Vauxhall Vivaro: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Vauxhall Vivaro fails its first MOT more often than the average UK vehicle, by 17 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 159,785 individual Vauxhall Vivaro tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 59.7% first-time pass rate means roughly 40 in every 100 Vauxhall Vivaros presented for MOT fail on the first attempt. That is worse than average, so budget for remedial work and treat a fresh 12-month MOT as a genuine selling point rather than a given. The average Vauxhall Vivaro tested had covered 122,303 miles and was built around 2013.

What this means at salvage auction

Pass rate is a proxy for what a car costs to keep on the road. On a Vauxhall Vivaro bought as a repairable salvage, assume the mechanical side needs more than the visible accident damage, and pad your repair estimate accordingly.

Before you bid: run the lot through the analyzer, check the car's own record, check the mileage, decode the VIN, and if it carries a marker use the write-off value calculator. Or compare it against another model.

Looking at a specific Vauxhall Vivaro rather than the model in general? The free check covers its MOT and mileage history, and the full HPI report confirms the insurance write-off category, outstanding finance and whether it is recorded stolen, from licensed data for 5 credits. Already own one that has been damaged? Work out whether fixing it beats selling it with the repair or scrap calculator, and see what damaged Vauxhall Vivaros actually sold for at UK salvage auction, from 4 real settled sales.

Most common MOT failures on a Vauxhall Vivaro

1. A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, 10% of tests (10.57x the national rate for this defect)
2. Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded, 3.4% of tests (4.15x the national rate for this defect)
3. A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn, 14.4% of tests (3.89x the national rate for this defect)
4. A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps, 2.5% of tests (3.88x the national rate for this defect)
5. Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement, 3.5% of tests (3.56x the national rate for this defect)
6. A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage, 2.4% of tests (3.42x the national rate for this defect)
7. Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction, 3.1% of tests (3.29x the national rate for this defect)
8. Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 2.3% of tests (2.36x the national rate for this defect)
9. A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 3.7% of tests (2.25x the national rate for this defect)
10. Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen, 2.6% of tests (2.09x the national rate for this defect)

From 290,730 DVSA-tracked Vauxhall Vivaro tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 5.01% of these flagged Vauxhall Vivaro defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Vauxhall Vivaro pass rate by model year

Pass rates fall steadily as cars age, so the model year matters as much as the model. First-time pass rate for each Vauxhall Vivaro year:

• 2002 Vauxhall Vivaro - 54.3% first-time pass, 727 tests
• 2003 Vauxhall Vivaro - 54.4% first-time pass, 1,980 tests
• 2004 Vauxhall Vivaro - 55% first-time pass, 3,924 tests
• 2005 Vauxhall Vivaro - 55.3% first-time pass, 5,683 tests
• 2006 Vauxhall Vivaro - 52.8% first-time pass, 7,208 tests
• 2007 Vauxhall Vivaro - 53.9% first-time pass, 8,415 tests
• 2008 Vauxhall Vivaro - 54% first-time pass, 8,274 tests
• 2009 Vauxhall Vivaro - 53.6% first-time pass, 4,023 tests
• 2010 Vauxhall Vivaro - 51.4% first-time pass, 6,428 tests
• 2011 Vauxhall Vivaro - 52.9% first-time pass, 10,478 tests
• 2012 Vauxhall Vivaro - 53.5% first-time pass, 10,919 tests
• 2013 Vauxhall Vivaro - 56% first-time pass, 15,519 tests
• 2014 Vauxhall Vivaro - 57.5% first-time pass, 16,519 tests
• 2015 Vauxhall Vivaro - 62.1% first-time pass, 23,900 tests
• 2016 Vauxhall Vivaro - 64.5% first-time pass, 21,864 tests
• 2017 Vauxhall Vivaro - 66.4% first-time pass, 18,098 tests
• 2018 Vauxhall Vivaro - 71.9% first-time pass, 18,416 tests
• 2019 Vauxhall Vivaro - 75.2% first-time pass, 8,571 tests

Other Vauxhall models

• Vauxhall Corsa - 70%
• Vauxhall Astra - 71.9%
• Vauxhall Mokka - 75.6%
• Vauxhall Zafira - 68.7%
• Vauxhall Insignia - 73.5%
• Vauxhall Meriva - 68.9%
• Vauxhall Combo - 66.3%
• Vauxhall Adam - 74.6%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Peugeot 4007 - 59.9%
• Fiat Stilo - 59.9%
• Peugeot 207 - 59.8%
• Mitsubishi Grandis - 59.7%
• Hyundai Accent - 59.6%
• Nissan Pickup - 59.6%

If this van is a salvage or write-off

• Britain's most and least reliable vans: 2.1 million MOT tests analysed
• Britain's most and least reliable cars: 33 million MOT tests analysed
• What does Cat N mean? Category N explained
• What does Cat S mean? Category S explained
• Cat S vs Cat N: the real differences

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All 2,005 models ranked by MOT pass rate