Skip to content
JDM History

66m MOT tests · 2024 and 2025

Japanese import MOT statistics

DVSA publishes every MOT test in Great Britain, with the car’s make and model but nothing that identifies it. We picked out the 31 models sold here mainly or only as Japanese imports, and compared them with the rest of the country’s cars.

28%

of imports failed their first MOT test

All cars: 28%

14.8 yrs

median age of an import at its MOT

All cars: 9.7 years

12%

of import MOTs mention corrosion

All cars: 12%

36%

of advisories still there a year later

All cars: 34%

First-time MOT failure rate by model

The share of initial MOT tests (not retests) that failed, 2024 and 2025. Older cars fail more, so the tick shows what we’d expect from an average UK car of the same ages. Japanese-brand cars as a whole fail 28% of the time, about the same as the UK average once age is allowed for.

This model UK cars of the same ages

The most common MOT advisories on Japanese imports

An advisory is something the tester noticed that isn’t bad enough to fail yet. Share of initial tests with each one, against all UK cars.

Japanese imports All cars
  • Tread depth: worn close to legal limit or worn on edge11%vs 16%
  • Brake pads (brake linings and pads): wearing thin7.9%vs 7.6%
  • Condition: slightly damaged or cracking or perishing6.3%vs 8.8%
  • Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened6.2%vs 8.9%
  • Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive6.1%vs 4.9%
  • Pins and bushes (suspension arms): pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement5.4%vs 5.3%
  • Rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material3.5%vs 3.8%
  • Headlamp: has a product on the lens but not seriously reducing light output3.0%
  • Swivel pins and bushes: swivel pin and or or bush slightly worn2.8%
  • Coil spring: corroded2.5%vs 3.3%
  • Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil2.4%vs 3.0%
  • Non-component advisories: Play in steering rack inner joint(s)2.1%

What imports fail on

Share of initial tests that failed on each part of the car. A test can fail on more than one.

Japanese imports All cars
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment15%vs 11%
  • Suspension9.3%vs 8.8%
  • Brakes6.1%vs 6.5%
  • Visibility4.9%vs 4.5%
  • Body, chassis, structure4.3%vs 3.4%
  • Tyres3.9%vs 6.3%
  • Noise, emissions and leaks3.3%vs 3.1%
  • Steering1.9%vs 2.0%
  • Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems1.2%vs 1.0%
  • Identification of the vehicle0.3%vs 0.3%

The advisories owners leave unfixed

We followed each advisory to the car’s next annual MOT. Across all cars, 29% come back as advisories again and 5.1% fail the next test. On imports it’s 31% and 4.8%. These are the items most often still there:

Flagged again at the next MOT Failed the next MOT on it
  • Rigid brake pipes2,185 advisories55%
  • Coil spring1,581 advisories52%
  • Engine oil leaks3,763 advisories52%
  • Component mounting prescribed areas809 advisories48%
  • Registration plates852 advisories46%
  • Sub-frame374 advisories43%
  • Swivel pins and bushes1,898 advisories43%
  • Headlamp2,194 advisories43%
  • Integral vehicle structure condition725 advisories43%
  • Suspension arm413 advisories42%

Japanese imports, items with at least 25 advisories followed up. Matched on the part of the car, so an advisory for one tyre counts as back if any tyre is flagged.

Cars that disappeared from the MOT record

MOT records don’t say why a car leaves the road, but they do show when one stops being tested. Of the imports tested before October 2024, 10.4% had no MOT for over a year after their last one (all cars: 7.2%), and 0.5% failed that last test and never came back (all cars: 0.4%). Most will have been scrapped; some were exported, laid up or declared off the road. Treat these as estimates.

Last MOT was a pass Last MOT was a fail

What imports failed on before they disappeared

Share of the 366 imports whose last MOT was a fail. A car can fail on more than one.

  • Suspension67%
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment61%
  • Brakes54%
  • Body, chassis, structure53%
  • Noise, emissions and leaks33%
  • Visibility25%
  • Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems17%
  • Tyres17%

White, black or silver

The colours imports wear, by share of cars, against all UK cars.

Japanese imports All cars
  • White36%vs 19%
  • Black20%vs 19%
  • Silver19%vs 14%
  • Grey7.4%vs 17%
  • Blue6.6%vs 16%
  • Green3.6%vs 1.7%
  • Purple2.2%
  • Red1.7%vs 10%

Where imports are most common

Imports per 1,000 cars tested, by the testing station’s postcode area.

  1. 1.East London E11.4
  2. 2.Ilford IG10.8
  3. 3.Romford RM8.4
  4. 4.North London N8.0
  5. 5.Birmingham B7.7
  6. 6.Southall UB7.5
  7. 7.North West London NW6.8
  8. 8.Harrow HA6.7
  9. 9.Bradford BD6.1
  10. 10.Manchester M5.7

Stats for each model

Questions

Do Japanese imports fail their MOT more often?
No. 28% of first MOT tests on the import-only models we track failed in 2024 and 2025, against 28% for all cars, even though the imports were older (median 14.8 years against 9.7).
What is the most common MOT advisory on Japanese imports?
Tread depth: worn close to legal limit or worn on edge, on 11% of tests.
How many MOT advisories get fixed?
Across all cars, 66% of advisory items are gone by the next annual MOT. 29% are flagged again and 5.1% fail the next test.

How we worked these out

  • Every car MOT in Great Britain in 2024 and 2025, from DVSA’s anonymised MOT tests and results. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The analysis and any errors are ours, not DVSA’s.
  • MOT records give the make, model name and engine size, not the chassis code, so models are grouped by name. A model page says when that grouping is looser than its title.
  • Failure rates count initial tests only, and include faults fixed during the test (DVSA’s definition). Advisories are counted once per test.
  • Ages run from the first-use date on the MOT record. For many imports that’s the date the car was first registered in the UK, not in Japan, so imports can look younger than they are, and the age comparison flatters them less than it should.
  • An advisory counts as unfixed if the same part of the car is flagged again, or fails, at the next annual MOT (300 to 500 days later).
  • A car “disappeared” if it had no MOT between 31 October 2024 and 30 December 2025, over a year after its last test. It’s an estimate of cars scrapped or taken off the road: some were exported, laid up, or made exempt at 40 years old.
  • The figures for all cars and all Japanese-brand cars come from a random one-in-20 sample of vehicles; the model figures use every car.