Pass rate
77.2%
Around average — 0.0 pts in line with the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 72,783 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £24–£64
2012 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 113,278 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
22.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
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
- 71.3%
- Typical mileage
- 113k mi
The 2012 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate is 77.2% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.2% 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
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.3% of everything recorded on the 2012 Vauxhall Insignia, against 12.2% nationally — 7.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.2%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
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 2012 Vauxhall Insignia compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 0.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.3%. The median 2012 Vauxhall Insignia in this dataset had covered 113,278 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 88% of tests, with a 77.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.4% of the time, April–September 77.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.03% of tests.
- 72,783 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.2% overall pass rate, 71.3% 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
- 72,783
- Typical mileage (median)
- 113,278 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 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (88% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Insignia
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 9,709 | 78.5% |
| North West | 9,260 | 76.7% |
| Yorkshire | 8,968 | 77.9% |
| West Midlands | 8,361 | 79.5% |
| East of England | 7,977 | 78.5% |
| South West | 6,668 | 74.3% |
| East Midlands | 6,610 | 77.4% |
| Scotland | 5,830 | 72.3% |
| North East | 4,777 | 77.0% |
| Wales | 3,710 | 76.5% |
| London | 913 | 83.9% |
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 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 2012 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 8.0% 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 coil springs 4.8% 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 windscreen 3.7% 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 2012 Insignia through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £24–£64 — and 49% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £24–£64
- 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
- 49%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 72,783 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 2012 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Ford Mondeo 77.2%
- Ford Focus 77.0%
- Volkswagen Passat 77.4%
- Fiat Panda 77.4%
- Ford Ka 77.5%
- Ford Kuga 76.9%
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 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 160,101 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 | 35,751 | 22.20% | 20.98% | +1.22 |
| Tyres | 31,543 | 19.50% | 19.76% | −0.26 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 31,216 | 19.30% | 12.21% | +7.09 |
| Brakes | 25,497 | 15.80% | 20.89% | −5.09 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 10,305 | 6.40% | 5.52% | +0.88 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8,469 | 5.20% | 5.57% | −0.37 |
| Visibility | 6,842 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 5,729 | 3.50% | 4.18% | −0.68 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3,296 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Steering | 1,453 | 0.90% | 2.57% | −1.67 |
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 | 8.0% | £5–20 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.7% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £30–80 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.6% | £45–120 |
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 | 24.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.0% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.9% | £200–700 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.4% | £180–450 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.0% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 208 | 86.5% | 23,272 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,432 | 83.0% | 49,890 mi |
| 60-90k | 14,279 | 79.1% | 77,384 mi |
| 90-120k | 23,494 | 77.4% | 105,107 mi |
| 120k+ | 31,230 | 75.6% | 151,656 mi |
Source: 72,783 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 Insignia MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Vauxhall Insignia?
77.2% of the 72,783 2012 Vauxhall Insignia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 71.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Vauxhall Insignia?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.03%), coil spring fractured or broken (4.82%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.72%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 86.5% of the time, falling to 75.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Vauxhall Insignia in this dataset had covered 113,278 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Vauxhall Insignia?
Diesel: 77.1% pass rate across 63,887 tests. Petrol: 77.8% pass rate across 8,890 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Vauxhall Insignia MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.