Banger Watch by CarCanny · MOT and road casualty data

Used car record: the UK's 100 most common used cars, against cars their age

Which of the UK's 100 most common used cars have a worse record than cars their age, and which a better one. Each model's record combines two things, against cars the same age: how often it failed its 2025 MOT, which counts for 80% (see the full MOT fail-rate ranking), and how often it was involved in an injury collision in 2021 to 2024, which counts for 20% (see the full injury-collision ranking). From DVSA's MOT data and DfT's road casualty and licensing statistics.

Quick answer

Of the UK's 100 most common used cars, 27 have a clearly worse record than cars their age and 48 a clearly better one. The Dacia Sandero has the worst record for its age (index 132: it failed its MOT 47% more often than cars its age, and was involved in injury collisions 15% less often), and the Mazda MX-5 the best (index 60: 34% less often at the MOT, and 59% less often in injury collisions).

Cars given an MOT in 2025: 31.7 million
Injury collisions counted, 2021 to 2024: 381,355
Models ranked: 100

All 100 models, against cars their age

The record index is 100 for a model that did as well as cars its age. Each part links to the model's row on its full ranking.

Worse recordAbout the sameBetter recordthan cars the same age, by at least 5 points and beyond chance. Select a column heading to sort.

‡

Popular with taxi and private hire drivers. At least 5% of its injury collisions were recorded as a taxi or private hire car. These cars are driven much further than most, so they're involved more often. They're sold used too, so they count: Toyota Prius, Kia Niro, Toyota Auris, Toyota Corolla, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen Passat.

†

Collision figure includes related models. The crash data names cars by DVLA's model names, and some cover more than one model, so the collision figure does too: Toyota Prius (with the Prius+), Toyota Yaris (with the Yaris Cross and GR Yaris), Toyota Aygo (with the early Aygo X), Citroën C4 (with the C4 Cactus, C4 Picasso and Grand C4 Picasso), Citroën C3 (with the C3 Picasso and early C3 Aircross), Land Rover Discovery and Discovery Sport (one figure for both). The MOT figure is the model alone.

The UK's 100 most common used car models: each model's record index against cars its age, from its MOT fails (80%) and its injury collisions (20%), with both parts. Select a column heading to sort.
#
1	Dacia Sandero	132Worse record	+47%	−15%
2	Renault Clio	132Worse record	+41%	0%
3	Citroën C4†	126Worse record	+34%	0%
4	Vauxhall Mokka	126Worse record	+36%	−6%
5	Renault Megane	124Worse record	+31%	0%
6	SEAT Ibiza	124Worse record	+20%	+40%
7	Vauxhall Corsa	121Worse record	+22%	+17%
8	Peugeot 2008	120Worse record	+28%	−6%
9	Peugeot 308	119Worse record	+20%	+14%
10	Peugeot 3008	117Worse record	+24%	−7%
11	Peugeot 207	117Worse record	+23%	−5%
12	Peugeot 208	117Worse record	+22%	−2%
13	Ford Ecosport	116Worse record	+19%	+5%
14	Nissan Juke	116Worse record	+19%	+5%
15	Nissan Qashqai	115Worse record	+20%	−5%
16	Vauxhall Zafira	112Worse record	+12%	+14%
17	Citroën C3†	112Worse record	+20%	−16%
18	Toyota Prius‡†	112Worse record	−22%	+367%
19	Hyundai i30	111Worse record	+16%	−8%
20	Vauxhall Insignia	111Worse record	+9%	+18%
21	Ford Fiesta	110Worse record	+13%	0%
22	Kia Ceed	110Worse record	+14%	−7%
23	Volkswagen Polo	109Worse record	+10%	+7%
24	Kia Niro‡	109Worse record	−10%	+138%
25	Vauxhall Astra	108Worse record	+5%	+22%
26	Fiat 500	108Worse record	+14%	−13%
27	Nissan X-Trail	107Worse record	+14%	−16%
28	Renault Captur	105About the same	+10%	−15%
29	Nissan Micra	104About the same	+8%	−9%
30	Toyota C-HR	103About the same	−8%	+59%
31	Ford Focus	102About the same	+3%	−4%
32	Ford Ka	102About the same	+3%	−4%
33	Volvo V40	101About the same	+8%	−23%
34	SEAT Leon	101About the same	−6%	+34%
35	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	101About the same	−6%	+31%
36	Toyota Auris‡	100About the same	−13%	+77%
37	Mazda 3	100About the same	+5%	−17%
38	Kia Rio	100About the same	+4%	−15%
39	Nissan Note	100About the same	+3%	−12%
40	Audi A1	99About the same	−5%	+16%
41	Kia Picanto	98About the same	+4%	−21%
42	Kia Sportage	98About the same	+3%	−18%
43	Ford Mondeo	97About the same	−3%	−2%
44	Mazda 2	97About the same	0%	−14%
45	Peugeot 107	97About the same	0%	−14%
46	Skoda Fabia	97About the same	−1%	−11%
47	Fiat Panda	97About the same	+6%	−33%
48	Suzuki Swift	97About the same	−2%	−9%
49	Skoda Octavia‡	96About the same	−10%	+24%
50	Honda Civic	96About the same	−4%	−6%
51	Citroën C1	96About the same	−3%	−10%
52	Ford C-Max	95About the same	0%	−21%
53	Volkswagen Passat‡	95Better record	−9%	+13%
54	Toyota Corolla‡	95Better record	−12%	+28%
55	Hyundai i20	94Better record	−2%	−20%
56	BMW 1 Series	93Better record	−16%	+41%
57	Toyota Yaris†	93Better record	−10%	+5%
58	Hyundai Tucson	93Better record	−5%	−17%
59	Toyota Aygo†	93Better record	−10%	+3%
60	Hyundai i10	92Better record	−4%	−23%
61	Mercedes-Benz GLA	92Better record	−14%	+18%
62	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	91Better record	−15%	+20%
63	BMW 2 Series	90Better record	−19%	+37%
64	Audi A3	90Better record	−17%	+24%
65	Audi A4	90Better record	−13%	+2%
66	Land Rover Defender	90Better record	−23%	+63%
67	Ford Kuga	88Better record	−10%	−20%
68	Mercedes-Benz E-Class‡	88Better record	−20%	+28%
69	Volkswagen Golf	87Better record	−18%	+12%
70	Land Rover Discovery Sport†	86Better record	−9%	−30%
71	Audi A5	86Better record	−20%	+12%
72	BMW 3 Series	85Better record	−22%	+22%
73	BMW 4 Series	82Better record	−26%	+26%
74	Jaguar XF	82Better record	−18%	−18%
75	Volkswagen Tiguan	82Better record	−18%	−20%
76	Land Rover Freelander	81Better record	−12%	−42%
77	Audi Q3	81Better record	−21%	−12%
78	Honda Jazz	81Better record	−21%	−12%
79	Volvo XC60	81Better record	−16%	−32%
80	MINI Hatch	80Better record	−18%	−27%
81	Land Rover Range Rover Evoque	80Better record	−24%	−3%
82	BMW X1	79Better record	−24%	−10%
83	BMW X3	78Better record	−22%	−20%
84	Land Rover Discovery†	78Better record	−20%	−30%
85	BMW 5 Series	78Better record	−32%	+33%
86	Audi A6	77Better record	−30%	+10%
87	Toyota RAV4	76Better record	−23%	−29%
88	Volkswagen up!	75Better record	−24%	−27%
89	BMW X5	75Better record	−31%	+4%
90	Volvo XC40	74Better record	−28%	−15%
91	Honda CR-V	74Better record	−23%	−36%
92	Land Rover Range Rover Sport	73Better record	−30%	−11%
93	Audi Q5	72Better record	−30%	−17%
94	Audi Q2	70Better record	−38%	+16%
95	MINI Countryman	69Better record	−30%	−33%
96	Volkswagen T-Roc	68Better record	−38%	+1%
97	Land Rover Range Rover	68Better record	−32%	−31%
98	Ford Puma	68Better record	−32%	MOT only
99	Audi TT	66Better record	−34%	−35%
100	Mazda MX-5	60Better record	−34%	−59%

Download the data (CSV) · every model and figure in this table

How we worked it out

Two parts, each against cars its age. How often the model failed its 2025 MOT, against what cars its age would have (the full MOT ranking), counts for 80%. How often it was involved in an injury collision in 2021 to 2024, against cars its age, with taxis and private hire cars (the full injury-collision ranking), counts for 20%.
The record index. Each part is a ratio: 1.00 is the same as cars its age. The two are combined on a log scale, where twice as often and half as often are the same distance from average, then multiplied by 100. So 100 is cars the same age, 132 is 32% worse and 60 is 40% better.
Worse or better. A model is marked only when its index is at least 5 away from 100 and the gap is too big to be chance (outside its 95% interval).
The weights in practice. Collision figures vary more between models than MOT figures do, so at 20% they move a typical model's index a little more than a fifth, and more at the ends: models popular with taxi and private hire drivers (‡) climb.
Which models. The 100 models with the most cars given an MOT in 2025. The Ford Puma had too few injury collisions to count, so its index is its MOT part alone. † marks a model whose collision figure comes from a DVLA name that also holds other models; the Discovery and Discovery Sport share one.
What it doesn't tell you. A model's record says nothing certain about one car. The data has no generations or service history, the MOT part is one year's tests, and the collision part counts only collisions where someone was hurt and the police recorded it, including when the car was hit.
Credit. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. CarCanny analysis of DVSA anonymised MOT data, DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19) and vehicle licensing statistics; DVSA and DfT don't endorse it.

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Our figures are built from public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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