Number plate MOT failures
Number plate faults account for 1.2% of MOT failures. What the tester checks, why cars fail, and which models fail this most.
What are number plate MOT failures?
A missing, damaged, dirty or incorrectly-spaced number plate, or one using the wrong font, will fail. A replacement plate is inexpensive.
How common are number plate MOT failures?
Number plate faults account for 1.2% of all recorded MOT failures, making them the eleventh most common reason cars fail. That share is drawn from the categorised defect records of 16,764 car models in the DVSA data.
| Failure area | Share of all failures |
|---|---|
| Registration plate | 1.2% |
Which cars fail most on number plate?
These models lose the largest share of their own MOT failures to number plate items. The percentage is the portion of each model's failures that fall in this area, among models with a large test sample.
| Model | Share of its failures | Overall failure rate | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ktm 250 | 12.5% | 17.8% | 29,227 |
| Harley-Davidson Xl | 11.1% | 10.1% | 78,530 |
| Harley-Davidson Xlh | 10.6% | 11.4% | 50,615 |
| Yamaha R6 | 9.5% | 18.1% | 63,746 |
| Suzuki Gsxr1000 | 9.4% | 14.0% | 119,291 |
| Yamaha Wr | 9.4% | 21.7% | 46,435 |
| Suzuki Dr-Z400s | 9.4% | 16.5% | 33,034 |
| Suzuki Gsxr | 9.0% | 13.3% | 166,932 |
| Honda Cbr600rr | 9.0% | 14.0% | 69,090 |
| Honda Cbr1000rr | 8.9% | 11.8% | 75,344 |
| Yamaha Yzf | 8.4% | 16.6% | 446,980 |
| Suzuki Gsxr600 | 8.2% | 19.2% | 190,071 |
| Honda Crf | 8.2% | 8.3% | 82,633 |
| Suzuki Gsxr750 | 7.8% | 17.0% | 123,205 |
| Kawasaki Zx-7r | 7.7% | 18.5% | 37,091 |
Other MOT failure areas
How the other DVSA failure areas break down, each with the models that fail it most.
Sources: DVSA MOT History API: MOT test results and defect data ยท DVSA MOT testing data for Great Britain