Pass rate
95.5%
Above average — 0.7 pts ahead of the 94.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 290 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£71
2023 Citroen C3 C-Series MOT pass rate
- 2023
- typical 16,457 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
35.4% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£40 for Brake pads under 1.5 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2021 93.1% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 2.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 95.3%
- Typical mileage
- 16k mi
The 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series MOT pass rate is 95.5% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 35.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Citroen C3 C-Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.7× the national share
Brakes make up 35.4% of everything recorded on the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series, against 20.9% nationally — 14.5 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 26% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
- Based on a small sample. 290 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Citroen C3 C-Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 94.8%, so this figure is 0.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 95.3%. The median 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series in this dataset had covered 16,457 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 94.9% of the time, April–September 96.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick", noted on 1.03% of tests.
- 290 recorded tests behind this page.
- 95.5% overall pass rate, 95.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Citroen C3 C-Series, the average is 94.5% — best year 2023 (95.5%), worst 2021 (93.1%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 290
- Typical mileage (median)
- 16,457 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen C3 C-Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the C3 C-Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 85% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the C3 C-Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 49 | 93.9% |
| Yorkshire | 43 | 97.7% |
| West Midlands | 34 | 94.1% |
| Scotland | 33 | 93.9% |
| South East | 33 | 97.0% |
| South West | 27 | 92.6% |
| East Midlands | 21 | 95.2% |
| East of England | 15 | 93.3% |
| Wales | 15 | 100.0% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2023 C3 C-Series
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2023 C3 C-Series
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the brakes 1.0% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.0% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 0.7% of tests
“ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2023 C3 C-Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£71 — and 26% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£71
- Cheapest common item: side repeaters lens defective
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: fuel cap/sealing device missing
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 26%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 290 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the C3 C-Series, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2021 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 93.1% to 95.5% — a spread of 2.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2021 93.1% headlamp aim too high
- 2022 94.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 95.5%brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2023 cars with a similar record
- Kia Niro 95.5%
- Toyota Corolla 95.7%
- Polestar Polestar 94.6%
- Mercedes-Benz Eqe 96.5%
- Ford Puma 96.5%
- Levc Tx 97.0%
Closest pass rates among 2023 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 8 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 65 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 23 | 35.40% | 20.89% | +14.51 |
| Tyres | 18 | 27.70% | 19.76% | +7.94 |
| Non-component advisories | 7 | 10.80% | 4.18% | +6.62 |
| Suspension | 6 | 9.20% | 20.98% | −11.78 |
| Visibility | 5 | 7.70% | 4.97% | +2.73 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4 | 6.20% | 12.21% | −6.01 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.0% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.0% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 0.69% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 0.69% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £30–80 |
| Fuel cap/sealing device missing Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.34% | £80–250 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.34% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp levelling device inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.34% | £5–25 |
| Side repeaters lens defective which has no effect on emitted light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.34% | £3–15 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 1.0% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.0% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 228 | 96.1% | 14,448 mi |
| 30-60k | 58 | 93.1% | 39,543 mi |
| 60-90k | 2 | 100.0% | 68,952 mi |
| 90-120k | 1 | 100.0% | 96,302 mi |
Source: 290 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2023 C3 C-Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series?
95.5% of the 290 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 94.8% for cars first used in 2023. First-attempt pass rate: 95.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series?
The three most recorded items are brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.03%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.03%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (1.03%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.1% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series in this dataset had covered 16,457 mi.
Does the season affect the 2023 Citroen C3 C-Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 94.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 96.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.