Insights
What the numbers say about cars, MOTs and garages in Britain. Each piece comes from official data, says exactly how we worked it out, and links to the source.
MOT data · 20 October 2026
The poorest neighbourhoods have three times as many MOT stations per person as the richest
We mapped every MOT station in Britain against car ownership and deprivation, then tested the obvious explanations: newer cars, fewer cars per head and bigger garages. Together they explain less than half the gap.
MOT data · 20 October 2026
One car in 16 failed its 2025 MOT on tyres
We went through all 33 million car MOTs in Great Britain in 2025: what fails, which makes and models fail most, why electric cars are worse, and where in the country tyres fail most.
Looking for how-tos rather than data? See the car care guides.