68%
Citroën C3 Picasso pass rate
Used Citroën C3 Picasso buying guide
In 2025, Citroën C3 Picasso cars passed 68% of 6,486 initial MOT tests, 4.3 points below the 72.3% UK average. Here is where it fails and what to check before you buy.
Looking at a specific C3 Picasso? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Citroën C3 Picasso MOT record in brief
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded.
72.3%
UK average, all cars
−4.3
percentage points below average
Ranked on pass rate the C3 Picasso sits 384th of 575 models in the data. Citroën as a brand averaged 63.5%, so this model runs 4.5 points ahead of its own brand. Citroën C3 Picasso cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 69.3% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58.7%.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. The full Citroën C3 Picasso MOT record has the pass rate by age, every common failure and how the C3 Picasso compares with similar cars.
C3 Picasso fuel types
Diesel made up 65.1% of Citroën C3 Picasso MOT tests in 2025, against 39.3% across all models in this data. Most used examples you look at will be diesels.
Where the C3 Picasso fails its MOT
Where Citroën C3 Picasso cars that failed their 2025 MOT were marked down, as a share of all recorded failure items.
The specific items testers recorded most often were joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (10.3%), stop lamp not working (10.1%) and headlamp not working on dipped beam (5.3%). See every common C3 Picasso MOT failure.
These are DVSA failure records across every Citroën C3 Picasso that failed, not a claim that every C3 Picasso has these problems.
What should you check when buying a used C3 Picasso?
The areas above, most common first, and what an MOT tester looks at in each.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Walk round with every light on: headlights, brake lights, indicators, fog lights and the number plate lamp. Check no warning lights stay on after starting. 34.9% of C3 Picasso failure items.
2
Tyres
Check tread depth across the full width of every tyre (the legal minimum is 1.6mm), and look for cuts, bulges and uneven wear. 14.7% of C3 Picasso failure items.
3
Body, chassis, structure
Look underneath and along the sills for corrosion, and check for damaged or poorly repaired panels. 13.7% of C3 Picasso failure items.
4
Brakes
Make sure the pedal feels firm, the car stops in a straight line, the handbrake holds on a slope and no brake warning light is showing. 12.8% of C3 Picasso failure items.
5
Visibility
Check the windscreen for chips or cracks in the driver's view, and that the wipers and washers clear it properly. 8.1% of C3 Picasso failure items.
None of this replaces the car's own record. Run a free MOT history check on the registration to see every test, advisory and recorded mileage for that car.
What the MOT record doesn't tell you
Knowing Citroën C3 Picasso failures cluster around lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and tyres tells you what to inspect. It tells you nothing about whether the car is safe to buy. An MOT does not show money still owed on the car, a write-off, a theft record or a clocked odometer.
Check the exact C3 Picasso you are looking at. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee. More on the Citroën history check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Other used Citroën models
The most-tested Citroën models in 2025, with how their MOT pass rate compares with the C3 Picasso.
Used Citroën C3 Picasso FAQs
Is the Citroën C3 Picasso reliable?
MOT data does not measure reliability. It records whether a car met the roadworthiness standard on the day of its test. What it does show is a 68% first-time pass rate for the Citroën C3 Picasso across 6,486 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.
Do older Citroën C3 Picasso cars fail their MOT more often?
Citroën C3 Picasso cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 69.3% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58.7%. On an older example, the car's own MOT history tells you more than the model average.
What should I check before buying a used Citroën C3 Picasso?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment, tyres and body, chassis, structure. Then check the individual car's history: outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers, mileage and previous keepers. None of these appear in the MOT record or on the V5C.
How do I check a Citroën C3 Picasso's history?
Enter the registration of the specific car. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen markers, mileage history, previous keepers, MOT and tax status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.