Volvo 900 MOT reliability

Volvo 900s passed their MOT first time 65% of the time across 2,898 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

65%

MOTs analysed

2,898

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. 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

1998 petrol

240 MOTs

Passed first time 71%. Typical mileage 151,104 (most between 121,180 and 189,890).

2021: 65% → 2022: 68% → 2023: 61% → 2024: 62% → 2025: 71%

Most common failures

Position lamp: not working (4.6%)
Exhaust system: has a major leak of exhaust gases (4.2%)
Registration plate lamp(s): inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps (2.9%)
Emissions not tested: unable to be completed (2.9%)
Component mounting prescribed areas: prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (2.9%)

1998 lpg

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 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 100%. Typical mileage 185,527 (most between 177,760 and 193,295).

2021: 100% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 50% → 2024: 100% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 1998 900s fail

Lights & electrics

14.2%

Brakes

10.8%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

8.8%

Suspension & axles

7.9%

Body, structure & corrosion

6.3%

Wheels & tyres

6.3%

Visibility & wipers

4.2%

Seat belts & other equipment

2.9%

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.