Pass rate
74.6%
Below average — 1.5 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 390 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£79
2008 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 100,372 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
22.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
2.3 pts down across model years — 4.4% in 2009, 2.1% in 2021.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 88.4% pass
- Avoid 2009 74.0% pass
Across the 15 years on record, a spread of 14.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.0%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2008 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate is 74.6% of its MOT tests — 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Insignia does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Based on a small sample
390 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 Vauxhall Insignia? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Vauxhall Insignia compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.0%. The median 2008 Vauxhall Insignia in this dataset had covered 100,372 mi.
52% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 74.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.4% of the time, April–September 77.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 4.87% of tests.
- 390 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.6% overall pass rate, 68.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Insignia, the average is 78.8% — best year 2020 (88.4%), worst 2009 (74.0%).
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
- 390
- Typical mileage (median)
- 100,372 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Insignia
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Insignia MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (52% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Insignia
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 88 | 80.7% |
| East of England | 64 | 75.0% |
| East Midlands | 54 | 74.1% |
| West Midlands | 46 | 67.4% |
| Scotland | 40 | 67.5% |
| North West | 38 | 76.3% |
| South West | 24 | 62.5% |
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 2008 Insignia
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 2008 Insignia
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 lights 4.9% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.3% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely 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 coil springs 3.3% 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 2008 Insignia through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£79 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£79
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 390 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 Insignia, side by side
15 model years on record, from 2008 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.0% to 88.4% — a spread of 14.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 74.6%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.0% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2010 75.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 76.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 77.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 77.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 76.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 78.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 79.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 83.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 86.6% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2019 87.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 88.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 87.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 86.1% 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 2008 Vauxhall Insignia 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Suzuki Grand Vitara 74.5%
- Chrysler Jeep 300 74.5%
- Land Rover Freelander 74.7%
- Volkswagen Passat 74.7%
- Volkswagen Scirocco 74.4%
- Toyota Rav-4 74.3%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Vauxhall Insignia 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 1,048 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 232 | 22.00% | 20.98% | +1.02 |
| Brakes | 186 | 17.70% | 20.89% | −3.19 |
| Tyres | 166 | 15.80% | 19.76% | −3.96 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 114 | 10.80% | 12.21% | −1.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 109 | 10.40% | 5.52% | +4.88 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 88 | 8.40% | 5.57% | +2.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 69 | 6.60% | 4.18% | +2.42 |
| Visibility | 38 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Steering | 33 | 3.10% | 2.57% | +0.53 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 13 | 1.20% | 1.76% | −0.56 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.9% | £5–20 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.6% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £25–65 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 3.1% | £30–75 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.8% | £80–250 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £60–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.6% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £5–25 |
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 | 21.0% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.7% | £200–700 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 11.3% | £180–450 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.7% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 28,835 mi |
| 30-60k | 35 | 80.0% | 50,072 mi |
| 60-90k | 102 | 74.5% | 75,342 mi |
| 90-120k | 144 | 72.2% | 104,140 mi |
| 120k+ | 96 | 77.1% | 148,433 mi |
Source: 390 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.
2008 Insignia MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Vauxhall Insignia?
74.6% of the 390 2008 Vauxhall Insignia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 68.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Vauxhall Insignia?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.87%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (3.59%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 77.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Vauxhall Insignia in this dataset had covered 100,372 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Vauxhall Insignia?
Diesel: 74.5% pass rate across 204 tests. Petrol: 74.7% pass rate across 186 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.