73%
Land Rover Defender
Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate and common problems
The Land Rover Defender passed 73% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 0.7 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was position lamp not working.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Defender compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
77.3%
Land Rover average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Defender runs 4.4 points behind the Land Rover average. It is 7th of the 8 Land Rover models in the data. The average Defender arrived at its test 18.2 years old with 96,161 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
Defender MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Land Rover Defender cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 90.6% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 67.4%, a drop of 23.2 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 16,025 | 90.6% | 18.3 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 11,383 | 79% | 6.7 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 86,624 | 67.4% | 4.9 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Defender failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Land Rover Defender cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension together account for 46.2% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Defender MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Land Rover Defender cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 27.8% of everything testers recorded against failed Land Rover Defender cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Defender
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: position lamp not working, stop lamp not working, headlamp aim too high, rear fog lamp not working and headlamp aim too low. 14% of failure items.
2
Suspension
Recorded most often: shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush, component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength and pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn. 7.8% of failure items.
3
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 3.1% of failure items.
4
Brakes
Recorded most often: rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. 2.9% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Defender has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Land Rover Defender buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Land Rover Defender MOT FAQs
What is the Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?
73% of Land Rover Defender cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 121,149 tests. That is 0.7 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 293rd of 575 models.
What does a Land Rover Defender most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Land Rover Defender cars failing their 2025 MOT was position lamp not working, on 4.4% of failure items. Next were shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush (3.8%) and wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (3.1%).
Which area causes the most Land Rover Defender MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 30.2%, followed by suspension at 16.1%.
Do older Land Rover Defender cars fail their MOT more often?
Land Rover Defender cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 90.6% of MOT tests in 2025, against 67.4% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Land Rover Defender has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Land Rover Defender that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Land Rover Defender's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.