Pass rate
Below average — 1.1 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 4,771 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£103
Pass rate
Below average — 1.1 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 4,771 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£103
Most common fault
Suspension
22.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
Across the 11 years on record, a spread of 5.5 points. See every year →
The 2008 Peugeot 206 MOT pass rate is 72.0% of its MOT tests — 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.8% of what testers record.
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Peugeot 206 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks make up 11.7% of everything recorded on the 2008 Peugeot 206, against 5.5% nationally — 6.2 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
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 Peugeot 206? Get an email when these numbers change .
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.3%. The median 2008 Peugeot 206 in this dataset had covered 74,402 mi.
71% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 72.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.0% of the time, April–September 72.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.82% 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.
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (71% of tests).
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 957 | 68.0% |
| South East | 851 | 74.3% |
| East of England | 619 | 74.5% |
| West Midlands | 506 | 73.5% |
| North West | 468 | 73.3% |
| Yorkshire | 361 | 69.5% |
| East Midlands | 352 | 73.9% |
| Wales | 236 | 72.5% |
| North East | 185 | 70.8% |
| Scotland | 180 | 65.6% |
| London | 56 | 83.9% |
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 7.8% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 suspension joints 3.1% of tests
“ball joint 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 wipers and washers 2.6% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
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 £35–£103 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 4,771 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 →
11 model years on record, from 2000 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.8% to 73.3% — a spread of 5.5 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 2008 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 13,867 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 | 3,207 | 22.80% | 20.98% | +1.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,936 | 13.80% | 12.21% | +1.59 |
| Tyres | 1,845 | 13.10% | 19.76% | −6.66 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,641 | 11.70% | 5.52% | +6.18 |
| Brakes | 1,515 | 10.80% | 20.89% | −10.09 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,427 | 10.10% | 5.57% | +4.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,067 | 7.60% | 4.18% | +3.42 |
| Visibility | 546 | 3.90% | 4.97% | −1.07 |
| Steering | 531 | 3.80% | 2.57% | +1.23 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 152 | 1.10% | 1.76% | −0.66 |
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.8% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 5.2% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.8% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.2% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.6% | £8–22 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.5% | £45–120 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.4% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.4% | £80–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 23.6% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 17.6% | £120–300 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.3% | £40–150 |
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 259 | 87.6% | 22,541 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,192 | 77.6% | 47,005 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,740 | 71.2% | 74,098 mi |
| 90-120k | 982 | 66.0% | 102,769 mi |
| 120k+ | 590 | 66.4% | 142,162 mi |
Source: 4,771 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.
72.0% of the 4,771 2008 Peugeot 206 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 63.3%.
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.82%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.22%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.79%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.6% of the time, falling to 66.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Peugeot 206 in this dataset had covered 74,402 mi.
Petrol: 72.7% pass rate across 3,371 tests. Diesel: 70.4% pass rate across 1,400 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.