How much more likely is a high-mileage car to fail an inspection?

In 58,223,978 New York DMV initial inspections, 2.9% of cars with 150k+ miles on the odometer failed the safety inspection against 0.4% of cars under 30,000 miles.

<30k mi0.4%

30-60k mi1.3%

60-90k mi1.8%

90-120k mi2.3%

120-150k mi2.6%

150k mi+2.9%

What it shows: 150k mi+ is the largest at 2.9%, followed by <30k mi at 0.4%; the smallest shown is <30k mi at 0.4%.

Source: New York State DMV, Vehicle Inspections (data.ny.gov vezn-fmmk) · file downloaded 2026-10