European Inspection Index October 2026

Countries and as-of date

Each country measures failure in its own way and therefore does not count the same thing. The index below corrects for that: every country figure is always set against the average of that same country, never against another country's.

Highest and lowest European index

Per age group, the ten models with the highest and the ten with the lowest European index, with the country indices behind them. Only models that reach at least 2 countries with at least 5,000 inspections combined get a European index.

Each country's own best and worst

Separate from the European comparison: per country, the three models with the lowest and the three with the highest failure rate within their own age group, the same method as the individual inspection monitors.

Methodology: why an index and not a percentage

• The 5 countries in this edition each define "failed" differently and start testing at a different age. Comparing a raw failure percentage between countries would compare apples with oranges.
• What can be compared fairly is a model's position within its own country and age group. A model's index is its failure rate divided by the country average for that same age group, times one hundred. One hundred is exactly the country average; 130 means failing thirty percent more often than average in that country, 70 means thirty percent less often.
• A model's European index is the inspection-weighted average of its country indices, calculated only over countries where the model reaches at least 1,500 inspections in that age group, and only shown at at least 2 countries with at least 5,000 inspections combined. A model with only one country gets no European figure, only its country index. For countries with smaller registers (Ireland and Norway) that threshold is 800 inspections.
• The Netherlands and the United Kingdom count every inspection with at least one genuine defect as a failure. Czechia counts only defects in the two most severe classes, where the vehicle is conditionally or fully barred from the road; minor defects do not count there. That is why Czech country averages sit structurally lower than those of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. That is not a measurement error, it is exactly why this page shows an index and not a raw percentage. Ireland and Norway test even more strictly: for cars aged twelve years and older the failure rate there can run as high as 58 to 70 percent, against 36 to 50 percent in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, while Czechia, as above, counts only the most severe defects; an index of 100 therefore stands for a different absolute failure level in every country, so the index only ever compares within one country, never between countries.
• Ireland: an inspection counts as a failure when the car does not pass its initial NCT test; retests are not counted.
• Norway: a periodic inspection (EU-kontroll) counts as a failure when the vehicle is not approved.
• Opel and Vauxhall sell the same models under different brand names; the index counts them together as Opel/Vauxhall.
• This edition was compiled on October 2, 2026 and is never changed after publication: a cited figure stays verifiable.