Pass rate
68.7%
Below average — 8.5 pts behind the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 61,575 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £17–£48
2012 Renault Clio MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 2 trims combined
- typical 75,107 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
22.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.2% pass
- Avoid 2006 67.9% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 27.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 55.9%
- Typical mileage
- 75k mi
The 2012 Renault Clio MOT pass rate is 68.7% of its MOT tests — 8.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.8% of everything recorded on the 2012 Renault Clio, against 12.2% nationally — 7.6 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.3%, 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 77.2%; this one manages 68.7% — 8.5 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
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 Renault Clio? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Renault Clio first registered in 2012 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Renault Clio compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 8.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 55.9%. The median 2012 Renault Clio in this dataset had covered 75,107 mi.
80% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 69.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 68.9% of the time, April–September 68.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 11.09% of tests.
- 61,575 recorded tests behind this page.
- 68.7% overall pass rate, 55.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Renault Clio, the average is 72.5% — best year 2023 (95.2%), worst 2006 (67.9%).
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
- 61,575
- Typical mileage (median)
- 75,107 mi
- Make and model
- Renault Clio
- 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 Clio MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (80% of tests).
Where the Renault Clio is most common
Across all Clio model years on record (2000–2023): 471,562 Renault Clio cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 1,261,211 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 14,280 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) | 14,280 | 77.3% |
| 2 | Glasgow (G) | 12,718 | 70.7% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 10,238 | 73.8% |
| 4 | Cardiff (CF) | 9,794 | 70.3% |
| 5 | Manchester (M) | 8,940 | 73.4% |
| 6 | Swansea (SA) | 8,791 | 70.8% |
| 7 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 8,687 | 72.1% |
| 8 | Bristol (BS) | 8,081 | 70.1% |
| 9 | Peterborough (PE) | 7,897 | 73.6% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 7,594 | 71.2% |
| 11 | Norwich (NR) | 7,371 | 72.2% |
| 12 | Leicester (LE) | 6,984 | 74.3% |
| 13 | Edinburgh (EH) | 6,961 | 68.5% |
| 14 | Warrington (WA) | 6,653 | 74.0% |
| 15 | Chester (CH) | 6,650 | 71.4% |
| 16 | Doncaster (DN) | 6,301 | 71.4% |
| 17 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 6,041 | 70.6% |
| 18 | Northampton (NN) | 6,029 | 71.6% |
| 19 | Derby (DE) | 5,932 | 74.3% |
| 20 | Coventry (CV) | 5,910 | 74.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Renault Clio 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 Clio
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 9,221 | 72.2% |
| Scotland | 8,311 | 65.3% |
| North West | 7,661 | 68.2% |
| West Midlands | 6,343 | 69.4% |
| East of England | 6,339 | 70.9% |
| South West | 6,213 | 67.5% |
| Yorkshire | 5,293 | 67.5% |
| Wales | 4,113 | 66.2% |
| East Midlands | 3,465 | 67.9% |
| North East | 3,099 | 67.6% |
| London | 1,513 | 77.1% |
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 2012 Clio
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 2012 Clio
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 11.1% 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 lights 8.4% 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 6.0% of tests
“track rod end ball joint has excessive play”
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.
What it costs to get a 2012 Clio through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £17–£48 — and 41% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £17–£48
- 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
- 41%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 61,575 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 Clio, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.9% to 95.2% — a spread of 27.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 69.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 70.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 70.4% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 68.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 68.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 68.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 67.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2007 68.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 68.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 68.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 68.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 68.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 68.7%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 71.3% ball joint excessively worn
- 2014 70.8% ball joint excessively worn
- 2015 72.5% ball joint excessively worn
- 2016 73.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 78.0% ball joint excessively worn
- 2018 82.0% ball joint excessively worn
- 2019 84.4% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 88.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 89.9% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 91.5% has ply or cords exposed
- 2023 95.2% service brake performance…
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 2012 Renault Clio 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Combo 70.0%
- Nissan Qashqai 70.1%
- Citroen DS3 70.4%
- Peugeot 5008 70.4%
- Chevrolet Aveo 71.1%
- Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 71.3%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Renault Clio 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 141,585 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 | 32,326 | 22.30% | 20.98% | +1.32 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 28,726 | 19.80% | 12.21% | +7.59 |
| Brakes | 24,851 | 17.20% | 20.89% | −3.69 |
| Tyres | 23,428 | 16.20% | 19.76% | −3.56 |
| Steering | 7,397 | 5.10% | 2.57% | +2.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 5,950 | 4.10% | 4.18% | −0.08 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5,814 | 4.00% | 5.52% | −1.52 |
| Visibility | 5,527 | 3.80% | 4.97% | −1.17 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4,818 | 3.30% | 5.57% | −2.27 |
| Road Wheels | 2,748 | 1.90% | 0.75% | +1.15 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 11.1% | £25–65 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.4% | £5–20 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 6.0% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.8% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £5–25 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.1% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.7% | £5–25 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £30–80 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £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 | 18.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.7% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.3% | £200–700 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 5.1% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2,322 | 78.0% | 22,773 mi |
| 30-60k | 15,352 | 72.4% | 47,803 mi |
| 60-90k | 25,066 | 67.8% | 74,791 mi |
| 90-120k | 13,468 | 66.1% | 102,177 mi |
| 120k+ | 4,843 | 65.4% | 140,649 mi |
Source: 61,575 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.
2012 Clio MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Renault Clio?
68.7% of the 61,575 2012 Renault Clio tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 55.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Renault Clio?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (11.09%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.38%), track rod end ball joint has excessive play (5.95%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Renault Clio MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 78.0% of the time, falling to 65.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Renault Clio in this dataset had covered 75,107 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Renault Clio?
Petrol: 69.0% pass rate across 49,343 tests. Diesel: 67.6% pass rate across 12,228 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Renault Clio MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 68.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 68.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.