Pass rate
84.6%
Around average — 1.4 pts behind the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,254 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£93
2017 Fiat 500C MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 34,973 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
28.8% 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 →
1.7 pts up across model years — 6.4% in 2009, 8.1% in 2018.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 87.4% pass
- Avoid 2009 70.9% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 16.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 82.0%
- Typical mileage
- 35k mi
The 2017 Fiat 500C MOT pass rate is 84.6% of its MOT tests — 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 28.8% of everything recorded on the 2017 Fiat 500c, against 19.8% nationally — 9.0 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 22% 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 500C? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2017 Fiat 500C compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 82.0%. The median 2017 Fiat 500C in this dataset had covered 34,973 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 99% of tests, with a 84.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.7% of the time, April–September 84.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak", noted on 3.39% of tests.
- 5,254 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.6% overall pass rate, 82.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat 500C, the average is 77.3% — best year 2018 (87.4%), worst 2009 (70.9%).
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
- 5,254
- Typical mileage (median)
- 34,973 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat 500C
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Shock Absorber
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 500C MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (99% of tests).
Where the Fiat 500C is most common
Across all 500C model years on record (2009–2018): 24,374 Fiat 500C cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 61,939 tests. Ashford (TN) has the most, with 567 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 | Ashford (TN) | 567 | 77.4% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 536 | 78.8% |
| 3 | Portsmouth (PO) | 530 | 77.2% |
| 4 | Guildford (GU) | 517 | 75.1% |
| 5 | Brighton (BN) | 504 | 75.0% |
| 6 | Poole (BH) | 496 | 76.9% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 481 | 72.8% |
| 8 | Chelmsford (CM) | 454 | 80.2% |
| 9 | Crawley (RH) | 445 | 78.5% |
| 10 | Basildon (SS) | 437 | 81.5% |
| 11 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 415 | 80.1% |
| 12 | Reading (RG) | 410 | 78.4% |
| 13 | Canterbury (CT) | 407 | 78.6% |
| 14 | Cardiff (CF) | 390 | 74.4% |
| 15 | Norwich (NR) | 381 | 77.0% |
| 16 | Coventry (CV) | 359 | 78.4% |
| 17 | Southampton (SO) | 358 | 77.6% |
| 18 | Peterborough (PE) | 354 | 79.1% |
| 19 | London (SE) | 353 | 83.6% |
| 20 | Gloucester (GL) | 349 | 73.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Fiat 500C 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 500C
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,576 | 85.5% |
| South West | 703 | 82.9% |
| East of England | 700 | 86.7% |
| West Midlands | 451 | 85.8% |
| Yorkshire | 357 | 80.4% |
| North West | 322 | 87.0% |
| East Midlands | 316 | 80.4% |
| London | 307 | 88.6% |
| Wales | 233 | 86.3% |
| Scotland | 147 | 75.5% |
| North East | 139 | 81.3% |
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 2017 500C
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 2017 500C
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 3.4% 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 2.6% 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 windscreen 1.7% 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.
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 2017 500C through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£93 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£93
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,254 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 500C, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2009 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.9% to 87.4% — a spread of 16.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2009 70.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2010 72.0% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2011 73.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2012 75.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2013 77.6% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2014 77.6% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2015 77.2% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2016 80.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2017 84.6%shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2018 87.4% 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 2017 Fiat 500C 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Cla 84.6%
- Renault Scenic 84.6%
- Ford Ecosport 84.5%
- Skoda Fabia 84.7%
- Smart Mcc Forfour 84.7%
- Audi A1 84.4%
Closest pass rates among 2017 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 2017 Fiat 500C 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 6,580 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 | 1,907 | 28.80% | 19.76% | +9.04 |
| Suspension | 1,821 | 27.50% | 20.98% | +6.52 |
| Brakes | 1,384 | 20.90% | 20.89% | +0.01 |
| Visibility | 357 | 5.40% | 4.97% | +0.43 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 281 | 4.20% | 12.21% | −8.01 |
| Non-component advisories | 263 | 4.00% | 4.18% | −0.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 198 | 3.00% | 5.57% | −2.57 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 179 | 2.70% | 5.52% | −2.82 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 156 | 2.40% | 1.76% | +0.64 |
| Road Wheels | 34 | 0.50% | 0.75% | −0.25 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 3.4% | £30–75 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £40–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.7% | £80–200 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £30–75 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Rectified | 0.88% | £5–15 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.84% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.80% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.2% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.8% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 9.5% | £30–75 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.6% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.4% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2,074 | 90.5% | 19,436 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,527 | 82.1% | 42,607 mi |
| 60-90k | 585 | 75.2% | 70,930 mi |
| 90-120k | 53 | 79.2% | 100,865 mi |
| 120k+ | 11 | 72.7% | 133,257 mi |
Source: 5,254 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.
2017 500C MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 Fiat 500C?
84.6% of the 5,254 2017 Fiat 500C tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 82.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 Fiat 500C?
The three most recorded items are shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (3.39%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (2.65%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.66%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 Fiat 500C MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.5% of the time, falling to 72.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 Fiat 500C in this dataset had covered 34,973 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2017 Fiat 500C?
Petrol: 84.7% pass rate across 5,206 tests. Diesel: 79.2% pass rate across 48 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2017 Fiat 500C MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 84.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.