Pass rate
93.6%
Above average — 2.4 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 373 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£75
2021 Citroen C3 Saint James MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 19,112 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
46.6% 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 2022 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2021 93.6% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 1.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.1%
- Typical mileage
- 19k mi
The 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James MOT pass rate is 93.6% of its MOT tests — 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 46.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Citroen C3 Saint James does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 2.2× the national share
Brakes make up 46.6% of everything recorded on the 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James, against 20.9% nationally — 25.7 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 33% 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. 373 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 Saint James? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.1%. The median 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James in this dataset had covered 19,112 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.0% of the time, April–September 94.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 1.88% of tests.
- 373 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.6% overall pass rate, 93.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Citroen C3 Saint James, the average is 95.0% — best year 2022 (95.5%), worst 2021 (93.6%).
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
- 373
- Typical mileage (median)
- 19,112 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen C3 Saint James
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the C3 Saint James MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the C3 Saint James
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 88 | 88.6% |
| East of England | 49 | 95.9% |
| South West | 49 | 91.8% |
| South East | 48 | 91.7% |
| North West | 36 | 97.2% |
| Yorkshire | 35 | 97.1% |
| East Midlands | 20 | 95.0% |
| West Midlands | 17 | 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 2021 C3 Saint James
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 2021 C3 Saint James
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 lights 1.3% of tests
“position lamp not working”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the brakes 0.8% 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 exhaust and emissions 0.8% of tests
“exhaust system system insecure”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
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 2021 C3 Saint James through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£75 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£75
- Cheapest common item: side repeaters lens defective
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 373 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 Saint James, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2021 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 93.6% to 95.5% — a spread of 1.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2021 93.6%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 95.5% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Renault Captur 93.5%
- Dacia Sandero Comfort 93.5%
- Toyota Corolla 93.7%
- Peugeot 108 93.7%
- Kia Stonic Connect 93.7%
- Ford Fiesta 93.4%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 206 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 | 96 | 46.60% | 20.89% | +25.71 |
| Tyres | 58 | 28.20% | 19.76% | +8.44 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 17 | 8.30% | 12.21% | −3.91 |
| Non-component advisories | 15 | 7.30% | 4.18% | +3.12 |
| Visibility | 7 | 3.40% | 4.97% | −1.57 |
| Suspension | 6 | 2.90% | 20.98% | −18.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3 | 1.50% | 5.52% | −4.02 |
| Steering | 1 | 0.50% | 2.57% | −2.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £5–25 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.80% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.80% | £45–120 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.80% | £30–80 |
| Side repeaters lens defective which has no effect on emitted light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.80% | £3–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.54% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.54% | £8–22 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Major | 0.27% | £45–110 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 0.27% | £45–110 |
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 | 10.5% | £45–110 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.4% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 300 | 95.3% | 16,290 mi |
| 30-60k | 65 | 86.2% | 38,815 mi |
| 60-90k | 6 | 83.3% | 66,348 mi |
Source: 373 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.
2021 C3 Saint James MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James?
93.6% of the 373 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 93.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.88%), position lamp not working (1.34%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (0.80%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.3% of the time, falling to 83.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James in this dataset had covered 19,112 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Citroen C3 Saint James MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.