Pass rate
83.9%
Around average — 6.7 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 815 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £11–£32
2012 Nissan Serena MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 74,389 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
23.3% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2013 89.0% pass
- Avoid 2005 71.8% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 17.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.2%
- Typical mileage
- 74k mi
The 2012 Nissan Serena MOT pass rate is 83.9% of its MOT tests — 6.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Nissan Serena does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.7× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 20.4% of everything recorded on the 2012 Nissan Serena, against 12.2% nationally — 8.2 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 23.3%, but at 19.8% 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.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 77.2% and this one manages 83.9% — 6.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 Serena? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Nissan Serena compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.2%. The median 2012 Nissan Serena in this dataset had covered 74,389 mi.
63% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 83.6% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 85.3% of the time, April–September 82.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 5.52% of tests.
- 815 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.9% overall pass rate, 81.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Nissan Serena, the average is 83.4% — best year 2013 (89.0%), worst 2005 (71.8%).
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
- 815
- Typical mileage (median)
- 74,389 mi
- Make and model
- Nissan Serena
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Serena MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (63% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Serena
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 241 | 83.4% |
| London | 109 | 88.1% |
| East Midlands | 81 | 79.0% |
| West Midlands | 80 | 86.3% |
| North West | 74 | 85.1% |
| South West | 65 | 73.8% |
| Wales | 56 | 87.5% |
| Yorkshire | 49 | 89.8% |
| East of England | 27 | 85.2% |
| Scotland | 17 | 76.5% |
| North East | 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 2012 Serena
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 2012 Serena
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 suspension joints 5.5% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated,”
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.
-
Check the lights 3.1% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 brakes 1.7% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 2012 Serena through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £11–£32 — and 53% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £11–£32
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp missing
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged…
- £18–£45
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 53%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 815 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 Serena, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2004 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.8% to 89.0% — a spread of 17.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 73.6% has ply or cords exposed
- 2005 71.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 77.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 76.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 79.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 82.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2010 81.6% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2011 84.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2012 83.9%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2013 89.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2014 89.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 86.3% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2016 86.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2017 83.0% ball joint excessively worn
- 2018 80.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2019 85.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2020 81.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2021 78.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
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 2012 Nissan Serena 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Volkswagen Up 83.8%
- Toyota RAV4 84.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Ml 83.7%
- BMW 640 83.7%
- MINI Countryman COOPER D 83.7%
- Honda Cr-V 84.2%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Nissan Serena 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 1,045 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 244 | 23.30% | 19.76% | +3.54 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 214 | 20.40% | 12.21% | +8.19 |
| Suspension | 195 | 18.60% | 20.98% | −2.38 |
| Brakes | 187 | 17.80% | 20.89% | −3.09 |
| Steering | 90 | 8.60% | 2.57% | +6.03 |
| Visibility | 41 | 3.90% | 4.97% | −1.07 |
| Non-component advisories | 39 | 3.70% | 4.18% | −0.48 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 17 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 12 | 1.10% | 5.57% | −4.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 6 | 0.60% | 0.82% | −0.22 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 5.5% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.3% | £5–20 |
| Rear fog lamp missing Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £3–15 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of… Steering | Major | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £3–15 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.5% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.2% | £5–25 |
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 | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.2% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.6% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.6% | £45–110 |
| Swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.3% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 18,223 mi |
| 30-60k | 161 | 88.8% | 51,696 mi |
| 60-90k | 447 | 85.5% | 73,640 mi |
| 90-120k | 142 | 78.9% | 99,960 mi |
| 120k+ | 63 | 71.4% | 150,418 mi |
Source: 815 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.
2012 Serena MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Nissan Serena?
83.9% of the 815 2012 Nissan Serena tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 81.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Nissan Serena?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (5.52%), position lamp not working (3.07%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Nissan Serena MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Nissan Serena in this dataset had covered 74,389 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Nissan Serena?
Petrol: 83.6% pass rate across 511 tests. Hybrid: 84.6% pass rate across 298 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Nissan Serena MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 85.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.