Pass rate
71.3%
Below average — 7.3 pts behind the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 72,246 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£107
2013 Citroen DS3 MOT pass rate
- 2013
- typical 77,012 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
20.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 83.5% pass
- Avoid 2010 69.5% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 14 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 60.9%
- Typical mileage
- 77k mi
The 2013 Citroen DS3 MOT pass rate is 71.3% of its MOT tests — 7.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Citroen DS3 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.4× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 13.2% of everything recorded on the 2013 Citroen Ds3, against 5.6% nationally — 7.6 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 20.7%, 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 78.6%; this one manages 71.3% — 7.3 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 DS3? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2013 Citroen DS3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 7.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 60.9%. The median 2013 Citroen DS3 in this dataset had covered 77,012 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 51% of tests, with a 72.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.3% of the time, April–September 71.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 7.64% of tests.
- 72,246 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.3% overall pass rate, 60.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Citroen DS3, the average is 71.4% — best year 2018 (83.5%), worst 2010 (69.5%).
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
- 72,246
- Typical mileage (median)
- 77,012 mi
- Make and model
- Citroen DS3
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the DS3 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (51% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the DS3
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| North West | 9,395 | 70.5% |
| South East | 8,770 | 74.9% |
| West Midlands | 8,582 | 72.8% |
| Yorkshire | 8,366 | 70.7% |
| South West | 7,949 | 70.3% |
| East of England | 6,797 | 72.9% |
| East Midlands | 6,515 | 71.2% |
| Wales | 6,178 | 68.9% |
| Scotland | 4,726 | 66.9% |
| North East | 4,221 | 69.7% |
| London | 747 | 81.0% |
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 2013 DS3
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 2013 DS3
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 coil springs 7.6% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the lights 7.3% 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 suspension joints 4.7% of tests
“track rod end ball joint has excessive play”
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 2013 DS3 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£107 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£107
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 72,246 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 DS3, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2010 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.5% to 83.5% — a spread of 14 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2010 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 70.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 70.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 71.3%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 72.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 73.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 78.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 79.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2018 83.5% wipers does not clear 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 2013 Citroen DS3 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 2013 cars with a similar record
- Renault Clio 71.3%
- Mercedes-Benz Citan 71.6%
- Vauxhall Combo 71.8%
- Chevrolet Aveo 71.8%
- Peugeot 5008 70.7%
- Nissan Juke 72.0%
Closest pass rates among 2013 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 2013 Citroen DS3 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 171,615 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 | 35,918 | 20.70% | 20.89% | −0.19 |
| Tyres | 29,388 | 16.90% | 19.76% | −2.86 |
| Suspension | 28,049 | 16.20% | 20.98% | −4.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 23,609 | 13.60% | 12.21% | +1.39 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 22,993 | 13.20% | 5.57% | +7.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 9,448 | 5.40% | 5.52% | −0.12 |
| Steering | 8,236 | 4.70% | 2.57% | +2.13 |
| Visibility | 6,355 | 3.70% | 4.97% | −1.27 |
| Non-component advisories | 5,676 | 3.30% | 4.18% | −0.88 |
| Road Wheels | 1,943 | 1.10% | 0.75% | +0.35 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 7.6% | £25–65 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.3% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 7.2% | £80–250 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 4.7% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.9% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.3% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.1% | £45–120 |
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 | 22.1% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 19.4% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 11.0% | £45–120 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.4% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.2% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.7% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,552 | 83.8% | 23,330 mi |
| 30-60k | 16,330 | 75.4% | 48,784 mi |
| 60-90k | 31,202 | 70.7% | 74,756 mi |
| 90-120k | 17,035 | 68.7% | 102,530 mi |
| 120k+ | 6,079 | 67.9% | 138,034 mi |
Source: 72,246 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.
2013 DS3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 Citroen DS3?
71.3% of the 72,246 2013 Citroen DS3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 60.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 Citroen DS3?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (7.64%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.25%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (7.17%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2013 Citroen DS3 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.8% of the time, falling to 67.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 Citroen DS3 in this dataset had covered 77,012 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2013 Citroen DS3?
Petrol: 72.7% pass rate across 37,185 tests. Diesel: 69.8% pass rate across 35,061 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2013 Citroen DS3 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.