Volkswagen California: 79% pass.

8,264 tests of cars aged 3 and over passed first time 79% of the time in 2025. For cars of the same ages, 73% would be expected: 6 points better than that.

How it does as it ages.

01 / By age

Source: Anonymised MOT tests and results (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) Checked 4 Nov 2026, 13:37

Diesel
Age of car	Pass first time	All cars this age	Fixed at the station	Failed	Tests
4 years	81%	86%	0%	19%	81
5 years	84%	84%	2%	13%	845
6 years	83%	82%	2%	16%	1,094
7 years	80%	79%	3%	17%	1,109
8 years	80%	76%	2%	18%	991
9 years	80%	73%	2%	18%	838
10 years	78%	70%	2%	20%	824
11 years	77%	67%	3%	19%	692
12 years	74%	64%	5%	21%	561
13 years	74%	62%	3%	23%	496
14 years	72%	60%	3%	25%	362
15 years	73%	58%	4%	23%	167
16 years	62%	57%	5%	33%	60
17 years	69%	57%	9%	23%	70
18 years	67%	57%	5%	28%	39

Petrol
Age of car	Pass first time	All cars this age	Fixed at the station	Failed	Tests
7 years	89%	79%	3%	9%	35

Ages with fewer than 30 tests are left out. "All cars this age" is every make and model at that age, so you can see whether this one does better or worse than most.

A pass rate is the share of normal MOT tests a car passed first time, with no repair needed at the test station. A car that failed and was fixed on the spot is counted separately. Retests, aborted tests and other vehicles are left out.
The figures say how often cars of a kind pass, not how reliable or safe they are. Cars that are looked after better, or that are driven fewer miles, pass more often, and that differs by model. Groups of fewer than 30 tests are left out.
Make and model names are as DVSA records them, and a model can appear under more than one name.

More on Volkswagen and costs.

02 / Related

Data sources

Anonymised MOT tests and results (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT test results for cars, counted by make, model and age from DVSA's anonymised data. The counts are ours; DVSA does not endorse them.