Land Rover MOT statistics

Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate

Age for age, the Defender failed its 2025 MOT first time 23% less often than the average car, placing it 47th of 252 in our most reliable used cars ranking. Across all 121,078 of its tests, 27.0% failed first time, counting those repaired during the test. That is also 0.7 points below the 27.7% average across all cars and light vans tested.

Clean first-time passes: 73.0%
Failed first time: 27.0%
Tests in 2025: 121,078

Fail rate by age

How the Defender holds up as it gets older, with the typical mileage on the clock at each test.

Age at test	Tests	Initial fail rate	Typical mileage
3 years	9,830	8.0%	30,372 mi
4 years	8,580	8.9%	41,092 mi
5 years	4,193	11.3%	46,661 mi
9 years	1,762	16.4%	38,415 mi
10 years	6,466	20.9%	52,597 mi
11 years	5,677	24.2%	62,936 mi
12 years	4,228	27.8%	69,910 mi
13 years	3,766	28.5%	74,771 mi
14 years	3,851	30.0%	85,024 mi
15 years	3,818	31.5%	87,213 mi
16 years	3,341	31.7%	92,622 mi
17 years	3,580	31.5%	99,537 mi
18 years	3,814	32.9%	105,006 mi
19 years	3,660	33.4%	109,993 mi
20 years	4,040	32.8%	116,345 mi

What a Defender fails on

Defects recorded at 2025 tests, by inspection category.

Category	Share of defects
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	30.2%
Suspension	16.1%
Brakes	14.0%
Body, chassis, structure	11.4%
Steering	9.9%
Visibility	8.0%
Tyres	3.5%
Noise, emissions and leaks	3.1%

Does the fuel type make a difference?

Same model, different engines, different MOT day.

Fuel	Tests	Initial fail rate
Petrol	5,705	14.6%
Diesel	113,850	27.8%
Hybrid	1,389	8.8%

From the average to the actual car

Statistics describe the herd. The Defender in the advert is one animal, with its own service record, its own advisories and its own story, and that's the thing to check before money moves.

Start free: our MOT check shows its current status and last result in seconds. The £5.00 report adds every test it has ever sat, every MOT mileage reading, the tax band and registered spec. If the seller's car beats the averages above, the record will show it. If it doesn't, better to know now.

Other Land Rover models

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque: 17.7% failed first time
Land Rover Discovery: 25.4% failed first time
Land Rover Range Rover Sport: 19.2% failed first time
Land Rover Discovery Sport: 18.8% failed first time
Land Rover Freelander: 35.0% failed first time
Land Rover Range Rover: 20.5% failed first time

Defender MOT: common questions

What is the Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?

In 2025, 73.0% of Land Rover Defender MOTs were clean first-time passes. The other 27.0% failed or needed a defect fixed during the visit, measured across 121,078 official DVSA test results.

What does a Defender fail its MOT on most?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment topped the list for the Land Rover Defender in 2025, followed by suspension and brakes. The pattern is worth knowing before a viewing: check those areas yourself and read the car's own MOT history for repeat advisories.

Is a Defender reliable?

On MOT results, the Land Rover Defender failed first time 23% less often than the average car of the same age in DVSA's 2025 figures, ranking it 47th of the 252 popular models we compare. The MOT never tests the gearbox, clutch or electronics, so treat the rate as one signal and the specific car's history and condition as the deciding ones.