Pass rate
72.8%
Below average — 5.8 pts behind the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 147 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£143
2013 Volvo S40 MOT pass rate
- 2013
- typical 96,199 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
25.5% 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 →
5.1 pts up across model years — 3.7% in 2000, 8.8% in 2012.
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 74.4% pass
- Avoid 2003 69.5% pass
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 4.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 63.0%
- Typical mileage
- 96k mi
The 2013 Volvo S40 MOT pass rate is 72.8% of its MOT tests — 5.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Falls short of its own age and mileage
Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 78.6%; this one manages 72.8% — 5.8 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 13% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 147 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 Volvo S40? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2013 Volvo S40 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 5.8 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.0%. The median 2013 Volvo S40 in this dataset had covered 96,199 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.5% of the time, April–September 67.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 10.88% of tests.
- 147 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.8% overall pass rate, 63.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo S40, the average is 72.5% — best year 2012 (74.4%), worst 2003 (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
- 147
- Typical mileage (median)
- 96,199 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo S40
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the S40 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Volvo S40 is most common
Across all S40 model years on record (2000–2013): 26,717 Volvo S40 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 69,728 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 907 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 907 | 79.9% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 705 | 73.8% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 599 | 73.6% |
| 4 | Nottingham (NG) | 598 | 71.9% |
| 5 | Leicester (LE) | 524 | 76.5% |
| 6 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 512 | 72.2% |
| 7 | Manchester (M) | 477 | 75.4% |
| 8 | Doncaster (DN) | 473 | 72.5% |
| 9 | Ipswich (IP) | 464 | 69.8% |
| 10 | Liverpool (L) | 456 | 74.4% |
| 11 | Coventry (CV) | 455 | 75.6% |
| 12 | Glasgow (G) | 454 | 70.7% |
| 13 | Northampton (NN) | 390 | 71.3% |
| 14 | Norwich (NR) | 379 | 72.9% |
| 15 | Edinburgh (EH) | 372 | 70.2% |
| 16 | Derby (DE) | 368 | 73.0% |
| 17 | Reading (RG) | 352 | 72.8% |
| 18 | Wrexham (LL) | 341 | 71.7% |
| 19 | Cardiff (CF) | 339 | 68.8% |
| 20 | Swansea (SA) | 330 | 69.8% |
The twenty areas with the most Volvo S40 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the S40
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 24 | 75.0% |
| South West | 21 | 81.0% |
| Yorkshire | 21 | 71.4% |
| Scotland | 20 | 65.0% |
| North West | 18 | 66.7% |
| West Midlands | 18 | 77.8% |
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 2013 S40
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 2013 S40
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 coil springs 10.9% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the lights 3.4% of tests
“rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface”
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 2.0% 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 2013 S40 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£143 — and 13% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£143
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 13%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 147 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 S40, side by side
14 model years on record, from 2000 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.5% to 74.4% — a spread of 4.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 71.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 70.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 69.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 70.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 71.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 73.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 72.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 72.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 73.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 72.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2012 74.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 72.8%coil spring fractured or broken
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 2013 Volvo S40 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 2013 cars with a similar record
- Citroen C4 72.8%
- Peugeot 3008 72.8%
- Nissan Leaf 72.6%
- Renault Twingo 72.6%
- Renault Scenic 72.5%
- Citroen DS5 73.1%
Closest pass rates among 2013 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 2013 Volvo S40 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 300 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 | 78 | 25.50% | 20.98% | +4.52 |
| Brakes | 69 | 22.50% | 20.89% | +1.61 |
| Tyres | 66 | 21.60% | 19.76% | +1.84 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 30 | 9.80% | 12.21% | −2.41 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 25 | 8.20% | 5.57% | +2.63 |
| Visibility | 9 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7 | 2.30% | 5.52% | −3.22 |
| Non-component advisories | 6 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
| Steering | 6 | 2.00% | 2.57% | −0.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 1.30% | 1.76% | −0.46 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 10.9% | £25–65 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 7.5% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 6.8% | £80–250 |
| Rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.7% | £45–110 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 2.0% | £60–150 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £40–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.0% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 25.9% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 19.1% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 12.9% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.6% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.2% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3 | 100.0% | 16,406 mi |
| 30-60k | 25 | 72.0% | 46,011 mi |
| 60-90k | 37 | 75.7% | 77,069 mi |
| 90-120k | 36 | 72.2% | 103,591 mi |
| 120k+ | 46 | 69.6% | 147,440 mi |
Source: 147 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.
2013 S40 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 Volvo S40?
72.8% of the 147 2013 Volvo S40 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 63.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 Volvo S40?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (10.88%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (7.48%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.80%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2013 Volvo S40 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 69.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 Volvo S40 in this dataset had covered 96,199 mi.
Does the season affect the 2013 Volvo S40 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.