MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Volkswagen California MOT pass rate
The Volkswagen California passed 84.02% of its 11,190 initial MOT tests in 2025 — above the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 6.7 percentage points better than average.
How the Volkswagen California 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 Volkswagen California grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 2,872 | 91.26% |
| 6–10 years | 5,333 | 83.46% |
| 11 years and over | 2,961 | 77.98% |
The Volkswagen California drops 13.3 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket, which is a steep decline. On an older example, the MOT history is worth reading closely before you buy.
Why the Volkswagen California fails its MOT
Across every Volkswagen California that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 28.64% 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 | 28.64% | 912 |
| Tyres | 25.06% | 798 |
| Brakes | 18.4% | 586 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7.47% | 238 |
| Visibility | 5.18% | 165 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4.55% | 145 |
How the Volkswagen California compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Volkswagen California sits 249th of 651 models in this data , and 12th of the 34 Volkswagen models covered . Volkswagen as a whole averaged 77.46%, so this model runs 6.6 points ahead of its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Volkswagen California
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Volkswagen California came to its 2025 test at 52,726 miles and 8.3 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 Volkswagen California
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 Volkswagen models
- Volkswagen Golf 79.21% pass rate · 871,343 tests
- Volkswagen Polo 73.12% pass rate · 630,674 tests
- Volkswagen Transporter 72.88% pass rate · 317,307 tests
- Volkswagen Tiguan 83.85% pass rate · 250,531 tests
- Volkswagen Passat 75.9% pass rate · 174,142 tests
- Volkswagen Caddy 74.05% pass rate · 146,697 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Land Rover Range 83.61% pass rate
- Ford Kuga 83.58% pass rate
- BMW 118 83.02% pass rate
- Tesla Model 85.2% pass rate
- Audi Q3 84.17% pass rate
- Toyota Corolla 84.79% 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.