MORE than 20% of cars fail their first MoT test, giving the UK one of the worst records in Europe, figures have revealed.
In 2007, a total of 21.6% of three-year-old vehicles in the UK did not pass the MoT, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) Trust.
The trust said this compared unfavourably with many European countries - some of which test cars for the first time after four years rather than the UK minimum of three years.
France, for example, had a 5.61% failure rate, while Switzerland had 17.5% and Norway 19.9%. Spain, at 32%, has a much higher rate of failure.
Germany, where cars have to take an MoT test after three years, has a failure rate of just 4.8%, while Austria, another three-year country, had a 10% failure rate.
The IAM Trust, which obtained the UK figures under the Freedom of Information Act, said lighting and signalling problems were the chief cause of UK failures, followed by tyres and wheels and problems associated with drivers' views, including cracked windscreens.
