79.7%
Volkswagen Up
Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate and common problems
The Volkswagen Up passed 79.7% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 7.4 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was headlamp aim too low.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Up compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
73.1%
Volkswagen average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Up runs 6.7 points ahead of the Volkswagen average. It is 11th of the 31 Volkswagen models in the data. The average Up arrived at its test 9.4 years old with 50,398 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.
Up MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Volkswagen Up cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 90% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 75.4%, a drop of 14.6 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 14,235 | 90% | 17.7 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 69,566 | 79.9% | 7.6 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 44,287 | 75.4% | 3.1 pts above |
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 Up failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Volkswagen Up cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and brakes together account for 44.2% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Up MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Volkswagen Up cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 40% of everything testers recorded against failed Volkswagen Up cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Up
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: headlamp aim too low, position lamp not working and registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps. 12.3% of failure items.
2
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm and condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords. 7.9% of failure items.
3
Suspension
Recorded most often: pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn and coil spring fractured or broken. 7.8% of failure items.
4
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 4.8% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Up has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Volkswagen Up buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Volkswagen Up MOT FAQs
What is the Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
79.7% of Volkswagen Up cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 130,858 tests. That is 7.4 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 200th of 575 models.
What does a Volkswagen Up most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Volkswagen Up cars failing their 2025 MOT was headlamp aim too low, on 5% of failure items. Next were tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (5%) and pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (4.9%).
Which area causes the most Volkswagen Up MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 24.7%, followed by brakes at 19.5%.
Do older Volkswagen Up cars fail their MOT more often?
Volkswagen Up cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 90% of MOT tests in 2025, against 75.4% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Volkswagen Up has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Volkswagen Up 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 Volkswagen Up'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.