Pass rate
82.6%
Around average — 3.4 pts behind the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,308 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £42–£112
2017 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate
- 2017
- People carrier
- typical 64,817 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
27.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
2.2 pts up across model years — 5.1% in 2000, 7.3% in 2021.
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
- 79.4%
- Typical mileage
- 65k mi
The 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate is 82.6% of its MOT tests — 3.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Caravelle does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.4× the national share
Tyres make up 27.7% of everything recorded on the 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle, against 19.8% nationally — 7.9 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, people carriers this age and mileage expect about 86.0%; this one manages 82.6% — 3.4 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 17% 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.
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 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 3.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.4%. The median 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 64,817 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 92% of tests, with a 82.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 82.0% of the time, April–September 83.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 4.23% of tests.
- 3,308 recorded tests behind this page.
- 82.6% overall pass rate, 79.4% 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
- 3,308
- Typical mileage (median)
- 64,817 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
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Caravelle 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 (92% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Caravelle
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 966 | 84.2% |
| South West | 684 | 79.8% |
| East of England | 354 | 85.0% |
| West Midlands | 290 | 81.0% |
| North West | 208 | 79.8% |
| Yorkshire | 182 | 84.6% |
| Scotland | 162 | 75.9% |
| East Midlands | 159 | 86.2% |
| Wales | 158 | 84.8% |
| London | 101 | 83.2% |
| North East | 44 | 86.4% |
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 2017 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.
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 2017 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.
-
Check the windscreen 4.2% 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.
-
Check the coil springs 4.1% 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 suspension joints 2.0% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
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 2017 Caravelle through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £42–£112 — and 17% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £42–£112
- 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
- 17%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,308 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.
- 2000 69.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 72.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 70.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 76.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 77.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 80.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 80.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 82.6%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 83.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 87.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 86.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 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 2017 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.
Other 2017 people carriers with a similar record
- Citroen Spacetourer 82.2%
- Peugeot Traveller 83.6%
- Ford Tourneo Custom 83.7%
- Citroen Berlingo Multispace 83.8%
- Ford Tourneo 80.8%
- Ford Tourneo Connect 86.0%
Closest pass rates among 2017 people carriers with at least 200 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. Full rankings: best people carriers and worst people carriers.
The full DVSA record for the 2017 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 3,614 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 | 1,014 | 27.70% | 19.76% | +7.94 |
| Suspension | 851 | 23.30% | 20.98% | +2.32 |
| Brakes | 743 | 20.30% | 20.89% | −0.59 |
| Visibility | 237 | 6.50% | 4.97% | +1.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 224 | 6.10% | 4.18% | +1.92 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 179 | 4.90% | 12.21% | −7.31 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 131 | 3.60% | 5.52% | −1.92 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 126 | 3.40% | 5.57% | −2.17 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 75 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 34 | 0.90% | 0.82% | +0.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.2% | £80–200 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £25–65 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £40–150 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.4% | £5–25 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.4% | £30–75 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.1% | £80–250 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.85% | £45–95 |
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Major | 0.79% | £45–95 |
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 | 16.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.5% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.5% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 4.2% | £30–75 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 254 | 88.6% | 21,363 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,167 | 84.1% | 46,306 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,173 | 80.6% | 73,035 mi |
| 90-120k | 371 | 75.2% | 101,967 mi |
| 120k+ | 343 | 87.2% | 197,960 mi |
Source: 3,308 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.
2017 Caravelle MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle?
82.6% of the 3,308 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 79.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.23%), coil spring fractured or broken (4.08%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (2.00%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.6% of the time, falling to 87.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 64,817 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle?
Diesel: 82.0% pass rate across 3,034 tests. Petrol: 88.3% pass rate across 274 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2017 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 82.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.