Pass rate
94.1%
Above average — 3.4 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 203 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £32–£81
2020 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 18,509 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
32.6% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 94.1% pass · this year
- Avoid 2009 72.0% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 22.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.7%
- Typical mileage
- 19k mi
The 2020 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate is 94.1% of its MOT tests — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.6% 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
Tyres: 1.6× the national share
Tyres make up 32.6% of everything recorded on the 2020 Fiat 500 C, against 19.8% nationally — 12.8 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 90.7% and this one manages 94.1% — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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 2020 Fiat 500 C compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.7%. The median 2020 Fiat 500 C in this dataset had covered 18,509 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.2% of the time, April–September 95.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp aim too high", noted on 0.99% of tests.
- 203 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.1% overall pass rate, 93.7% 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
- 203
- Typical mileage (median)
- 18,509 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
Headlight Alignment
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 500 C MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 85% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 500 C
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 74 | 94.6% |
| East of England | 33 | 97.0% |
| Yorkshire | 25 | 92.0% |
| West Midlands | 20 | 95.0% |
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 2020 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 2020 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 lights 1.0% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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 0.5% of tests
“brake discs significantly and obviously worn”
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 number plates 0.5% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
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 2020 500 C through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £32–£81 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £32–£81
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: service brake performance excessively…
- £60–£150
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 203 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 2020 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Toyota YARIS 94.1%
- Jaguar I-Pace 94.1%
- Toyota Corolla Gr 94.1%
- Porsche Cayenne 94.0%
- Volvo XC40 Inscript Pro 94.0%
- Mitsubishi Asx Exceed 93.9%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Fiat 500 C 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 92 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 30 | 32.60% | 19.76% | +12.84 |
| Brakes | 29 | 31.50% | 20.89% | +10.61 |
| Visibility | 9 | 9.80% | 4.97% | +4.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 8.70% | 4.18% | +4.52 |
| Suspension | 6 | 6.50% | 20.98% | −14.48 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 3.30% | 1.76% | +1.54 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 2.20% | 5.52% | −3.32 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.99% | £30–80 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 0.49% | £45–110 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.49% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.49% | £30–80 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 0.49% | £20–80 |
| Reversing lamps inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.49% | £3–15 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Major | 0.49% | £60–150 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 0.49% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.49% | £45–95 |
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Major | 0.49% | £45–95 |
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 | 6.9% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.4% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.4% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 177 | 93.2% | 16,834 mi |
| 30-60k | 25 | 100.0% | 36,111 mi |
| 60-90k | 1 | 100.0% | 73,646 mi |
Source: 203 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.
2020 500 C MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Fiat 500 C?
94.1% of the 203 2020 Fiat 500 C tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 93.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Fiat 500 C?
The three most recorded items are headlamp aim too high (0.99%), brake discs significantly and obviously worn (0.49%), has ply or cords exposed (0.49%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.2% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Fiat 500 C in this dataset had covered 18,509 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 Fiat 500 C MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.