Pass rate
83.8%
Around average — 6.6 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 48,421 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£116
2012 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 3 trims combined
- typical 66,875 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
25.8% 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 →
4.1 pts down across model years — 5.2% in 2012, 1.1% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.8% pass
- Avoid 2012 83.8% pass · this year
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 12 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 80.9%
- Typical mileage
- 67k mi
The 2012 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate is 83.8% of its MOT tests — 6.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volkswagen Up does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.3× the national share
Tyres make up 25.8% of everything recorded on the 2012 Volkswagen Up, against 19.8% nationally — 6.0 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 83.8% — 6.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 17% 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 Up? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Volkswagen Up first registered in 2012 is combined here — 3 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Volkswagen Up compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 80.9%. The median 2012 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 66,875 mi.
100% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 83.8% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.8% of the time, April–September 83.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Service brake performance excessively binding", noted on 2.46% of tests.
- 48,421 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.8% overall pass rate, 80.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volkswagen Up, the average is 87.0% — best year 2023 (95.8%), worst 2012 (83.8%).
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
- 48,421
- Typical mileage (median)
- 66,875 mi
- Make and model
- Volkswagen Up
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Servicing
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Up MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Up
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 10,491 | 86.5% |
| South West | 6,364 | 83.3% |
| North West | 5,014 | 83.6% |
| East of England | 5,006 | 86.2% |
| Yorkshire | 4,487 | 82.2% |
| West Midlands | 4,210 | 85.8% |
| Scotland | 3,367 | 74.1% |
| East Midlands | 3,059 | 84.3% |
| Wales | 2,747 | 81.6% |
| North East | 1,838 | 80.7% |
| London | 1,830 | 87.2% |
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 Up
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 Up
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 2.0% 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 lights 1.1% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps”
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 tyre tread 1.1% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 Up through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£116 — and 17% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£116
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 17%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 48,421 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 Up, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2012 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.8% to 95.8% — a spread of 12 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2012 83.8%service brake performance…
- 2013 85.1% service brake performance…
- 2014 85.9% service brake performance…
- 2015 86.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 85.9% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 88.3% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 90.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 93.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2020 93.6% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2021 92.9% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2022 93.2% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2023 95.8% linkage ball joint dust cover…
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 Up 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
- Mercedes-Benz Ml 83.7%
- BMW 640 83.7%
- MINI Countryman COOPER D 83.7%
- Toyota RAV4 84.1%
- BMW 530 83.5%
- Honda Cr-V 84.2%
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 Up 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 61,657 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 | 16,252 | 25.80% | 19.76% | +6.04 |
| Brakes | 15,572 | 24.70% | 20.89% | +3.81 |
| Suspension | 9,386 | 14.90% | 20.98% | −6.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4,944 | 7.80% | 12.21% | −4.41 |
| Non-component advisories | 4,440 | 7.00% | 4.18% | +2.82 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3,760 | 6.00% | 5.57% | +0.43 |
| Visibility | 3,535 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,886 | 3.00% | 5.52% | −2.52 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1,173 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
| Road Wheels | 709 | 1.10% | 0.75% | +0.35 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £60–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.1% | £5–20 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.99% | £30–80 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.95% | £45–120 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 0.95% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.91% | £40–150 |
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 | 14.3% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.8% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.3% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 4.8% | £60–150 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.7% | £120–300 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3,865 | 92.6% | 21,667 mi |
| 30-60k | 15,827 | 87.6% | 46,654 mi |
| 60-90k | 17,861 | 82.1% | 74,098 mi |
| 90-120k | 8,087 | 78.9% | 102,014 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,765 | 75.2% | 139,524 mi |
Source: 48,421 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 Up MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Volkswagen Up?
83.8% of the 48,421 2012 Volkswagen Up tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 80.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Volkswagen Up?
The three most recorded items are service brake performance excessively binding (2.46%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.00%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (1.11%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.6% of the time, falling to 75.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 66,875 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Volkswagen Up?
Petrol: 83.8% pass rate across 48,390 tests. Diesel: 90.3% pass rate across 31 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.