Does the BMW 3 Series fail the MOT on vehicle identification more than it should?
The BMW 3 Series records 0.58 vehicle identification failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 0.44 expected for a car of the same age mix: about as expected for its class and age (the difference is within its interval or under 0.5 items per 100 tests) (+0.14, 95% interval +0.13 to +0.15). It ranks 190 of 636 models on vehicle identification (1 = most failures above expected).
Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on vehicle identification · check a BMW 3 Series by registration
What exactly fails on vehicle identification?
The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the BMW 3 Series is “Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements”, recorded 10,700 times in 2019–2024.
| DVSA defect wording | Items | Per 100 tests |
|---|---|---|
| Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements | 10,700 | 0.34 |
| Number plate inscription missing or illegible | 4,380 | 0.14 |
| Number plate missing or so insecure that it is likely to fall off | 2,091 | 0.07 |
| Number plate showing an incorrect registration | 801 | 0.03 |
| VIN incomplete, illegible or obviously falsified | 30 | 0.00 |
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 3,110,401 (initial tests) · Method: failure items (major and minor) grouped by DVSA's defect tree; wordings with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV
If a BMW 3 Series gets a vehicle identification advisory, how often does it fail next time?
2.8% of BMW 3 Series MOTs with a vehicle identification advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 6,262 miles later (56,050 advisories followed).
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 56,050 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV
Other pages for this model
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