Pass rate
83.7%
Around average — 4.2 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,235 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£106
2018 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate
- 2018
- People carrier
- typical 51,234 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
30.5% 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
- 80.8%
- Typical mileage
- 51k mi
The 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate is 83.7% of its MOT tests — 4.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.5% 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: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 30.5% of everything recorded on the 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle, against 19.8% nationally — 10.7 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, people carriers this age and mileage expect about 87.9%; this one manages 83.7% — 4.2 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 16% 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 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 4.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 80.8%. The median 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 51,234 mi.
93% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 83.6% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.2% of the time, April–September 83.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.36% of tests.
- 2,235 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.7% overall pass rate, 80.8% 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
- 2,235
- Typical mileage (median)
- 51,234 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
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Caravelle MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (93% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Caravelle
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 562 | 86.1% |
| South West | 388 | 84.0% |
| East of England | 223 | 84.8% |
| Yorkshire | 179 | 83.2% |
| West Midlands | 170 | 83.5% |
| North West | 162 | 82.7% |
| Wales | 139 | 78.4% |
| Scotland | 136 | 80.1% |
| East Midlands | 127 | 79.5% |
| London | 79 | 89.9% |
| North East | 70 | 81.4% |
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 2018 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 2018 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 coil springs 3.4% 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 2.8% 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 shock absorbers 1.6% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
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 Caravelle through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£106 — and 16% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£106
- 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
- 16%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,235 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 2018 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 2018 people carriers with a similar record
- Citroen Berlingo Multispace 84.3%
- Peugeot Traveller 84.3%
- Ford Tourneo 84.6%
- Citroen Spacetourer 85.0%
- Ford Tourneo Custom 85.3%
- Ford Tourneo Connect 86.2%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 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 2,168 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 | 669 | 30.50% | 19.76% | +10.74 |
| Brakes | 552 | 25.20% | 20.89% | +4.31 |
| Suspension | 400 | 18.20% | 20.98% | −2.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 125 | 5.70% | 12.21% | −6.51 |
| Non-component advisories | 121 | 5.50% | 4.18% | +1.32 |
| Visibility | 113 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 76 | 3.50% | 5.57% | −2.07 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 61 | 2.80% | 5.52% | −2.72 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 36 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 15 | 0.70% | 0.82% | −0.12 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.4% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.8% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.7% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £30–75 |
| Daytime running lamps not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.4% | £3–15 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £40–150 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.2% | £80–250 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £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 | 15.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.7% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.6% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.5% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.3% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 326 | 89.0% | 20,235 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,123 | 84.3% | 45,328 mi |
| 60-90k | 574 | 81.4% | 71,937 mi |
| 90-120k | 138 | 73.9% | 100,279 mi |
| 120k+ | 74 | 87.8% | 172,706 mi |
Source: 2,235 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 Caravelle MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle?
83.7% of the 2,235 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 80.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.36%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.77%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.70%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.0% of the time, falling to 87.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle in this dataset had covered 51,234 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle?
Diesel: 83.6% pass rate across 2,070 tests. Petrol: 84.8% pass rate across 165 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2018 Volkswagen Caravelle MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.