Pass rate
94.1%
Above average — 3.4 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 580 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£137
2020 BMW 740 MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 38,897 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
47.1% 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 94.2% pass
- Avoid 2000 81.4% pass
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 12.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.8%
- Typical mileage
- 39k mi
The 2020 BMW 740 MOT pass rate is 94.1% of its MOT tests — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 47.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 740 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.4× the national share
Tyres make up 47.1% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW 740, against 19.8% nationally — 27.3 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.
- 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 90.7% and this one manages 94.1% — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 10% 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 740? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 BMW 740 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.8%. The median 2020 BMW 740 in this dataset had covered 38,897 mi.
86% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 94.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.1% of the time, April–September 95.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.41% of tests.
- 580 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.1% overall pass rate, 93.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 740, the average is 90.3% — best year 2021 (94.2%), worst 2000 (81.4%).
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
- 580
- Typical mileage (median)
- 38,897 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 740
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 740 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (86% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 740
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 146 | 94.5% |
| North West | 73 | 89.0% |
| East of England | 67 | 95.5% |
| Yorkshire | 64 | 96.9% |
| West Midlands | 53 | 90.6% |
| London | 52 | 98.1% |
| East Midlands | 50 | 94.0% |
| Scotland | 46 | 91.3% |
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 2020 740
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 740
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 2.4% 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 0.3% 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 0.3% 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 740 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £55–£137 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £55–£137
- 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
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 10%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 580 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 740, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 81.4% to 94.2% — a spread of 12.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 81.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 83.4% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2005 82.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 83.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 83.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 88.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 85.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 91.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 89.4% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2016 91.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2017 90.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2018 90.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2019 93.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 94.1%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 94.2% 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 2020 BMW 740 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
- Toyota YARIS 94.1%
- Jaguar I-Pace 94.1%
- Toyota Corolla Gr 94.1%
- Porsche Cayenne 94.0%
- Volvo XC40 Inscript Pro 94.0%
- Mitsubishi Asx Exceed 93.9%
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 740 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 206 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 | 97 | 47.10% | 19.76% | +27.34 |
| Brakes | 27 | 13.10% | 20.89% | −7.79 |
| Visibility | 25 | 12.10% | 4.97% | +7.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 18 | 8.70% | 4.18% | +4.52 |
| Road Wheels | 12 | 5.80% | 0.75% | +5.05 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 10 | 4.90% | 5.57% | −0.67 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7 | 3.40% | 12.21% | −8.81 |
| Suspension | 4 | 1.90% | 20.98% | −19.08 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3 | 1.50% | 5.52% | −4.02 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
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 | 2.4% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Fractured Road Wheels | Major | 0.52% | £20–55 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 0.52% | £80–250 |
| Has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.34% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.34% | £30–80 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.34% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.34% | £5–15 |
| Windscreen excessively tinted but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.34% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.34% | £8–22 |
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 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 1.2% | £20–55 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 193 | 96.4% | 18,848 mi |
| 30-60k | 271 | 93.7% | 42,606 mi |
| 60-90k | 74 | 93.2% | 72,810 mi |
| 90-120k | 29 | 86.2% | 100,093 mi |
| 120k+ | 13 | 92.3% | 137,340 mi |
Source: 580 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 740 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW 740?
94.1% of the 580 2020 BMW 740 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 93.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW 740?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.41%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.38%), fractured (0.52%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW 740 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.4% of the time, falling to 92.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW 740 in this dataset had covered 38,897 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 BMW 740?
Diesel: 94.0% pass rate across 497 tests. Petrol: 95.2% pass rate across 83 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW 740 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.