An influential publication has revealed the very latest MOT data to reveal the number one causes of failures across the UK, and basic tests could have avoided more than a third of the failures.

The data, which has been obtained by the Honest John website has found that of the 7.3 million failures in 2017, 2.5 million could have been avoided if the owner had checked tyres, lights, brakes and windscreens before the test. All fairly simple procedures which most competent drivers should be checking on a regular basis.

Two of the top three causes of failure could have been spotted by an untrained eye prior to sending the car into an MOT test centre. The No.1 failure issue in the UK is incorrect headlamp aim, with 976,569 failures, second place is poor brake performance, which may need an expert opinion, but third on the list, a broken registration plate lamp is easily spottable. Faulty side lights and insufficient tyre tread depth complete the top five, which means that four out of the top five faults should be spotted by drivers as a matter of course. Other common failures include worn out windscreen wipers and missing screen wash.

Honest John’s annual publication, The MOT Files, highlights the most common problems in all cars, dependent on make, model, year of registration and postcode. The data is collated by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and accessed via the Government’s OpenData scheme based on almost 8 million MOT tests.

The research reveals which areas of the country have the worst pass rates, with Kirkcaldy in Scotland topping the list with just 55 per cent of the region’s cars passing first time. The south east of England is at the other end of the scale with 73.5 per cent of cars in Enfield passing first time.

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