Pass rate
67.0%
Below average — 7.0 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 554 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £42–£119
2009 Citroen C8 MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 111,748 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
22.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2004 70.3% pass
- Avoid 2007 64.5% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 5.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 54.5%
- Typical mileage
- 112k mi
The 2009 Citroen C8 MOT pass rate is 67.0% of its MOT tests — 7.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.4× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 13.5% of everything recorded on the 2009 Citroen C8, against 5.6% nationally — 7.9 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 22.1%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 74.0%; this one manages 67.0% — 7.0 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- 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.
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 C8? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 Citroen C8 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 7.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 54.5%. The median 2009 Citroen C8 in this dataset had covered 111,748 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 69.3% of the time, April–September 64.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 9.75% of tests.
- 554 recorded tests behind this page.
- 67.0% overall pass rate, 54.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Citroen C8, the average is 66.3% — best year 2004 (70.3%), worst 2007 (64.5%).
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
- 554
- Typical mileage (median)
- 111,748 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen C8
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the C8 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Citroen C8 is most common
Across all C8 model years on record (2003–2010): 1,570 Citroen C8 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 4,069 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 49 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 49 | 74.3% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 42 | 74.3% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 35 | 71.1% |
| 4 | Ashford (TN) | 34 | 60.9% |
| 5 | Bristol (BS) | 30 | 55.6% |
| 6 | Portsmouth (PO) | 28 | 63.2% |
| 7 | Plymouth (PL) | 28 | 61.5% |
| 8 | Coventry (CV) | 28 | 68.9% |
| 9 | Chester (CH) | 28 | 62.3% |
| 10 | Norwich (NR) | 28 | 66.7% |
| 11 | Southampton (SO) | 27 | 65.1% |
| 12 | Exeter (EX) | 26 | 66.2% |
| 13 | Derby (DE) | 26 | 59.7% |
| 14 | Gloucester (GL) | 25 | 66.7% |
| 15 | Manchester (M) | 25 | 68.9% |
| 16 | Blackburn (BB) | 25 | 68.6% |
| 17 | Nottingham (NG) | 24 | 58.8% |
| 18 | Ipswich (IP) | 23 | 66.3% |
| 19 | Reading (RG) | 23 | 63.5% |
| 20 | Swansea (SA) | 23 | 63.5% |
The twenty areas with the most Citroen C8 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the C8
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 95 | 68.4% |
| South East | 88 | 69.3% |
| West Midlands | 84 | 66.7% |
| East of England | 72 | 68.1% |
| North West | 60 | 65.0% |
| Yorkshire | 51 | 70.6% |
| Scotland | 32 | 56.3% |
| East Midlands | 27 | 59.3% |
| Wales | 24 | 62.5% |
| North East | 15 | 66.7% |
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 2009 C8
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 2009 C8
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 8.7% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 windscreen 7.2% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 5.0% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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 2009 C8 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £42–£119 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £42–£119
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 554 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 C8, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2003 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 64.5% to 70.3% — a spread of 5.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 69.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 70.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 66.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 67.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 64.5% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2008 64.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 67.0%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 66.9% joints constant velocity boot…
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 2009 Citroen C8 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 3008 67.0%
- Chevrolet Aveo 67.1%
- Chevrolet Lacetti 67.6%
- Chevrolet Captiva 67.9%
- Fiat Bravo 68.1%
- Nissan Qashqai 65.8%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 Citroen C8 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 1,702 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 | 383 | 22.10% | 20.89% | +1.21 |
| Suspension | 276 | 16.00% | 20.98% | −4.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 266 | 15.40% | 12.21% | +3.19 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 233 | 13.50% | 5.57% | +7.93 |
| Tyres | 190 | 11.00% | 19.76% | −8.76 |
| Non-component advisories | 112 | 6.50% | 4.18% | +2.32 |
| Visibility | 89 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 88 | 5.10% | 5.52% | −0.42 |
| Steering | 42 | 2.40% | 2.57% | −0.17 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 23 | 1.30% | 0.82% | +0.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 9.8% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 9.2% | £45–110 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.7% | £5–20 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 8.1% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 7.9% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 7.2% | £80–200 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 6.9% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.3% | £25–65 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 4.3% | £60–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.5% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.1% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 7.9% | £120–300 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 7.4% | £45–120 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £80–180 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 60.0% | 23,310 mi |
| 30-60k | 32 | 71.9% | 52,099 mi |
| 60-90k | 113 | 70.8% | 75,982 mi |
| 90-120k | 187 | 67.4% | 105,758 mi |
| 120k+ | 217 | 64.1% | 155,717 mi |
Source: 554 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.
2009 C8 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Citroen C8?
67.0% of the 554 2009 Citroen C8 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 54.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Citroen C8?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (9.75%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (9.21%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.66%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Citroen C8 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 60.0% of the time, falling to 64.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Citroen C8 in this dataset had covered 111,748 mi.
Does the season affect the 2009 Citroen C8 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 69.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 64.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.