Pass rate
89.9%
Above average — 0.8 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 134,852 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £22–£54
2020 Vauxhall Corsa MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 27,088 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
36.0% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£40 for Brake pads under 1.5 mm. What fitting it takes →
0.5 pts up across model years — 1.3% in 2000, 1.8% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.6% pass
- Avoid 2003 68.4% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 27.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 88.9%
- Typical mileage
- 27k mi
The 2020 Vauxhall Corsa MOT pass rate is 89.9% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Corsa does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.7× the national share
Brakes make up 36.0% of everything recorded on the 2020 Vauxhall Corsa, against 20.9% nationally — 15.1 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 61% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Corsa? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 Vauxhall Corsa compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 0.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 88.9%. The median 2020 Vauxhall Corsa in this dataset had covered 27,088 mi.
98% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 90.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 90.3% of the time, April–September 89.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively", noted on 3.92% of tests.
- 134,852 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.9% overall pass rate, 88.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Corsa, the average is 77.3% — best year 2023 (95.6%), worst 2003 (68.4%).
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
- 134,852
- Typical mileage (median)
- 27,088 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Corsa
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Wiper Blade
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Corsa MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (98% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Corsa
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 21,338 | 90.0% |
| Scotland | 19,869 | 87.7% |
| North West | 17,540 | 90.8% |
| West Midlands | 13,352 | 90.6% |
| Yorkshire | 12,654 | 89.9% |
| East of England | 12,358 | 90.8% |
| South West | 10,022 | 89.7% |
| East Midlands | 9,680 | 89.8% |
| North East | 7,985 | 90.9% |
| Wales | 6,161 | 90.2% |
| London | 3,893 | 91.1% |
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 2020 Corsa
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 2020 Corsa
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 wipers and washers 3.9% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the brakes 1.0% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 1.0% 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.
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 2020 Corsa through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £22–£54 — and 61% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £22–£54
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 61%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 134,852 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 Corsa, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.4% to 95.6% — a spread of 27.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.9% component mounting prescribed…
- 2001 69.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 68.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 68.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 68.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 68.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 69.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 71.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 73.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 74.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 75.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 74.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 77.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2016 80.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 81.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2018 84.5% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2019 87.2% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 89.9%wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 90.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 91.5% wipers does not clear the…
- 2023 95.6% headlamp aim too low
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 2020 Vauxhall Corsa 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Land Rover Range Rover Velar 89.9%
- Mitsubishi L200 89.9%
- BMW M340I 89.9%
- Renault Clio Play 89.9%
- Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 90.0%
- Fiat 500 Star 90.0%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Vauxhall Corsa 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 101,019 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 | 36,614 | 36.00% | 20.89% | +15.11 |
| Tyres | 34,444 | 33.90% | 19.76% | +14.14 |
| Visibility | 14,314 | 14.10% | 4.97% | +9.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 6,281 | 6.20% | 4.18% | +2.02 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,353 | 3.30% | 12.21% | −8.91 |
| Suspension | 2,204 | 2.20% | 20.98% | −18.78 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,501 | 1.50% | 5.52% | −4.02 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 884 | 0.90% | 5.57% | −4.67 |
| Road Wheels | 788 | 0.80% | 0.75% | +0.05 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 636 | 0.60% | 1.76% | −1.16 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 3.9% | £8–22 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 2.1% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.0% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.99% | £80–200 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 0.76% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.64% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.43% | £30–80 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 0.34% | £30–75 |
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 | 11.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.4% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.4% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.3% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 77,128 | 91.9% | 18,921 mi |
| 30-60k | 53,316 | 87.6% | 41,029 mi |
| 60-90k | 4,033 | 84.9% | 68,715 mi |
| 90-120k | 307 | 83.1% | 99,127 mi |
| 120k+ | 59 | 88.1% | 144,874 mi |
Source: 134,852 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.
2020 Corsa MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Vauxhall Corsa?
89.9% of the 134,852 2020 Vauxhall Corsa tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 88.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Vauxhall Corsa?
The three most recorded items are wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (3.92%), wipers blade defective (2.37%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (2.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 Vauxhall Corsa MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.9% of the time, falling to 88.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Vauxhall Corsa in this dataset had covered 27,088 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 Vauxhall Corsa?
Petrol: 90.0% pass rate across 132,359 tests. Diesel: 88.6% pass rate across 2,450 tests. Electric: 88.4% pass rate across 43 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 Vauxhall Corsa MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 90.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.