Pass rate
87.5%
Above average — 0.4 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 96 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£75
2018 Vauxhall Meriva MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 34,756 mi
Only 96 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Tyres
38.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 87.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 67.4% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 20.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.7%
- Typical mileage
- 35k mi
The 2018 Vauxhall Meriva MOT pass rate is 87.5% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Meriva does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 38.5% of everything recorded on the 2018 Vauxhall Meriva, against 19.8% nationally — 18.7 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 22% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 96 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 Meriva? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Vauxhall Meriva compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 0.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.7%. The median 2018 Vauxhall Meriva in this dataset had covered 34,756 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.8% of the time, April–September 83.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 4.17% of tests.
- 96 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.5% overall pass rate, 85.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Meriva, the average is 75.6% — best year 2018 (87.5%), worst 2004 (67.4%).
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
- 96
- Typical mileage (median)
- 34,756 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Meriva
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Meriva MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Meriva
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 17 | 82.4% |
| North East | 16 | 87.5% |
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 2018 Meriva
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 Meriva
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 coil springs 4.2% 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 brakes 2.1% 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 lights 2.1% of tests
“headlamp aim too low”
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 2018 Meriva through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£75 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£75
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £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
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 96 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 Meriva, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2003 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.4% to 87.5% — a spread of 20.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 68.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 67.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 67.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 67.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 68.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 69.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 70.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 73.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 76.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 77.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 77.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 80.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 81.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 82.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 83.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 87.5%coil spring fractured or broken
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 Meriva 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
- Ford C-Max 87.5%
- Kia Sorento 87.5%
- Volkswagen Scirocco 87.5%
- Renault Captur 87.4%
- Audi A5 87.4%
- Jaguar Xe 87.6%
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 Meriva 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 65 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 | 25 | 38.50% | 19.76% | +18.74 |
| Brakes | 12 | 18.50% | 20.89% | −2.39 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 12.30% | 4.18% | +8.12 |
| Suspension | 6 | 9.20% | 20.98% | −11.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4 | 6.20% | 12.21% | −6.01 |
| Visibility | 4 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 3.10% | 5.57% | −2.47 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 3.10% | 5.52% | −2.42 |
| Steering | 1 | 1.50% | 2.57% | −1.07 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.2% | £25–65 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 2.1% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.1% | £30–80 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.1% | £3–12 |
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Rectified | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 1.0% | £3–15 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.0% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively damaged significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 1.0% | £40–150 |
| Electronic stability control warning lamp indicates a fault Brakes | Major | 1.0% | £3–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.2% | £20–80 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Buckle damaged Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Advisory | 1.0% | £40–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 36 | 91.7% | 20,052 mi |
| 30-60k | 52 | 86.5% | 41,882 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 100.0% | 70,259 mi |
| 90-120k | 4 | 50.0% | 101,399 mi |
Source: 96 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 Meriva MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Vauxhall Meriva?
87.5% of the 96 2018 Vauxhall Meriva tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 85.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Vauxhall Meriva?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (4.17%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (2.08%), headlamp aim too low (2.08%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Vauxhall Meriva MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.7% of the time, falling to 50.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Vauxhall Meriva in this dataset had covered 34,756 mi.
Does the season affect the 2018 Vauxhall Meriva MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.