2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + MOT pass rate

Pass rate

88.5%

Above average — 2.2 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 915 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £46–£109

Which year to buy

  • Best 2020 88.5% pass · this year
  • Avoid 2019 86.6% pass

Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 1.9 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
87.2%
Typical mileage
36k mi

The 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + MOT pass rate is 88.5% of its MOT tests — 2.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 50.8% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + on the real record

88.5% of 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + MOTs passed — 915 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volvo V90 Inscription + does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Tyres: 2.6× the national share

Tyres make up 50.8% of everything recorded on the 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription +, against 19.8% nationally — 31.0 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.

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 V90 Inscription +? Get an email when these numbers change .

Every Volvo V90 Inscription + first registered in 2020 is combined here — 5 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.

How does the 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, 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 87.2%. The median 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + in this dataset had covered 35,846 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 42% of tests, with a 88.3% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.0% of the time, April–September 87.9%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 3.61% of tests.

  • 915 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 88.5% overall pass rate, 87.2% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Volvo V90 Inscription +, the average is 87.5% — best year 2020 (88.5%), worst 2019 (86.6%).

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
915
Typical mileage (median)
35,846 mi
Make and model
Volvo V90 Inscription +
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 V90 Inscription + MOT pass rate?

0-30k 91.8%
30-60k 85.5%
60-90k 90.0%
90-120k 88.2%
120k+ 90.0%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 88.3%
Petrol 89.3%
Hybrid 87.0%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (42% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the V90 Inscription +

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 186 91.4%
Scotland 119 89.9%
East of England 112 84.8%
South West 107 86.0%
North West 94 87.2%
London 67 88.1%
West Midlands 64 90.6%
Yorkshire 60 85.0%
East Midlands 52 90.4%
North East 32 87.5%
Wales 22 95.5%

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 2020 V90 Inscription +

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.

Tyres 50.8%
+31.0 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Brakes 28.6%
+7.7 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Visibility 5.9%
+0.9 pts vs national national 5.0% Order bulbs & wipers
Identification 3.8%
+2.0 pts vs national national 1.8% Price identification parts
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Advisories 3.6%
  • Lamps & electrics 2.2%
  • Body & chassis 1.5%
  • Road wheels 1.5%
  • Steering 0.7%
  • Emissions & leaks 0.5%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2020 V90 Inscription +

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.

  1. Check the windscreen 2.3% 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.

  2. Check the brakes 1.9% 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.

  3. 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.

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 2020 V90 Inscription + through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£109 — and 6% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£46–£109
Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
£8–£22
Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
£80–£250
Common items a careful owner can do at home
70%
Repairs that still cost under £30
6%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 915 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 V90 Inscription +, side by side

2 model years on record, from 2019 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 86.6% to 88.5% — a spread of 1.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2019 86.6% joints constant velocity boot…
  2. 2020 88.5%
    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 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + 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.

Compare 2020 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2020 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + 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 576 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 295 50.80% 19.76% +31.04
Brakes 166 28.60% 20.89% +7.71
Visibility 34 5.90% 4.97% +0.93
Identification of the vehicle 22 3.80% 1.76% +2.04
Non-component advisories 21 3.60% 4.18% −0.58
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13 2.20% 12.21% −10.01
Body, chassis, structure 9 1.50% 5.57% −4.07
Road Wheels 9 1.50% 0.75% +0.75
Steering 4 0.70% 2.57% −1.87
Noise, emissions and leaks 3 0.50% 5.52% −5.02

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 915 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Major 3.6% £45–95 Tyres →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 2.3% £80–200 Windscreen →
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Major 1.9% £18–45 Brake Pads Set →
Has ply or cords exposed Tyres Major 1.3% £45–95 Tyres →
Wipers blade defective Visibility Minor 0.77% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Major 0.55% £45–95 Tyres →
Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure Major 0.55% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Major 0.44% £45–95 Tyres →
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Major 0.33% £45–95 Tyres →
Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Rectified 0.33% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Advisory 13.3% £18–45
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 9.8% £45–95
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 6.8% £45–95
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Advisory 4.2% £45–95
Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle Advisory 2.4% £20–80
Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres Advisory 2.4% £45–95

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 342 91.8% 20,391 mi
30-60k 429 85.5% 42,249 mi
60-90k 100 90.0% 71,438 mi
90-120k 34 88.2% 101,695 mi
120k+ 10 90.0% 147,717 mi

Source: 915 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.

2020 V90 Inscription + MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription +?

88.5% of the 915 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 87.2%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription +?

The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (3.61%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.30%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.86%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.8% of the time, falling to 90.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + in this dataset had covered 35,846 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription +?

Diesel: 88.3% pass rate across 385 tests. Petrol: 89.3% pass rate across 384 tests. Hybrid: 87.0% pass rate across 146 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2020 Volvo V90 Inscription + MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.