Pass rate
87.0%
Above average — 2.5 pts behind the 89.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 27,222 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£79
2019 Volvo V40 MOT pass rate
- 2019
- typical 34,504 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
48.5% 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 →
3.4 pts down across model years — 8.0% in 2000, 4.6% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 87.0% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 67.0% pass
Across the 13 years on record, a spread of 20 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.1%
- Typical mileage
- 35k mi
The 2019 Volvo V40 MOT pass rate is 87.0% of its MOT tests — 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 48.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volvo V40 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.5× the national share
Tyres make up 48.5% of everything recorded on the 2019 Volvo V40, against 19.8% nationally — 28.7 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 14% 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 Volvo V40? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2019 Volvo V40 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 89.5%, so this figure is 2.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.1%. The median 2019 Volvo V40 in this dataset had covered 34,504 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 77% of tests, with a 87.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.7% of the time, April–September 86.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.24% of tests.
- 27,222 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.0% overall pass rate, 85.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo V40, the average is 80.5% — best year 2019 (87.0%), worst 2004 (67.0%).
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
- 27,222
- Typical mileage (median)
- 34,504 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo V40
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 V40 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (77% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the V40
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 4,593 | 87.7% |
| Scotland | 4,068 | 84.7% |
| Yorkshire | 3,146 | 86.2% |
| North West | 3,062 | 87.7% |
| East of England | 2,493 | 86.4% |
| West Midlands | 2,454 | 87.7% |
| South West | 2,197 | 87.2% |
| East Midlands | 1,791 | 87.6% |
| North East | 1,351 | 86.5% |
| Wales | 1,223 | 86.9% |
| London | 841 | 91.8% |
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 2019 V40
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 2019 V40
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 3.2% 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 brakes 1.2% 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.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.1% 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.
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 2019 V40 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£79 — and 14% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£79
- Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 14%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 27,222 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 V40, side by side
13 model years on record, from 2000 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.0% to 87.0% — a spread of 20 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 68.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 70.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 69.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 67.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 67.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2012 75.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 77.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 77.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 78.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 81.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 83.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 84.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 87.0%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 2019 Volvo V40 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 2019 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Insignia 87.1%
- Vauxhall Corsa Energy S/S 87.1%
- Vauxhall Corsa 87.2%
- Toyota Hilux 87.2%
- DS DS7 86.8%
- Toyota Estima 86.8%
Closest pass rates among 2019 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 2019 Volvo V40 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 20,687 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 | 10,090 | 48.50% | 19.76% | +28.74 |
| Brakes | 5,214 | 25.10% | 20.89% | +4.21 |
| Suspension | 1,604 | 7.70% | 20.98% | −13.28 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,086 | 5.20% | 4.18% | +1.02 |
| Visibility | 1,020 | 4.90% | 4.97% | −0.07 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 613 | 2.90% | 12.21% | −9.31 |
| Road Wheels | 552 | 2.70% | 0.75% | +1.95 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 181 | 0.90% | 5.52% | −4.62 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 165 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 162 | 0.80% | 5.57% | −4.77 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £25–65 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.4% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.82% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.82% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.66% | £8–22 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.46% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.42% | £45–95 |
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 | 13.1% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.4% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–95 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–55 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 10,705 | 90.2% | 20,781 mi |
| 30-60k | 13,226 | 85.3% | 42,132 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,772 | 83.2% | 70,698 mi |
| 90-120k | 419 | 84.0% | 99,994 mi |
| 120k+ | 91 | 83.5% | 141,472 mi |
Source: 27,222 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.
2019 V40 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2019 Volvo V40?
87.0% of the 27,222 2019 Volvo V40 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 89.5% for cars first used in 2019. First-attempt pass rate: 85.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2019 Volvo V40?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.24%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.35%), has ply or cords exposed (1.45%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2019 Volvo V40 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.2% of the time, falling to 83.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2019 Volvo V40 in this dataset had covered 34,504 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2019 Volvo V40?
Petrol: 87.3% pass rate across 21,030 tests. Diesel: 85.7% pass rate across 6,192 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2019 Volvo V40 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 86.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.