MOT Failure Repair Bills Jump 70 Percent as Nine Million Drivers Face Higher Costs

Failing an MOT has always been an unwelcome surprise, but the bill that follows is now bigger than ever. New analysis of thousands of garage invoices shows that drivers whose cars fail the annual test can expect to pay up to 70 per cent more to put things right than they would have in 2022, leaving around nine million motorists exposed to steeper repair costs each year.

The figures come from car service booking platform BookMyGarage, which compared full-year invoice data from its partner garages between 2022 and 2025. The headline is uncomfortable for anyone running an older car: even though more vehicles are passing the test than a decade ago, the price of fixing the ones that fail has climbed sharply, and there is little sign of that easing.

The Real Cost of Failing an MOT

BookMyGarage found that the average bill for fixing a car that fails its MOT has reached £425 for vehicles in the six to eight year age bracket. Even cars as young as three to five years old now cost an average of £332 to put right, a figure that includes the MOT test itself, which is capped by law at £54.85 for a standard car.

The trend is consistent across different types of garage. One nationwide chain now reports an average MOT invoice of £227, a 70 per cent rise since 2022. At smaller regional garage networks, which often see older vehicles, the typical cost of an MOT that needs extra repairs has jumped from £122 in 2023 to £183 in 2025, an increase of 50 per cent in two years.

Those are averages, which means plenty of drivers will pay considerably more. A failure on items such as suspension, brakes, emissions or corrosion can run well into the hundreds of pounds once parts and labour are accounted for, and unlike a service, the work is not optional if you want to keep the car on the road legally.

Why Bills Are Climbing Even as More Cars Pass

There is a quiet paradox in the data. According to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, the overall MOT failure rate now stands at 28.1 per cent. Just over a decade ago, in 2013-2014, two fifths of all vehicles, around 40 per cent, failed their annual inspection. Cars are, on the whole, being built and maintained to pass more reliably than they once did.

Yet the cars that do fail are costing more to fix, and the main reason is age. The average age of Britain’s 36 million cars now stands at just over nine years, as cost-of-living pressures persuade more owners to hold on to their vehicles for longer rather than replace them. Older cars reach the point where components naturally wear out, and BookMyGarage found that 49 per cent of MOT bookings on its platform for the oldest cars resulted in advised or mandatory repairs.

Parts and labour inflation compounds the problem. Garage labour rates have risen steadily, an issue we examined in our report on how labour rates now reach £180 an hour, and the same suspension and steering components that most commonly trigger a failure have become more expensive to supply and fit. Suspension faults in particular have become a leading cause of MOT failure, as we set out in our look at why suspension faults are now the top reason cars fail their MOT.

Karen Rotberg, co-founder of BookMyGarage, said: “Repairs are not optional after an MOT failure, so many of Britain’s motorists are caught in an inflationary spiral that shows no sign of easing. With more drivers holding onto their cars for longer, garages are inevitably seeing more vehicles reach the stage where parts naturally wear out.”

Your Rights After an MOT Failure

Knowing the rules can save real money. If your car fails, you are not obliged to have the repairs done at the testing garage. You are entitled to take the vehicle away to fix the faults yourself or to use a cheaper garage, provided the car is roadworthy or you are driving it to a pre-arranged repair appointment. Driving a car that failed on a dangerous defect is not permitted, and doing so risks a fine and points.

There is also a free or reduced-fee partial retest. If you leave the car at the same test centre and the repairs are completed before the end of the next working day, the retest is normally free. If you take the car away and return it within 10 working days, you are usually entitled to a partial retest at a reduced cost covering only the items that failed. Always confirm the garage’s retest policy before you collect the vehicle.

It is worth separating the two categories on an MOT report. A failure must be fixed before the car can pass. An advisory is a warning that an item is wearing and may need attention later, but it does not stop the car passing. You can choose when and where to deal with advisories, which gives you room to budget rather than authorising every job on the spot.

How to Keep Your Repair Bill Down

The single most effective step is to compare prices before committing. Rotberg’s advice is to “carefully compare trusted local garages, understand their pricing and read real reviews before making a choice.” A failure list gives you a clear quote to take to two or three garages, and prices for the same job can vary widely between a main dealer, a national chain and an independent.

Booking the MOT early in the month before your current certificate expires is another safeguard. You can have a car tested up to a month before the due date and keep the existing expiry date, which gives you time to shop around for repairs rather than facing an immediate deadline. Leaving the test until the certificate has lapsed removes that breathing space and can force a rushed, costlier decision.

Routine maintenance between tests also pays off. Checking tyres, lights, wipers and screenwash, and dealing with warning lights promptly, heads off the cheaper failures before they become a fail at the test bay. With the government having shelved a plan to push the first MOT back to four years, which we covered in our piece on what the scrapped four year MOT plan means for every car owner, the annual test is staying, and so is the value of going into it prepared.

The items that most often trigger a failure are also among the cheaper to put right if caught early. Lighting and signalling faults, worn tyres, wiper and washer problems and brake issues make up a large share of failures, and several of these are things an owner can check, or even fix, at home. Tyres below the 1.6mm legal tread limit and blown bulbs are common, avoidable fails that turn what should be a pass into a bill.

At the more expensive end, emissions failures, diesel particulate filter problems and structural corrosion can each run into several hundred pounds, because they involve diagnosis, specialist parts or significant labour. These are the failures that push an average bill towards, and beyond, the £425 figure recorded for six to eight year old cars, and they are far more likely on a vehicle that has covered high mileage or skipped routine servicing.

It also helps to remember that the test fee itself is capped. A standard car MOT cannot legally cost more than £54.85, and many garages charge less or bundle it with a service. Any figure above that on your invoice is for repairs, not the test, which makes it easier to question individual line items and check you are not being charged for work you did not agree to.

Given the average age of cars on the road, treating the MOT as a known annual cost rather than a shock is the sensible approach. Setting aside a modest sum each month, and dealing with advisories before they harden into failures, spreads the cost and removes the pressure to authorise expensive work at short notice when the certificate is about to run out.

Sources:

• Motoring Research: Car MOT failure costs rocket to record levels
• GOV.UK: Getting an MOT
• BookMyGarage