Pass rate
76.8%
Around average — 2.8 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 69 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £22–£70
2009 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 67,765 mi
Only 69 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.
Most common fault
Brakes
25.5% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2014 83.2% pass
- Avoid 2008 72.6% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 10.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 72.4%
- Typical mileage
- 68k mi
The 2009 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate is 76.8% of its MOT tests — 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Dorchester does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.4× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 17.6% of everything recorded on the 2009 Ford Dorchester, against 12.2% nationally — 5.4 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 25.5%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 60% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 69 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 Ford Dorchester? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 Ford Dorchester compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 72.4%. The median 2009 Ford Dorchester in this dataset had covered 67,765 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.9% of the time, April–September 63.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 10.14% of tests.
- 69 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.8% overall pass rate, 72.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Dorchester, the average is 77.0% — best year 2014 (83.2%), worst 2008 (72.6%).
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
- 69
- Typical mileage (median)
- 67,765 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Dorchester
- 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 Dorchester MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Dorchester
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 21 | 90.5% |
| North West | 19 | 57.9% |
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 2009 Dorchester
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 2009 Dorchester
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 10.1% 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 shock absorbers 4.3% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.9% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
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 2009 Dorchester through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £22–£70 — and 60% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £22–£70
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators incorrect…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: flexible couplings excessively deteriorated
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 60%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 69 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 Dorchester, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2005 to 2014. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.6% to 83.2% — a spread of 10.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 75.9% component mounting prescribed…
- 2006 77.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 74.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 72.6% component mounting prescribed…
- 2009 76.8%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 77.5% rear fog lamp not working
- 2011 77.3% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2014 83.2% shock absorbers has a serious…
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 2009 Ford Dorchester 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Exeo 76.8%
- Smart Mcc Fortwo 76.7%
- Suzuki Alto 76.9%
- Nissan Micra 76.6%
- Volvo V70 76.6%
- Volkswagen Touareg 77.0%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 Ford Dorchester 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 153 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 | 39 | 25.50% | 20.89% | +4.61 |
| Suspension | 31 | 20.30% | 20.98% | −0.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 27 | 17.60% | 12.21% | +5.39 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 15 | 9.80% | 5.57% | +4.23 |
| Steering | 12 | 7.80% | 2.57% | +5.23 |
| Tyres | 9 | 5.90% | 19.76% | −13.86 |
| Visibility | 7 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5 | 3.30% | 5.52% | −2.22 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 3.30% | 0.82% | +2.48 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
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 | 10.1% | £5–20 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 7.3% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.3% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 4.3% | £30–75 |
| Flexible couplings excessively deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.9% | £80–250 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £40–150 |
| Pipes and hoses leaking Steering | Major | 2.9% | £60–200 |
| Side repeaters lens defective which has no effect on emitted light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.9% | £3–15 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 2.9% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.6% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 11.6% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.7% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 7.3% | £45–120 |
| Steering rack has excessive free play detected at the steering wheel (steering rack fitted) Steering | Advisory | 7.3% | £120–300 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 18 | 94.4% | 51,103 mi |
| 60-90k | 40 | 70.0% | 73,544 mi |
| 90-120k | 6 | 83.3% | 109,949 mi |
| 120k+ | 5 | 60.0% | 137,134 mi |
Source: 69 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.
2009 Dorchester MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Ford Dorchester?
76.8% of the 69 2009 Ford Dorchester tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 72.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Ford Dorchester?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (10.14%), position lamp not working (7.25%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.35%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.4% of the time, falling to 60.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Ford Dorchester in this dataset had covered 67,765 mi.
Does the season affect the 2009 Ford Dorchester MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 63.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.