Pass rate
66.7%
Below average — 6.4 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 117 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £17–£50
2008 Volkswagen Shuttle MOT pass rate
- 2008
- People carrier
- typical 153,486 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
29.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2011 77.9% pass
- Avoid 2005 63.5% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 14.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 53.0%
- Typical mileage
- 153k mi
The 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle MOT pass rate is 66.7% of its MOT tests — 6.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Shuttle does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 29.7% of everything recorded on the 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle, against 21.0% nationally — 8.7 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, people carriers this age and mileage expect about 73.1%; this one manages 66.7% — 6.4 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 57% 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.
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 Shuttle? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 6.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 53.0%. The median 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle in this dataset had covered 153,486 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 63.6% of the time, April–September 69.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 20.51% of tests.
- 117 recorded tests behind this page.
- 66.7% overall pass rate, 53.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Shuttle, the average is 71.2% — best year 2011 (77.9%), worst 2005 (63.5%).
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
- 117
- Typical mileage (median)
- 153,486 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Shuttle
- 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 Shuttle MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 56% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Shuttle
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 39 | 64.1% |
| Yorkshire | 23 | 69.6% |
| South East | 20 | 75.0% |
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 2008 Shuttle
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 2008 Shuttle
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 20.5% 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 suspension joints 7.7% 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 brakes 3.4% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 2008 Shuttle through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £17–£50 — and 57% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £17–£50
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 57%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 117 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 Shuttle, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2005 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.5% to 77.9% — a spread of 14.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 63.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 66.7%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 77.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 77.9% 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 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle 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 2008 people carriers with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle 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 368 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 110 | 29.70% | 20.98% | +8.72 |
| Brakes | 51 | 13.80% | 20.89% | −7.09 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 50 | 13.50% | 5.52% | +7.98 |
| Tyres | 49 | 13.20% | 19.76% | −6.56 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 48 | 13.00% | 12.21% | +0.79 |
| Non-component advisories | 18 | 4.90% | 4.18% | +0.72 |
| Visibility | 17 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 9 | 2.40% | 5.57% | −3.17 |
| Steering | 8 | 2.20% | 2.57% | −0.37 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 8 | 2.20% | 0.82% | +1.38 |
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 | 20.5% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 7.7% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 7.7% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 5.1% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.1% | £40–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.1% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.3% | £5–20 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.4% | £45–110 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.4% | £80–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 27.4% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.7% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 15.4% | £40–150 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.8% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.4% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60-90k | 4 | 100.0% | 81,987 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 66.7% | 106,862 mi |
| 120k+ | 91 | 64.8% | 177,909 mi |
Source: 117 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.
2008 Shuttle MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle?
66.7% of the 117 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 53.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (20.51%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (7.69%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (7.69%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 64.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle in this dataset had covered 153,486 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Volkswagen Shuttle MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 63.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 69.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.