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Morris Minor, Buying guide, MOT record and UK numbers

14,916 Morris Minors are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 78.9% of initial MOT tests, 6.6 points above the 72.3% UK average.

Looking at a specific Minor? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.

Morris Minor at the MOT

78.9% of 1,929 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Minor 213th of 575 models.

First-time pass rate, 2025

Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.

  • Morris Minor78.9%
  • All Morris modelsThe Minor is 1.7 pts behind80.6%
  • All cars72.3%

Where Minors fail

Share of all failure items recorded on Morris Minor tests in 2025.

  • Brakes37.6%
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment25.7%
  • Suspension11%
  • Visibility8%
  • Steering7.7%

The items testers recorded most often were service brake imbalance across an axle (8.8%), service brake performance excessively binding (5.4%) and steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.2%).

The MOT page lists every common Minor MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.

Full Morris Minor MOT record

What to look at on a viewing

The Minor's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.

  1. Brakes

    Make sure the pedal feels firm, the car stops in a straight line, the handbrake holds on a slope and no brake warning light is showing.37.6% of Minor failure items

  2. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment

    Walk round with every light on: headlights, brake lights, indicators, fog lights and the number plate lamp. Check no warning lights stay on after starting.25.7% of Minor failure items

  3. Suspension

    Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters.11% of Minor failure items

Morris Minors in the UK

14,916 were licensed at the end of June 2026. The number licensed is roughly where it was at the end of 2014.

Change since 2014
+1.7%from 14,672 licensed
Typical year of first use
1965half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 1965 or earlier
Declared off the road
8,83337% of those registered, under SORN

Licensed Morris Minors since 2014

Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.

Show the figures
DateLicensed
End of 201414,672
End of 201514,364
End of 201614,043
End of 201713,886
End of 201814,789
End of 201914,997
End of 202015,150
End of 202115,277
End of 202215,323
End of 202315,160
End of 202415,152
End of 202514,857
End of June 202614,916

How old they are

Licensed Morris Minors by year of first use.

A further 414 were first used before 1952.

Show the figures
First usedLicensed, end 2025
1971538
19701,111
19691,208
19681,447
19671,016
1966837
1965683
1964657
1963675
1962554
1961627
1960593
1959547
1958552
1957485
1956459
1955444
1954368
1953218
1952111

Minor engine sizes

1.1 litre engines made up 67% of Morris Minor MOT tests in 2025, followed by 0.9 litre at 16%. Petrol accounts for 100% of licensed Minors.

Engine size at MOT, 2025

Share of 1,908 initial MOT tests in 2025.

  • 1.1 litre66.8%
  • 0.9 litre15.5%
  • 1.0 litre8.1%
  • 1.3 litre4.3%
  • 0.8 litre3%

Morris Minor FAQs

How many Morris Minors are there in the UK?

14,916 Morris Minors were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 8,833 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.

Is the Morris Minor reliable?

MOT data does not measure reliability. It records whether a car met the roadworthiness standard on the day of its test. What it does show is a 78.9% first-time pass rate for the Morris Minor across 1,929 tests in 2025, above the 72.3% average for all cars.

What should I check before buying a used Morris Minor?

On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: brakes, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension. Then check the individual car's own records. Outstanding finance, insurance write-offs and police stolen markers are not part of the MOT record, so they take a history check.

How do I check a Morris Minor's history?

Enter the registration of the specific car. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen markers, mileage history, previous keepers, MOT and tax status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report.

Already found a Minor?

Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.

Across the 1,548 vehicles of every make Carpeep has checked since November 2025, 19% had outstanding finance recorded and 13% an insurance write-off. More on the car history check.

  • Outstanding finance
  • Write-off records
  • Stolen markers
  • Mileage history
  • Previous keepers

MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), which also gives the engine sizes. Licensed, SORN, fuel and registration figures are from the Department for Transport vehicle licensing statistics (VEH0120, VEH0124, VEH0160). Government data is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability. History-check findings are anonymous counts from reports bought on Carpeep, each vehicle counted once, and are published only where at least 100 vehicles returned an answer.