Check a car
MOT defects · Brakes

Brake disc worn, pitted or scored MOT advisory: what it means and which cars get it

In DVSA MOT data for 2023, analysed by RegTail, testers recorded this as an advisory on at least 8.8 in 100 initial MOT tests. The Citroen DS3 got it most often: recorded 20.2 times per 100 of its 75,180 tests.

DVSA wording: Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured.

Advisories
8.8 in 100
At least 2,975,694 tests in 2023
Most often
Citroen DS3
20.2 per 100 tests

What it means

The tester has seen wear, pitting or scoring on a brake disc or drum. Discs wear with every stop, and rust pits the surface when a car stands or does short trips. On an MOT history this usually reads as "Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened": a note that the disc is not new, not a failure.

How serious it is

Almost always an advisory, which passes. A disc or drum that is insecure, fractured or otherwise likely to fail is a dangerous defect.

Source: MOT inspection manual for cars and light vans, section 1.1.14.

  1. Dangerous Fail
    A direct and immediate risk to road safety or has a serious impact on the environment. Do not drive the vehicle until it's been repaired.
  2. Advisory Pass
    It could become more serious in the future. Monitor and repair it if necessary.

What fixing it usually involves

Discs are replaced in pairs across an axle, almost always with new pads at the same time. It is routine work for any garage.

A general guide, not a quote: ask a garage to inspect the car.

Which models get it most

Per 100 initial MOT tests on each model, among the 231 models with at least 20,000 tests where it is among the 40 most common items. DVSA MOT data for 2023, analysed by RegTail.

ModelTestsAdvisory
Citroen DS375,180
20.2
Peugeot 30739,404
19.6
Renault Megane121,442
18.5
Vauxhall Crossland51,812
18.0
Renault Scenic44,724
16.9
Peugeot 200899,466
16.8
Alfa Romeo Mito20,894
16.4
DS DS333,105
15.7
Citroen C4141,093
14.4
Skoda Rapid22,968
13.9

What to check at a viewing

  1. On the car
    Look through the wheel spokes at the disc: a deep lip at the outer edge, heavy rust rings or grooves mean replacement is near. On the test drive, a judder through the pedal or steering under braking suggests a warped disc.
  2. In the MOT history
    If this appears as an advisory, see whether it came back at the next test or turned into a failure, and ask the seller for the receipt if it was fixed.

Check a specific car

Fleet averages only go so far. Enter the registration to see that car's own MOT history, mileage record and current condition, free.

UK

Questions

What does "Brake disc worn, pitted or scored" mean on an MOT?
The tester has seen wear, pitting or scoring on a brake disc or drum. Discs wear with every stop, and rust pits the surface when a car stands or does short trips. On an MOT history this usually reads as "Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened": a note that the disc is not new, not a failure.
Brake disc worn, pitted or scored: is it an MOT fail?
Almost always an advisory, which passes. A disc or drum that is insecure, fractured or otherwise likely to fail is a dangerous defect.
Which cars are most likely to get "brake disc worn, pitted or scored" on an MOT?
In DVSA MOT data for 2023, analysed by RegTail, the models that got it most often were the Citroen DS3 (20.2 per 100 tests), the Peugeot 307 (19.6 per 100 tests), the Renault Megane (18.5 per 100 tests).

More brakes defects

See every MOT defect we explain or MOT pass rates by model.

Brake disc worn, pitted or scoredBrake disc significantly wornBrake pads worn thinBrake pipe corrodedBrake hose ferrule corrodedBrake hose damaged or perishedBinding brakeBrake effort fluctuatingHandbrake efficiency too lowHandbrake not working on one side

How these figures are made. We counted the defects recorded at every initial MOT test (not retests) of cars and light vans in Great Britain in 2023 in the DVSA anonymised MOT dataset, 33,842,940 tests in all. Each item counts once per test. A failure is a major or dangerous defect, including one fixed during the test. A model's rate is the share of its tests where the item was recorded.

For each model we keep its 40 most frequent items, so a model where a defect is rarer than that is not listed, and figures for all cars are a floor. Defect names and explanations are ours, checked against the MOT inspection manual; DVSA's own wording is shown under each name.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. RegTail's analysis of the DVSA anonymised MOT dataset, 2023 tests.