Pass rate
85.5%
Above average — 0.5 pts behind the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 55 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £43–£109
2017 BMW 525 MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 76,154 mi
Only 55 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
25.0% 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 →
1.4 pts up across model years — 5.0% in 2001, 6.4% in 2016.
Which year to buy
- Best 2015 87.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 73.4% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 14.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 83.3%
- Typical mileage
- 76k mi
The 2017 BMW 525 MOT pass rate is 85.5% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Visibility: 3.8× the national share
Visibility accounts for 18.8% of everything recorded on the 2017 BMW 525, against 5.0% nationally — 13.8 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 25.0%, but at 19.8% nationally that one is ordinary. Wipers, washers and a chip in the driver’s eyeline are the three quickest ways to fail a test that the car otherwise deserves to pass.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 19% 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. 55 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 525? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2017 BMW 525 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 0.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 83.3%. The median 2017 BMW 525 in this dataset had covered 76,154 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 9.09% of tests.
- 55 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.5% overall pass rate, 83.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 525, the average is 79.8% — best year 2015 (87.7%), worst 2000 (73.4%).
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
- 55
- Typical mileage (median)
- 76,154 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 525
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 525 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 525 is most common
Across all 525 model years on record (2000–2017): 20,940 BMW 525 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 46,356 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 902 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) | 902 | 87.8% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 550 | 81.5% |
| 3 | Coventry (CV) | 387 | 80.4% |
| 4 | Leicester (LE) | 382 | 82.2% |
| 5 | Northampton (NN) | 376 | 80.9% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 349 | 82.4% |
| 7 | Reading (RG) | 346 | 78.2% |
| 8 | Manchester (M) | 335 | 79.4% |
| 9 | London (E) | 333 | 91.3% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 323 | 78.4% |
| 11 | Slough (SL) | 316 | 87.6% |
| 12 | Bristol (BS) | 302 | 73.9% |
| 13 | Doncaster (DN) | 295 | 80.5% |
| 14 | Romford (RM) | 293 | 90.3% |
| 15 | Luton (LU) | 290 | 87.9% |
| 16 | London (N) | 287 | 87.3% |
| 17 | Guildford (GU) | 285 | 75.6% |
| 18 | Ipswich (IP) | 280 | 74.0% |
| 19 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 275 | 79.9% |
| 20 | Southampton (SO) | 273 | 75.0% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 525 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 525
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire | 16 | 75.0% |
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 2017 525
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 2017 525
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 9.1% 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 number plates 3.6% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
-
Check the coil springs 1.8% 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.
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 2017 525 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£109 — and 19% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £43–£109
- 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
- 19%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 55 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 525, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2000 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.4% to 87.7% — a spread of 14.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.4% headlamp aim too low
- 2001 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 76.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 74.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 75.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 77.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 78.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 79.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 80.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 80.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 82.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 85.5%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 2017 BMW 525 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- Kia Ceed 85.5%
- Ford S-Max 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Cls 85.5%
- Audi A4 85.6%
- Fiat Panda 85.4%
- Kia Sorento 85.6%
Closest pass rates among 2017 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 2017 BMW 525 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 8 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 48 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 | 12 | 25.00% | 19.76% | +5.24 |
| Brakes | 11 | 22.90% | 20.89% | +2.01 |
| Visibility | 9 | 18.80% | 4.97% | +13.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 12.50% | 4.18% | +8.32 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4 | 8.30% | 5.52% | +2.78 |
| Suspension | 2 | 4.20% | 20.98% | −16.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2 | 4.20% | 12.21% | −8.01 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 4.20% | 1.76% | +2.44 |
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 | 9.1% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 3.6% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 3.6% | £20–80 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £25–65 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on main beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.8% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Mirrors slightly damaged Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £3–15 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.7% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.1% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 7.3% | £20–80 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.5% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.5% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 9 | 77.8% | 25,465 mi |
| 30-60k | 11 | 90.9% | 43,761 mi |
| 60-90k | 15 | 86.7% | 77,043 mi |
| 90-120k | 8 | 75.0% | 105,969 mi |
| 120k+ | 12 | 91.7% | 158,668 mi |
Source: 55 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.
2017 525 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 BMW 525?
85.5% of the 55 2017 BMW 525 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 83.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 BMW 525?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (9.09%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (3.64%), registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements (3.64%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 BMW 525 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 77.8% of the time, falling to 91.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 BMW 525 in this dataset had covered 76,154 mi.