Pass rate
77.7%
Around average — 0.5 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 14,979 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £31–£77
2012 Vauxhall Agila MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 55,718 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
29.0% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
12.2 pts down across model years — 17.1% in 2000, 4.9% in 2014.
Which year to buy
- Best 2015 85.9% pass
- Avoid 2008 70.2% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 15.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.8%
- Typical mileage
- 56k mi
The 2012 Vauxhall Agila MOT pass rate is 77.7% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Agila does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.4× the national share
Brakes make up 29.0% of everything recorded on the 2012 Vauxhall Agila, against 20.9% nationally — 8.1 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 34% 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 Agila? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Vauxhall Agila compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 0.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.8%. The median 2012 Vauxhall Agila in this dataset had covered 55,718 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.7% of the time, April–September 77.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 5.49% of tests.
- 14,979 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.7% overall pass rate, 71.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Agila, the average is 75.2% — best year 2015 (85.9%), worst 2008 (70.2%).
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
- 14,979
- Typical mileage (median)
- 55,718 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Agila
- 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 Agila MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Agila
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,696 | 80.3% |
| South West | 2,044 | 79.7% |
| East of England | 1,899 | 79.8% |
| West Midlands | 1,434 | 77.8% |
| North West | 1,425 | 76.6% |
| Yorkshire | 1,314 | 75.7% |
| East Midlands | 1,092 | 79.1% |
| North East | 920 | 73.3% |
| Scotland | 874 | 68.2% |
| Wales | 873 | 75.0% |
| London | 408 | 82.6% |
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 Agila
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 Agila
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
“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 coil springs 3.6% 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.
-
Check the lights 3.4% 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.
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 Agila through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £31–£77 — and 34% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £31–£77
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators incorrect…
- £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
- 34%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 14,979 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 Agila, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2000 to 2015. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.2% to 85.9% — a spread of 15.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 73.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 74.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 74.9% rigid brake pipes excessively…
- 2005 75.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 75.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 76.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2008 70.2% ball joint excessively worn
- 2009 71.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 73.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 74.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 77.7%ball joint excessively worn
- 2013 80.0% ball joint excessively worn
- 2014 82.3% ball joint excessively worn
- 2015 85.9% ball joint excessively worn
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 Vauxhall Agila 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
- Skoda Octavia 77.7%
- Skoda Superb 77.7%
- Abarth 500 77.8%
- Volkswagen Scirocco 77.6%
- Ford B-Max 77.6%
- SEAT Altea 77.6%
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 Vauxhall Agila 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 28,374 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 8,316 | 29.00% | 20.89% | +8.11 |
| Suspension | 7,186 | 25.10% | 20.98% | +4.12 |
| Tyres | 4,991 | 17.40% | 19.76% | −2.36 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,456 | 12.10% | 12.21% | −0.11 |
| Visibility | 1,590 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 777 | 2.70% | 4.18% | −1.48 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 746 | 2.60% | 5.52% | −2.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 647 | 2.30% | 5.57% | −3.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 499 | 1.70% | 1.76% | −0.06 |
| Steering | 166 | 0.60% | 2.57% | −1.97 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.5% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.6% | £25–65 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £80–200 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £80–180 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £45–110 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.1% | £8–22 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.1% | £60–150 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £3–12 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £8–22 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 19.6% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 14.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.3% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.0% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–110 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 5.4% | £3–12 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2,035 | 87.8% | 21,939 mi |
| 30-60k | 6,400 | 80.0% | 45,475 mi |
| 60-90k | 4,370 | 74.1% | 73,184 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,640 | 69.6% | 102,181 mi |
| 120k+ | 530 | 65.8% | 138,606 mi |
Source: 14,979 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 Agila MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Vauxhall Agila?
77.7% of the 14,979 2012 Vauxhall Agila tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 71.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Vauxhall Agila?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (5.49%), coil spring fractured or broken (3.60%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (3.39%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Vauxhall Agila MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.8% of the time, falling to 65.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Vauxhall Agila in this dataset had covered 55,718 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Vauxhall Agila MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.