Pass rate
98.1%
Above average — 1.7 pts ahead of the 96.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 53 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £11–£37
2024 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate
- 2024
- 4 trims combined
- typical 17,448 mi
Only 53 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
46.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 98.1% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 69.3% pass
Across the 25 years on record, a spread of 28.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 98.1%
- Typical mileage
- 17k mi
The 2024 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate is 98.1% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 46.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Golf does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.4× the national share
Tyres make up 46.7% of everything recorded on the 2024 Volkswagen Golf, against 19.8% nationally — 26.9 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.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 60% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
- Based on a small sample. 53 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 Volkswagen Golf? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Volkswagen Golf first registered in 2024 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2024 Volkswagen Golf compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 96.4%, so this figure is 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 98.1%. The median 2024 Volkswagen Golf in this dataset had covered 17,448 mi.
62% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 97.0% of the time.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 1.89% of tests.
- 53 recorded tests behind this page.
- 98.1% overall pass rate, 98.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Golf, the average is 82.1% — best year 2024 (98.1%), worst 2004 (69.3%).
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
- 53
- Typical mileage (median)
- 17,448 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Golf
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Golf MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 83% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (62% of tests).
What fails a 2024 Golf
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 2024 Golf
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 suspension joints 1.9% 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.
-
Check the lights 1.9% of tests
“headlamp cleaning device for LED or HID headlamp inoperative”
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 number plates 1.9% of tests
“registration plates missing”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
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 2024 Golf through its MOT
Across the 5 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £11–£37 — and 60% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 5 common items
- £11–£37
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: registration plates missing
- £20–£80
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 60%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 53 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 Golf, side by side
25 model years on record, from 2000 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 98.1% — a spread of 28.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 72.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 72.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 69.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 71.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 71.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 75.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 76.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 78.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 83.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 89.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 91.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 92.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 93.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 95.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 98.1%ball joint dust cover severely…
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 2024 Volkswagen Golf 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 2024 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2024 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 2024 Volkswagen Golf 5 failure items · 5 advisories · 6 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 15 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 | 7 | 46.70% | 19.76% | +26.94 |
| Suspension | 2 | 13.30% | 20.98% | −7.68 |
| Visibility | 2 | 13.30% | 4.97% | +8.33 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 13.30% | 1.76% | +11.54 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1 | 6.70% | 12.21% | −5.51 |
| Non-component advisories | 1 | 6.70% | 4.18% | +2.52 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp cleaning device for LED or HID headlamp inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.9% | £5–25 |
| Registration plates missing Identification of the vehicle | Major | 1.9% | £20–80 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Rectified | 1.9% | £5–15 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.9% | £8–22 |
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 | 7.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 5.7% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–80 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 1.9% | £30–75 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 31 | 100.0% | 10,110 mi |
| 30-60k | 10 | 100.0% | 44,498 mi |
| 60-90k | 12 | 91.7% | 70,708 mi |
Source: 53 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.
2024 Golf MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2024 Volkswagen Golf?
98.1% of the 53 2024 Volkswagen Golf tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 96.4% for cars first used in 2024. First-attempt pass rate: 98.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2024 Volkswagen Golf?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (1.89%), headlamp cleaning device for led or hid headlamp inoperative (1.89%), registration plates missing (1.89%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2024 Volkswagen Golf MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 91.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2024 Volkswagen Golf in this dataset had covered 17,448 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2024 Volkswagen Golf?
Petrol: 97.0% pass rate across 33 tests. Hybrid: 100.0% pass rate across 12 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.