Pass rate
92.9%
Above average — 1.7 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,872 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £43–£105
2021 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 16,473 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
48.2% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.8% pass
- Avoid 2012 83.8% pass
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 12 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 92.4%
- Typical mileage
- 16k mi
The 2021 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate is 92.9% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 48.2% 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: 2.4× the national share
Tyres make up 48.2% of everything recorded on the 2021 Volkswagen Up, against 19.8% nationally — 28.4 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 15% 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 .
How does the 2021 Volkswagen Up compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 92.4%. The median 2021 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 16,473 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.2% of the time, April–September 92.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure", noted on 2.72% of tests.
- 5,872 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.9% overall pass rate, 92.4% 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
- 5,872
- Typical mileage (median)
- 16,473 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
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Up MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Up
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,074 | 92.0% |
| South West | 733 | 92.1% |
| Scotland | 666 | 92.2% |
| North West | 642 | 94.4% |
| East of England | 574 | 93.0% |
| Yorkshire | 551 | 93.6% |
| West Midlands | 526 | 93.0% |
| North East | 371 | 94.3% |
| East Midlands | 324 | 91.7% |
| Wales | 294 | 94.9% |
| London | 117 | 92.3% |
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 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 2021 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 lights 0.8% of tests
“headlamp aim too low”
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 wipers and washers 0.8% 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 windscreen 0.6% 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.
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 Up through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£105 — and 15% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £43–£105
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 15%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,872 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 2021 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Glc 92.9%
- Ford Mustang Mach-E 92.9%
- Kia Stonic 92.9%
- Hyundai Kona Ultimate 92.9%
- Vauxhall Crossland Ultimate 92.9%
- Nissan Leaf 93.0%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 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 2,345 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 | 1,141 | 48.20% | 19.76% | +28.44 |
| Brakes | 349 | 14.80% | 20.89% | −6.09 |
| Non-component advisories | 249 | 10.50% | 4.18% | +6.32 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 180 | 7.60% | 12.21% | −4.61 |
| Visibility | 157 | 6.60% | 4.97% | +1.63 |
| Suspension | 90 | 3.80% | 20.98% | −17.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 66 | 2.80% | 5.57% | −2.77 |
| Road Wheels | 52 | 2.20% | 0.75% | +1.45 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 31 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 30 | 1.30% | 5.52% | −4.22 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.85% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.85% | £30–80 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.82% | £8–22 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.63% | £80–200 |
| Has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.48% | £45–95 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 0.44% | £80–250 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.39% | £3–15 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.37% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.36% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 1.4% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5,010 | 93.3% | 14,992 mi |
| 30-60k | 758 | 91.3% | 38,958 mi |
| 60-90k | 81 | 90.1% | 71,015 mi |
| 90-120k | 13 | 84.6% | 96,605 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 50.0% | 122,956 mi |
Source: 5,872 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 Up MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Volkswagen Up?
92.9% of the 5,872 2021 Volkswagen Up tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 92.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Volkswagen Up?
The three most recorded items are has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (2.72%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (0.85%), headlamp aim too low (0.85%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.3% of the time, falling to 50.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Volkswagen Up in this dataset had covered 16,473 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Volkswagen Up MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.