Pass rate
Above average — 17.8 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,839 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£56
Pass rate
Above average — 17.8 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,839 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£56
Most common fault
Brakes
27.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 8.7 points. See every year →
The 2006 Aston Martin DB9 MOT pass rate is 90.3% of its MOT tests — 17.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.6% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Aston Martin DB9 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes make up 27.6% of everything recorded on the 2006 Aston Martin Db9, against 20.9% nationally — 6.7 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Aston Martin DB9? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 17.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.7%. The median 2006 Aston Martin DB9 in this dataset had covered 42,030 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.2% of the time, April–September 91.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction", noted on 1.47% of tests.
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Indicator Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 74% so small gaps stay visible.
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 574 | 87.8% |
| East of England | 267 | 94.0% |
| South West | 198 | 89.4% |
| West Midlands | 154 | 92.9% |
| North West | 151 | 93.4% |
| East Midlands | 129 | 92.2% |
| Yorkshire | 103 | 92.2% |
| Scotland | 97 | 86.6% |
| London | 87 | 90.8% |
| North East | 45 | 84.4% |
| Wales | 34 | 88.2% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
Check the lights 1.5% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
Check the coil springs 1.3% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
Check the wipers and washers 1.0% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£56 — and 60% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,839 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
14 model years on record, from 2004 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 90.3% to 99.0% — a spread of 8.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Closest pass rates among 2006 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
Shares of the 1,246 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 351 | 27.60% | 20.89% | +6.71 |
| Tyres | 335 | 26.40% | 19.76% | +6.64 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 162 | 12.70% | 12.21% | +0.49 |
| Suspension | 140 | 11.00% | 20.98% | −9.98 |
| Visibility | 84 | 6.60% | 4.97% | +1.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 77 | 6.10% | 5.52% | +0.58 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 32 | 2.50% | 1.76% | +0.74 |
| Non-component advisories | 26 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
| Road Wheels | 21 | 1.70% | 0.75% | +0.95 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 18 | 1.40% | 5.57% | −4.17 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.3% | £5–20 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £25–65 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.0% | £8–22 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.98% | £8–22 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.82% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.71% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.65% | £30–80 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 0.54% | £60–150 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.5% | £80–180 |
| Flexible brake hoses ferrule excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £25–70 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 512 | 94.3% | 20,763 mi |
| 30-60k | 967 | 90.9% | 44,198 mi |
| 60-90k | 292 | 82.5% | 71,853 mi |
| 90-120k | 46 | 82.6% | 100,527 mi |
| 120k+ | 12 | 100.0% | 157,065 mi |
Source: 1,839 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
90.3% of the 1,839 2006 Aston Martin DB9 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 89.7%.
The three most recorded items are malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (1.47%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (1.31%), coil spring fractured or broken (1.25%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.3% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Aston Martin DB9 in this dataset had covered 42,030 mi.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 91.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.