59.1%
SEAT Altea pass rate
Used SEAT Altea buying guide
In 2025, SEAT Altea cars passed 59.1% of 12,318 initial MOT tests, 13.2 points below the 72.3% UK average. Here is where it fails and what to check before you buy.
Looking at a specific Altea? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
SEAT Altea MOT record in brief
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded.
72.3%
UK average, all cars
−13.2
percentage points below average
Ranked on pass rate the Altea sits 500th of 575 models in the data. SEAT as a brand averaged 74%, so this model runs 14.8 points behind its own brand. SEAT Altea cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 68.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58.4%.
A pass rate is not a reliability score. The full SEAT Altea MOT record has the pass rate by age, every common failure and how the Altea compares with similar cars.
Altea fuel types
Diesel made up 85.2% of SEAT Altea MOT tests in 2025, against 39.3% across all models in this data. Almost every used example you look at will be a diesel.
Where the Altea fails its MOT
Where SEAT Altea 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 coil spring fractured or broken (6.2%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.6%) and headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4%). See every common Altea MOT failure.
These are DVSA failure records across every SEAT Altea that failed, not a claim that every Altea has these problems.
What should you check when buying a used Altea?
The areas above, most common first, and what an MOT tester looks at in each.
1
Suspension
Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters. 24.1% of Altea failure items.
2
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. 23.6% of Altea failure items.
3
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. 16.5% of Altea failure items.
4
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. 10% of Altea failure items.
5
Body, chassis, structure
Look underneath and along the sills for corrosion, and check for damaged or poorly repaired panels. 8.6% of Altea 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 SEAT Altea failures cluster around suspension and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 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 Altea you are looking at. One £15 report, instant results, backed by a £30,000 data guarantee. More on the SEAT history check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
Other used SEAT models
The most-tested SEAT models in 2025, with how their MOT pass rate compares with the Altea.
Used SEAT Altea FAQs
Is the SEAT Altea 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 59.1% first-time pass rate for the SEAT Altea across 12,318 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.
Do older SEAT Altea cars fail their MOT more often?
SEAT Altea cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 68.9% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 58.4%. 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 SEAT Altea?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: suspension, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and brakes. 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 SEAT Altea'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.