Pass rate
84.3%
Around average — 7.1 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 286 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£86
2012 Volkswagen Phaeton MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 93,947 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
27.9% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2014 87.1% pass
- Avoid 2004 73.0% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 14.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.5%
- Typical mileage
- 94k mi
The 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton MOT pass rate is 84.3% of its MOT tests — 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Phaeton does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.4× the national share
Tyres make up 27.9% of everything recorded on the 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton, against 19.8% nationally — 8.1 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.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 77.2% and this one manages 84.3% — 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 286 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 Phaeton? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.5%. The median 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton in this dataset had covered 93,947 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 86.1% of the time, April–September 81.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.04% of tests.
- 286 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.3% overall pass rate, 81.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Phaeton, the average is 82.0% — best year 2014 (87.1%), worst 2004 (73.0%).
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
- 286
- Typical mileage (median)
- 93,947 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Phaeton
- 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 Phaeton MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Phaeton
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 68 | 88.2% |
| North West | 45 | 80.0% |
| East of England | 36 | 80.6% |
| Scotland | 32 | 87.5% |
| South West | 26 | 76.9% |
| West Midlands | 25 | 80.0% |
| Yorkshire | 21 | 90.5% |
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 2012 Phaeton
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 2012 Phaeton
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 lights 8.0% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 5.6% 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 suspension joints 1.4% 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 2012 Phaeton through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£86 — and 48% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£86
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp with a multiple light source up to…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 48%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 286 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 Phaeton, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2003 to 2014. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.0% to 87.1% — a spread of 14.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 77.4% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2004 73.0% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2005 79.2% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 81.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 82.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 82.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 81.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 81.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 83.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 84.3%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 82.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.1% headlamp not working on dipped…
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 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Skoda Citigo 84.3%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 84.3%
- Honda Cr-V 84.2%
- Jaguar Xj 84.2%
- MINI Countryman 84.2%
- Audi A6 84.5%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton 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 405 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 | 113 | 27.90% | 19.76% | +8.14 |
| Brakes | 93 | 23.00% | 20.89% | +2.11 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 69 | 17.00% | 12.21% | +4.79 |
| Suspension | 64 | 15.80% | 20.98% | −5.18 |
| Visibility | 27 | 6.70% | 4.97% | +1.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 14 | 3.50% | 5.52% | −2.02 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 9 | 2.20% | 1.76% | +0.44 |
| Non-component advisories | 7 | 1.70% | 4.18% | −2.48 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 6 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
| Steering | 3 | 0.70% | 2.57% | −1.87 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.0% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.6% | £80–200 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.1% | £45–110 |
| Side repeaters with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.1% | £3–15 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.1% | £60–150 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.4% | £40–150 |
| Side repeaters lens defective which has no effect on emitted light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.4% | £3–15 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £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 | 18.9% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.9% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.5% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.7% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.3% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 29,939 mi |
| 30-60k | 56 | 87.5% | 48,514 mi |
| 60-90k | 68 | 86.8% | 78,229 mi |
| 90-120k | 90 | 82.2% | 102,016 mi |
| 120k+ | 71 | 81.7% | 156,879 mi |
Source: 286 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.
2012 Phaeton MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton?
84.3% of the 286 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 81.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.04%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.59%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (3.15%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 81.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton in this dataset had covered 93,947 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Volkswagen Phaeton MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 86.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.