Pass rate
81.8%
Around average — 3.2 pts ahead of the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 41,048 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£93
2013 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate
- 2013
- typical 96,791 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
26.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
6.0 pts up across model years — 0.8% in 2001, 6.8% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 90.0% pass
- Avoid 2006 72.1% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 17.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 78.0%
- Typical mileage
- 97k mi
The 2013 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate is 81.8% of its MOT tests — 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 26.5% of everything recorded on the 2013 SEAT Leon, against 21.0% nationally — 5.5 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 78.6% and this one manages 81.8% — 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- 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 SEAT Leon? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2013 SEAT Leon compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 3.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 78.0%. The median 2013 SEAT Leon in this dataset had covered 96,791 mi.
64% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 81.4% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.6% of the time, April–September 82.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.65% of tests.
- 41,048 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.8% overall pass rate, 78.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the SEAT Leon, the average is 83.1% — best year 2021 (90.0%), worst 2006 (72.1%).
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
- 41,048
- Typical mileage (median)
- 96,791 mi
- Make and model
- SEAT Leon
- 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 Leon MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (64% of tests).
Where the SEAT Leon is most common
Across all Leon model years on record (2000–2022): 263,914 SEAT Leon cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 605,458 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 12,979 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) | 12,979 | 87.7% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 8,583 | 85.3% |
| 3 | Leicester (LE) | 6,211 | 83.6% |
| 4 | Nottingham (NG) | 5,608 | 81.9% |
| 5 | Bradford (BD) | 5,553 | 84.3% |
| 6 | Derby (DE) | 5,347 | 84.0% |
| 7 | Leeds (LS) | 5,266 | 81.6% |
| 8 | Manchester (M) | 5,194 | 84.3% |
| 9 | Glasgow (G) | 4,843 | 82.4% |
| 10 | Coventry (CV) | 4,699 | 84.3% |
| 11 | Bristol (BS) | 4,605 | 80.2% |
| 12 | Doncaster (DN) | 4,553 | 83.0% |
| 13 | Peterborough (PE) | 4,553 | 84.0% |
| 14 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 4,446 | 83.4% |
| 15 | Wakefield (WF) | 4,049 | 82.3% |
| 16 | Cardiff (CF) | 3,995 | 81.4% |
| 17 | Northampton (NN) | 3,894 | 80.4% |
| 18 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 3,483 | 82.1% |
| 19 | Oldham (OL) | 3,403 | 82.4% |
| 20 | Edinburgh (EH) | 3,318 | 80.2% |
The twenty areas with the most SEAT Leon 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 Leon
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire | 6,264 | 82.6% |
| South East | 5,511 | 83.4% |
| North West | 5,304 | 81.8% |
| West Midlands | 5,147 | 84.6% |
| South West | 3,949 | 78.9% |
| East of England | 3,671 | 83.8% |
| East Midlands | 3,651 | 80.7% |
| Scotland | 2,775 | 76.9% |
| Wales | 2,242 | 79.0% |
| North East | 1,867 | 79.1% |
| London | 667 | 87.1% |
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 2013 Leon
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 2013 Leon
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 3.6% 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 windscreen 2.5% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the shock absorbers 1.9% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
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 2013 Leon through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£93 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£93
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 41,048 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 Leon, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.1% to 90.0% — a spread of 17.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.2% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2001 75.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 75.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 75.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 75.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 74.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 72.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 74.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 75.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 76.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 78.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 81.8%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 85.3% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2016 86.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 86.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 86.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2020 88.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 90.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 89.8% has a cut in excess of 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 2013 SEAT Leon 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 2013 cars with a similar record
- Volvo S60 81.8%
- Toyota Aygo 81.7%
- Skoda Yeti 81.7%
- BMW 118 81.7%
- Peugeot 107 81.9%
- MINI COOPER D 81.9%
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.
The full DVSA record for the 2013 SEAT Leon 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 65,891 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 | 17,673 | 26.50% | 20.98% | +5.52 |
| Tyres | 14,957 | 22.40% | 19.76% | +2.64 |
| Brakes | 14,809 | 22.20% | 20.89% | +1.31 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 5,339 | 8.00% | 12.21% | −4.21 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3,800 | 5.70% | 5.52% | +0.18 |
| Visibility | 2,769 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,581 | 3.90% | 4.18% | −0.28 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1,663 | 2.50% | 1.76% | +0.74 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,586 | 2.40% | 5.57% | −3.17 |
| Road Wheels | 714 | 1.10% | 0.75% | +0.35 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.6% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.5% | £80–200 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £30–75 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.5% | £5–20 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 1.3% | £60–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 1.1% | £80–250 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 19.9% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.3% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.9% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.3% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 375 | 90.4% | 22,243 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,902 | 87.8% | 49,498 mi |
| 60-90k | 12,651 | 83.3% | 76,667 mi |
| 90-120k | 14,454 | 80.2% | 104,050 mi |
| 120k+ | 9,659 | 79.4% | 143,023 mi |
Source: 41,048 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.
2013 Leon MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 SEAT Leon?
81.8% of the 41,048 2013 SEAT Leon tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 78.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 SEAT Leon?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.65%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.50%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.95%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2013 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.4% of the time, falling to 79.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 SEAT Leon in this dataset had covered 96,791 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2013 SEAT Leon?
Diesel: 81.4% pass rate across 26,330 tests. Petrol: 82.3% pass rate across 14,718 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2013 SEAT Leon MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.