Pass rate
68.4%
Below average — 4.2 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,662 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£150
2003 Fiat Seicento MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 55,794 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
24.9% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 69.6% pass
- Avoid 2001 68.0% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 1.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 58.7%
- Typical mileage
- 56k mi
The 2003 Fiat Seicento MOT pass rate is 68.4% of its MOT tests — 4.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.2× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 12.4% of everything recorded on the 2003 Fiat Seicento, against 5.6% nationally — 6.8 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 24.9%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 72.6%; this one manages 68.4% — 4.2 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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 Seicento? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Fiat Seicento compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 4.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 58.7%. The median 2003 Fiat Seicento in this dataset had covered 55,794 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 68.8% of the time, April–September 68.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Service brake imbalance across an axle", noted on 6.32% of tests.
- 1,662 recorded tests behind this page.
- 68.4% overall pass rate, 58.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Fiat Seicento, the average is 68.7% — best year 2002 (69.6%), worst 2001 (68.0%).
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
- 1,662
- Typical mileage (median)
- 55,794 mi
- Make and model
- Fiat Seicento
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Seicento MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Fiat Seicento is most common
Across all Seicento model years on record (2000–2003): 1,887 Fiat Seicento cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 4,685 tests. Portsmouth (PO) has the most, with 48 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 | Portsmouth (PO) | 48 | 67.7% |
| 2 | Norwich (NR) | 47 | 62.0% |
| 3 | Birmingham (B) | 47 | 77.2% |
| 4 | Bristol (BS) | 46 | 65.9% |
| 5 | Coventry (CV) | 46 | 73.7% |
| 6 | Gloucester (GL) | 39 | 60.0% |
| 7 | Sheffield (S) | 37 | 68.4% |
| 8 | Ashford (TN) | 33 | 68.9% |
| 9 | Brighton (BN) | 33 | 63.0% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 33 | 64.0% |
| 11 | Derby (DE) | 33 | 66.7% |
| 12 | Peterborough (PE) | 31 | 71.4% |
| 13 | Crawley (RH) | 30 | 73.2% |
| 14 | Poole (BH) | 30 | 59.3% |
| 15 | Leicester (LE) | 30 | 71.0% |
| 16 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 29 | 83.1% |
| 17 | Exeter (EX) | 28 | 62.3% |
| 18 | Yeovil (BA) | 28 | 58.6% |
| 19 | Chelmsford (CM) | 28 | 75.8% |
| 20 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 27 | 63.8% |
The twenty areas with the most Fiat Seicento 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 Seicento
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 361 | 72.0% |
| South West | 298 | 62.1% |
| East of England | 209 | 69.4% |
| North West | 194 | 70.1% |
| West Midlands | 160 | 72.5% |
| Yorkshire | 130 | 63.1% |
| East Midlands | 95 | 68.4% |
| London | 76 | 71.1% |
| North East | 51 | 74.5% |
| Wales | 50 | 66.0% |
| Scotland | 38 | 60.5% |
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 2003 Seicento
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 2003 Seicento
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 5.5% of tests
“headlamp aim too low”
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 exhaust and emissions 4.3% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the coil springs 3.5% 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.
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 2003 Seicento through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £55–£150 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £55–£150
- Cheapest common item: coil spring fractured or broken
- £25–£65
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,662 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 Seicento, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2000 to 2003. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.0% to 69.6% — a spread of 1.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 69.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2001 68.0% headlamp aim too low
- 2002 69.6% headlamp aim too low
- 2003 68.4%service brake imbalance across an…
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 2003 Fiat Seicento 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 2003 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Corsa 68.4%
- Citroen Xsara 68.4%
- Volkswagen Polo 68.3%
- Citroen C3 68.2%
- Renault Clio 68.7%
- Peugeot 307 68.7%
Closest pass rates among 2003 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 2003 Fiat Seicento 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 5,156 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 1,297 | 24.90% | 20.89% | +4.01 |
| Suspension | 1,268 | 24.30% | 20.98% | +3.32 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 648 | 12.40% | 5.57% | +6.83 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 630 | 12.10% | 12.21% | −0.11 |
| Tyres | 518 | 9.90% | 19.76% | −9.86 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 401 | 7.70% | 5.52% | +2.18 |
| Visibility | 197 | 3.80% | 4.97% | −1.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 93 | 1.80% | 4.18% | −2.38 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 59 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
| Steering | 45 | 0.90% | 2.57% | −1.67 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 6.3% | £45–110 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 6.2% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.5% | £30–80 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 5.1% | £80–250 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.3% | £45–120 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 4.2% | £60–150 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £25–65 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.5% | £80–180 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.3% | £60–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 21.7% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 19.4% | £25–65 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 14.8% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 13.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.5% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 11.3% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 188 | 76.6% | 20,935 mi |
| 30-60k | 736 | 70.2% | 46,340 mi |
| 60-90k | 560 | 64.5% | 73,838 mi |
| 90-120k | 125 | 66.4% | 99,570 mi |
| 120k+ | 50 | 60.0% | 136,827 mi |
Source: 1,662 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.
2003 Seicento MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Fiat Seicento?
68.4% of the 1,662 2003 Fiat Seicento tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 58.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Fiat Seicento?
The three most recorded items are service brake imbalance across an axle (6.32%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.20%), headlamp aim too low (5.54%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Fiat Seicento MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 76.6% of the time, falling to 60.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Fiat Seicento in this dataset had covered 55,794 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Fiat Seicento MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 68.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 68.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.