2013 Skoda Octavia MOT pass rate

Pass rate

81.4%

Around average — 2.8 pts ahead of the 78.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 38,934 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £30–£78

Most common fault

Suspension

27.0% 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 →

1.7 pts up across model years — 2.5% in 2001, 4.2% in 2023.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

  • Best 2025 100.0% pass
  • Avoid 2000 69.7% pass

Across the 26 years on record, a spread of 30.3 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
77.4%
Typical mileage
108k mi

The 2013 Skoda Octavia MOT pass rate is 81.4% of its MOT tests — 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.0% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2013 Skoda Octavia on the real record

81.4% of 2013 Skoda Octavia MOTs passed — 38,934 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Skoda Octavia does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.3× the national share

Suspension accounts for 27.0% of everything recorded on the 2013 Skoda Octavia, against 21.0% nationally — 6.0 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.

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 Octavia? Get an email when these numbers change .

Every Skoda Octavia first registered in 2013 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.

How does the 2013 Skoda Octavia compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 78.6%, so this figure is 2.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 77.4%. The median 2013 Skoda Octavia in this dataset had covered 108,479 mi.

81% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 81.1% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.1% of the time, April–September 81.6%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.36% of tests.

  • 38,934 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 81.4% overall pass rate, 77.4% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Skoda Octavia, the average is 83.2% — best year 2025 (100.0%), worst 2000 (69.7%).

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
38,934
Typical mileage (median)
108,479 mi
Make and model
Skoda Octavia
Updated
2026-11-05

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 Octavia MOT pass rate?

0-30k 88.3%
30-60k 87.5%
60-90k 83.8%
90-120k 80.6%
120k+ 79.2%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 81.1%
Petrol 82.2%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (81% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the Octavia

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 7,224 82.4%
North West 4,844 82.2%
South West 4,834 78.2%
Yorkshire 4,415 81.7%
West Midlands 3,755 83.2%
East of England 3,652 83.7%
Scotland 3,039 76.2%
East Midlands 2,805 81.4%
Wales 1,882 80.2%
North East 1,810 82.2%
London 674 84.6%

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 Octavia

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.

Suspension 27.0%
+6.0 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 22.5%
+1.6 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Tyres 20.6%
+0.8 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Lamps & electrics 10.3%
−1.9 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Emissions & leaks 5.4%
  • Visibility 4.2%
  • Advisories 3.8%
  • Body & chassis 2.1%
  • Identification 2.0%
  • Seat belts 1.1%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2013 Skoda Octavia tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 Octavia

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.

  1. Check the coil springs 3.4% 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.

  2. Check the windscreen 3.3% 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.

  3. Check the lights 2.7% 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.

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 Octavia through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£78 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£30–£78
Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
£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
29%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 38,934 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 Octavia, side by side

26 model years on record, from 2000 to 2025. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.7% to 100.0% — a spread of 30.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 69.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
  2. 2001 71.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
  3. 2002 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  4. 2003 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
  5. 2004 72.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
  6. 2005 71.1% joints constant velocity boot…
  7. 2006 71.8% joints constant velocity boot…
  8. 2007 72.4% joints constant velocity boot…
  9. 2008 72.8% joints constant velocity boot…
  10. 2009 74.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
  11. 2010 75.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
  12. 2011 76.7% coil spring fractured or broken
  13. 2012 77.7% coil spring fractured or broken
  14. 2013 81.4%
    coil spring fractured or broken
  15. 2014 84.4% windscreen damaged but not…
  16. 2015 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  17. 2016 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
  18. 2017 87.9% windscreen damaged but not…
  19. 2018 89.3% windscreen damaged but not…
  20. 2019 89.1% windscreen damaged but not…
  21. 2020 91.1% windscreen damaged but not…
  22. 2021 92.0% windscreen damaged but not…
  23. 2022 92.3% windscreen damaged but not…
  24. 2023 96.0% windscreen damaged but not…
  25. 2024 97.2% has a cut in excess of the…
  26. 2025 100.0% no single leading item

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 Skoda Octavia 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.

Compare 2013 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2013 cars with a similar record

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 Skoda Octavia 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 64,703 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 17,649 27.00% 20.98% +6.02
Brakes 14,741 22.50% 20.89% +1.61
Tyres 13,477 20.60% 19.76% +0.84
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6,729 10.30% 12.21% −1.91
Noise, emissions and leaks 3,534 5.40% 5.52% −0.12
Visibility 2,740 4.20% 4.97% −0.77
Non-component advisories 2,457 3.80% 4.18% −0.38
Body, chassis, structure 1,363 2.10% 5.57% −3.47
Identification of the vehicle 1,297 2.00% 1.76% +0.24
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 716 1.10% 0.82% +0.28

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 38,934 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension Major 3.4% £25–65 Coil Spring →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 3.3% £80–200 Windscreen →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 2.7% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension Major 1.5% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 1.5% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes Major 1.4% £60–150 Brake Servicing →
Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks Major 1.4% £3–12 Indicator Bulb →
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Major 1.4% £30–75 Shock Absorber →
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Major 1.4% £18–45 Brake Pads Set →
Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension Minor 1.1% £18–45 Ball Joint →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 17.5% £45–95
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Advisory 16.4% £30–75
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 11.8% £45–110
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes Advisory 8.6% £18–45
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 7.8% £45–95
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 6.0% £40–150

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 283 88.3% 23,986 mi
30-60k 3,105 87.5% 48,673 mi
60-90k 8,894 83.8% 76,566 mi
90-120k 10,983 80.6% 104,420 mi
120k+ 15,514 79.2% 166,450 mi

Source: 38,934 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 Octavia MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2013 Skoda Octavia?

81.4% of the 38,934 2013 Skoda Octavia tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 78.6% for cars first used in 2013. First-attempt pass rate: 77.4%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2013 Skoda Octavia?

The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.36%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.26%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.66%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2013 Skoda Octavia MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.3% of the time, falling to 79.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2013 Skoda Octavia in this dataset had covered 108,479 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2013 Skoda Octavia?

Diesel: 81.1% pass rate across 31,457 tests. Petrol: 82.2% pass rate across 7,477 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2013 Skoda Octavia MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.