Pass rate
88.2%
Above average — 11.0 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 76 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£63
2012 Suzuki Carry MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 39,091 mi
Only 76 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
26.2% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2013 92.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 69.2% pass
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 23.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 86.8%
- Typical mileage
- 39k mi
The 2012 Suzuki Carry MOT pass rate is 88.2% of its MOT tests — 11.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Visibility: 2.9× the national share
Visibility accounts for 14.3% of everything recorded on the 2012 Suzuki Carry, against 5.0% nationally — 9.3 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 26.2%, but at 19.8% nationally that one is ordinary. Wipers, washers and a chip in the driver’s eyeline are the three quickest ways to fail a test that the car otherwise deserves to pass.
- 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 88.2% — 11.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 76 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 Suzuki Carry? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Suzuki Carry compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 11.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.8%. The median 2012 Suzuki Carry in this dataset had covered 39,091 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.4% of the time, April–September 87.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 3.95% of tests.
- 76 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.2% overall pass rate, 86.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Suzuki Carry, the average is 71.7% — best year 2013 (92.7%), worst 2000 (69.2%).
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
- 76
- Typical mileage (median)
- 39,091 mi
- Make and model
- Suzuki Carry
- 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 Carry MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Suzuki Carry is most common
Across all Carry model years on record (2000–2013): 5,080 Suzuki Carry cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 13,976 tests. Portsmouth (PO) has the most, with 212 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 | Portsmouth (PO) | 212 | 70.2% |
| 2 | Brighton (BN) | 164 | 66.3% |
| 3 | Bristol (BS) | 146 | 64.1% |
| 4 | Birmingham (B) | 135 | 84.9% |
| 5 | Exeter (EX) | 132 | 66.0% |
| 6 | Plymouth (PL) | 118 | 64.9% |
| 7 | Poole (BH) | 115 | 66.4% |
| 8 | Newton Abbot (TQ) | 94 | 63.2% |
| 9 | Ashford (TN) | 94 | 72.8% |
| 10 | Norwich (NR) | 87 | 70.0% |
| 11 | Nottingham (NG) | 84 | 71.1% |
| 12 | Southampton (SO) | 83 | 69.7% |
| 13 | Yeovil (BA) | 81 | 69.0% |
| 14 | Sheffield (S) | 79 | 70.2% |
| 15 | Truro (TR) | 78 | 59.3% |
| 16 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 77 | 76.3% |
| 17 | Taunton (TA) | 76 | 68.5% |
| 18 | Swansea (SA) | 72 | 68.4% |
| 19 | Leicester (LE) | 72 | 78.7% |
| 20 | Crawley (RH) | 71 | 75.3% |
The twenty areas with the most Suzuki Carry 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 Carry
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 23 | 82.6% |
| West Midlands | 20 | 95.0% |
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 Carry
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 Carry
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 4.0% of tests
“ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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 2.6% of tests
“rear fog 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 mirrors 1.3% of tests
“mirrors missing”
Make sure both door mirrors are present, intact and adjustable, and that nothing is obscuring the view through the windscreen.
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 Carry through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£63 — and 44% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£63
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 44%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 76 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 Carry, side by side
14 model years on record, from 2000 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.2% to 92.7% — a spread of 23.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 69.2% component mounting prescribed…
- 2001 71.7% component mounting prescribed…
- 2002 71.0% component mounting prescribed…
- 2003 70.5% component mounting prescribed…
- 2004 71.2% component mounting prescribed…
- 2005 71.7% component mounting prescribed…
- 2006 73.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 75.9% rear fog lamp not working
- 2008 83.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 82.0% position lamp not working
- 2010 92.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 84.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2012 88.2%ball joint dust cover no longer…
- 2013 92.7% rear fog lamp missing
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 Suzuki Carry 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
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 Suzuki Carry 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 7 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 42 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 | 11 | 26.20% | 19.76% | +6.44 |
| Suspension | 10 | 23.80% | 20.98% | +2.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 9 | 21.40% | 12.21% | +9.19 |
| Visibility | 6 | 14.30% | 4.97% | +9.33 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3 | 7.10% | 5.57% | +1.53 |
| Brakes | 2 | 4.80% | 20.89% | −16.09 |
| Steering | 1 | 2.40% | 2.57% | −0.17 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.6% | £80–250 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £3–15 |
| Reversing lamps inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.6% | £3–15 |
| Individual direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Lever has excessive movement indicating incorrect adjustment Brakes | Major | 1.3% | £45–110 |
| Mirrors missing Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £20–80 |
| Mirrors slightly damaged Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £3–15 |
| Stop lamp all not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.5% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has negligible damping effect Suspension | Advisory | 2.6% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 1.3% | £45–120 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 1.3% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 26 | 92.3% | 15,849 mi |
| 30-60k | 39 | 84.6% | 42,372 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 100.0% | 71,400 mi |
| 90-120k | 7 | 85.7% | 103,472 mi |
Source: 76 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 Carry MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Suzuki Carry?
88.2% of the 76 2012 Suzuki Carry tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 86.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Suzuki Carry?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.95%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.63%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.63%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Suzuki Carry MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.3% of the time, falling to 85.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Suzuki Carry in this dataset had covered 39,091 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Suzuki Carry MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.