Pass rate
76.7%
Around average — 7.3 pts behind the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 180 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £17–£43
2016 Nissan NV300 MOT pass rate
- 2016
- Van
- typical 72,365 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
26.1% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 85.6% pass
- Avoid 2016 76.7% pass · this year
Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 8.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.6%
- Typical mileage
- 72k mi
The 2016 Nissan NV300 MOT pass rate is 76.7% of its MOT tests — 7.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan NV300 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Falls short of its own age and mileage
Like-for-like, vans this age and mileage expect about 84.0%; this one manages 76.7% — 7.3 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- Based on a small sample. 180 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 Nissan NV300? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Nissan NV300 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 7.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.6%. The median 2016 Nissan NV300 in this dataset had covered 72,365 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.2% of the time, April–September 70.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak", noted on 6.67% of tests.
- 180 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.7% overall pass rate, 69.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan NV300, the average is 81.4% — best year 2021 (85.6%), worst 2016 (76.7%).
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
- 180
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,365 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan NV300
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Shock Absorber
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the NV300 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the NV300
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 43 | 81.4% |
| Scotland | 29 | 69.0% |
| North West | 22 | 72.7% |
| West Midlands | 15 | 80.0% |
| South West | 15 | 86.7% |
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 2016 NV300
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 2016 NV300
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 shock absorbers 6.7% 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 lights 6.1% 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 coil springs 5.0% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
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 2016 NV300 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £17–£43 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £17–£43
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep…
- £45–£95
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 180 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 NV300, side by side
6 model years on record, from 2016 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.7% to 85.6% — a spread of 8.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2016 76.7%shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2017 77.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2018 80.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2019 81.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 83.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
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 2016 Nissan NV300 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 2016 vans with a similar record
- Fiat Doblo 77.0%
- Peugeot Expert 76.1%
- Toyota Proace 76.0%
- Citroen Berlingo 77.6%
- Peugeot Partner 77.9%
- Vauxhall Movano 78.1%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Nissan NV300 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 309 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 | 81 | 26.10% | 20.98% | +5.12 |
| Brakes | 58 | 18.70% | 20.89% | −2.19 |
| Tyres | 54 | 17.40% | 19.76% | −2.36 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 41 | 13.20% | 12.21% | +0.99 |
| Steering | 19 | 6.10% | 2.57% | +3.53 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | 5.80% | 5.52% | +0.28 |
| Visibility | 16 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 12 | 3.90% | 5.57% | −1.67 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 1.90% | 4.18% | −2.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 6.7% | £30–75 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.1% | £5–20 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 5.6% | £3–12 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 5.0% | £25–65 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 3.9% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.8% | £45–95 |
| Mirrors slightly damaged Visibility | Minor | 2.8% | £3–15 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.8% | £3–12 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £18–45 |
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 | 15.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.9% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 12.2% | £30–75 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.0% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 83.3% | 20,714 mi |
| 30-60k | 55 | 76.4% | 49,256 mi |
| 60-90k | 60 | 75.0% | 72,931 mi |
| 90-120k | 41 | 73.2% | 104,506 mi |
| 120k+ | 17 | 88.2% | 133,331 mi |
Source: 180 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.
2016 NV300 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Nissan NV300?
76.7% of the 180 2016 Nissan NV300 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 69.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Nissan NV300?
The three most recorded items are shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (6.67%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.11%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (5.56%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Nissan NV300 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.3% of the time, falling to 88.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Nissan NV300 in this dataset had covered 72,365 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 Nissan NV300 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.