Pass rate
89.0%
Above average — 1.7 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 6,310 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£85
2020 SEAT Tarraco MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 34,501 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
36.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 89.6% pass
- Avoid 2019 87.9% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 1.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.7%
- Typical mileage
- 35k mi
The 2020 SEAT Tarraco MOT pass rate is 89.0% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how SEAT Tarraco does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.8× the national share
Tyres make up 36.5% of everything recorded on the 2020 SEAT Tarraco, against 19.8% nationally — 16.7 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 28% 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 Tarraco? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 SEAT Tarraco compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.7%. The median 2020 SEAT Tarraco in this dataset had covered 34,501 mi.
51% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 89.6% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.6% of the time, April–September 89.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault", noted on 2.50% of tests.
- 6,310 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.0% overall pass rate, 87.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the SEAT Tarraco, the average is 88.3% — best year 2021 (89.6%), worst 2019 (87.9%).
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
- 6,310
- Typical mileage (median)
- 34,501 mi
- Make and model
- SEAT Tarraco
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Indicator Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Tarraco MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (51% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Tarraco
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,115 | 88.6% |
| North West | 881 | 90.9% |
| Yorkshire | 748 | 88.9% |
| Scotland | 735 | 88.3% |
| East of England | 617 | 89.5% |
| West Midlands | 507 | 91.7% |
| South West | 475 | 86.5% |
| East Midlands | 471 | 86.2% |
| Wales | 373 | 86.3% |
| North East | 265 | 90.9% |
| London | 123 | 94.3% |
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 2020 Tarraco
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 2020 Tarraco
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 2.5% of tests
“srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault”
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 windscreen 2.1% 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 tyre tread 1.3% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2020 Tarraco through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£85 — and 28% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£85
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 28%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 6,310 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 Tarraco, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2019 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.9% to 89.6% — a spread of 1.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2019 87.9% srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 89.0%srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2021 89.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 87.9% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2023 88.4% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
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 2020 SEAT Tarraco 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Cla 89.0%
- Kia Ceed 89.0%
- Volkswagen Arteon 89.0%
- Volvo V60 Momentum + 89.0%
- MG Zs 89.1%
- Skoda Superb 88.9%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 SEAT Tarraco 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 5,417 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 1,982 | 36.50% | 19.76% | +16.74 |
| Brakes | 1,606 | 29.50% | 20.89% | +8.61 |
| Non-component advisories | 696 | 12.80% | 4.18% | +8.62 |
| Visibility | 288 | 5.30% | 4.97% | +0.33 |
| Suspension | 286 | 5.30% | 20.98% | −15.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 205 | 3.80% | 12.21% | −8.41 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 201 | 3.70% | 0.82% | +2.88 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 76 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 55 | 1.00% | 5.52% | −4.52 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 22 | 0.40% | 5.57% | −5.17 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.5% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.73% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.63% | £30–80 |
| Brake pads worn down to wear indicator Brakes | Major | 0.59% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.54% | £40–150 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.48% | £45–95 |
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 | 15.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.6% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.9% | £20–80 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2,489 | 91.2% | 20,863 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,166 | 87.2% | 42,402 mi |
| 60-90k | 577 | 89.6% | 69,737 mi |
| 90-120k | 61 | 86.9% | 99,957 mi |
| 120k+ | 16 | 81.3% | 158,585 mi |
Source: 6,310 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.
2020 Tarraco MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 SEAT Tarraco?
89.0% of the 6,310 2020 SEAT Tarraco tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 87.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 SEAT Tarraco?
The three most recorded items are srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault (2.50%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.06%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 SEAT Tarraco MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.2% of the time, falling to 81.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 SEAT Tarraco in this dataset had covered 34,501 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 SEAT Tarraco?
Diesel: 89.6% pass rate across 3,215 tests. Petrol: 88.3% pass rate across 3,095 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 SEAT Tarraco MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.