UK vehicle statistics / Honda

How many Honda cars are left?

At the end of 2026 Q1, DfT recorded 1,151,366 licensed and 298,590 SORN Honda vehicles in the UK, across 229 published model groups. That means 1 in 5 surviving Honda is currently off the road.

Is the Honda fleet shrinking?

Adding up every published Honda model group: Licensed numbers peaked at 1,312,491 in 2017 Q3 and stand at 1,151,366 in 2026 Q1, down 12%. That is down 7% in the five years since 2021 Q1. A further 298,590 are declared SORN — 1 in 5 of the 1,449,956 still on the DVLA record is off the road, laid up, part-restored or waiting to be sold.

Honda MOT pass rate

In 2024, 71.8% of 715,471 Honda MOTs passed first time — above the 71.2% UK average.

The items most often behind a first-test failure across published Honda model groups:

• Position Lamps — 4.3% of tests. A side or tail light out. Usually a bulb.
• Anti-roll Bars — 3.6% of tests. Worn anti-roll bar links or bushes. Inexpensive but often recurring.
• Headlamp Aim — 3.4% of tests. Headlights pointing too high or low. Cheap to adjust, and common on every make.
• Brake Performance — 3.1% of tests. The brakes underperformed on the rolling road. Expect brake work rather than an adjustment.

See every model on the Honda MOT pass rate page.

Before you buy

• Position Lamps — 4.3% of tests in 2024. A side or tail light out. Usually a bulb.
• Anti-roll Bars — 3.6% of tests in 2024. Worn anti-roll bar links or bushes. Inexpensive but often recurring.
• Headlamp Aim — 3.4% of tests in 2024. Headlights pointing too high or low. Cheap to adjust, and common on every make.
• Brake Performance — 3.1% of tests in 2024. The brakes underperformed on the rolling road. Expect brake work rather than an adjustment.
• Ask why it was off the road — Of the 1,449,956 Honda vehicles still on the DVLA record, 1 in 5 is SORN (298,590 at 2026 Q1). A car that has been laid up needs a closer look at brakes, tyres and the MOT history.
• Check the actual Honda — These figures describe the model group. Enter the registration for that vehicle's free MOT, tax and mileage record before you pay a deposit.

Rarest Honda models

The published Honda model groups with the smallest surviving populations.

• Xl500s — 48 licensed, 57 SORN
• Cr125r — 82 licensed, 24 SORN
• Crf250 — 40 licensed, 67 SORN
• Mtx200rw — 25 licensed, 83 SORN
• Vfr800 Aniv — 37 licensed, 71 SORN

Every Honda model

How to read these numbers

Licensed means taxed and legal to use on the road at the end of the quarter. SORN means the keeper has declared it off the road — it still exists, but it is not in use. A model group's total is the best available proxy for how many survive, and a shrinking one means fewer donor cars, fewer specialists and slower parts supply.

Common questions

How many Honda cars are left in the UK?

1,151,366 Honda vehicles were licensed and 298,590 were SORN at the end of 2026 Q1, across 229 published model groups, according to DfT and DVLA statistics.

Which Honda is rarest?

Of the published Honda model groups, the Xl500s has the smallest surviving population at 48 licensed and 57 SORN.

Is the Honda fleet shrinking?

Licensed numbers peaked at 1,312,491 in 2017 Q3 and stand at 1,151,366 in 2026 Q1, down 12%. That is down 7% in the five years since 2021 Q1. A further 298,590 are declared SORN — 1 in 5 of the 1,449,956 still on the DVLA record is off the road, laid up, part-restored or waiting to be sold.

What is the Honda MOT pass rate?

71.8% of 715,471 class-4 initial MOT tests on Honda cars passed first time in 2024 — above the 71.2% UK average.

What do Honda cars fail the MOT on?

Across published Honda model groups, the most common initial failure categories in 2024 are position lamps (4.3% of tests), anti-roll bars (3.6% of tests), headlamp aim (3.4% of tests). DVSA publishes each model group's six most common categories, so this ranks the biggest published causes.

Does a Honda population figure describe the car I am looking at?

No. It describes the model group. Enter the registration for that car's own free MOT, tax and mileage record.

Source and limitations

Source: Department for Transport and DVLA, df_VEH0120_UK. Released 2026-07-15 under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

DVLA make and model fields are administrative data and can contain omissions or inconsistencies. These statistics describe model groups, not an individual registration.

Confidential cells marked [c] represent between 1 and 4 vehicles and are treated as zero in aggregates, so totals can be slightly understated.