Pass rate
84.3%
Around average — 3.6 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 51 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£108
2018 BMW 540 MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 47,345 mi
Only 51 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
42.9% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tyre has a tear. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2000 84.5% pass
- Avoid 2006 74.2% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 10.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.8%
- Typical mileage
- 47k mi
The 2018 BMW 540 MOT pass rate is 84.3% of its MOT tests — 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 42.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.2× the national share
Tyres make up 42.9% of everything recorded on the 2018 BMW 540, against 19.8% nationally — 23.1 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 87.9%; this one manages 84.3% — 3.6 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 22% 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 540? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 BMW 540 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.8%. The median 2018 BMW 540 in this dataset had covered 47,345 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure", noted on 3.92% of tests.
- 51 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.3% overall pass rate, 81.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 540, the average is 81.9% — best year 2000 (84.5%), worst 2006 (74.2%).
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
- 51
- Typical mileage (median)
- 47,345 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 540
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 540 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 540
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 32 | 81.3% |
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 2018 540
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 2018 540
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 wipers and washers 2.0% of tests
“washers provides insufficient washer liquid”
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 2018 540 through its MOT
Across the 7 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£108 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 7 common items
- £41–£108
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 86%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 51 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 540, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.2% to 84.5% — a spread of 10.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 81.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 82.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 78.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 74.2% mirrors slightly damaged
- 2017 83.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2018 84.3%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 2018 BMW 540 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Arona 84.3%
- Vauxhall Mokka 84.2%
- Vauxhall Adam 84.2%
- Peugeot 5008 84.2%
- Renault Megane 84.4%
- Vauxhall Corsa 84.5%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 BMW 540 7 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 35 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 | 15 | 42.90% | 19.76% | +23.14 |
| Brakes | 8 | 22.90% | 20.89% | +2.01 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3 | 8.60% | 5.57% | +3.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 8.60% | 4.18% | +4.42 |
| Suspension | 2 | 5.70% | 20.98% | −15.28 |
| Road Wheels | 2 | 5.70% | 0.75% | +4.95 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1 | 2.90% | 12.21% | −9.31 |
| Visibility | 1 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Fractured Road Wheels | Major | 2.0% | £20–55 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £5–25 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Rectified | 2.0% | £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 | 13.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 3.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 12 | 75.0% | 27,124 mi |
| 30-60k | 28 | 89.3% | 46,199 mi |
| 60-90k | 11 | 81.8% | 71,804 mi |
Source: 51 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.
2018 540 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 BMW 540?
84.3% of the 51 2018 BMW 540 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 81.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 BMW 540?
The three most recorded items are has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (3.92%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.92%), fractured (1.96%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 BMW 540 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 81.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 BMW 540 in this dataset had covered 47,345 mi.