Pass rate
83.2%
Around average — 6.0 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 721 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£74
2012 BMW 125 MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 92,654 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
21.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 90.8% pass
- Avoid 2013 82.2% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 8.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 80.3%
- Typical mileage
- 93k mi
The 2012 BMW 125 MOT pass rate is 83.2% of its MOT tests — 6.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Advisories: 2.6× the national share
Advisories make up 10.7% of everything recorded on the 2012 BMW 125, against 4.2% nationally — 6.5 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 21.5%, but at 19.8% nationally that one is ordinary. Most of what testers record here is advisory — worth reading, not worth walking away from on its own.
- 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 77.2% and this one manages 83.2% — 6.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 125? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 BMW 125 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 80.3%. The median 2012 BMW 125 in this dataset had covered 92,654 mi.
54% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 80.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.5% of the time, April–September 85.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 3.33% of tests.
- 721 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.2% overall pass rate, 80.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 125, the average is 85.2% — best year 2018 (90.8%), worst 2013 (82.2%).
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
- 721
- Typical mileage (median)
- 92,654 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 125
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 125 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 69% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (54% of tests).
Where the BMW 125 is most common
Across all 125 model years on record (2008–2019): 7,051 BMW 125 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 15,174 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 221 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) | 221 | 89.7% |
| 2 | Guildford (GU) | 151 | 84.8% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 148 | 83.6% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 146 | 87.5% |
| 5 | Bristol (BS) | 143 | 84.4% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 136 | 86.5% |
| 7 | Leicester (LE) | 130 | 91.1% |
| 8 | Coventry (CV) | 117 | 86.6% |
| 9 | Manchester (M) | 115 | 86.2% |
| 10 | Reading (RG) | 111 | 83.3% |
| 11 | Southampton (SO) | 109 | 83.6% |
| 12 | Plymouth (PL) | 108 | 79.9% |
| 13 | Derby (DE) | 108 | 86.3% |
| 14 | Cardiff (CF) | 101 | 82.1% |
| 15 | Stockport (SK) | 97 | 85.4% |
| 16 | Ashford (TN) | 95 | 85.3% |
| 17 | Chelmsford (CM) | 95 | 85.9% |
| 18 | Brighton (BN) | 92 | 79.7% |
| 19 | Norwich (NR) | 92 | 87.4% |
| 20 | Gloucester (GL) | 90 | 79.4% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 125 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 125
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 149 | 83.2% |
| South West | 113 | 76.1% |
| East of England | 93 | 82.8% |
| North West | 85 | 82.4% |
| West Midlands | 66 | 90.9% |
| East Midlands | 61 | 86.9% |
| Yorkshire | 49 | 89.8% |
| Scotland | 34 | 73.5% |
| Wales | 26 | 76.9% |
| North East | 24 | 91.7% |
| London | 21 | 90.5% |
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 125
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 125
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 3.3% 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 windscreen 2.6% 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 shock absorbers 2.5% 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.
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 125 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£74 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£74
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 721 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 125, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2008 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 82.2% to 90.8% — a spread of 8.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 82.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 82.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 85.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 86.7% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 83.2%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 82.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 83.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 86.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 88.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 90.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 90.1% has a bulge, caused by separation…
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 125 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
- MINI Mini 83.3%
- Ford Fusion 83.3%
- Volkswagen Touareg 83.1%
- Audi Q5 83.0%
- Land Rover Range Rover 82.9%
- Toyota Rav-4 82.8%
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 125 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 961 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 | 209 | 21.50% | 19.76% | +1.74 |
| Brakes | 182 | 18.70% | 20.89% | −2.19 |
| Suspension | 161 | 16.50% | 20.98% | −4.48 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 143 | 14.70% | 12.21% | +2.49 |
| Non-component advisories | 104 | 10.70% | 4.18% | +6.52 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 73 | 7.50% | 5.52% | +1.98 |
| Visibility | 40 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Road Wheels | 20 | 2.10% | 0.75% | +1.35 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 17 | 1.70% | 5.57% | −3.87 |
| Steering | 12 | 1.20% | 2.57% | −1.37 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.3% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.6% | £80–200 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £30–75 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £25–65 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.1% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.83% | £30–80 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.83% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.5% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 8.9% | £120–300 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.3% | £200–700 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.5% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 22 | 95.5% | 23,867 mi |
| 30-60k | 134 | 88.1% | 47,298 mi |
| 60-90k | 185 | 85.4% | 75,981 mi |
| 90-120k | 195 | 81.5% | 103,511 mi |
| 120k+ | 185 | 77.8% | 145,578 mi |
Source: 721 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 125 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 BMW 125?
83.2% of the 721 2012 BMW 125 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 80.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 BMW 125?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (3.33%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.64%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (2.50%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 BMW 125 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.5% of the time, falling to 77.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 BMW 125 in this dataset had covered 92,654 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 BMW 125?
Diesel: 80.7% pass rate across 388 tests. Petrol: 86.2% pass rate across 333 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 BMW 125 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.