MOT pass rate · 2025 data
BMW 520 MOT pass rate
The BMW 520 passed 81.01% of its 71,781 initial MOT tests in 2025 — above the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 3.7 percentage points better than average.
How the BMW 520 holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the BMW 520 grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 85 | 87.06% |
| 6–10 years | 25,759 | 86.41% |
| 11 years and over | 45,935 | 77.97% |
The BMW 520 loses 9.1 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket — a normal pattern for a car of this age, but still worth checking the individual history.
Why the BMW 520 fails its MOT
Across every BMW 520 that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 25.06% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 25.06% | 7,615 |
| Tyres | 21.61% | 6,567 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18.19% | 5,529 |
| Brakes | 13.42% | 4,077 |
| Visibility | 6.1% | 1,853 |
| Steering | 3.91% | 1,189 |
How the BMW 520 compares
Ranked on pass rate, the BMW 520 sits 295th of 651 models in this data , and 62nd of the 77 BMW models covered . BMW as a whole averaged 82.85%, so this model runs 1.8 points behind its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used BMW 520
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average BMW 520 came to its 2025 test at 123,501 miles and 12.4 years old. Most examples tested were diesel.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific BMW 520
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other BMW models
- BMW 3 Series 77.74% pass rate · 346,651 tests
- BMW 118 83.02% pass rate · 152,065 tests
- BMW X1 85.23% pass rate · 110,526 tests
- BMW X3 84.47% pass rate · 107,873 tests
- BMW 116 78.55% pass rate · 100,563 tests
- BMW X5 83.17% pass rate · 92,379 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Toyota Yaris 80.34% pass rate
- Audi A3 79.9% pass rate
- Honda Jazz 80.64% pass rate
- Kia Sportage 80.57% pass rate
- Toyota Aygo 81.42% pass rate
- Land Rover Discovery 81.32% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.