Pass rate
84.2%
Around average — 3.7 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 18,892 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £25–£61
2018 Vauxhall Adam MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 33,558 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
31.9% 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 →
1.3 pts down across model years — 5.1% in 2013, 3.8% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 87.4% pass
- Avoid 2013 76.6% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 10.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.4%
- Typical mileage
- 34k mi
The 2018 Vauxhall Adam MOT pass rate is 84.2% of its MOT tests — 3.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Adam does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.6× the national share
Tyres make up 31.9% of everything recorded on the 2018 Vauxhall Adam, against 19.8% nationally — 12.1 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 87.9%; this one manages 84.2% — 3.7 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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 Vauxhall Adam? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Vauxhall Adam compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 3.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.4%. The median 2018 Vauxhall Adam in this dataset had covered 33,558 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.6% of the time, April–September 83.9%.
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 5.03% of tests.
- 18,892 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.2% overall pass rate, 81.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Adam, the average is 79.4% — best year 2019 (87.4%), worst 2013 (76.6%).
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
- 18,892
- Typical mileage (median)
- 33,558 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Adam
- 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 Adam MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Adam
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 3,487 | 78.0% |
| North West | 2,808 | 85.9% |
| North East | 1,924 | 83.9% |
| Yorkshire | 1,880 | 86.6% |
| South East | 1,776 | 86.3% |
| East of England | 1,689 | 86.4% |
| West Midlands | 1,687 | 86.2% |
| East Midlands | 1,257 | 84.3% |
| Wales | 1,215 | 83.5% |
| South West | 868 | 85.9% |
| London | 301 | 88.7% |
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 2018 Adam
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 2018 Adam
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 5.0% 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 shock absorbers 3.5% 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 coil springs 2.5% 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 2018 Adam through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £25–£61 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £25–£61
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 18,892 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 Adam, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2012 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.6% to 87.4% — a spread of 10.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 79.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 76.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 76.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 78.4% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2016 79.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 81.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2018 84.2%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2019 87.4% wipers does not clear the…
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 2018 Vauxhall Adam 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 5008 84.2%
- SEAT Arona 84.3%
- SEAT Toledo 84.1%
- Renault Megane 84.4%
- Peugeot Horizon 84.0%
- Tesla Model X 84.0%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 Vauxhall Adam 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 20,670 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 | 6,626 | 31.90% | 19.76% | +12.14 |
| Suspension | 4,563 | 21.90% | 20.98% | +0.92 |
| Brakes | 3,851 | 18.50% | 20.89% | −2.39 |
| Visibility | 1,426 | 6.90% | 4.97% | +1.93 |
| Steering | 1,417 | 6.80% | 2.57% | +4.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,236 | 5.90% | 12.21% | −6.31 |
| Non-component advisories | 869 | 4.20% | 4.18% | +0.02 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 333 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 178 | 0.90% | 5.57% | −4.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 171 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
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 | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £30–75 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £25–65 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.6% | £8–22 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of… Steering | Major | 1.6% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.87% | £18–45 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 0.82% | £5–15 |
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 | 14.8% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.0% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.5% | £30–75 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.3% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.4% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 7,652 | 88.5% | 20,732 mi |
| 30-60k | 9,688 | 82.0% | 41,684 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,410 | 77.1% | 69,444 mi |
| 90-120k | 122 | 73.8% | 99,264 mi |
| 120k+ | 14 | 78.6% | 137,696 mi |
Source: 18,892 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.
2018 Adam MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Vauxhall Adam?
84.2% of the 18,892 2018 Vauxhall Adam tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 81.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Vauxhall Adam?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (5.03%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (3.49%), coil spring fractured or broken (2.51%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Vauxhall Adam MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.5% of the time, falling to 78.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Vauxhall Adam in this dataset had covered 33,558 mi.
Does the season affect the 2018 Vauxhall Adam MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.