Owners of three-year-old Renault Meganes have a one-in-four chance of having for pay for repairs to get their car through its first MoT test.

Research by Nationwide Autocentres, which performs more MOTs than any other garage group, found that three-year-old Renault Meganes in 2009 had a one in four chance of failing the annual test.

Similarly aged Vauxhall Corsas had a one in five chance while the BMW 3-series was the best of 2006's top 10 sellers, with a seven per cent failure rate – twice as good as the average.

The study looked at the top 10 best selling vehicles in 2006 and examined their MOT pass rate in 2009.

Nationwide Autocentres, which is to be renamed Halfords Autocentres following a buy out earlier this year by the car, bike and camping accessory retailer, examined the records of 265,000 tests carried out at 225 of its centres across Britain.

The research, one of the most detailed examinations of cars taking their MOT, has been produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the test which falls in November.

The average cost of work needed to repair a car failing the MOT was found to be £82, revealing that motorists are spending at least £920 million a year correcting faults thrown up by a test failure.

Bill Duffy, chief operations officer at Nationwide Autocentres said: “This report shows the importance of having the car regularly serviced and not relying on the MOT to show up faults. Motorists are spending money unnecessarily having repairs that could have been spotted and sorted much earlier in the life of a car.”