Pass rate
73.6%
Below average — 1.1 pts behind the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 11,677 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £23–£60
2010 Chevrolet Spark MOT pass rate
- 2010
- typical 70,327 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
27.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
2.7 pts up across model years — 11.0% in 2010, 13.7% in 2014.
Which year to buy
- Best 2014 75.0% pass
- Avoid 2012 72.9% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 2.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 65.8%
- Typical mileage
- 70k mi
The 2010 Chevrolet Spark MOT pass rate is 73.6% of its MOT tests — 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Chevrolet Spark does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.6% of everything recorded on the 2010 Chevrolet Spark, against 20.9% nationally — 6.7 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 62% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Chevrolet Spark? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2010 Chevrolet Spark compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 65.8%. The median 2010 Chevrolet Spark in this dataset had covered 70,327 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.8% of the time, April–September 73.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.26% of tests.
- 11,677 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.6% overall pass rate, 65.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Chevrolet Spark, the average is 73.3% — best year 2014 (75.0%), worst 2012 (72.9%).
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
- 11,677
- Typical mileage (median)
- 70,327 mi
- Make and model
- Chevrolet Spark
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Spark MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Spark
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,999 | 77.0% |
| South West | 1,508 | 73.6% |
| West Midlands | 1,421 | 76.6% |
| North West | 1,346 | 73.6% |
| Yorkshire | 1,089 | 70.5% |
| East of England | 1,070 | 74.3% |
| Wales | 901 | 71.7% |
| Scotland | 807 | 63.2% |
| East Midlands | 744 | 74.1% |
| North East | 456 | 70.6% |
| London | 336 | 82.1% |
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 2010 Spark
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 2010 Spark
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 7.3% 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 brake pipes 4.4% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
-
Check the wipers and washers 2.9% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
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 2010 Spark through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £23–£60 — and 62% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £23–£60
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: rigid brake pipes excessively corroded
- £80–£180
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 62%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 11,677 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 Spark, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2010 to 2014. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.9% to 75.0% — a spread of 2.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2010 73.6%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 72.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 75.0% service brake performance…
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 2010 Chevrolet Spark 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 2010 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Astravan 73.6%
- Ford Galaxy 73.5%
- Vauxhall Agila 73.5%
- SEAT Altea 73.5%
- Vauxhall Corsa 73.7%
- Ford C-Max 73.7%
Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 Chevrolet Spark 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 31,135 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 8,697 | 27.60% | 20.89% | +6.71 |
| Suspension | 6,315 | 20.00% | 20.98% | −0.98 |
| Tyres | 4,380 | 13.90% | 19.76% | −5.86 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4,030 | 12.80% | 12.21% | +0.59 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,038 | 6.50% | 5.57% | +0.93 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,926 | 6.10% | 5.52% | +0.58 |
| Visibility | 1,435 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Steering | 893 | 2.80% | 2.57% | +0.23 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 761 | 2.40% | 1.76% | +0.64 |
| Non-component advisories | 660 | 2.10% | 4.18% | −2.08 |
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 | 7.3% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 4.4% | £80–180 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.3% | £5–25 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 4.3% | £60–150 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.6% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.9% | £8–22 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £25–65 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.0% | £3–12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 28.6% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.4% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 15.0% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.3% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.9% | £200–700 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £60–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 646 | 80.5% | 21,406 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,444 | 77.0% | 47,127 mi |
| 60-90k | 4,870 | 72.6% | 74,510 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,142 | 70.4% | 101,493 mi |
| 120k+ | 559 | 67.6% | 136,250 mi |
Source: 11,677 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.
2010 Spark MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 Chevrolet Spark?
73.6% of the 11,677 2010 Chevrolet Spark tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 65.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 Chevrolet Spark?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.26%), rigid brake pipes excessively corroded (4.41%), position lamp not working (4.30%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2010 Chevrolet Spark MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 80.5% of the time, falling to 67.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 Chevrolet Spark in this dataset had covered 70,327 mi.
Does the season affect the 2010 Chevrolet Spark MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.