Pass rate
96.5%
Above average — 5.3 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 289 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£120
2021 Volkswagen Grand California MOT pass rate
- 2021
- Motorhome
- typical 14,937 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
38.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 98.2% pass
- Avoid 2021 96.5% pass · this year
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 1.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 96.4%
- Typical mileage
- 15k mi
The 2021 Volkswagen Grand California MOT pass rate is 96.5% of its MOT tests — 5.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Grand California does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.8× the national share
Brakes make up 38.1% of everything recorded on the 2021 Volkswagen Grand California, against 20.9% nationally — 17.2 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these motorhomes have been driven, the expected pass rate is 91.2% and this one manages 96.5% — 5.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 20% 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 Grand California? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Volkswagen Grand California compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 5.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 96.4%. The median 2021 Volkswagen Grand California in this dataset had covered 14,937 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 95.7% of the time, April–September 97.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.08% of tests.
- 289 recorded tests behind this page.
- 96.5% overall pass rate, 96.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Grand California, the average is 96.9% — best year 2022 (98.2%), worst 2021 (96.5%).
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
- 289
- Typical mileage (median)
- 14,937 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Grand California
- 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 Grand California MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 82% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Grand California
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 57 | 100.0% |
| South East | 45 | 93.3% |
| Scotland | 37 | 91.9% |
| Yorkshire | 35 | 97.1% |
| North West | 32 | 96.9% |
| East of England | 31 | 96.8% |
| West Midlands | 17 | 100.0% |
| Wales | 16 | 93.8% |
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 2021 Grand California
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 2021 Grand California
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 2.1% 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 wipers and washers 1.0% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the number plates 0.7% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
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 2021 Grand California through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£120 — and 20% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£120
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: hose leaking excessively or a risk of fire
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 20%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 289 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 Grand California, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 96.5% to 98.2% — a spread of 1.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 97.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 96.5%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 98.2% 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 2021 Volkswagen Grand California 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 2021 motorhomes with a similar record
- Ford Motorhome 96.5%
- Peugeot Motorhome 95.3%
- Suzuki Motorhome 94.9%
- Fiat Motorhome 94.9%
- Mercedes-Benz Motorhome 94.3%
- Dethleffs Motorhome 90.0%
Closest pass rates among 2021 motorhomes with at least 150 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. Full rankings: best motorhomes and worst motorhomes for MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2021 Volkswagen Grand California 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 63 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 | 24 | 38.10% | 20.89% | +17.21 |
| Tyres | 13 | 20.60% | 19.76% | +0.84 |
| Visibility | 13 | 20.60% | 4.97% | +15.63 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3 | 4.80% | 12.21% | −7.41 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 4.80% | 4.18% | +0.62 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 4.80% | 1.76% | +3.04 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 3.20% | 0.82% | +2.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 1.60% | 5.57% | −3.97 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1 | 1.60% | 5.52% | −3.92 |
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 | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.0% | £8–22 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 0.69% | £20–80 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.35% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.35% | £30–80 |
| Hose leaking excessively or a risk of fire Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.35% | £80–250 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.35% | £3–12 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 0.35% | £60–150 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency less than 50% of the required value Brakes | Major | 0.35% | £45–110 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 0.69% | £18–45 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Advisory | 0.69% | £60–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 0.69% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 0.35% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 266 | 97.0% | 14,658 mi |
| 30-60k | 20 | 90.0% | 35,759 mi |
| 60-90k | 3 | 100.0% | 65,536 mi |
Source: 289 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.
2021 Grand California MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Volkswagen Grand California?
96.5% of the 289 2021 Volkswagen Grand California tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 96.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Volkswagen Grand California?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.08%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.04%), wipers blade defective (1.04%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Volkswagen Grand California MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Volkswagen Grand California in this dataset had covered 14,937 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Volkswagen Grand California MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 95.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 97.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.