Fiat 500 years to avoid: the early ones

Based on 307,462 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

Avoid 2014 to 2017. The worst is the 2015, which fails its MOT 39% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2020 is the strongest, failing 28% less often than average.

Found a Fiat 500 you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every 500 model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the Fiat 500
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2008	11,566	38.2%	about average
2009	19,708	38.2%	about average
2010	20,371	35.4%	about average
2011	19,056	32.8%	about average
2012	27,067	31.1%	about average
2013	32,818	28.3%	about average
2014	38,791	27.2%	20% worse
2015 Worst	37,017	27.1%	39% worse
2016	31,396	22.3%	32% worse
2017	22,714	17.1%	19% worse
2018	23,622	12.8%	about average
2019	19,138	8.2%	20% better
2020	4,198	6.6%	28% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Fiat 500, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.