Pass rate
80.4%
Around average — 3.6 pts behind the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,772 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£73
2016 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 51,394 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
25.3% 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 →
2.1 pts down across model years — 6.4% in 2013, 4.3% in 2018.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 87.7% pass
- Avoid 2013 75.1% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 12.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 75.9%
- Typical mileage
- 51k mi
The 2016 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate is 80.4% of its MOT tests — 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.3× the national share
Tyres make up 25.3% of everything recorded on the 2016 Fiat 500l, against 19.8% nationally — 5.5 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 84.0%; this one manages 80.4% — 3.6 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 21% 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 500L? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Fiat 500L compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 75.9%. The median 2016 Fiat 500L in this dataset had covered 51,394 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 63% of tests, with a 79.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.5% of the time, April–September 81.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 5.09% of tests.
- 5,772 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.4% overall pass rate, 75.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat 500L, the average is 77.0% — best year 2020 (87.7%), worst 2013 (75.1%).
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
- 5,772
- Typical mileage (median)
- 51,394 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat 500L
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 500L MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (63% of tests).
Where the Fiat 500L is most common
Across all 500L model years on record (2013–2021): 25,092 Fiat 500L cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 64,240 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 919 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) | 919 | 80.4% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 691 | 78.1% |
| 3 | Coventry (CV) | 537 | 81.2% |
| 4 | Cardiff (CF) | 526 | 75.3% |
| 5 | Leicester (LE) | 497 | 79.1% |
| 6 | Manchester (M) | 494 | 78.4% |
| 7 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 488 | 76.5% |
| 8 | Glasgow (G) | 465 | 71.8% |
| 9 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 455 | 72.6% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 438 | 75.6% |
| 11 | Peterborough (PE) | 422 | 77.9% |
| 12 | Swansea (SA) | 397 | 75.5% |
| 13 | Northampton (NN) | 390 | 76.9% |
| 14 | Norwich (NR) | 379 | 77.5% |
| 15 | Liverpool (L) | 374 | 79.9% |
| 16 | Warrington (WA) | 369 | 76.7% |
| 17 | Derby (DE) | 368 | 79.5% |
| 18 | Chester (CH) | 364 | 77.2% |
| 19 | Portsmouth (PO) | 353 | 76.7% |
| 20 | Doncaster (DN) | 352 | 78.3% |
The twenty areas with the most Fiat 500L 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 500L
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 974 | 83.5% |
| West Midlands | 656 | 82.5% |
| North West | 647 | 81.3% |
| East of England | 596 | 82.7% |
| Scotland | 585 | 73.0% |
| Yorkshire | 555 | 79.8% |
| East Midlands | 459 | 80.0% |
| South West | 449 | 79.5% |
| Wales | 319 | 76.8% |
| North East | 269 | 74.3% |
| London | 263 | 86.3% |
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 2016 500L
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 2016 500L
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 suspension joints 5.1% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated,”
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 coil springs 2.6% 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 windscreen 1.8% 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 2016 500L through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£73 — and 21% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£73
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 21%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,772 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 500L, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2013 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.1% to 87.7% — a spread of 12.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2013 75.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 76.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 77.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2016 80.4%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 79.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 80.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 84.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2020 87.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2021 85.8% 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 2016 Fiat 500L 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 2008 80.3%
- Peugeot 308 80.3%
- Ford Fiesta 80.6%
- SsangYong Tivoli 80.2%
- Nissan X-Trail 80.7%
- Suzuki Baleno 80.7%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Fiat 500L 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 8,011 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 | 2,044 | 25.30% | 19.76% | +5.54 |
| Brakes | 1,777 | 22.00% | 20.89% | +1.11 |
| Suspension | 1,101 | 13.60% | 20.98% | −7.38 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 707 | 8.80% | 12.21% | −3.41 |
| Steering | 614 | 7.60% | 2.57% | +5.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 569 | 7.00% | 4.18% | +2.82 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 460 | 5.70% | 5.52% | +0.18 |
| Visibility | 395 | 4.90% | 4.97% | −0.07 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 282 | 3.50% | 5.57% | −2.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 62 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 5.1% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £40–150 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of… Steering | Major | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £80–200 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £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 | 14.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.7% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.6% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.0% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 790 | 88.5% | 22,391 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,887 | 81.4% | 45,110 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,573 | 77.0% | 71,833 mi |
| 90-120k | 421 | 73.2% | 100,792 mi |
| 120k+ | 89 | 70.8% | 133,583 mi |
Source: 5,772 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.
2016 500L MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Fiat 500L?
80.4% of the 5,772 2016 Fiat 500L tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 75.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Fiat 500L?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (5.09%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (2.93%), track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of… (2.81%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.5% of the time, falling to 70.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Fiat 500L in this dataset had covered 51,394 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Fiat 500L?
Diesel: 79.7% pass rate across 3,612 tests. Petrol: 81.6% pass rate across 2,153 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2016 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.