Riley Elf MOT reliability

Riley Elfs passed their MOT first time 85% of the time across 46 tests in 2025. 417 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from 46 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

First-time pass rate

85%

MOTs analysed

46

Still licensed (GB)

417

Body type

Sedan

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

1967 petrol

12 MOTs

These figures come from only 12 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 92%. Typical mileage 54,445 (most between 36,978 and 64,669).

2005: 79% → 2006: 75% → 2007: 67% → 2008: 70% → 2009: 64% → 2010: 69% → 2011: 64% → 2012: 64% → 2013: 72% → 2014: 74% → 2015: 75% → 2016: 66% → 2017: 85% → 2018: 78% → 2019: 76% → 2020: 73% → 2021: 83% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 92% → 2024: 77% → 2025: 92%

Most common failures

Driver's view: of the road through the swept area of the windscreen significantly affected by an obstruction (8.3%)
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements (8.3%)
Sub-frame mounting prescribed areas: prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (8.3%)
Service brake performance: has no recorded effort at a wheel (8.3%)
Integral vehicle structure condition: corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (8.3%)

Where 1967 Elfs fail

Body, structure & corrosion

8.3%

Brakes

8.3%

Lights & electrics

8.3%

Steering

8.3%

Suspension & axles

8.3%

Visibility & wipers

8.3%

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.