The DVSA publish statical data on UK mot testing, various spreadsheets can be downloaded form the government website, below i have pulled out some of the high-level statics members of our industry may be interested in:

The Number of MOT testing stations, for the last 7 years has remained flat.

2023-2024 testing statics.

Class III & IV,

• Initial failure rate 28.58% of tests conducted, this drops down to 22.95% following rectification work as part of the test. 
• Initial failure rate of which are classified as dangerous items 7.87% 

Class VII 

• Initial failure rate 36.33% of tests conducted, this drops down to 29.30% following rectification work as part of the test. 
• Initial failure rate of which are classified as dangerous items 10.39% 

This shows how important the MOT testing industry is, and it was a correct decision to keep the test at 3 years from first registration and then annually.  

Digging into the data further, for the same period 2023 -2024, class III & IV vehicle initial failure rates  

Electrical equipment and lamps is the biggest category,

Note this category will capture any electrical issue including lights not working , incorrect alignment of lights and also if the MIL light is on highlighting any issues the vehicle ECU may see.

we also see a similar trend on class VII, just higher percentages 

to download the full data sets from the government website use the below link 

MOT testing data for Great Britain – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)