Pass rate
91.7%
Above average — 1.0 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 386 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£102
2020 BMW 520I MOT pass rate
- 2020
- 2 trims combined
- typical 29,151 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
62.8% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 92.3% pass
- Avoid 2022 89.3% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.9%
- Typical mileage
- 29k mi
The 2020 BMW 520I MOT pass rate is 91.7% of its MOT tests — 1.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 62.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 520I does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 3.2× the national share
Tyres make up 62.8% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW 520i, against 19.8% nationally — 43.0 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 7% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 386 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 520I? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every BMW 520I first registered in 2020 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2020 BMW 520I compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 1.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.9%. The median 2020 BMW 520I in this dataset had covered 29,151 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.8% of the time, April–September 89.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 2.85% of tests.
- 386 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.7% overall pass rate, 90.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 520I, the average is 91.3% — best year 2021 (92.3%), worst 2022 (89.3%).
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
- 386
- Typical mileage (median)
- 29,151 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 520I
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 520I MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 520I
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 98 | 87.8% |
| London | 53 | 96.2% |
| North West | 46 | 91.3% |
| East of England | 37 | 94.6% |
| Scotland | 35 | 94.3% |
| West Midlands | 35 | 85.7% |
| Yorkshire | 31 | 96.8% |
| South West | 23 | 87.0% |
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 2020 520I
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 2020 520I
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 1.0% 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 0.5% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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 tyre tread 0.5% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2020 520I through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£102 — and 7% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£102
- Cheapest common item: side repeaters not working
- £5–£25
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 7%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 386 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 520I, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.3% to 92.3% — a spread of 3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 91.7%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 92.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 89.3% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2020 BMW 520I 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Nissan Leaf 91.7%
- Hyundai Kona Play T-Gdi 91.7%
- Kia Soul 91.7%
- Volvo XC60 Rdesign Pro 91.7%
- Skoda Karoq 91.8%
- Vauxhall Grandland X Griffin 91.8%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 BMW 520I 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 145 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 | 91 | 62.80% | 19.76% | +43.04 |
| Non-component advisories | 22 | 15.20% | 4.18% | +11.02 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8 | 5.50% | 12.21% | −6.71 |
| Visibility | 8 | 5.50% | 4.97% | +0.53 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 6 | 4.10% | 5.57% | −1.47 |
| Brakes | 5 | 3.40% | 20.89% | −17.49 |
| Suspension | 2 | 1.40% | 20.98% | −19.58 |
| Road Wheels | 2 | 1.40% | 0.75% | +0.65 |
| Steering | 1 | 0.70% | 2.57% | −1.87 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.9% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.0% | £80–200 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.52% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.52% | £30–80 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.52% | £5–25 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.52% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.26% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.26% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too high and too far to the right. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.26% | £30–80 |
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 | 8.6% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.9% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.6% | £20–80 |
| Flexible couplings excessively deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 1.3% | £80–250 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 202 | 92.1% | 19,949 mi |
| 30-60k | 157 | 90.4% | 41,829 mi |
| 60-90k | 22 | 100.0% | 71,554 mi |
| 90-120k | 5 | 80.0% | 101,152 mi |
Source: 386 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.
2020 520I MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW 520I?
91.7% of the 386 2020 BMW 520I tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 90.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW 520I?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.85%), has ply or cords exposed (1.04%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.04%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW 520I MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.1% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW 520I in this dataset had covered 29,151 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW 520I MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.