Paisley area among worst in Britain for dangerous MOT defects

Cars and vans tested in the PA postcode area – which covers Paisley and much of Renfrewshire – are among the most likely in Britain to be found with dangerous faults at their MOT, according to new research.

An analysis of 2025 MOT records by vehicle cost comparison site CarCostCheck puts the PA area tenth out of Britain’s 118 postcode areas for dangerous defects once the age of the vehicles is taken into account.

The age-adjusted dangerous defect rate in the area was 9.3%, against 7.3% across Britain as a whole. Before that adjustment, 12,935 of the 152,348 first-attempt tests carried out at PA test centres last year found at least one dangerous defect – 8.5% of all tests.

Adjusting for age allows a fair comparison between areas where drivers tend to run older or newer vehicles.

The area fared even worse on steering and suspension, ranking fifth highest in Britain for failures in both. The adjusted steering failure rate was 3.3%, compared with 1.9% nationally, while suspension failures came in at 15.4% against a national figure of 9.0%.

The single most common defect behind failures locally was a fractured or broken coil spring, recorded in 7,291 tests – 4.8% of the total. Other frequent faults included tyres without enough tread, windscreen wipers that failed to clear the screen properly and badly worn suspension ball joints.

Potholes and poor road surfaces are often blamed for broken springs and worn suspension parts, and the figures will strike a chord with many local drivers.

The study looked at around 22 million defects recorded across 9.2 million failed MOT tests in Great Britain during 2025. It covered first-attempt tests on cars, light vans and other class 4 vehicles, with retests excluded.

The figures are based on where vehicles were tested rather than where their owners live, and individual fault percentages are not adjusted for vehicle age.

A dangerous defect means a vehicle fails its MOT and should not be driven until it is repaired, so with winter on the way it’s a good time to check tyres, wipers and lights between services.