Fiat 500C MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Fiat 500C took 21,390 MOT tests in Britain and passed 67% of them first time, below the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 21,390
First-time pass rate: 67%
All cars: 71%

What the 500C fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Suspension15.3% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics11.2% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres6.9% (all cars 6.4%)
Brakes6.2% (all cars 6.8%)
Visibility4.8% (all cars 4.8%)
Body and structure3.6% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions2.7% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering0.5% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 4.9%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 4.7%
Shock absorbers: has an excessively worn bush 3.3%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 2.3%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.3%
Suspension arms, ball joint: ball joint excessively worn 2.2%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 1.9%
Position lamp: not working 1.8%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 18.7%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 11.3%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 11.2%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 9.8%
Coil spring: corroded 7.7%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 6.7%
Exhaust system: has a minor leak of exhaust gases 6.0%
Shock absorbers: has a slightly worn bush 5.5%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
2009	1,240	56%
2010	2,138	57%
2011	2,700	59%
2012	2,921	64%
2013	2,508	69%
2014	2,884	69%
2015	2,595	70%
2016	2,237	76%
2017	1,574	80%
2018	573	83%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
5 years	26,572 miles
6 years	31,479 miles
7 years	37,205 miles
8 years	43,473 miles
9 years	47,869 miles
10 years	54,098 miles
11 years	59,486 miles
12 years	65,228 miles
13 years	69,258 miles
14 years	72,396 miles

Check a particular 500C

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Fiat models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.