Pass rate
94.5%
Above average — 21.4 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 325 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £23–£62
2008 Aston Martin Dbs MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 24,832 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
29.8% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 97.0% pass
- Avoid 2012 93.8% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 3.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 94.2%
- Typical mileage
- 25k mi
The 2008 Aston Martin Dbs MOT pass rate is 94.5% of its MOT tests — 21.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Aston Martin Dbs does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 29.8% of everything recorded on the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs, against 19.8% nationally — 10.0 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 73.1% and this one manages 94.5% — 21.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 72% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Dbs? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 21.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 94.2%. The median 2008 Aston Martin Dbs in this dataset had covered 24,832 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 95.0% of the time, April–September 94.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 1.54% of tests.
- 325 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.5% overall pass rate, 94.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Aston Martin Dbs, the average is 95.4% — best year 2020 (97.0%), worst 2012 (93.8%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 325
- Typical mileage (median)
- 24,832 mi
- Make and model
- Aston Martin Dbs
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Dbs MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 85% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Dbs
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 88 | 94.3% |
| East of England | 56 | 92.9% |
| South West | 38 | 92.1% |
| West Midlands | 28 | 96.4% |
| Yorkshire | 25 | 92.0% |
| North West | 23 | 100.0% |
| East Midlands | 23 | 91.3% |
| London | 17 | 94.1% |
| North East | 15 | 100.0% |
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.
What fails a 2008 Dbs
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
Three checks worth doing on a 2008 Dbs
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 windscreen 1.5% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the lights 0.9% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 wipers and washers 0.9% of tests
“washers not working”
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.
What it costs to get a 2008 Dbs through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £23–£62 — and 72% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £23–£62
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 72%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 325 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 →
Every year of the Dbs, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2008 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 93.8% to 97.0% — a spread of 3.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 94.5%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 94.2% position lamp not working
- 2010 94.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 94.0% position lamp not working
- 2012 93.8% headlamp aim too low
- 2018 97.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 96.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 97.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 97.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 95.9% windscreen damaged but not…
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.
Compare the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2008 cars with a similar record
- Bentley Continental 91.4%
- Porsche 911 91.0%
- BMW M3 90.0%
- Porsche Boxster 89.4%
- Audi A8 87.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.7%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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.
The full DVSA record for the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 141 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 42 | 29.80% | 19.76% | +10.04 |
| Brakes | 25 | 17.70% | 20.89% | −3.19 |
| Suspension | 23 | 16.30% | 20.98% | −4.68 |
| Visibility | 16 | 11.30% | 4.97% | +6.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 13 | 9.20% | 12.21% | −3.01 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 9 | 6.40% | 5.57% | +0.83 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 5 | 3.50% | 1.76% | +1.74 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4 | 2.80% | 5.52% | −2.72 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 1.40% | 4.18% | −2.78 |
| Steering | 2 | 1.40% | 2.57% | −1.17 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.5% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.92% | £5–20 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 0.92% | £5–15 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.92% | £8–22 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.62% | £3–12 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 0.62% | £3–12 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 0.62% | £45–110 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.62% | £5–25 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.62% | £8–22 |
| All position lamps with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.31% | £5–25 |
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.
What testers noted without failing the car
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 | 9.8% | £45–95 |
| Flexible brake hoses ferrule excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.7% | £25–70 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £80–180 |
| Linkage corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 2.8% | £180–450 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 1.2% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 190 | 94.2% | 17,350 mi |
| 30-60k | 115 | 93.9% | 40,904 mi |
| 60-90k | 20 | 100.0% | 65,869 mi |
Source: 325 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.
2008 Dbs MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Aston Martin Dbs?
94.5% of the 325 2008 Aston Martin Dbs tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 94.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Aston Martin Dbs?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.54%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (0.92%), washers not working (0.92%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.2% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Aston Martin Dbs in this dataset had covered 24,832 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Aston Martin Dbs MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 95.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.