Pass rate
70.4%
Below average — 2.2 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 27,723 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £53–£145
2003 Volkswagen Transporter MOT pass rate
- 2003
- Van
- typical 171,340 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
25.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 91.7% pass
- Avoid 2001 69.5% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 22.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 60.3%
- Typical mileage
- 171k mi
The 2003 Volkswagen Transporter MOT pass rate is 70.4% of its MOT tests — 2.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Transporter does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 8.4% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a van of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 Transporter? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Volkswagen Transporter compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 60.3%. The median 2003 Volkswagen Transporter in this dataset had covered 171,340 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 100% of tests, with a 70.4% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 69.8% of the time, April–September 70.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 9.00% of tests.
- 27,723 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.4% overall pass rate, 60.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Transporter, the average is 78.9% — best year 2023 (91.7%), worst 2001 (69.5%).
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
- 27,723
- Typical mileage (median)
- 171,340 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Transporter
- 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 Transporter MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Transporter
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 8,553 | 66.2% |
| South East | 4,713 | 71.6% |
| West Midlands | 2,597 | 73.7% |
| North West | 2,271 | 71.9% |
| Wales | 2,187 | 70.1% |
| East of England | 2,071 | 74.2% |
| Yorkshire | 1,884 | 73.0% |
| East Midlands | 1,371 | 73.1% |
| Scotland | 1,221 | 69.4% |
| North East | 594 | 73.4% |
| London | 261 | 75.5% |
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 2003 Transporter
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 2003 Transporter
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 9.0% 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 suspension joints 5.9% 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 windscreen 5.7% 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.
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 2003 Transporter through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £53–£145 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £53–£145
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 27,723 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 Transporter, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.5% to 91.7% — a spread of 22.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 70.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 70.4%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 73.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 73.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 76.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 77.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 78.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 80.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 80.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 83.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 85.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 86.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 88.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 91.7% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2003 Volkswagen Transporter 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 2003 vans with a similar record
- Citroen Berlingo 70.2%
- Peugeot Expert 69.5%
- Ford Transit 69.4%
- Renault Master 68.9%
- Fiat Scudo 68.9%
- Peugeot Partner 68.6%
Closest pass rates among 2003 vans with at least 1,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. Full rankings: best vans and worst vans for MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2003 Volkswagen Transporter 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 91,851 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 | 23,477 | 25.10% | 20.89% | +4.21 |
| Suspension | 17,836 | 19.10% | 20.98% | −1.88 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 11,667 | 12.50% | 12.21% | +0.29 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8,560 | 9.10% | 5.57% | +3.53 |
| Tyres | 7,889 | 8.40% | 19.76% | −11.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 6,788 | 7.30% | 5.52% | +1.78 |
| Steering | 5,212 | 5.60% | 2.57% | +3.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 4,477 | 4.80% | 4.18% | +0.62 |
| Visibility | 4,156 | 4.40% | 4.97% | −0.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1,789 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
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 | 9.0% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.9% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.7% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.4% | £80–250 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £180–450 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.2% | £80–250 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £3–15 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 2.7% | £120–300 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 22.4% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 16.4% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 12.0% | £120–300 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.6% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 55 | 81.8% | 20,299 mi |
| 30-60k | 531 | 85.1% | 48,558 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,412 | 79.5% | 77,432 mi |
| 90-120k | 3,000 | 73.6% | 106,465 mi |
| 120k+ | 22,572 | 69.0% | 190,240 mi |
Source: 27,723 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.
2003 Transporter MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Volkswagen Transporter?
70.4% of the 27,723 2003 Volkswagen Transporter tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 60.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Volkswagen Transporter?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (9.00%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.89%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.68%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Volkswagen Transporter MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 81.8% of the time, falling to 69.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Volkswagen Transporter in this dataset had covered 171,340 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Volkswagen Transporter?
Diesel: 70.4% pass rate across 27,649 tests. Petrol: 66.2% pass rate across 74 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Volkswagen Transporter MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 69.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.