15+) first tests. Age pass and fail rates in the opening are from the national roll-up by single year of age: 13,027,034 first tests at age six and 11,826,981 at age nine. Items are the DVSA reasons for rejection, shortened; where DVSA lists the same item under two wordings only the wording shown is counted.
- 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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