Is a split CV boot an MOT failure?

Yes. A constant velocity joint boot that is missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt is a major defect and a failure. A boot that is severely deteriorated but still keeping dirt out is only a minor defect, so the car passes with it recorded — the tester is judging whether the seal still works, not how it looks.

What is the difference between a CV boot and a steering rack gaiter?

They look similar and sit close together, but they protect different components. The rack gaiter seals the end of the steering rack where the track rod comes out. The CV boot seals a constant velocity joint on a driveshaft, which is what transmits engine power to the wheel. Each is a separate MOT item with its own defect wording.

Why does my car click when I turn at low speed?

A regular clicking on full lock, pulling out of a parking space or into a side road, is the classic worn outer CV joint. It means grit and water have already reached the joint through a split boot and worn the ball and cage. Once the click has started, a new boot will not cure it and the shaft or joint needs replacing.

Can I just replace the CV boot rather than the whole driveshaft?

Yes, if the joint is still quiet. A boot kit is £10 to £30, and the job means removing the hub nut, separating a joint, sliding the shaft out and repacking the CV joint with fresh grease. If it already clicks on lock, fitting a boot over a worn joint is money thrown away and a complete shaft is the better buy.

How much does it cost to replace a CV boot or driveshaft?

An outer boot replaced properly is £120 to £220 fitted, since the kit is only £10 to £30 and the rest is an hour and a half to two and a half hours of labour. A complete replacement driveshaft is £90 to £250 for the part plus about an hour and a half, so £200 to £320 fitted, which is the sensible option once the joint is clicking.

MOT defect file

Driveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing

Last updated 27 July 2026

Quick answer

The rubber boot sealing a driveshaft's constant velocity joint has split or gone. The joint underneath is usually still sound when the tester finds it, which is the whole point — a new gaiter costs a fraction of the shaft it was protecting.

Typical cost: £120–£320
DIY viability: Possible with care

What you might notice

A rhythmic clicking or knocking on full lock at low speed — pulling out of a parking space, or turning into a side road — which is the classic sign and means the joint is already damaged
Dark grease flung in an arc across the inside of the wheel, the underside of the arch and often the brake calliper
A concertina rubber boot at one end of a driveshaft that is visibly split, cracked at the folds or hanging loose, easiest to see with the wheel turned to full lock
A vibration through the floor under acceleration that eases when you lift off, which points at an inner joint rather than an outer one
Very often nothing at all, because the joint keeps working perfectly for months after the boot has opened up

What causes it

Age and heat cycling hardening the rubber until it splits at the folds, which is simply what a decade under a wheel arch does
Road debris — a single stone thrown up by the tyre is enough to tear a boot open
A retaining clip that has corroded through, or one never properly refitted after earlier work, letting the boot work loose and sling its grease out
A previous split-and-glue repair boot, or a replacement fitted without washing the old grit out of the joint first
Oil dripping from an engine or gearbox leak above it, which softens the rubber until it tears

Advisory or failure?

The grading turns on whether the boot is still doing its job. A constant velocity joint boot that is severely deteriorated — perished, cracked at the folds — but still keeping dirt out is a minor defect, so the car passes with it recorded. A boot that is missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt is a major defect and a failure. There is no dangerous grading for the boot itself; that is reserved for the shaft, where a transmission shaft likely to become detached, a bearing likely to break up, and a flexible coupling so deteriorated it is likely to fail are all graded dangerous. Two points are worth knowing. Driveshafts, prop shafts and their couplings and bearings only became a testable item on 20 May 2018, so a car that passed with a weeping boot years ago will not now. And the joint underneath is assessed separately — a transmission joint that is excessively worn is a major defect on its own — so a torn boot left long enough eventually produces two failures rather than one.

Can you fix it yourself?

Possible with care

The part is a few pounds and nothing hydraulic is opened, but this is a bigger job than the rack gaiter it resembles. On most cars the hub nut has to come off — often torqued past 250Nm, and usually a single-use nut — the lower ball joint or track rod end has to be separated, and the shaft pulled out of the hub before the old boot can be cut away. The joint then has to be washed out completely and repacked with the molybdenum grease that comes in the kit, because leaving old grit in there wastes the entire job. Work on axle stands with a long breaker bar, and expect the shaft to be reluctant to leave the hub splines. Split-and-glue boots that avoid the strip-down are sold as a shortcut: they can serve as a stop-gap on an inner boot, but they rarely seal as well, and a tester who can see one leaking will fail it anyway. If the joint already clicks on lock, fit a complete shaft instead — a new boot over a worn joint is money thrown away.

What it costs

A boot kit including the grease and clips is £10 to £30, so this is a labour job. Allow an hour and a half to two and a half hours a side, which puts an outer boot replaced properly at £120 to £220 fitted. Where the inner joint is involved, or the shaft has to come out of the gearbox and a new circlip and output seal are needed, expect the upper part of the band. Many garages will quote a complete replacement driveshaft instead, at £90 to £250 for the part and around an hour and a half of labour, so £200 to £320 fitted — and where the joint is already clicking that is genuinely better value rather than the upsell it can look like. Ask whether both boots on the shaft are being renewed while it is apart, because the second one adds almost nothing to the labour.

What happens if you ignore it

This is the cheapest part on the driveshaft protecting the most expensive one, and the moment it opens two things happen at once: the grease is flung out and grit and water are drawn in. What is left is an abrasive paste working on a hardened ball and cage, so the joint wears at a rate that has nothing to do with its mileage — one that would have run another hundred thousand miles can be ruined over a single wet winter. You hear it first as a click on full lock, then as a clonk taking up drive, and the end point is a joint that separates, at which point that wheel has no drive and the loose shaft can flail into a brake hose, a wheel speed sensor cable or the arch liner. The financial escalation is the real story: a £15 boot becomes a £250 driveshaft, and occasionally a gearbox output seal and the labour to reach it.

Common questions

Is a split CV boot an MOT failure?: Yes. A constant velocity joint boot that is missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt is a major defect and a failure. A boot that is severely deteriorated but still keeping dirt out is only a minor defect, so the car passes with it recorded — the tester is judging whether the seal still works, not how it looks.
What is the difference between a CV boot and a steering rack gaiter?: They look similar and sit close together, but they protect different components. The rack gaiter seals the end of the steering rack where the track rod comes out. The CV boot seals a constant velocity joint on a driveshaft, which is what transmits engine power to the wheel. Each is a separate MOT item with its own defect wording.
Why does my car click when I turn at low speed?: A regular clicking on full lock, pulling out of a parking space or into a side road, is the classic worn outer CV joint. It means grit and water have already reached the joint through a split boot and worn the ball and cage. Once the click has started, a new boot will not cure it and the shaft or joint needs replacing.
Can I just replace the CV boot rather than the whole driveshaft?: Yes, if the joint is still quiet. A boot kit is £10 to £30, and the job means removing the hub nut, separating a joint, sliding the shaft out and repacking the CV joint with fresh grease. If it already clicks on lock, fitting a boot over a worn joint is money thrown away and a complete shaft is the better buy.
How much does it cost to replace a CV boot or driveshaft?: An outer boot replaced properly is £120 to £220 fitted, since the kit is only £10 to £30 and the rest is an hour and a half to two and a half hours of labour. A complete replacement driveshaft is £90 to £250 for the part plus about an hour and a half, so £200 to £320 fitted, which is the sensible option once the joint is clicking.

Cars this happens to most

Of every model with at least 2,000 tests in the DVSA data, these record driveshaft cv joint gaiter split or missing on the largest share of their MOTs. Across all of them the typical rate is 1.7% of tests.

Peugeot 40713%
844 times in 6,648 tests
Fiat Scudo13%
905 times in 7,166 tests
Hyundai Matrix13%
353 times in 2,809 tests
Citroen DS311%
7,232 times in 68,173 tests
Rover 2510%
257 times in 2,453 tests
Citroen Dispatch9.8%
4,611 times in 47,150 tests
Peugeot 2079.4%
10,633 times in 112,662 tests
Talbot Express9.3%
449 times in 4,826 tests

A high rate here is a property of the fleet as much as the car: these models skew old, and almost everything fails more with age. It is a reason to check the item on a used example, not proof the model is badly built. Models with fewer than 2,000 tests are left out because a rate drawn from a few hundred cars moves too much to rank.

Pass rates for every make and model

This is general guidance, not a diagnosis. The severity DVSA records depends on the specific fault found, so the same item can appear as an advisory on one test and a failure on another. Ask a qualified tester or mechanic to inspect the vehicle.

Has this been recorded on your car?

Check the full MOT history for any UK registration.