BusinessCar has been through all the MOT test data for 2007 – released as the result of a freedom of information request – to discover which brands and models are the best and worst performers. Tristan Young reports

Honda and Toyota have topped the list of fleet manufacturers with the best MOT record, while Renault and Peugeot have the worst record BusinessCar has found after a BBC freedom of information request that released records from VOSA.

BusinessCar has analysed the results for cars built in 2004 and tested in 2007 (the most recent, full results available) from the top 20 biggest fleet car makers to give a rank by failure rate. Remember, this is data for cars taking their first MOT test.

While the data cannot be used to give the exact reliability of a make, the figures are independent and treat all cars equally. Arguments about mileage or the way in which a vehicle is maintained apply to all brands and should cancel each other out.

Possibly the one argument that does hold water is the type of buyer who picks a particular model. For instance, Toyota Prius buyers may treat their cars more gently than Kia Sedona owners. Nevertheless the figures also give a useful indication of likely SMR costs for fleets that have extended contracts or the length of time they keep vehicles before disposal.

Best five MOT fail fleet cars
Make Model % mot fail
Mercedes A160L 7.7%
Honda HR-V 9.9%
Toyota Prius 9.9%
Toyota RAV4 10.4%
Mercedes A170L 10.7%

Vauxhall was one of the worst five brands for MOT failures. Commenting on the figures a Vauxhall spokesman said: “Many of the failed items highlighted in this report, such as brakes, driver’s view of the road, reg plates and tyres are directly attributable to vehicles that have covered above average mileages. Since Vauxhall was one of the largest suppliers of fleet vehicles during the period surveyed (2004-2007) and fleet vehicles typically cover higher mileages than most, it comes as no surprise that some of our cars appear in this list.”

However, this argument does not stand scrutiny from two points. The first is that smaller cars (even with fleets) cover lower mileages than larger cars and Vauxhall’s worst performing model was the Corsa with a 24.7% failure rate.

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