Why cars fail their MOT on visibility: wipers, washers and glass
Visibility items fail 4.65 percent of car MOTs. Mostly cheap wiper faults, but a cracked screen in the wrong place is a bigger bill. What to check.
MOT DATA · 4 min read
A common, mostly cheap failure
Visibility items fail 4.65 percent of car MOTs. This category covers wipers, washers, mirrors and the windscreen, and most of the failures are cheap: a torn wiper blade, a washer jet that does not squirt, or a missing or damaged mirror.
What fails
Split or smearing wiper blades, blocked or empty washers, and a damaged or missing wing mirror are the everyday causes. The one that costs more is a crack or chip in the windscreen within the driver's swept area, which is an automatic fail and needs a screen replacement rather than a repair.
What it costs
Wiper blades are a few pounds, a washer pump or jet is cheap, and a mirror glass or cap is modest for most models. A full windscreen replacement is the outlier, typically a hundred to a few hundred pounds depending on the car and whether it has heating, sensors or a camera behind the glass, which pushes it up.
The salvage angle
Wipers and washers are almost free to sort and should never put you off. The item to price properly is the windscreen, because accident salvage often has a cracked or smashed screen, and cars with camera-based driver aids need the screen calibrated after fitting, which adds cost. Check the glass in the damage photos and let the Analyzer include a screen and calibration where it applies.