Pass rate
91.6%
Above average — 14.4 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,479 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £42–£101
2012 Porsche Boxster MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 2 trims combined
- typical 45,125 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
31.2% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
2.1 pts down across model years — 5.2% in 2000, 3.1% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 97.2% pass
- Avoid 2002 80.3% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 16.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.0%
- Typical mileage
- 45k mi
The 2012 Porsche Boxster MOT pass rate is 91.6% of its MOT tests — 14.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.6× the national share
Tyres make up 31.2% of everything recorded on the 2012 Porsche Boxster, against 19.8% nationally — 11.4 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- 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 91.6% — 14.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 9% 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 Porsche Boxster? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Porsche Boxster first registered in 2012 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Porsche Boxster compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 14.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.0%. The median 2012 Porsche Boxster in this dataset had covered 45,125 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 90.5% of the time, April–September 92.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 1.78% of tests.
- 3,479 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.6% overall pass rate, 91.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Porsche Boxster, the average is 86.8% — best year 2022 (97.2%), worst 2002 (80.3%).
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
- 3,479
- Typical mileage (median)
- 45,125 mi
- Make and model
- Porsche Boxster
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Boxster MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Porsche Boxster is most common
Across all Boxster model years on record (2000–2022): 46,760 Porsche Boxster cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 99,884 tests. Guildford (GU) has the most, with 1,283 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 | Guildford (GU) | 1,283 | 86.6% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 1,205 | 90.1% |
| 3 | Ashford (TN) | 1,154 | 89.1% |
| 4 | Crawley (RH) | 1,125 | 86.8% |
| 5 | Reading (RG) | 1,101 | 89.0% |
| 6 | Nottingham (NG) | 949 | 85.8% |
| 7 | Coventry (CV) | 886 | 87.7% |
| 8 | Sheffield (S) | 845 | 89.3% |
| 9 | Leicester (LE) | 844 | 88.3% |
| 10 | Portsmouth (PO) | 836 | 87.3% |
| 11 | Gloucester (GL) | 795 | 83.9% |
| 12 | Northampton (NN) | 776 | 85.3% |
| 13 | Chelmsford (CM) | 754 | 86.2% |
| 14 | Derby (DE) | 737 | 87.4% |
| 15 | Leeds (LS) | 734 | 87.0% |
| 16 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 733 | 88.4% |
| 17 | Bristol (BS) | 722 | 83.4% |
| 18 | Exeter (EX) | 669 | 85.6% |
| 19 | Poole (BH) | 650 | 85.5% |
| 20 | Peterborough (PE) | 650 | 86.8% |
The twenty areas with the most Porsche Boxster 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 Boxster
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,080 | 91.6% |
| East of England | 461 | 90.2% |
| South West | 403 | 91.8% |
| North West | 277 | 94.9% |
| Yorkshire | 273 | 90.1% |
| West Midlands | 273 | 94.5% |
| East Midlands | 207 | 92.3% |
| Scotland | 175 | 90.3% |
| London | 128 | 88.3% |
| Wales | 104 | 85.6% |
| North East | 95 | 96.8% |
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 Boxster
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 Boxster
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 1.8% of tests
“ball joint 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.
-
Check the windscreen 1.7% 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.
-
Check the coil springs 1.2% 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 2012 Boxster through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £42–£101 — and 9% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £42–£101
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp with a multiple light source up to…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 9%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,479 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 Boxster, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 80.3% to 97.2% — a spread of 16.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 80.4% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2001 80.5% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2002 80.3% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2003 80.4% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2004 81.5% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2005 84.6% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2006 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 87.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 89.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 91.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 91.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 91.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 91.6%ball joint excessively worn
- 2013 93.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 94.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 94.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 94.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 95.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 95.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 94.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 96.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 97.2% 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 2012 Porsche Boxster 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
- Audi A8 90.2%
- Bentley Continental 93.4%
- Honda Fit 89.3%
- Toyota Estima 88.3%
- Lexus Rx 88.3%
- Lexus RX450H 88.0%
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 Porsche Boxster 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 2,099 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 | 658 | 31.20% | 19.76% | +11.44 |
| Brakes | 574 | 27.20% | 20.89% | +6.31 |
| Suspension | 354 | 16.80% | 20.98% | −4.18 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 147 | 7.00% | 12.21% | −5.21 |
| Visibility | 111 | 5.30% | 4.97% | +0.33 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 91 | 4.30% | 5.57% | −1.27 |
| Non-component advisories | 76 | 3.60% | 4.18% | −0.58 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 51 | 2.40% | 5.52% | −3.12 |
| Road Wheels | 20 | 0.90% | 0.75% | +0.15 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 17 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.7% | £80–200 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.2% | £25–65 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.75% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 0.63% | £80–180 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.43% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.37% | £30–80 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.34% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.32% | £45–95 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.29% | £3–12 |
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 | 7.4% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 6.9% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 4.3% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 2.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 731 | 94.0% | 21,247 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,835 | 92.7% | 44,338 mi |
| 60-90k | 725 | 88.7% | 71,276 mi |
| 90-120k | 160 | 85.0% | 100,374 mi |
| 120k+ | 28 | 75.0% | 156,677 mi |
Source: 3,479 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 Boxster MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Porsche Boxster?
91.6% of the 3,479 2012 Porsche Boxster tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 91.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Porsche Boxster?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (1.78%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.72%), coil spring fractured or broken (1.24%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Porsche Boxster MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.0% of the time, falling to 75.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Porsche Boxster in this dataset had covered 45,125 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Porsche Boxster MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 90.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.