Pass rate
Below average — 13.6 pts behind the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 80 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£96
Only 80 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Pass rate
Below average — 13.6 pts behind the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 80 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£96
Most common fault
Suspension
25.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 12.6 points. See every year →
The 2013 Ford Freda MOT pass rate is 65.0% of its MOT tests — 13.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics make up 22.9% of everything recorded on the 2013 Ford Freda, against 12.2% nationally — 10.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.0%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
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 Ford Freda? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 13.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 54.1%. The median 2013 Ford Freda in this dataset had covered 142,994 mi.
75% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 65.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 62.8% of the time, April–September 67.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 11.25% of tests.
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 49% so small gaps stay visible.
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (75% of tests).
Across all Freda model years on record (2000–2017): 992 Ford Freda cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,538 tests. Bristol (BS) has the most, with 53 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 | Bristol (BS) | 53 | 61.1% |
| 2 | Brighton (BN) | 27 | 63.1% |
| 3 | Exeter (EX) | 26 | 74.1% |
| 4 | Poole (BH) | 25 | 60.2% |
| 5 | Portsmouth (PO) | 25 | 66.7% |
| 6 | Plymouth (PL) | 25 | 60.3% |
| 7 | Reading (RG) | 24 | 87.0% |
| 8 | Southampton (SO) | 23 | 69.1% |
| 9 | Birmingham (B) | 22 | 74.5% |
| 10 | Sheffield (S) | 22 | 75.0% |
| 11 | Nottingham (NG) | 20 | 66.7% |
| 12 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 20 | 64.7% |
| 13 | Norwich (NR) | 19 | 73.0% |
| 14 | Leicester (LE) | 19 | 78.3% |
| 15 | Chester (CH) | 19 | 70.3% |
| 16 | Cardiff (CF) | 17 | 65.3% |
| 17 | Crawley (RH) | 16 | 66.7% |
| 18 | Yeovil (BA) | 16 | 63.0% |
| 19 | Newton Abbot (TQ) | 15 | 58.8% |
| 20 | Gloucester (GL) | 15 | 68.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Ford Freda 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 →
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 20 | 70.0% |
| Scotland | 18 | 61.1% |
| South West | 18 | 55.6% |
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.
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
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 11.3% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 corrosion 8.8% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
Check the suspension joints 7.5% of tests
“linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£96 — and 62% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 80 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 →
16 model years on record, from 2000 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.0% to 75.6% — a spread of 12.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
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.
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Closest pass rates among 2013 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.
Shares of the 291 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 73 | 25.00% | 20.98% | +4.02 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 67 | 22.90% | 12.21% | +10.69 |
| Brakes | 48 | 16.40% | 20.89% | −4.49 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 28 | 9.60% | 5.57% | +4.03 |
| Tyres | 26 | 8.90% | 19.76% | −10.86 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | 6.20% | 5.52% | +0.68 |
| Visibility | 12 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Steering | 11 | 3.80% | 2.57% | +1.23 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 1.70% | 0.82% | +0.88 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 1.00% | 4.18% | −3.18 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 11.3% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 10.0% | £5–20 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 8.8% | £180–450 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 7.5% | £18–45 |
| Rear fog lamp does not emit a steady red light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 7.5% | £3–15 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 6.3% | £60–250 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.3% | £3–12 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £5–25 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 5.0% | £8–22 |
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 13.8% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 13.8% | £25–65 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.0% | £200–700 |
| Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £35–85 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.0% | £45–95 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 1 | 100.0% | 59,931 mi |
| 60-90k | 16 | 68.8% | 77,607 mi |
| 90-120k | 7 | 57.1% | 110,375 mi |
| 120k+ | 56 | 64.3% | 163,703 mi |
Source: 80 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.
65.0% of the 80 2013 Ford Freda tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 54.1%.
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (11.25%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (10.00%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (8.75%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 64.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 Ford Freda in this dataset had covered 142,994 mi.
Petrol: 65.0% pass rate across 60 tests. Diesel: 65.0% pass rate across 20 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 62.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.