Skoda Octavia: which years to avoid

Based on 201,299 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

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2014 is the strongest, failing 24% less often than average.

Found a Skoda Octavia 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 Octavia 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 Skoda Octavia
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2002	1,220	34.0%	about average
2003	1,767	35.9%	about average
2004	2,308	37.3%	about average
2005	3,543	39.0%	about average
2006	5,812	37.1%	about average
2007	6,745	35.3%	about average
2008	6,247	34.9%	about average
2009	7,279	31.5%	about average
2010	9,982	31.3%	about average
2011	11,821	28.4%	about average
2012	11,521	26.9%	about average
2013	11,328	21.5%	16% better
2014	17,224	17.4%	24% better
2015	19,575	15.5%	21% better
2016	20,859	13.8%	19% better
2017	18,557	12.2%	15% better
2018	16,743	9.9%	18% better
2019	20,190	10.2%	about average
2020	8,578	8.9%	about average

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Skoda Octavia, 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.