60.1%
Smart City
Smart City MOT pass rate and common problems
The Smart City passed 60.1% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 12.2 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the City compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
71.3%
Smart average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The City runs 11.2 points behind the Smart average. It is 4th of the 4 Smart models in the data. The average City arrived at its test 20.3 years old with 68,721 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
City MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 to 10 years (small sample) | 1 | 100% | 27.7 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 4,849 | 60.1% | 12.2 pts below |
Too few tests fall into some age groups to compare them reliably. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where City failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Smart City cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension together account for 51.6% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common City MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Smart City cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 38.4% of everything testers recorded against failed Smart City cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a City
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect, stop lamp not working, position lamp not working, headlamp not working on dipped beam and headlamp aim too low. 21.3% of failure items.
2
Visibility
Recorded most often: washers provides insufficient washer liquid and wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 7.3% of failure items.
3
Suspension
Recorded most often: coil spring fractured or broken and pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn. 6.2% of failure items.
4
Noise, emissions and leaks
Recorded most often: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits. 3.5% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific City has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Smart City buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Smart City MOT FAQs
What is the Smart City MOT pass rate?
60.1% of Smart City cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 4,850 tests. That is 12.2 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 492nd of 575 models.
What does a Smart City most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Smart City cars failing their 2025 MOT was headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect, on 7% of failure items. Next were stop lamp not working (5.2%) and washers provides insufficient washer liquid (4.5%).
Which area causes the most Smart City MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 36.7%, followed by suspension at 14.9%.
Does this mean every Smart City has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Smart City that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Smart City's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.