Pass rate
89.3%
Above average — 1.4 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,134 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £44–£102
2020 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 38,089 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
45.8% 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 · this year
- Avoid 2003 70.7% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 18.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 88.1%
- Typical mileage
- 38k mi
The 2020 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate is 89.3% of its MOT tests — 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 45.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volvo XC90 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.3× the national share
Tyres make up 45.8% of everything recorded on the 2020 Volvo Xc90, against 19.8% nationally — 26.0 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 17% 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 2020 Volvo XC90 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 88.1%. The median 2020 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 38,089 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Hybrid — 82% of tests, with a 89.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.2% of the time, April–September 89.3%.
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 3.37% of tests.
- 2,134 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.3% overall pass rate, 88.1% 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
- 2,134
- Typical mileage (median)
- 38,089 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo XC90
- 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 XC90 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Hybrid is the most common here (82% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the XC90
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 658 | 88.8% |
| London | 311 | 91.3% |
| East of England | 251 | 90.0% |
| South West | 163 | 88.3% |
| Yorkshire | 159 | 89.3% |
| West Midlands | 153 | 89.5% |
| North West | 139 | 89.9% |
| Scotland | 129 | 85.3% |
| East Midlands | 106 | 96.2% |
| Wales | 39 | 74.4% |
| North East | 26 | 84.6% |
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 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 2020 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 3.0% 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 wipers and washers 1.8% 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 brakes 1.0% 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.
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 XC90 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£102 — and 17% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £44–£102
- 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
- 17%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,134 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 2020 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- BMW 3 Series 89.3%
- Volkswagen Amarok 89.4%
- Renault Zoe I Iconc 89.4%
- SEAT Alhambra 89.4%
- MG Zs 89.1%
- Renault Kadjar 89.5%
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 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 1,647 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 | 760 | 45.80% | 19.76% | +26.04 |
| Brakes | 265 | 16.00% | 20.89% | −4.89 |
| Non-component advisories | 191 | 11.50% | 4.18% | +7.32 |
| Visibility | 134 | 8.10% | 4.97% | +3.13 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 98 | 5.90% | 1.76% | +4.14 |
| Suspension | 76 | 4.60% | 20.98% | −16.38 |
| Road Wheels | 61 | 3.70% | 0.75% | +2.95 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 38 | 2.30% | 12.21% | −9.91 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 14 | 0.80% | 0.82% | −0.02 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 10 | 0.60% | 5.52% | −4.92 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 3.4% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £8–22 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.98% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.42% | £45–95 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 0.42% | £8–22 |
| Has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.33% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.28% | £18–45 |
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 | 12.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.4% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.8% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.6% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 4.0% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 684 | 90.8% | 21,529 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,119 | 88.5% | 43,030 mi |
| 60-90k | 283 | 89.4% | 71,658 mi |
| 90-120k | 46 | 84.8% | 100,053 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 129,215 mi |
Source: 2,134 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 XC90 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Volvo XC90?
89.3% of the 2,134 2020 Volvo XC90 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 88.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Volvo XC90?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (3.37%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.95%), wipers blade defective (1.78%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.8% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 38,089 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 Volvo XC90?
Hybrid: 89.5% pass rate across 1,748 tests. Petrol: 87.7% pass rate across 357 tests. Diesel: 95.7% pass rate across 23 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.