Dealers selling cars with potentially dangerous tyres
Mon, 03 Nov 2025
One in six cars used sold by UK dealers have potentially dangerous tyres that may not last until their next MoT.
That's the findings of an investigation carried out by Halfords and Cardiff University’s automotive department. Around 500 cars sold at more than 100 locations around the UK were assessed.
It has resulted in calls for a change in law that would require used cars to be sold with at least 3.6mm tread as a minimum.
Of those, 16% had potentially dangerous’ tyres with 3.6mm of tread or less. This would equate to 1.2 million used cars on sale.
Cardiff University’s Professor Peter Wells says that, on average, cars use 2mm of tread over the course of a year, meaning that they would potentially be under the legal limit the next time they were checked.
New tyres typically come with 8mm of tread.
Meanwhile, 8% were being sold with tyres that would receive a warning for their condition during an MoT.
Alarmingly, many are being sold at or below the legal limit of 1.6mm – even at dealerships.
"This is the most detailed study we have seen into the state of tyres on vehicles being offered for sale in the UK and suggests that huge numbers are being sold with sub-standard tyres," says Stuart Lovatt, chair of campaign group TyreSafe.
Although technically legal, tyres with 1.6mm of tread are compromised, said Professor Wells. From 70mph in the wet, they will take 171 metres to stop. New tyres will stop in just 94mm.
Halfords Garages MD Adam Pay believes laws now need a rethink. "Most motorists do not check their tyres between MoTs and expect a car they have bought will be safe until its next MoT.
The fact it is legal to sell a car with a 12-month MoT that, in a matter of miles or days will be illegal, at best lacks common sense and at worse could cost lives. The law needs an urgent rethink."
Professor Wells backs the call for tyre tread legal limits to be raised. "I would propose that imposing a legal limit of 3.6mm or even 4mm would be sensible."
Halfords’ own consumer research has found that more than 4 in 5 motorists believe it should be a legal requirement that all cars sold secondhand in the UK should have enough tyre tread to reasonably last until their next MoT.
