The daftest reasons cars fail their first MOT test

New research uncovers the most ridiculous reasons motors fail their first health check-up.

Motorists are wasting almost £500,000 each year because of preventable MOT test failures, according to new research from What Car?

The magazine looked at MOT test performance data from the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) between August 2012 and August 2013 for three-year old cars presented for their first check-up.

During this period there were 285,236 MOT test failures recorded for cars being presented for the first time. But What Car? claims that 10,753 of the fails (nearly 4%) could have easily been avoided.

With an average MOT amounting to £45 the total cost of these preventable fails totals £483,885.

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Top five daftest MOT fail reasons

Here are the top five daftest MOT test fail reasons according to What Car?

More than 4,600 three-year-old cars failed their first MOT simply because their screen wash was running low. Topping-up your fluids is a pretty simple task and should form part of a basic car maintenance routine.

A garage can refuse to test your car if it’s too dirty or full of clutter. Unfortunately, over 2,800 people found themselves in this embarrassing situation according to the What Car? research. This is an easily preventable situation if you take the time to clean up your vehicle before test day.  

Registration plate anomalies accounted for 1,398 of the most ridiculous fails. What Car? found 29 people failed because their number plate was the wrong colour and 114 presented their car without a number plate at all. But others failed simply because the registration plate was dirty or had the incorrect font. For more on licence plate rules read this leaflet.

[SPOTLIGHT]Stickers obscuring the driver’s view accounted for 1,055 fails. This could have been avoided if windscreen furniture like tax discs were placed outside the area of a wiper’s sweeper.

And finally test centres had to fail 799 cars because of warning lights. The warning light element entered into the MOT test in 2012 and can relate to anything that ails your motor from brakes to tyre pressure. You should deal with a warning light alert as soon as it appears as whatever it is can lead to bigger problems and be more expensive to fix later on.

Emma Butcher, consumer editor at What Car? said: "There are some really simple things that every motorist can do to help a three-year-old car pass its first MOT test, but it’s amazing how many people don’t do them."

Overall according to the data the most common reason for a MOT failure was tyre tread depth falling below the 1.6mm limit, worn out brake pads falling to less than 1.5mm thickness and wrongly aimed headlamps.

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MOT tests

Car owners need an MOT test to ensure their vehicle meets certain road safety and environmental standards every year.

But new cars don’t have to be presented until after their first three years on the road.

The maximum a garage can charge for an MOT on a car is set at £54.85 (not including VAT), but if you shop around you can find garages charging much less.

However, if your motor fails you can be hit with higher than expected costs that might put a strain on your budget.

What Car? has launched a new online tool to help people prepare for a MOT test.

But for more on how to save read Drivers: Cut the cost of your MOT.

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