Free mileage check
Is my car’s mileage normal for its age?
The median car taking an MOT has covered about 7,500 miles for each year of its age. A 10-year-old car sits at 74,569 miles, and anything from 53,714 to 98,831 is the normal middle half. These figures come from 30,245,317 MOT tests recorded by DVSA in 2025.
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The mileage curve
Every reading rises together until about 18 years, then the median falls back. That turn is survivorship: the high-mileage cars stop being tested.
Mileage by age, in full
| Age | Low (25%) | Median | High (75%) | Top 10% | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 16,204 | 24,198 | 35,097 | 49,997 | 1,611,383 |
| 4 years | 22,111 | 32,375 | 46,019 | 64,042 | 1,672,989 |
| 5 years | 26,188 | 37,776 | 52,428 | 71,639 | 1,612,077 |
| 6 years | 31,104 | 44,432 | 61,105 | 83,418 | 2,268,408 |
| 7 years | 36,998 | 52,170 | 70,736 | 94,423 | 2,279,357 |
| 8 years | 43,084 | 60,450 | 81,202 | 106,593 | 2,386,293 |
| 9 years | 48,435 | 67,573 | 90,078 | 116,910 | 2,489,443 |
| 10 years | 53,714 | 74,569 | 98,831 | 127,399 | 2,394,489 |
| 11 years | 58,699 | 81,133 | 106,683 | 135,509 | 2,168,713 |
| 12 years | 63,346 | 86,817 | 113,265 | 141,974 | 1,889,757 |
| 13 years | 67,773 | 92,506 | 120,387 | 150,012 | 1,602,029 |
| 14 years | 72,797 | 98,620 | 127,699 | 158,065 | 1,410,425 |
| 15 years | 74,104 | 100,612 | 130,163 | 160,503 | 1,316,337 |
| 16 years | 73,479 | 100,745 | 130,801 | 161,059 | 1,135,653 |
| 17 years | 78,610 | 106,330 | 137,366 | 168,699 | 945,652 |
| 18 years | 79,395 | 108,015 | 140,037 | 171,907 | 860,129 |
| 19 years | 78,226 | 107,218 | 139,938 | 172,948 | 647,923 |
| 20 years | 76,731 | 106,487 | 140,301 | 174,474 | 489,497 |
| 21 years | 74,942 | 104,463 | 138,489 | 173,822 | 373,874 |
| 22 years | 73,719 | 103,534 | 138,047 | 174,251 | 281,939 |
| 23 years | 72,367 | 102,978 | 139,277 | 177,169 | 195,158 |
| 24 years | 69,904 | 100,270 | 137,807 | 177,203 | 128,160 |
| 25 years | 67,589 | 98,337 | 136,821 | 177,401 | 85,632 |
Questions
What is the average car mileage per year in the UK?
About 7,500 miles a year. The median car tested at 10 years old has covered 74,569 miles, which averages 7,457 a year across its life. Newer cars run higher, close to 8,000 a year for the first four years, and the rate falls as a car ages.
Is 100,000 miles a lot for a car?
It depends on the age. At 10 years old, 100,000 miles puts a car above three quarters of its peers. At 17 years old the same figure sits near the median. Once a car reaches six figures, condition and service history tell you far more than the number does.
What counts as low mileage?
Anything below the 25th percentile for that age. For a 10-year-old car that means under 53,714 miles. Low mileage carries its own risks: cars used for short trips tend to suffer more corrosion, perished rubber and clutch wear than one doing motorway miles.
Does high mileage fail an MOT?
No. The MOT tests the condition of the vehicle and the odometer reading is recorded rather than judged. A car with 200,000 miles passes if everything checked meets the standard. High mileage does raise the odds of worn parts showing up as advisories or failures.
Why does median mileage fall after 18 years?
Survivorship. The median peaks at 108,015 miles at 18 years and then drops. High-mileage cars get scrapped or written off sooner, so the older cars still being tested are the ones driven less. The curve shows which cars survive rather than any car losing miles.
How do I check one car's mileage history?
Enter the registration on the MOT history check. It lists the odometer reading recorded at every test since 2005, so the yearly pattern is visible and any reading that drops stands out. A drop can mean a replaced dashboard, a tester's typo, or clocking.
Where these figures come from
Every class 4 MOT recorded in Great Britain during 2025, published by DVSA as anonymised test data under the Open Government Licence and retrieved 2026-09-12. We use first-attempt tests with an odometer reading between 100 and 400,000 miles, which leaves 30,245,317 readings.
Age is the years between first use and the test date. The annual figure of roughly 7,500 miles is the median mileage divided by age, so it is a lifetime average rather than the miles driven in any one year.
Two things worth knowing about the shape. Each age group is a different set of cars, so the curve compares cohorts rather than following one car through its life. And the fall after 18 years is survivorship, since cars that rack up miles leave the road sooner.
Related
Check a single car’s full MOT history to see its reading at every test. Compare a model’s pass rate and common failures, or find out when the next MOT is due.