Pass rate
71.5%
Below average — 1.6 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 42,874 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£117
2008 Skoda Fabia MOT pass rate
- 2008
- 2 trims combined
- typical 97,925 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
23.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 97.0% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.1% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 26.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 61.8%
- Typical mileage
- 98k mi
The 2008 Skoda Fabia MOT pass rate is 71.5% of its MOT tests — 1.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Skoda Fabia does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 14.7% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% 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 Skoda Fabia? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Skoda Fabia first registered in 2008 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2008 Skoda Fabia compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 1.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 61.8%. The median 2008 Skoda Fabia in this dataset had covered 97,925 mi.
61% 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 71.1% of the time, April–September 72.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 6.70% of tests.
- 42,874 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.5% overall pass rate, 61.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Skoda Fabia, the average is 80.4% — best year 2023 (97.0%), worst 2003 (70.1%).
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
- 42,874
- Typical mileage (median)
- 97,925 mi
- Make and model
- Skoda Fabia
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Fabia MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (61% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Fabia
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 8,371 | 74.8% |
| South West | 7,156 | 67.5% |
| Yorkshire | 4,516 | 71.1% |
| West Midlands | 4,381 | 73.7% |
| East of England | 4,162 | 73.6% |
| North West | 4,109 | 70.9% |
| East Midlands | 2,749 | 71.8% |
| Scotland | 2,508 | 64.7% |
| Wales | 2,317 | 67.9% |
| North East | 1,406 | 71.0% |
| London | 1,197 | 81.7% |
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 2008 Fabia
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 2008 Fabia
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 4.8% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 coil springs 4.0% 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 suspension joints 3.3% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 2008 Fabia through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£117 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£117
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £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
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 42,874 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 Fabia, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.1% to 97.0% — a spread of 26.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 71.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 71.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 71.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 70.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 70.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 70.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 71.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 72.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 71.5%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 73.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 77.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 78.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 79.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 81.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 82.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 83.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2016 83.5% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 84.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 86.4% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2019 89.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 90.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 90.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 94.1% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 97.0% 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 2008 Skoda Fabia 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 107 71.5%
- Suzuki SX4 71.5%
- Vauxhall Astra 71.6%
- Toyota Aygo 71.4%
- SEAT Altea 71.4%
- Hyundai Santa Fe 71.6%
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.
The full DVSA record for the 2008 Skoda Fabia 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 108,196 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 | 26,309 | 23.90% | 20.98% | +2.92 |
| Brakes | 19,458 | 17.70% | 20.89% | −3.19 |
| Tyres | 16,122 | 14.70% | 19.76% | −5.06 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 14,571 | 13.20% | 12.21% | +0.99 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 11,261 | 10.20% | 5.57% | +4.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5,823 | 5.30% | 5.52% | −0.22 |
| Steering | 4,426 | 4.00% | 2.57% | +1.43 |
| Visibility | 3,989 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 3,751 | 3.40% | 4.18% | −0.78 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,486 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 6.7% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.8% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.7% | £80–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £25–65 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.6% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.3% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.2% | £5–20 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.1% | £45–110 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £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 | 17.2% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.6% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £40–150 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 8.4% | £25–65 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 7.1% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 691 | 83.6% | 23,216 mi |
| 30-60k | 5,331 | 80.4% | 48,520 mi |
| 60-90k | 11,755 | 73.6% | 76,175 mi |
| 90-120k | 12,732 | 69.0% | 104,315 mi |
| 120k+ | 12,329 | 67.5% | 148,385 mi |
Source: 42,874 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.
2008 Fabia MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Skoda Fabia?
71.5% of the 42,874 2008 Skoda Fabia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 61.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Skoda Fabia?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.70%), position lamp not working (4.75%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.74%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Skoda Fabia MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.6% of the time, falling to 67.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Skoda Fabia in this dataset had covered 97,925 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Skoda Fabia?
Petrol: 72.7% pass rate across 25,966 tests. Diesel: 69.7% pass rate across 16,901 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Skoda Fabia MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.