Pass rate
70.3%
Below average — 1.9 pts behind the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 8,004 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £84–£212
2004 Ford Transit MOT pass rate
- 2004
- Van
- 4 trims combined
- typical 113,009 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
21.1% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 96.9% pass
- Avoid 2010 68.6% pass
Across the 25 years on record, a spread of 28.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 63.4%
- Typical mileage
- 113k mi
The 2004 Ford Transit MOT pass rate is 70.3% of its MOT tests — 1.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.8× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 15.7% of everything recorded on the 2004 Ford Transit, against 5.6% nationally — 10.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.1%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 Ford Transit? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Ford Transit first registered in 2004 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2004 Ford Transit compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 1.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.4%. The median 2004 Ford Transit in this dataset had covered 113,009 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 97% of tests, with a 70.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 69.9% of the time, April–September 70.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 10.38% of tests.
- 8,004 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.3% overall pass rate, 63.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Transit, the average is 75.6% — best year 2024 (96.9%), worst 2010 (68.6%).
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
- 8,004
- Typical mileage (median)
- 113,009 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Transit
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Corrosion Welding Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Transit MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (97% of tests).
Where the Ford Transit is most common
Across all Transit model years on record (2000–2024): 437,433 Ford Transit cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 1,107,481 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 11,899 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) | 11,899 | 80.7% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 10,336 | 80.2% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 8,752 | 74.1% |
| 4 | Bristol (BS) | 8,428 | 71.9% |
| 5 | Cardiff (CF) | 8,318 | 72.7% |
| 6 | Portsmouth (PO) | 7,553 | 71.9% |
| 7 | Peterborough (PE) | 7,498 | 75.2% |
| 8 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 7,475 | 75.5% |
| 9 | Leicester (LE) | 7,107 | 77.4% |
| 10 | Glasgow (G) | 7,100 | 76.0% |
| 11 | Swansea (SA) | 6,733 | 73.9% |
| 12 | Reading (RG) | 6,640 | 80.6% |
| 13 | Manchester (M) | 6,510 | 78.2% |
| 14 | Southampton (SO) | 6,164 | 74.3% |
| 15 | Liverpool (L) | 6,020 | 78.6% |
| 16 | Ashford (TN) | 6,013 | 75.7% |
| 17 | Brighton (BN) | 5,769 | 68.7% |
| 18 | Derby (DE) | 5,642 | 77.4% |
| 19 | Doncaster (DN) | 5,589 | 75.6% |
| 20 | Exeter (EX) | 5,527 | 70.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Ford Transit 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 Transit
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,631 | 71.0% |
| South West | 1,226 | 64.4% |
| North West | 885 | 70.8% |
| East of England | 843 | 71.4% |
| West Midlands | 835 | 72.9% |
| Yorkshire | 708 | 71.8% |
| East Midlands | 533 | 71.7% |
| Wales | 446 | 65.0% |
| Scotland | 370 | 68.9% |
| North East | 319 | 70.8% |
| London | 208 | 88.5% |
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 2004 Transit
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 2004 Transit
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 corrosion 10.4% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
-
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 windscreen 9.5% 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.
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 2004 Transit through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £84–£212 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £84–£212
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 8,004 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 Transit, side by side
25 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.6% to 96.9% — a spread of 28.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.8% component mounting prescribed…
- 2001 72.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 71.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 69.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 70.3%component mounting prescribed…
- 2005 70.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 70.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 69.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 69.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 68.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 69.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 72.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 76.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 77.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2016 79.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 80.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 83.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 84.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 86.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 87.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 90.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 93.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 96.9% headlamp aim too high
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 2004 Ford Transit 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 2004 vans with a similar record
- Citroen Berlingo 70.2%
- Peugeot Partner 69.7%
- Volkswagen Transporter 71.0%
- Renault Master 68.7%
- Volkswagen Caddy 71.9%
- Renault Kangoo 68.5%
Closest pass rates among 2004 vans with at least 1,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. Full rankings: best vans and worst vans for MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2004 Ford Transit 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 27,779 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 5,989 | 21.10% | 20.98% | +0.12 |
| Brakes | 5,639 | 19.90% | 20.89% | −0.99 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4,448 | 15.70% | 5.57% | +10.13 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,455 | 12.20% | 12.21% | −0.01 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,130 | 7.50% | 5.52% | +1.98 |
| Tyres | 1,959 | 6.90% | 19.76% | −12.86 |
| Visibility | 1,765 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Steering | 1,053 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 682 | 2.40% | 4.18% | −1.78 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 659 | 2.30% | 0.82% | +1.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 10.4% | £180–450 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 10.1% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 9.5% | £80–200 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.8% | £180–450 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.5% | £180–450 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 3.3% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.3% | £80–180 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.0% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.9% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 25.3% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 20.8% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.0% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.2% | £45–95 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 10.1% | £180–450 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.7% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 166 | 81.9% | 21,463 mi |
| 30-60k | 876 | 79.9% | 46,177 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,304 | 72.0% | 76,117 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,595 | 69.5% | 104,905 mi |
| 120k+ | 3,257 | 68.7% | 166,009 mi |
Source: 8,004 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.
2004 Transit MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Ford Transit?
70.3% of the 8,004 2004 Ford Transit tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 63.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Ford Transit?
The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (10.38%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (10.06%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (9.47%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Ford Transit MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 81.9% of the time, falling to 68.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Ford Transit in this dataset had covered 113,009 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 Ford Transit?
Diesel: 70.3% pass rate across 7,750 tests. Petrol: 72.5% pass rate across 160 tests. LPG: 67.9% pass rate across 84 tests. Other: 70.0% pass rate across 10 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2004 Ford Transit MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 69.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.