Pass rate
72.0%
Below average — 2.0 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,572 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £38–£105
2009 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 74,199 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
33.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 94.1% pass
- Avoid 2009 72.0% pass · this year
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 22.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.9%
- Typical mileage
- 74k mi
The 2009 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate is 72.0% of its MOT tests — 2.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 33.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Fiat 500 C does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.6× the national share
Suspension accounts for 33.7% of everything recorded on the 2009 Fiat 500 C, against 21.0% nationally — 12.7 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 10% 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 Fiat 500 C? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 Fiat 500 C compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 2.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.9%. The median 2009 Fiat 500 C in this dataset had covered 74,199 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 94% of tests, with a 72.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.3% of the time, April–September 71.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements", noted on 5.15% of tests.
- 1,572 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.0% overall pass rate, 62.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat 500 C, the average is 74.9% — best year 2020 (94.1%), worst 2009 (72.0%).
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
- 1,572
- Typical mileage (median)
- 74,199 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat 500 C
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Discs and Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 500 C 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 (94% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 500 C
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 460 | 73.7% |
| South West | 261 | 70.1% |
| East of England | 187 | 77.5% |
| London | 112 | 77.7% |
| West Midlands | 112 | 70.5% |
| North West | 111 | 66.7% |
| East Midlands | 99 | 66.7% |
| Yorkshire | 78 | 79.5% |
| Wales | 61 | 67.2% |
| Scotland | 54 | 61.1% |
| North East | 37 | 62.2% |
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 500 C
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 500 C
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 shock absorbers 5.0% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
-
Check the suspension joints 4.0% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush 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.
-
Check the lights 3.4% 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.
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 500 C through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £38–£105 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £38–£105
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- 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
- 10%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,572 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 500 C, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2009 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.0% to 94.1% — a spread of 22.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2009 72.0%rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2010 72.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2011 73.3% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2012 74.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2013 77.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2014 78.0% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2015 74.2% ball joint excessively worn
- 2019 90.5% has ply or cords exposed
- 2020 94.1% headlamp aim too high
- 2021 92.0% has ply or cords exposed
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 Fiat 500 C 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
- Kia Sedona 72.0%
- Ford Ka 71.9%
- Kia Picanto 71.9%
- Vauxhall Astra 72.2%
- Kia Rio 72.2%
- Toyota Hilux 72.2%
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 Fiat 500 C 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 4,169 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 1,414 | 33.70% | 20.98% | +12.72 |
| Brakes | 703 | 16.80% | 20.89% | −4.09 |
| Tyres | 676 | 16.10% | 19.76% | −3.66 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 546 | 13.00% | 12.21% | +0.79 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 345 | 8.20% | 5.57% | +2.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 202 | 4.80% | 5.52% | −0.72 |
| Visibility | 117 | 2.80% | 4.97% | −2.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 79 | 1.90% | 4.18% | −2.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 64 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Road Wheels | 23 | 0.50% | 0.75% | −0.25 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.2% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 5.0% | £30–75 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £40–150 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £60–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.2% | £80–250 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Major | 2.1% | £30–75 |
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 | 17.1% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 16.0% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.8% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 12.0% | £45–120 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.4% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.2% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 94 | 81.9% | 23,553 mi |
| 30-60k | 413 | 73.6% | 47,974 mi |
| 60-90k | 580 | 69.8% | 74,953 mi |
| 90-120k | 336 | 72.9% | 101,947 mi |
| 120k+ | 142 | 67.6% | 138,263 mi |
Source: 1,572 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 500 C MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Fiat 500 C?
72.0% of the 1,572 2009 Fiat 500 C tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 62.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Fiat 500 C?
The three most recorded items are rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (5.15%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (5.03%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (4.01%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 81.9% of the time, falling to 67.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Fiat 500 C in this dataset had covered 74,199 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2009 Fiat 500 C?
Petrol: 72.0% pass rate across 1,473 tests. Diesel: 71.7% pass rate across 99 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2009 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.