Body, chassis, structure
CV joint boot
Checked on 8 December 2025.Bumper, How much is CV joint repair in the UK? (as of 8 December 2025)
What does cv joint boot cost in the UK?
£50 to £140 fitted at an independent garage, VAT included, on a mainstream car. The midpoint of that range is about £95, and where you land inside it is decided by access, parts and wheel size rather than by the garage's postcode.
This one sits in an odd place in the manual. The boot is a transmission item under the body, structure and attachments section, so a driver looking under suspension will not find it. The job is to pull the driveshaft or split the joint, clean out the old grease, fit a new boot and regrease. Bumper put a boot at £50 to £140 and a joint or driveshaft at £250 to £900, which is the gap you are trying to stay on the right side of. Price drivers are which end of the shaft, since the inner joint usually means dropping the shaft out of the gearbox, whether the shaft has to come off at all, and whether the joint has already been contaminated, in which case you are buying the dearer job anyway. No labour time for the boot alone was published in a citable form, so none is given.
Price range compared with other repairs
| Job | Area | Fitted price |
|---|---|---|
| Front wiper blades | Visibility | £19 to £45 |
| CV joint boot | Body, chassis, structure | £50 to £140 |
| Exhaust section or full system | Noise, emissions and leaks | £100 to £1,200 |
What is a CV boot and why does a small rubber part matter?
A front wheel drive car sends power to wheels that also steer and move up and down. The driveshafts manage that with a constant velocity joint at each end, a cage of steel balls running in grooves that lets the shaft turn smoothly at an angle. The joint lives in a bath of thick grease, and the grease is held in by a concertina of rubber or plastic clamped to the shaft at one end and the joint at the other. That concertina is the CV boot.
The boot costs little, the joint costs a lot, and the only thing standing between a sound joint and a ruined one is the boot staying whole. Once it splits, the spinning shaft flings the grease out and lets road grit and water in, and grit in a precision joint grinds the balls and tracks within weeks. That is why a split boot is urgent for your wallet long before it is a safety problem.
Each driveshaft has two boots. The outer one, at the wheel end, flexes every time you steer and is the one that splits most. The inner one, at the gearbox end, moves less and lasts longer, but it is also harder to reach.
How do you spot a split CV boot before the joint goes?
Look behind the front wheels with a torch, with the steering turned to full lock so the outer boot is stretched and its folds open up. A healthy boot is dry and intact. A split one usually gives itself away before you even see the tear.
- Black grease flung in a ring around the inside of the wheel, the brake parts or the suspension arm.
- A tear or crack in the folds, most often in the deepest fold that flexes most.
- A loose or missing clip, so the boot has slid along the shaft.
- A rhythmic clicking on full lock when pulling away, which means the outer joint is already worn.
- A vibration under acceleration that eases when you lift off, which can point at the inner joint.
Is a split CV boot an MOT failure?
Yes, if it no longer keeps dirt out. The boot is inspected under section 6.1.7, Transmission, in the body, structure and attachments chapter of the DVSA manual. That is an odd place to find it, and drivers looking under suspension or steering will miss it.
The manual splits boot faults into two. A constant velocity joint boot that is severely deteriorated, cracked and perished but still sealing, is a minor defect: it is recorded and the car passes. A boot that is missing, split or insecure so that it no longer prevents dirt getting in is a major defect and the car fails.
The joint itself is judged in the same section. A joint that is excessively worn is major, and one so worn that it is likely to fail is dangerous, which means the car must not be driven until it is repaired. A bent or badly damaged shaft is major, and loose or missing securing bolts are major or dangerous depending on whether the shaft could detach.
| What the tester finds | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|
| CV boot severely deteriorated but still sealing | Minor | Pass, recorded |
| CV boot missing, split or insecure, no longer keeping dirt out | Major | Fail |
| Joint excessively worn | Major | Fail |
| Joint so worn it is likely to fail | Dangerous | Fail, do not drive |
| Shaft bent or badly damaged | Major | Fail |
| Shaft securing bolts loose or missing | Major | Fail |
| Shaft likely to become detached | Dangerous | Fail, do not drive |
Source: DVSA MOT inspection manual for cars and passenger vehicles, section 6.1.7, last updated 1 June 2026.
How much more does it cost if the joint is ruined?
Bumper put a boot at £50 to £140 and a joint or driveshaft at £250 to £900. That gap is the whole reason to act quickly. Where you land in the boot range depends on which end of the shaft it is and whether the shaft has to come out of the car.
An outer boot is usually changed by knocking the outer joint off the end of the shaft, sliding the old boot off and the new one on, cleaning and repacking the joint, and refitting it with new clips. An inner boot usually means dropping the shaft out of the gearbox, which takes longer and can mean topping up the gearbox oil afterwards. No labour time for the boot alone was published in a form this site could cite, so none is shown in the figures above.
- Inner or outer boot: the inner usually means removing the shaft from the gearbox.
- Whether the joint is still clean: a contaminated joint means buying the joint anyway.
- Driveshaft or joint alone: some garages fit a complete exchange shaft because it is quicker.
- Seized hub nuts or corroded suspension joints that have to come apart first.
- Four wheel drive, where rear driveshafts have boots too.
Example
An MOT advisory ignored for a winter
- Last MOT
- Outer boot recorded as severely deteriorated, minor
- Boot, published range
- £50 to £140
- Joint or driveshaft, published range
- £250 to £900
- This year
- Boot split, joint clicking on full lock
- Last year the boot was perished but sealing. Replacing it then was the £50 to £140 job, done while the joint grease was still clean.
- Over the winter the boot split. Salt water and grit got into the joint and it now clicks on full lock.
- The joint is contaminated, so a new boot alone will not cure the click. The job is now a joint or a driveshaft at £250 to £900.
- At this year's test the split boot is a major defect. If the tester judges the joint likely to fail, it is dangerous and the car cannot be driven away.
The minor defect was the cheap warning. Acting on it would have kept the bill inside £50 to £140; waiting moved it to £250 or more.
Can you change a CV boot yourself?
An outer boot is one of the more achievable driveshaft jobs at home, but it is messy and needs care. The kit comes with the grease and clips, and the amount of grease supplied is the amount the joint needs. The fiddly parts are getting the joint off the shaft without damaging the circlip that holds it, and crimping the band clips tight with the right pliers so they do not slide off at the first motorway run.
Wrap-around split boots, which close with a zip or adhesive seam, exist so the joint and shaft can stay on the car. They are quicker, but they rely on a seam holding against grease and heat for years, and a garage will usually prefer a one piece boot fitted properly. Whatever you fit, the joint must be cleaned of the old contaminated grease first, because packing new grease on top of grit seals the damage in.
- Check both boots on both shafts with the steering on full lock, not just the side you noticed.
- Note whether the joint clicks on full lock under power. If it does, price the joint rather than the boot.
- Ask the garage whether they will replace the boot alone or fit an exchange driveshaft, and why.
- After the job, look for fresh grease around the wheel over the next few days, which would mean a clip has not held.
What does a CV boot failure mean for your retest?
Driveshafts and boots are not on DVSA's list of items that qualify for the free next working day retest, which is aimed at simple fixes like lamps and wipers. If you leave the car at the test centre for the repair and it is retested within 10 working days, the partial retest is free. If you take it away for repair and bring it back to the same centre within 10 working days, the centre can charge up to half the £54.85 maximum fee for a car.
A split boot recorded as major still lets you drive the car away if your old certificate has time left, so you can take it to a cheaper garage. A joint recorded as dangerous does not, and neither does anything else marked dangerous on the same test.
Common questions
- How much does cv joint boot cost?
- £50 to £140 fitted at an independent garage, including VAT, for a mainstream car.
- How urgent is it?
- Do it soon, though the car is safe to drive to the garage. A constant velocity joint boot that is severely deteriorated is a minor defect, and one that is missing, split or insecure so it no longer keeps dirt out is a major defect. The reason to hurry is money rather than safety: grit gets into a joint the moment the boot splits, and a joint costs several times what a boot costs.
- What moves the price within that range?
- Access, parts and wheel size, mostly. A job that needs the bumper or an arch liner off costs an hour more than the same job on a car where it does not, and a genuine part can be several times an aftermarket one.
- Is this price for one side or both?
- Treat the range as the job as the source published it. Where a part is replaced in pairs the detail below says so, and the second side adds less than double because the labour overlaps.
- How much does a CV boot replacement cost?
- Bumper publish £50 to £140 for a boot at an independent garage, including VAT. The range covers inner and outer boots on common cars; the inner end usually costs more because the shaft comes out of the gearbox. If the joint is already worn or contaminated, the job becomes a joint or driveshaft at £250 to £900.
- Can I drive with a split CV boot?
- For a short while, yes, and it is not a safety emergency on the day. The problem is what happens next: every mile throws out grease and lets in grit, and a joint running dry and dirty wears quickly. Book it within days rather than weeks. If the joint has started clicking, it is already damaged, and a joint so worn it could fail is a dangerous defect.
- Is a perished CV boot an MOT advisory or a fail?
- If it is severely deteriorated but still keeps dirt out, the manual makes it a minor defect, so it is listed on the certificate and the car passes. If it is split, missing or so loose that dirt can get in, it is a major defect and the car fails. Treat a minor entry as a job for the next few weeks, not the next MOT.
- What is the clicking noise when I turn and accelerate?
- A regular click from the front on full lock under power is the classic sign of a worn outer constant velocity joint. It usually follows a boot that split some time earlier and let grit in. The cure is a new joint or a complete driveshaft rather than a boot. An excessively worn joint is a major MOT defect, and one likely to fail is dangerous.
- Why is a CV boot in the body section of the MOT, not suspension?
- Because the manual files driveshafts under transmission, and transmission sits in chapter 6, body, structure and attachments, as item 6.1.7. It is purely where the document puts it. The inspection itself happens with the car on the ramp, alongside the suspension and steering checks, and the defect wording appears under that heading on your MOT result.
- Should both CV boots be replaced at the same time?
- Only if both are cracked. The two ends of a driveshaft wear at different rates, and the outer boot splits far more often than the inner. It is worth asking the garage to inspect all four boots while the car is up, because the other side has flexed exactly as many times. If a second boot is perished, doing it on the same visit saves a return trip.
Sources
Each figure was taken from the publisher's information on the date shown.
- Bumper, How much is CV joint repair in the UK? (as of 8 December 2025)
- DVSA, MOT inspection manual for cars and passenger vehicles: 6.1.7 Transmission (as of 1 June 2026)
- GOV.UK, Getting an MOT: retests (as of 11 September 2026)
- GOV.UK, Getting an MOT: MOT test fees (as of 6 April 2010)
- DVSA, MOT testing guide for test stations: L. Accounts and fees (as of 30 July 2026)