Pass rate
75.3%
Around average — 3.1 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 493 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £49–£148
2004 Skoda Superb MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 135,591 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.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
6.7 pts down across model years — 7.9% in 2008, 1.2% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 96.9% pass
- Avoid 2007 73.4% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 23.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.0%
- Typical mileage
- 136k mi
The 2004 Skoda Superb MOT pass rate is 75.3% of its MOT tests — 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.2× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 12.1% of everything recorded on the 2004 Skoda Superb, against 5.6% nationally — 6.5 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.3%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- 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 72.2% and this one manages 75.3% — 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 23% 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 Superb? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Skoda Superb compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.0%. The median 2004 Skoda Superb in this dataset had covered 135,591 mi.
92% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 74.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.9% of the time, April–September 77.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 14.00% of tests.
- 493 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.3% overall pass rate, 69.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Skoda Superb, the average is 84.0% — best year 2023 (96.9%), worst 2007 (73.4%).
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
- 493
- Typical mileage (median)
- 135,591 mi
- Make and model
- Skoda Superb
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Superb MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (92% of tests).
Where the Skoda Superb is most common
Across all Superb model years on record (2002–2024): 95,447 Skoda Superb cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 223,476 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 2,721 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) | 2,721 | 87.3% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 2,434 | 85.8% |
| 3 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 2,403 | 86.1% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 2,076 | 86.1% |
| 5 | Leicester (LE) | 1,907 | 81.1% |
| 6 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,891 | 82.4% |
| 7 | Southampton (SO) | 1,701 | 83.9% |
| 8 | Coventry (CV) | 1,679 | 85.9% |
| 9 | Guildford (GU) | 1,616 | 82.5% |
| 10 | Northampton (NN) | 1,608 | 83.7% |
| 11 | Glasgow (G) | 1,592 | 82.6% |
| 12 | Reading (RG) | 1,587 | 84.9% |
| 13 | Oxford (OX) | 1,582 | 83.9% |
| 14 | Portsmouth (PO) | 1,536 | 82.9% |
| 15 | Bristol (BS) | 1,501 | 79.7% |
| 16 | Doncaster (DN) | 1,445 | 84.6% |
| 17 | Edinburgh (EH) | 1,322 | 79.0% |
| 18 | Derby (DE) | 1,260 | 85.1% |
| 19 | Manchester (M) | 1,252 | 86.3% |
| 20 | Gloucester (GL) | 1,227 | 81.2% |
The twenty areas with the most Skoda Superb 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 Superb
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 110 | 76.4% |
| East of England | 56 | 71.4% |
| South West | 55 | 72.7% |
| North West | 52 | 73.1% |
| East Midlands | 49 | 83.7% |
| Yorkshire | 49 | 73.5% |
| Scotland | 46 | 67.4% |
| West Midlands | 35 | 82.9% |
| Wales | 27 | 70.4% |
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 2004 Superb
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 2004 Superb
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 5.9% 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 4.3% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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.
-
Check the windscreen 4.1% 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.
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 2004 Superb through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £49–£148 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £49–£148
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 493 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 Superb, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2002 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.4% to 96.9% — a spread of 23.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 78.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 76.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 75.3%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 75.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 74.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 73.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 75.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 76.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 76.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 77.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 78.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 79.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 81.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 86.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 86.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 87.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 88.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 89.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 91.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 96.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2024 96.6% has ply or cords exposed
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 2004 Skoda Superb 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 2004 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Leon 75.2%
- Subaru Forester 75.2%
- Audi A6 75.4%
- Land Rover Discovery 75.5%
- MG Zr 75.1%
- Toyota Hiace 75.6%
Closest pass rates among 2004 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 2004 Skoda Superb 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 1,406 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 | 321 | 22.30% | 20.98% | +1.32 |
| Brakes | 261 | 18.20% | 20.89% | −2.69 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 214 | 14.90% | 12.21% | +2.69 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 174 | 12.10% | 5.57% | +6.53 |
| Tyres | 172 | 12.00% | 19.76% | −7.76 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 120 | 8.40% | 5.52% | +2.88 |
| Visibility | 42 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 41 | 2.90% | 1.76% | +1.14 |
| Non-component advisories | 33 | 2.30% | 4.18% | −1.88 |
| Steering | 28 | 1.90% | 2.57% | −0.67 |
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 | 14.0% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.7% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.9% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.7% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.3% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.1% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.8% | £60–150 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.4% | £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 | 18.5% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 16.6% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 15.8% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 15.0% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 8.3% | £20–80 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.9% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 33 | 87.9% | 47,042 mi |
| 60-90k | 62 | 72.6% | 77,945 mi |
| 90-120k | 91 | 78.0% | 105,644 mi |
| 120k+ | 304 | 73.7% | 172,560 mi |
Source: 493 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.
2004 Superb MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Skoda Superb?
75.3% of the 493 2004 Skoda Superb tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 69.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Skoda Superb?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (14.00%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.69%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Skoda Superb MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 87.9% of the time, falling to 73.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Skoda Superb in this dataset had covered 135,591 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 Skoda Superb?
Diesel: 74.9% pass rate across 454 tests. Petrol: 79.5% pass rate across 39 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2004 Skoda Superb MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.