The MOT Files

MOT defect file

Mirror missing, damaged or insecure

Last updated

Quick answer

A mirror the vehicle is required to have is missing, broken, or too loose to give a steady view behind. Not every mirror on the car is a test item, which is why some smashed mirrors still pass.

Typical cost
£25–£250
DIY viability
Possible with care
Required rearward field of view through vehicle mirrorsIn plan view, a car points toward the top of the page while three widening sight sectors extend rearward from the interior, offside and nearside mirrors. The offside exterior mirror is marked mandatory. The interior and nearside sectors are shown as alternatives because the driver must also have at least one of those two mirrors, each sufficiently intact and secure to provide a usable view to the rear.driverOffside mirror requiredInterior viewNearside alternativeDirection of travel ↑Offside + interior OR nearside must give a rearward view
For the usual passenger vehicle, the offside exterior mirror is required plus at least one of the interior or nearside mirrors. A required mirror must be secure and provide an adequate rearward view; serious damage that destroys that view fails.

What you might notice

  • An interior mirror that drops or creeps out of position on its own, usually as the adhesive on the screen mount ages
  • A door mirror hanging loose, or one that folds back and no longer stays where you put it
  • A cracked or crazed glass giving a double or fragmented image rather than a clean view
  • A mirror casing intact but the glass gone entirely, which is the classic outcome of a narrow lane and a passing van

What causes it

  • Contact damage — a gatepost, another car's mirror, or a supermarket trolley
  • The adhesive button on the windscreen letting go of an interior mirror, often after a hot spell
  • A failed electric fold or adjust motor, leaving the glass loose in its housing
  • Age: the plastic ball joint inside a manually adjusted mirror wears until it will not grip

Advisory or failure?

The requirement is about how many usable mirrors the vehicle has, not how many are fitted. A car first used on or after 1 August 1978 must have at least two mirrors, one of which must be an exterior mirror on the driver's side; vehicles first used before that date need only one. A required mirror that is missing, or one so damaged, insecure or badly positioned that it does not give the required view to the rear, is a major defect. A mirror that is damaged or loose but still provides an adequate view is a minor defect. This is why a smashed nearside door mirror often passes on a car that still has a good interior mirror and a good offside mirror — the nearside one is a third mirror the vehicle does not strictly need. Broken glass or a casing with sharp edges can still be recorded separately as a defect likely to cause injury.

Can you fix it yourself?

Possible with care

Replacing just the glass is one of the easier jobs on a car: most clip onto a backing plate, and it is a matter of easing the old one off, unclipping the heater wires if there are any, and pressing the new one on until it snaps home. Wear gloves and eye protection, since you are handling broken glass under spring pressure. A complete mirror unit usually means removing the door card and an interior trim triangle, which is fiddly but not difficult, and any unit with heating, folding, memory or a blind spot sensor needs its connector matched exactly. An interior mirror that has dropped off is refitted with a proper mirror adhesive kit on a scrupulously clean button, in the warm, and left overnight.

What it costs

Glass alone is £10 to £30 and takes ten minutes, which is why it is always worth establishing whether the glass or the whole unit is broken. A complete manual or basic electric door mirror is £30 to £90 for an aftermarket part with half an hour to an hour of labour. Heated, power-folding and camera or blind spot equipped units are where the money goes: £120 to £250 and upwards for the part alone, and some need coding to the car. An interior mirror adhesive kit is under £10, and a replacement interior mirror with a dimming function is £40 to £120.

What happens if you ignore it

A mirror you cannot rely on is a lane change made partly on faith, and the nearside blind spot on a modern car is large enough to hide a cyclist completely. If the missing mirror is one of the two the vehicle is required to have, using the car is an offence separate from the failed test. There is also the sharp-edge problem: a shattered glass left in place sheds fragments and can cut a hand, and an insecure housing at motorway speed eventually detaches and becomes somebody else's problem.

Common questions

Will a broken wing mirror fail an MOT?
It depends which mirror. A required mirror that is missing, or so damaged, insecure or badly positioned that it no longer gives the view to the rear, is a major defect. A smashed nearside door mirror often passes on a car that still has a good interior mirror and a good driver's side mirror, because that third mirror is not strictly needed.
How many mirrors does a car legally need?
A car first used on or after 1 August 1978 must have at least two mirrors, one of which has to be an exterior mirror on the driver's side. Vehicles first used before that date need only one. The requirement is about how many usable mirrors the vehicle has, not how many happen to be fitted to it.
Can I drive with a broken wing mirror?
If it is one of the mirrors the vehicle is required to have, using the car is an offence separate from the failed test. Even where it is not required, the nearside blind spot on a modern car is large enough to hide a cyclist completely, and a shattered glass sheds fragments and can cut a hand.
Can I replace mirror glass myself?
Usually yes, and it is one of the easier jobs on a car. Most glasses clip onto a backing plate, so it is a matter of easing the old one off, unclipping any heater wires and pressing the new one on until it snaps home. Wear gloves and eye protection, because you are handling broken glass under spring pressure.
How much does a wing mirror replacement cost?
Glass alone is £10 to £30 and ten minutes, which is why it is worth establishing whether the glass or the whole unit is broken. A complete manual or basic electric mirror is £30 to £90 plus up to an hour of labour, while heated, power-folding and blind spot equipped units are £120 to £250 and upwards for the part.

Cars this happens to most

Of every model with at least 2,000 tests in the DVSA data, these record mirror missing, damaged or insecure on the largest share of their MOTs. Across all of them the typical rate is 0.2% of tests.

  1. Nissan NV3000.6%

    15 times in 2,311 tests

  2. Ford Transit Custom0.5%

    930 times in 177,324 tests

  3. Ford Transit Courier0.3%

    95 times in 30,999 tests

  4. Toyota Proace City0.3%

    10 times in 3,811 tests

  5. Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace0.2%

    12 times in 6,181 tests

  6. Nissan E-NV2000.2%

    10 times in 6,225 tests

  7. Mitsubishi Eclipse0.2%

    15 times in 9,619 tests

  8. DS DS3 Crossback0.1%

    4 times in 2,805 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.

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