Pass rate
88.2%
Above average — 0.3 pts ahead of the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 20,840 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£90
2018 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 57,946 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
34.9% 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 →
6.5 pts down across model years — 10.8% in 2003, 4.3% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 89.3% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.7% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 18.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 86.7%
- Typical mileage
- 58k mi
The 2018 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate is 88.2% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.8× the national share
Tyres make up 34.9% of everything recorded on the 2018 Volvo Xc90, against 19.8% nationally — 15.1 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 22% 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 XC90? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Volvo XC90 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 0.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.7%. The median 2018 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 57,946 mi.
74% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 88.1% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.9% of the time, April–September 88.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.62% of tests.
- 20,840 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.2% overall pass rate, 86.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo XC90, the average is 80.2% — best year 2020 (89.3%), worst 2003 (70.7%).
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
- 20,840
- Typical mileage (median)
- 57,946 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo XC90
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the XC90 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (74% of tests).
Where the Volvo XC90 is most common
Across all XC90 model years on record (2003–2021): 90,072 Volvo XC90 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 210,478 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 2,296 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) | 2,296 | 85.3% |
| 2 | Reading (RG) | 2,166 | 82.4% |
| 3 | Guildford (GU) | 2,065 | 77.4% |
| 4 | Ashford (TN) | 1,892 | 78.1% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,829 | 79.3% |
| 6 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 1,715 | 82.2% |
| 7 | High Wycombe (HP) | 1,590 | 79.6% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,582 | 79.4% |
| 9 | Crawley (RH) | 1,551 | 81.2% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 1,506 | 83.2% |
| 11 | Southampton (SO) | 1,442 | 79.6% |
| 12 | Sheffield (S) | 1,418 | 81.6% |
| 13 | Oxford (OX) | 1,409 | 81.3% |
| 14 | London (NW) | 1,401 | 87.4% |
| 15 | Coventry (CV) | 1,311 | 84.2% |
| 16 | Chelmsford (CM) | 1,265 | 82.3% |
| 17 | Ipswich (IP) | 1,242 | 77.7% |
| 18 | Slough (SL) | 1,238 | 87.1% |
| 19 | London (SW) | 1,204 | 84.1% |
| 20 | London (W) | 1,185 | 80.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Volvo XC90 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 XC90
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 6,034 | 88.3% |
| East of England | 2,420 | 88.4% |
| London | 2,304 | 87.6% |
| South West | 1,729 | 87.0% |
| Yorkshire | 1,569 | 88.7% |
| Scotland | 1,551 | 86.5% |
| West Midlands | 1,534 | 89.7% |
| North West | 1,503 | 86.9% |
| East Midlands | 1,151 | 90.0% |
| North East | 563 | 90.8% |
| Wales | 480 | 87.7% |
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 2018 XC90
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 2018 XC90
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 2.6% 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.
-
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.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.3% 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 2018 XC90 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£90 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£90
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 20,840 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 XC90, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2003 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.7% to 89.3% — a spread of 18.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 70.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 75.9% position lamp not working
- 2010 76.7% position lamp not working
- 2011 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 79.9% position lamp not working
- 2013 80.3% position lamp not working
- 2014 80.7% position lamp not working
- 2015 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 84.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2017 86.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.2%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 89.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 88.9% has ply or cords exposed
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 2018 Volvo XC90 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- Hyundai Tucson 88.2%
- Volkswagen Touareg 88.2%
- Renault Koleos 88.2%
- Hyundai Santa Fe 88.3%
- BMW 120 88.3%
- Fiat Fullback 88.3%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 Volvo XC90 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 18,653 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 | 6,627 | 34.90% | 19.76% | +15.14 |
| Brakes | 4,955 | 26.10% | 20.89% | +5.21 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,994 | 10.50% | 4.18% | +6.32 |
| Suspension | 1,387 | 7.30% | 20.98% | −13.68 |
| Visibility | 1,184 | 6.20% | 4.97% | +1.23 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 717 | 3.80% | 1.76% | +2.04 |
| Steering | 530 | 2.80% | 2.57% | +0.23 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 524 | 2.80% | 12.21% | −9.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 443 | 2.30% | 5.52% | −3.22 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 292 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.6% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.90% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.85% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.73% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.65% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.60% | £18–45 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.54% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.6% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.4% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.2% | £20–80 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.8% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,428 | 90.8% | 23,775 mi |
| 30-60k | 9,756 | 89.1% | 46,486 mi |
| 60-90k | 7,398 | 87.1% | 72,512 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,844 | 86.2% | 100,659 mi |
| 120k+ | 413 | 85.0% | 140,462 mi |
Source: 20,840 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.
2018 XC90 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Volvo XC90?
88.2% of the 20,840 2018 Volvo XC90 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 86.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Volvo XC90?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.62%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.08%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.94%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.8% of the time, falling to 85.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 57,946 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2018 Volvo XC90?
Diesel: 88.1% pass rate across 15,371 tests. Hybrid: 89.1% pass rate across 3,433 tests. Petrol: 87.1% pass rate across 2,032 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2018 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 88.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.