Does the Volkswagen Beetle fail the MOT on vehicle identification more than it should?
The Volkswagen Beetle records 0.69 vehicle identification failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 0.54 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) (+0.15, 95% interval +0.12 to +0.17). It ranks 182 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 Volkswagen Beetle by registration
What exactly fails on vehicle identification?
The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Volkswagen Beetle is “Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements”, recorded 1,093 times in 2019–2024.
| DVSA defect wording | Items | Per 100 tests |
|---|---|---|
| Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements | 1,093 | 0.34 |
| Number plate inscription missing or illegible | 755 | 0.23 |
| Number plate missing or so insecure that it is likely to fall off | 289 | 0.09 |
| Number plate showing an incorrect registration | 79 | 0.02 |
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 325,356 (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 Volkswagen Beetle gets a vehicle identification advisory, how often does it fail next time?
3.8% of Volkswagen Beetle MOTs with a vehicle identification advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 3,611 miles later (8,094 advisories followed).
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 8,094 (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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