Do you live in a MOT failure hotspot?

Where you live, the make of the car you drive and even the colour of your vehicle can have a significant impact on whether or not you will pass your MOT according to recent research by the UK’s fastest growing supplier and fitter of tyres and automotive services, Protyre.

This new research reveals the UK’s MOT failure hotspots, and cars in Wales have the highest fail rates.  Doh!  A summary of the findings include:

• 1 in 5 cars in Wales fail their MOT, the most of any UK region.
• 95% of cars in the North West of England pass their MOT.
• Green-coloured cars are 5% more likely to fail their MOT than other colours.  Very random I know.
• The Nissan Qashqai is the top performing make and model with an 83% pass rate.  Well I never.

Could this Welsh fact be due to the poor quality roads in Wales having an adverse affect on Welsh drivers cars, and their wallets.  A January Swansea Council report, revealed a £54 million backlog on road maintenance.  Swansea’s backlog and resulting road quality is leading to the city’s drivers failing MOT’s an unacceptable 40% of the time. A shocking contrast to the UK-wide average MOT pass-rate of 90%.

The insight comes following Protyre’s analysis of data from hundreds of garages across the UK. The breakdown of regional results over the last 2 years can be seen above.

Protyre, the vehicle and tyre experts discovered that MOT pass rates even differ by car colour, when comparing its results with the official DVSA MOT data (from the UK Government Department for Transport). One in three cars with green paintwork fail more than any other colour choice. Red cars might go faster but bronze coloured cars, while a less popular paint choice, are the safest option passing their MOT in 81% of cases.

The research offers valuable insight for those looking to buy their next car, analysing the pass rates of the UK’s most popular cars. Surprisingly, the most high-selling cars aren’t necessarily the most successful during MOTs; the MINI (with an 82% MOT pass rate) and the Nissan Qashqai (83% pass rate) came out on top, despite selling significantly less units in 2017 than the popular Vauxhall Astra, which was found to fail MOT tests almost 30% of the time.

Simon Hiorns, Protyre Retail Director comments, “Our research highlights the difference in MOT pass rates across the country and how important it is for drivers to keep up regular checks on their motors, especially as we’re heading into the wintery months now. The user-friendly MOT Failure Hotspot Map offers motorists Protyre’s experienced regional insight with data from the DVSA, to help drivers think about their safety on the roads and make informed decisions about their next MOT.”

Top tips for passing your MOT

As a safety-conscious motorist there are a range of small checks and fixes that we can all do to seriously increase your chances of passing your MOT and saving money on re-tests.

• Ensure all light bulbs on the car are working;
• Check tyre pressure is correct (can be done at most petrol stations);
• Also check the tyre tread depth (the legal minimum is 1.6mm);
• Replace worn wiper blades.  If they are not wiping well, replace.  It’s common sense and safer than average blades.
• Clean your number plates and all lights and check they’re undamaged; and
• Ensure your mirrors, wipers and washes aren’t impacting your view of the road.

All the best.