MOT pass rate in London (W)

MOT pass rate in London (W): 85.3% of MOT tests on cars tested here passed. Adjust for the local mix of model years and mileage — the mix a garage across town would see on the national average car — and the rate is 83.9%, 2.8 points above the national 81.0%. That ranks 21 of 118 postcode areas (1st is highest). The raw rate is the one you notice; the adjusted rate is the one that means something.

Pass rate

85.3%

from 287,898 tests on 140,924 cars, 2023–2025

Adjusted

83.9%

same age and mileage mix as the nation

vs national

+ 2.8 pts

above the national rate on the same cars

140,924 different cars were tested in London (W) — see the makes and models →
Compare one model here with another postcode area →

The MOT pass rate in London, and what its cars fail on

Share of all local tests recording the item, against the same item nationally
Failure item Local National Typical repair
Tread depth below 1.6 mm 14.9% 17.4% £45–£95
Tyre has a tear 12.7% 9.2% £45–£95
Tyre cut too deep 4.5% 2.5% £45–£95
Ball joint excessively worn 2.2% 3.1% £18–£45
Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated 2.0% 1.3% £18–£45
Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 1.2% 0.7% £18–£45
Tyre has a bulge 0.7% 0.9% £45–£95
Tyre cords exposed 0.4% 0.8% £45–£95

Cost bands are our parts-based estimates, published as a range — method. Every failure item, ranked nationally: the full list →

What an MOT failure costs here

Across the 287,898 tests in this area, the typical bill works out at £483 to £1,303 per 100 tests, against £615 to £1,675 nationally — 17 of 118 areas, cheapest first. That is the pass rate and the price of the parts that fail here, multiplied together, so it moves with both.

Bands are our parts-based estimates, not quotes: how repairs are priced. The models that cost most to fix are on the cheap-and-dear list, and how far apart two postcodes can be for one model is worth a look before blaming the car.

One model year, this area against the rest

The tables below compare the same model year in this area with the same model year everywhere, so vehicle age is taken out of the comparison entirely. Each row links to that model's full postcode-by-postcode breakdown.

Model Year Here GB Gap
Volvo XC40 2019 88.0% 91.5% -3.5
Ford Focus 2013 78.2% 79.7% -1.5
Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 2016 85.6% 87.0% -1.4
Mercedes-Benz Vito 2017 89.1% 78.5% +10.6
Toyota Prius 2019 97.9% 88.3% +9.6
Nissan Qashqai 2016 86.6% 78.9% +7.7

Furthest behind: Volvo XC40, Ford Focus, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque. Furthest ahead: Mercedes-Benz Vito, Toyota Prius, Nissan Qashqai. “Gap” is against each model's own national rate, not the 81.0% all-car rate — method. Three models either side of the gap, and each needs at least 300 tests of that model-year in this area.

Models that do worst here

At least 1,000 local tests each. “Nationally” is the same model's rate across Great Britain, so the bracket shows how far this area sits from that model's own norm.
Model Local Nationally Tests here
Peugeot 207 75.0% 70.8% (+4.2) 1,066
Vauxhall Corsa 78.2% 77.3% (+0.9) 4,762
Renault Clio 78.3% 72.5% (+5.8) 1,730
MINI Mini 79.0% 76.0% (+3.0) 4,209
Volkswagen Polo 79.1% 78.3% (+0.8) 8,686
Peugeot 308 79.1% 77.0% (+2.1) 1,081

Models that do best here

Model Local Nationally Tests here
Kia Niro 96.9% 92.0% (+4.9) 5,116
Levc Tx 96.0% 95.8% (+0.2) 1,191
Hyundai Ioniq 95.7% 91.3% (+4.4) 1,127
Tesla Model 3 93.2% 87.8% (+5.4) 2,031
Porsche Macan 92.9% 93.1% (-0.2) 2,306
Porsche 911 92.6% 91.0% (+1.6) 1,883

MOT stations in W

There are 52 MOT test stations licensed for class 4 vehicles (cars, vans, motorhomes and people carriers) in the W postcode area, according to the DVSA's published list of active stations.

We deliberately do not rank garages. The anonymised MOT data has no test-station field, so any “best garage in London” list would be invented rather than measured — and a garage's pass rate mostly reflects the cars its customers bring, not the quality of its work.

See the 52 stations with addresses and phone numbers →

Test centres by town in W

Each town below has eight or more licensed class-4 stations and its own page: names, addresses, phone numbers and the postcodes they cover.

All 118 postcode areas →

How to read this

The rate is per test, not per car: a vehicle tested twice counts twice, and a car that fails and is retested for free contributes a fail and a pass. The adjusted rate gives every area the national mix of model years and mileage bands by direct standardisation, so the “old cars” explanation is removed from the comparison — the full method.

Postcode area is the keeper's registered area, not the test station's. These are regional signals, not neighbourhood ones.

How far apart two postcodes can be for one model → · which cars fail most, and on what →

All 118 postcode areas · Cheapest cars to fix · Articles