Halfords Autocentres: Renault Meganes most likely to fail MOT

Halfords-owned Nationwide Autocentres, which purportedly performs more MOTs than any other garage group, has released details of research showing how cars perform when it comes to the annual road worthiness test. It found that three year old Renault Meganes examined in 2009 had a one in four chance of failing, while similarly aged Vauxhall Corsas had a one in five chance. According to the company the data was collated more than six months ago, but it still raises some interesting points on the the frequency of test failures of particular models.

For five year old cars, the Corsa had the biggest number of failures (39%) while again over a third (35 per cent) of Meganes failed. This compared with one in five Ford Fiestas, which was shown to be the best performer of the top 10 selling model of that year.

Nationwide Autocentres, which is in the process of being renamed Halfords Autocentres, examined the records of 265,000 tests carried out at 225 of its centres across the UK on three year old, five year old and 10 year old cars.

The research has been produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the test this month (September). While the research could not take into account the way a vehicle was driven or the frequency of servicing, it showed the need for higher mileage and older cars to be regularly maintained to avoid problems with the annual test. With the average cost of work needed to repair a car failing the MOT being £82, the data revealed how Britons are spending over £920 million a year correcting faults thrown up by a test failure.

The Ford Focus, the UK’s top selling car in 1999, 2004 and 2006, the years covered by the report, performed better than the average and was 6 per cent less likely to fail than the average vehicle.The VW Golf was a solid performer across all ages having ranked second (06 cars), joint second (04) and joint third (99). The BMW 3-series proved to be the least likely to fail (7% failure rate – twice as good as the average). Although more expensive to buy, owners of BMWs spend three times less on repairs than the owners of Renault Meganes (£18 v £63).

Overall 14 per cent of cars facing their first MOT in 2009 failed compared with 24 per cent of 2004 registered cars and 41 per cent of 10 year old cars.

“The data we compile is the best available representative sample of MOT test results in the UK. We are the only organisation able to attach data on vehicle age and mileage at the time of an MOT, providing perhaps the clearest picture available on MOT trends” said Bill Duffy, chief operations officer (and trained MOT tester) at Nationwide Autocentres.

“This report shows the importance of having the car regularly serviced and not relying on the MOT to show up faults. Motorists are spending money unnecessarily having repairs that could have been spotted and sorted much earlier in the life of a car.”

The study comes as the government considers a move to extend the legal gap between MOT tests to two years. Company representatives point out that it illustrates “the huge number of modern cars on the road that have faults that if left undetected could lead to critical safety issues.”

The study looked at the top 10 best selling vehicles in 2006 (3 years old and receiving first MOT test in 2009), 2004 (5 years old in 2009) and 1999 (10 years old in 2009)

It also looked at the average invoice value for vehicles failing their MOT. This value excludes service and MOT fees but includes spend on the following items: Clutch, Brakes, Steering & Suspension, Electrics, Tyres, Balancing & Aligment, Exhausts, Extra Items, Cambelts, Aircon. We believe that it is reasonable to assume that work done at the time of an MOT is a direct consequence of the MOT.

Nationwide Autocentres does not have hold background information on the cars tested, and cannot say whether the cars MOT’d have had annual services or not. The minimum sample of car model looked at in any year was 244. The maximum was 1,649.

An annual MoT test is compulsory for every car over three years old and is checked for a number of different things, including steering, suspension and braking. If a vehicle fails on one aspect (no matter how trivial) it cannot pass.

Related news:

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• Further responses to government MOT changes from Which?, IAAF