Skoda Fabia MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Skoda Fabia took 236,212 MOT tests in Britain and passed 71% of them first time, close to 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: 236,212
First-time pass rate: 71%
All cars: 71%

What the Fabia fails on

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

Lights and electrics10.8% (all cars 11.3%)
Suspension8.9% (all cars 9.0%)
Brakes7.6% (all cars 6.8%)
Tyres6.2% (all cars 6.4%)
Visibility4.7% (all cars 4.8%)
Body and structure4.4% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions3.5% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering1.7% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Position lamp: not working 2.9%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 2.7%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 2.5%
Stop lamp: not working 2.1%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.1%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 2.1%
Coil spring: fractured or broken 1.9%
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements 1.8%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 16.9%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 10.2%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 10.0%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 8.1%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 4.7%
Brake pads: wearing thin 4.4%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 3.6%
Service brake performance: binding but not excessively 3.1%

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
2000	423	55%
2001	1,748	54%
2002	2,433	53%
2003	3,586	51%
2004	5,311	51%
2005	7,206	52%
2006	8,743	53%
2007	10,047	54%
2008	11,835	54%
2009	14,632	58%
2010	11,774	65%
2011	12,615	68%
2012	14,474	71%
2013	19,125	74%
2014	15,015	77%
2015	17,934	79%
2016	19,494	79%
2017	18,215	81%
2018	16,882	84%
2019	14,798	87%
2020	9,579	88%
2021	317	91%

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
3 years	20,390 miles
4 years	25,811 miles
5 years	33,201 miles
6 years	41,592 miles
7 years	48,417 miles
8 years	53,293 miles
9 years	61,202 miles
10 years	68,738 miles
11 years	77,969 miles
12 years	82,918 miles
13 years	85,218 miles
14 years	85,620 miles
15 years	97,027 miles
16 years	100,961 miles
17 years	104,970 miles
18 years	108,696 miles
19 years	110,849 miles
20 years	102,231 miles

Check a particular Fabia

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

Other Skoda 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.