2002 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate

Pass rate

72.0%

Below average — 0.9 pts behind the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 2,711 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £58–£158

Which year to buy

  • Best 2022 89.5% pass
  • Avoid 2000 69.7% pass

Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 19.8 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
63.4%
Typical mileage
189k mi

The 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate is 72.0% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.5% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle on the real record

72.0% of 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle MOTs passed — 2,711 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Caravelle does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Fewer problems with tyres

Tyres are 8.0% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a people carrier of this age.

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 Volkswagen Caravelle? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 0.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.4%. The median 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 188,759 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 97% of tests, with a 72.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.8% of the time, April–September 72.2%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.48% of tests.

  • 2,711 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 72.0% overall pass rate, 63.4% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Volkswagen Caravelle, the average is 77.2% — best year 2022 (89.5%), worst 2000 (69.7%).

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
2,711
Typical mileage (median)
188,759 mi
Make and model
Volkswagen Caravelle
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 Caravelle MOT pass rate?

0-30k 100.0%
30-60k 85.5%
60-90k 78.8%
90-120k 76.0%
120k+ 71.2%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 72.1%
Petrol 67.0%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (97% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the Caravelle

Region Tests Pass rate
South West 755 67.4%
South East 574 71.3%
East of England 234 77.8%
West Midlands 233 73.0%
Scotland 203 69.5%
North West 175 78.9%
Yorkshire 160 71.9%
Wales 139 73.4%
East Midlands 134 79.1%
London 52 82.7%
North East 52 69.2%

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 2002 Caravelle

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.

Brakes 24.5%
+3.6 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Suspension 16.0%
−5.0 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Lamps & electrics 11.0%
−1.2 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Body & chassis 10.5%
+4.9 pts vs national national 5.6% Find body panels
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Emissions & leaks 9.1%
  • Tyres 8.0%
  • Steering 6.4%
  • Advisories 5.7%
  • Visibility 5.0%
  • Seat belts 1.7%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2002 Caravelle

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.

  1. Check the lights 8.5% 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.

  2. Check the windscreen 7.2% 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.

  3. Check the suspension joints 5.4% 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.

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 2002 Caravelle through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £58–£158 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£58–£158
Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
£5–£20
Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
£180–£450
Common items a careful owner can do at home
40%
Repairs that still cost under £30
25%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,711 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 Caravelle, side by side

23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.7% to 89.5% — a spread of 19.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 69.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
  2. 2001 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  3. 2002 72.0%
    registration plate lamp(s)…
  4. 2003 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  5. 2004 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  6. 2005 70.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
  7. 2006 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
  8. 2007 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
  9. 2008 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
  10. 2009 74.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  11. 2010 76.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  12. 2011 77.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  13. 2012 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  14. 2013 80.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
  15. 2014 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  16. 2015 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  17. 2016 80.5% coil spring fractured or broken
  18. 2017 82.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  19. 2018 83.7% coil spring fractured or broken
  20. 2019 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
  21. 2020 87.9% windscreen damaged but not…
  22. 2021 86.7% has a cut in excess of the…
  23. 2022 89.5% windscreen damaged but not…

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 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle 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.

Compare 2002 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

The full DVSA record for the 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle 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 9,190 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 2,301 24.50% 20.89% +3.61
Suspension 1,503 16.00% 20.98% −4.98
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1,036 11.00% 12.21% −1.21
Body, chassis, structure 988 10.50% 5.57% +4.93
Noise, emissions and leaks 853 9.10% 5.52% +3.58
Tyres 751 8.00% 19.76% −11.76
Steering 605 6.40% 2.57% +3.83
Non-component advisories 532 5.70% 4.18% +1.52
Visibility 466 5.00% 4.97% +0.03
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 155 1.70% 0.82% +0.88

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 2,711 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 8.5% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 7.2% £80–200 Windscreen →
Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure Minor 5.6% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension Minor 5.4% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering Minor 3.8% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Major 3.4% £180–450 Corrosion Welding Repair →
Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure Major 3.3% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering Major 3.3% £120–300 Steering Rack →
Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.8% £8–25 Horn →
Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes Major 2.7% £60–150 Brake Servicing →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks Advisory 23.8% £200–700
Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes Advisory 21.9% £80–180
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 14.7% £45–95
Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories Advisory 12.7% £120–300
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 12.4% £45–110
Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes Advisory 8.4% £25–70

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 3 100.0% 20,163 mi
30-60k 55 85.5% 45,441 mi
60-90k 146 78.8% 78,127 mi
90-120k 171 76.0% 105,967 mi
120k+ 2,182 71.2% 207,733 mi

Source: 2,711 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.

2002 Caravelle MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle?

72.0% of the 2,711 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 63.4%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle?

The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.48%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.19%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (5.64%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 188,759 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle?

Diesel: 72.1% pass rate across 2,620 tests. Petrol: 67.0% pass rate across 88 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2002 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.