Pass rate
78.4%
Around average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 541 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£87
2012 BMW 123 MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 96,046 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
24.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2007 80.7% pass
- Avoid 2013 75.5% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 5.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 73.1%
- Typical mileage
- 96k mi
The 2012 BMW 123 MOT pass rate is 78.4% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
When it fails, it costs
Only 25% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 BMW 123? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 BMW 123 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.1%. The median 2012 BMW 123 in this dataset had covered 96,046 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.9% of the time, April–September 77.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak", noted on 5.91% of tests.
- 541 recorded tests behind this page.
- 78.4% overall pass rate, 73.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 123, the average is 78.9% — best year 2007 (80.7%), worst 2013 (75.5%).
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
- 541
- Typical mileage (median)
- 96,046 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 123
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Shock Absorber
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 123 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 123 is most common
Across all 123 model years on record (2007–2013): 5,318 BMW 123 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 11,978 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 203 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 203 | 83.1% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 133 | 80.9% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 118 | 74.6% |
| 4 | Plymouth (PL) | 108 | 75.2% |
| 5 | Ipswich (IP) | 103 | 79.9% |
| 6 | Exeter (EX) | 101 | 76.7% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 100 | 75.9% |
| 8 | Cardiff (CF) | 96 | 74.4% |
| 9 | Reading (RG) | 96 | 78.5% |
| 10 | Norwich (NR) | 95 | 76.6% |
| 11 | Coventry (CV) | 95 | 79.5% |
| 12 | Leicester (LE) | 94 | 79.0% |
| 13 | Guildford (GU) | 90 | 80.7% |
| 14 | Nottingham (NG) | 90 | 76.3% |
| 15 | Portsmouth (PO) | 88 | 76.9% |
| 16 | Manchester (M) | 87 | 80.7% |
| 17 | Brighton (BN) | 83 | 76.1% |
| 18 | Doncaster (DN) | 83 | 79.9% |
| 19 | Southampton (SO) | 82 | 76.4% |
| 20 | Derby (DE) | 82 | 83.8% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 123 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the 123
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 118 | 76.3% |
| East of England | 76 | 82.9% |
| South West | 68 | 82.4% |
| Wales | 57 | 66.7% |
| Yorkshire | 53 | 86.8% |
| East Midlands | 45 | 77.8% |
| North West | 41 | 75.6% |
| West Midlands | 38 | 76.3% |
| Scotland | 23 | 78.3% |
| North East | 18 | 77.8% |
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 2012 123
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 2012 123
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 shock absorbers 5.9% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
-
Check the windscreen 3.5% 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 brake pipes 3.0% of tests
“flexible brake hoses slightly twisted”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
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 2012 123 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£87 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£87
- 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
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 25%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 541 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 123, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2007 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.5% to 80.7% — a spread of 5.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2007 80.7% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2008 77.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 78.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 80.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 79.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 78.4%shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2013 75.5% shock absorbers has a serious…
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 2012 BMW 123 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 2012 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 BMW 123 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 835 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 | 204 | 24.10% | 20.89% | +3.21 |
| Tyres | 202 | 23.90% | 19.76% | +4.14 |
| Suspension | 180 | 21.30% | 20.98% | +0.32 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 118 | 14.00% | 12.21% | +1.79 |
| Visibility | 53 | 6.30% | 4.97% | +1.33 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 22 | 2.60% | 5.52% | −2.92 |
| Road Wheels | 15 | 1.80% | 0.75% | +1.05 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 14 | 1.70% | 5.57% | −3.87 |
| Non-component advisories | 14 | 1.70% | 4.18% | −2.48 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 13 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 5.9% | £30–75 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.5% | £80–200 |
| Flexible brake hoses slightly twisted Brakes | Minor | 3.0% | £25–70 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.5% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £60–150 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.1% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.5% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 16.1% | £30–75 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.9% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.7% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 4.4% | £3–12 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 83.3% | 27,233 mi |
| 30-60k | 46 | 87.0% | 47,011 mi |
| 60-90k | 175 | 81.1% | 76,613 mi |
| 90-120k | 217 | 75.1% | 104,610 mi |
| 120k+ | 97 | 76.3% | 147,474 mi |
Source: 541 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.
2012 123 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 BMW 123?
78.4% of the 541 2012 BMW 123 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 73.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 BMW 123?
The three most recorded items are shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.91%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.51%), flexible brake hoses slightly twisted (2.96%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 BMW 123 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.3% of the time, falling to 76.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 BMW 123 in this dataset had covered 96,046 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 BMW 123 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.