Bedford 97 MOT reliability

Bedford 97s passed their MOT first time 82% of the time across 11 tests in 2025. 23 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from only 11 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.

First-time pass rate

82%

MOTs analysed

11

Still licensed (GB)

23

Body type

–

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

1985 petrol

2 MOTs

Passed first time 50%. Typical mileage 55,875 (most between 44,489 and 67,261).

2005: 50% → 2006: 47% → 2007: 54% → 2008: 50% → 2009: 50% → 2010: 89% → 2011: 60% → 2012: 60% → 2013: 50% → 2014: 33% → 2015: 67% → 2016: 75% → 2017: 50% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 0% → 2020: 0% → 2021: 75% → 2022: 100% → 2024: 67% → 2025: 50%

Most common failures

Service brake performance: efficiency below requirements (50.0%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (50.0%)
Service brake imbalance: across an axle (50.0%)

Where 1985 97s fail

Wheels & tyres

50.0%

Brakes

50.0%

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.