As dealerships reopen, What Car? reveals the used buys with the best MOT record
This is the latest report in a series of weekly updates for industry colleagues from Rachael Prasher, managing director of What Car? and Haymarket Automotive. Quoted poll data is from more than 2900 whatcar.com users.
After more than three months of closures, dealerships in England and Wales are finally open to the public. The industry will now work to meet the pent-up demand that has been building over several months.
And it’s not just new car buyers that are eager to head to the forecourts; our latest market study of 2968 in-market buyers found that 24% of those buying a used car are looking to make a purchase in the next four weeks, while 33% are looking to buy within three months.
To coincide with dealers reopening and to help used buyers narrow down their shortlist, we’ve published our latest piece of research, which ranks the top 50 used buys with the best MOT pass rates.
“As part of the research, we analysed more than 745,000 anonymous MOT records published by the Department for Transport for cars between three to eight years old. Each model had to have a minimum of sample 100 cars to be included in the study.”
The hybrid and fully electric Hyundai Ioniq (2017 – present) was found to have the highest average pass rate, with 96.18% of vehicles passing their MOT. The Ioniq was closely followed by the plug-in hybrid BMW i8 (2014 – 2020), with a 95.97% pass rate.
South Korean, Japanese and German models dominated the top 10, with the Jaguar F-Type (2013 – present) the highest-placed British model in the study. It placed 14 th overall with an average MOT pass rate of 90.83%.
The study also ranked the top and bottom performing brands. Porsche scored the highest average pass rate and was the only brand to surpass 90%. Although SsangYong was found to have the lowest MOT pass record, its result of 76.98% means that more than three quarters of its cars still passed their MOT the first time.
Our previous research of 1029 in-market buyers in March found that, following Covid, half of all buyers were now more willing to purchase service packages, extended warranties and other insurance policies such as MOT test cover up front with their next car to help spread out the costs of ownership.
To read the full What Car? Top 50 MOT feature, visit: https://bit.ly/329Dew3
Top 10 manufacturer MOT pass rates
| Rank | Brand | Average MOT test pass rate | Average mileage at MOT test |
| 1 | Porsche | 91.15% | 32,041 |
| 2 | Tesla | 89.94% | 44,613 |
| 3 | Lexus | 88.72% | 44,081 |
| 4 | Subaru | 88.46% | 39,427 |
| 5 | Honda | 88.41% | 35,809 |
| 6 | MINI | 87.45% | 33,641 |
| 7 | Audi | 87.25% | 46,791 |
| 8 | Skoda | 86.58% | 45,932 |
| 9 | Jeep | 86.52% | 35,224 |
| 10 | Mazda | 86.32% | 40,941 |
Bottom 10 manufacturer MOT pass rates
| Rank | Brand | Average MOT test pass rate | Average mileage at MOT test |
| 1 | SsangYong | 76.98% | 37,911 |
| 2 | Dacia | 78.17% | 39,401 |
| 3 | Citroen | 79.72% | 38,207 |
| 4 | Renault | 80.20% | 37,194 |
| 5 | Alfa Romeo | 80.73% | 42,443 |
| 6 | Vauxhall | 81.20% | 42,565 |
| 7 | Fiat | 81.22% | 33,404 |
| 8 | Seat | 82.08% | 44,542 |
| 9 | Ford | 82.58% | 40,664 |
| 10 | Peugeot | 82.78% | 37,691 |
For further insight from whatcar.com’s unique website data, please contact insights@haymarket.com