Volkswagen Beetle reliability
MOT tests in 2025, published 22 Jun 2026. DVSA publishes a new year each summer.
59.1% of the 40,521 Volkswagen Beetle cars three years and over tested in 2025 passed their MOT first time. Cars of the same ages passed 64.2% of the time, so the Beetle did worse than average.
That ranks it 201 of 248 models overall and 15 of 16 Volkswagen models. How the score works.
Against cars of the same age
Each year's pass rate against all cars first used that year. Bars past the tick did better than average for their age.
| Item | Volkswagen Beetle | All cars that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 80.9% | 80.9% |
| 2017 | 72.2% | 78.2% |
| 2016 | 71.1% | 74.9% |
| 2015 | 68.0% | 71.9% |
| 2014 | 66.3% | 68.6% |
| 2013 | 65.6% | 65.8% |
| 2012 | 65.4% | 63.5% |
| 2011 | 54.3% | 61.2% |
| 2010 | 53.6% | 59.3% |
| 2009 | 53.0% | 58.3% |
| 2008 | 49.0% | 57.2% |
| 2007 | 47.2% | 57.4% |
| 2006 | 48.8% | 57.0% |
| 2005 | 52.1% | 57.6% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Where it fails
The share of Volkswagen Beetle cars tested with a failure in each area, against all cars. For the exact items, see the Volkswagen Beetle MOT check.
| Item | Volkswagen Beetle | All cars |
|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18.6% | 10.6% |
| Suspension | 16.4% | 9.0% |
| Brakes | 8.7% | 6.2% |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7.7% | 3.1% |
| Body, chassis, structure | 6.9% | 3.3% |
| Visibility | 6.3% | 4.3% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Checking one car?
These figures describe groups of cars. A vehicle history report shows the full MOT history, mileage, outstanding finance, write-offs and stolen records for one registration.
Figures from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing data for MOT tests in 2025, published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Analysis by Motoring Insider. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. How we work out these figures.
Every dataset we use is listed on our data sources page, with the credit lines on our attribution page.