The Most Common MOT Failures and How to Avoid Them

Lights, tyres, brakes and screenwash account for most MOT failures. Here is what fails, what it costs and how to catch it first.

Most MOT failures are not dramatic. They are small, cheap items that nobody looked at for a year. Here is the running order, worst offenders first.

1. Lighting and signalling

Blown bulbs, cloudy lenses and badly aimed headlamps. Walk round the car with the lights on and get someone to press the brake pedal. Headlamp aim often drifts after a front end repair or a heavy load.

2. Suspension

Worn bushes, tired shock absorbers and broken coil springs, usually from potholes. A corner that keeps bouncing after you push it down is a giveaway.

3. Brakes

Thin pads, scored discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold on a slope. Grinding or a pull to one side under braking means book it in now, not at MOT time.

4. Tyres

Below 1.6mm tread, uneven wear, cuts, bulges or mismatched tyres across an axle. Uneven wear usually means the tracking needs setting, which is worth doing anyway for fuel and tyre life.

5. Driver s view of the road

Torn wiper blades, empty washer bottles and chips in the swept area in front of the driver. Empty screenwash is an instant fail and takes a pound to fix.

6. Corrosion and body condition

Rust in structural areas, sharp edges and insecure panels. This often traces back to a cheap repair where bare metal was never sealed properly.

The pre MOT ten minutes

Check every bulb, including the number plate lights
Top up the screenwash and look at the wipers
Check tread and pressures on all four tyres, plus the spare
Listen for grinding brakes and test the handbrake on a hill
Check the horn, seatbelts and that the plates are clean and legal

If the body is what is worrying you, get a free repair estimate before the test rather than after a fail.