BMW 123 MOT reliability

BMW 123s passed their MOT first time 68% of the time across 2,928 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

68%

MOTs analysed

2,928

Still licensed (GB)

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Body type

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Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age.

In detail:

First registered

2010 diesel

505 MOTs

Passed first time 71%. Typical mileage 119,280 (most between 95,593 and 145,468).

2012: 93% → 2013: 86% → 2014: 86% → 2015: 83% → 2016: 82% → 2017: 80% → 2018: 76% → 2019: 75% → 2020: 71% → 2021: 75% → 2022: 69% → 2023: 68% → 2024: 73% → 2025: 71%

Most common failures

Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak (5.9%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.2%)
Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid (2.8%)
Pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn (2.6%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (2.0%)

2010 petrol

5 MOTs

These figures come from only 5 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 80%. Typical mileage 118,233 (most between 80,665 and 135,489).

2013: 100% → 2014: 86% → 2015: 71% → 2016: 100% → 2017: 71% → 2018: 83% → 2019: 50% → 2020: 83% → 2021: 67% → 2022: 86% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 80% → 2025: 80%

Most common failures

Condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (20.0%)

Where 2010 123s fail

Suspension & axles

11.3%

Lights & electrics

10.5%

Wheels & tyres

10.1%

Visibility & wipers

5.1%

Brakes

4.4%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

1.6%

Body, structure & corrosion

1.4%

Seat belts & other equipment

1.0%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.