Pass rate
79.4%
Around average — 6.6 pts behind the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,181 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £23–£68
2017 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 44,517 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
28.8% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
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
- 74.5%
- Typical mileage
- 45k mi
The 2017 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate is 79.4% of its MOT tests — 6.6 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 500l, 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 86.0%; this one manages 79.4% — 6.6 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 24% 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 2017 Fiat 500L compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 6.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 74.5%. The median 2017 Fiat 500L in this dataset had covered 44,517 mi.
57% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 78.8% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.6% of the time, April–September 80.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 5.16% of tests.
- 3,181 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.4% overall pass rate, 74.5% 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
- 3,181
- Typical mileage (median)
- 44,517 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
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 500L MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (57% 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 | 548 | 81.2% |
| West Midlands | 391 | 82.4% |
| North West | 334 | 79.3% |
| East of England | 326 | 77.9% |
| Yorkshire | 307 | 80.5% |
| South West | 249 | 77.5% |
| Scotland | 244 | 75.4% |
| North East | 220 | 75.0% |
| East Midlands | 205 | 80.0% |
| Wales | 198 | 78.8% |
| London | 156 | 82.7% |
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 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 2017 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 coil springs 5.2% 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 suspension joints 4.4% 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 lights 1.7% of tests
“stop lamp not working”
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 2017 500L through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £23–£68 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £23–£68
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £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
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,181 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 2017 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Arona 79.3%
- Nissan Micra 79.6%
- SEAT Ibiza 79.7%
- Nissan Navara 79.1%
- Peugeot 5008 79.1%
- Alfa Romeo Mito 79.1%
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 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 4,051 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 | 1,174 | 28.80% | 19.76% | +9.04 |
| Brakes | 861 | 21.10% | 20.89% | +0.21 |
| Suspension | 597 | 14.70% | 20.98% | −6.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 373 | 9.20% | 12.21% | −3.01 |
| Steering | 266 | 6.50% | 2.57% | +3.93 |
| Non-component advisories | 251 | 6.20% | 4.18% | +2.02 |
| Visibility | 220 | 5.40% | 4.97% | +0.43 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 176 | 4.30% | 5.52% | −1.22 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 102 | 2.50% | 5.57% | −3.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 31 | 0.80% | 1.76% | −0.96 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 5.2% | £25–65 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 4.4% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.7% | £40–150 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively damaged or deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of… Steering | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.6% | £80–200 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.5% | £8–22 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
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 | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 5.5% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.8% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 709 | 83.1% | 21,802 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,711 | 80.5% | 44,469 mi |
| 60-90k | 609 | 74.1% | 71,741 mi |
| 90-120k | 118 | 72.9% | 100,398 mi |
| 120k+ | 29 | 69.0% | 131,243 mi |
Source: 3,181 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 500L MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 Fiat 500L?
79.4% of the 3,181 2017 Fiat 500L tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 74.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 Fiat 500L?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (5.16%), track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (4.40%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (3.71%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.1% of the time, falling to 69.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 Fiat 500L in this dataset had covered 44,517 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2017 Fiat 500L?
Petrol: 78.8% pass rate across 1,822 tests. Diesel: 80.4% pass rate across 1,359 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2017 Fiat 500L MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 80.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.