2012 Honda Insight: MOT pass rate and reliability

80.3% of 2012 Honda Insights pass the MOT first time, measured across 1,248 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 127,208 miles.

How the 2012 compares

  • Against all Honda Insights (78.8%, 8,781 tests): +1.5 points
  • Against all 2012 cars (70.8%): +9.5 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Honda Insight model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2012 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Honda Insight:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2009 75.4% 2,088 114,534
2010 77% 2,790 117,746
2011 82.1% 1,703 128,718
2012 80.3% 1,248 127,208
2013 84% 444 116,000
2014 85.5% 276 107,940

What this means if you are buying a 2012 Insight

The 2012 sits close to the Honda Insight average, so there is no strong model-year signal either way. Judge the individual car on its own history. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 14-year-old car fails on

A 2012 car is 14 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is high mileage, so timing belts, clutches, suspension bushes and corrosion are the items worth budgeting for rather than the MOT itself. On a 2012 Honda Insight the average at test was 127,208 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2014 at 85.5%, and the weakest in our data is 2009 at 75.4%. That 10.1 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2012 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Honda Insight MOT data · Every model