MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Fiat Ducato — MOT statistics 2024

The Fiat Ducato failed 26.65% of 71,072 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 75.5 (100 = expected for its age profile). This van fails its MOT about 24% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 75.5, 95% CI 74.6–76.4 (100 = national average) 100 75.5 0 200
Index
75.5
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
26.65%
n = 71,072
Dangerous /100
6
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
-19.1 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
222 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Volkswagen Transporter (index 105.7) — the two published results are 30.2 index points apart, so read it as the nearest published comparison of the same type, not a close match.

Fiat Ducato common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Suspension is well below the reference at 12.3 per 100 tests, against 32.9 per 100 tests across UK vans and pickups of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Fiat Ducato common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vans and pickups of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Lamps & electrical27.4115,05240.00.69×0.68–0.69
Brakes15.062,74926.10.58×0.57–0.58
Suspension12.351,73932.90.37×0.37–0.38
Body & structure11.146,59219.70.56×0.56–0.57
Visibility9.740,49117.50.55×0.55–0.56
Tyres3.112,8558.60.36×0.35–0.36
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 419,222 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Strength or continuity of the load bearing…The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any sub-frame, spring or suspension component mounting (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired6.461.125.78×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Vehicle structure corroded to the extent that the…Vehicle structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is seriously reduced3.020.397.80×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a…A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning3.812.091.82×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake…Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake2.441.032.37×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements3.422.571.33×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirementParking brake efficiency below minimum requirement2.031.241.64×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen2.752.221.24×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen2.061.621.27×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources2.982.831.05×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2.052.360.87×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Fiat Ducato MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Suspension is highest at 25.4 per 100 tests; Lamps & electrical are lowest at 4.5 per 100 tests — the gap is 20.9 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Fiat Ducato MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Suspension25.4
Brakes23.9
Tyres17.5
Body & structure9.6
Emissions & leaks5.2
Lamps & electrical4.5

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Fiat Ducato against cars of the same age

AgePartFiat DucatoSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres0.814.17-3.36
3 yearsBrakes1.811.770.04
3 yearsSuspension0.940.630.31
4 yearsTyres0.934.54-3.61
4 yearsBrakes2.582.430.15
4 yearsSuspension1.241.210.03
5 yearsTyres1.185.06-3.88
5 yearsBrakes2.883.09-0.21
5 yearsSuspension1.52.19-0.69
6 yearsTyres1.225.54-4.32
6 yearsBrakes3.323.81-0.49
6 yearsSuspension1.833.72-1.89
7 yearsTyres1.465.95-4.49
7 yearsBrakes3.224.55-1.33
7 yearsSuspension1.885.68-3.80
8 yearsTyres1.546.31-4.77
8 yearsBrakes3.695.38-1.69
8 yearsSuspension2.197.78-5.59

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a van like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed29.1%29,023
It passed21.8%223,122

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 7.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is steering — 31.6% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every van with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 411,658 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only74.8fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage93.1fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year50.3%a large low-use population — on a van base this usually means motorhome and camper conversions

Split by how much each van is driven. This is a split by annual mileage, not by body type — the MOT record does not say whether a van is a conversion. Within each band the index compares with vehicles of the same age driven as much.

Miles a yearTestsFailed first timeIndex within band
under 3,000207,11624.0%98.2
3,000–6,000136,40927.8%83.5
6,000–9,00026,23837.2%99.7
9,000–12,00012,21440.9%106.2
12,000–16,0007,93640.5%112.1
16,000 and over21,74522.9%92.4

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 18.3 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the van sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Fiat Ducato compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against other light commercials tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeFiat DucatoSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years11.8%20.01%-8.21 pp12,864
4 years14.42%23.05%-8.62 pp13,215
5 years15.24%25.57%-10.32 pp13,599
6 years15.1%29.07%-13.98 pp14,168
7 years16.11%32.55%-16.44 pp14,874
8 years17.22%35.93%-18.71 pp16,002
9 years18.53%38.78%-20.25 pp16,750
10 years19.02%41.33%-22.31 pp17,612
11 years20.25%43.66%-23.41 pp20,480
12 years22.15%45.59%-23.44 pp23,709
13 years24.96%46.79%-21.83 pp25,952
14 years27.08%47.63%-20.55 pp27,811
15 years29.2%48.19%-18.99 pp28,281
16 years30.47%48.4%-17.93 pp27,501
17 years32.33%48.31%-15.99 pp24,255
18 years34.54%48.24%-13.7 pp20,882
19 years36.16%47.73%-11.57 pp17,648
20 years37.34%46.83%-9.49 pp14,419

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Fiat Ducato perform as it gets older?

The Ducato at age 14 is well below the reference at 21.2%, against 40.4% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Fiat Ducato perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: van age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old Ducato has roughly a 17% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeFiat DucatoAll vehiclesGap
39.8%12.4%-2.6 pp
411.2%13.1%-1.9 pp
514.9%15.1%-0.2 pp
615.7%17.5%-1.8 pp
716.6%20.2%-3.6 pp
816.7%23.3%-6.7 pp
917.2%26.5%-9.3 pp
1017.5%30.1%-12.6 pp
1119.1%33.2%-14.1 pp
1219.0%35.7%-16.7 pp
1321.4%38.2%-16.8 pp
1421.2%40.4%-19.2 pp
1522.8%41.6%-18.8 pp
1624.4%43.1%-18.6 pp
1728.0%43.1%-15.1 pp
1831.9%43.9%-12.0 pp
1932.9%43.5%-10.6 pp
2037.0%41.0%-4.0 pp

Is a Fiat Ducato ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Fiat Ducato MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 20.7%.

Based on 65,090 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 685
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 5,583
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,741
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,664
9 years28.3%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,668
10–14 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 13,493
15–17 years0.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 13,476
18 years0.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,414
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,514
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 13,852

Fiat Ducato petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Petrol is highest at 45.5%; Diesel is lowest at 26.4% — the gap is 19.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fiat Ducato petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Diesel70,03926.4%+0.0 pp
Petrol1,01645.5%+19.1 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=70k · n=1,016.

How dangerous are Fiat Ducato MOT failures?

Major defects stand out at 63.7 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Fiat Ducato MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor14.8314.221.04×
Major63.7052.751.21×
Dangerous6.2011.150.56×

Chart values: Minor 14.8 · Major 63.7 · Dangerous 6.2.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Fiat Ducato MOT matter?

Jan is highest at 28.7%; Oct is lowest at 25.6% — the gap is 3.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Fiat Ducato MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 24%–33%.

bars: Fiat Ducato · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthFiat DucatoAll vehiclesGap
Jan28.69%31.12%-2.4 pp
Feb27.62%29.99%-2.4 pp
Mar26.84%28.26%-1.4 pp
Apr28.01%29.78%-1.8 pp
May27.87%28.79%-0.9 pp
Jun27.59%28.15%-0.6 pp
Jul26.92%29.33%-2.4 pp
Aug26.17%29.2%-3.0 pp
Sep26.34%28.19%-1.9 pp
Oct25.61%30.34%-4.7 pp
Nov26.48%30.58%-4.1 pp
Dec27.17%29.33%-2.2 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 3.1 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Fiat Ducato average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of Ducatos runs from 18,365 miles to 49,821 miles, against 27,547 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Fiat Ducato · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: van age, years · odometer scale 0–118k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Fiat Ducato MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 15+, 24% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 47.1% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Fiat Ducato MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Fiat Ducato: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles10.3%9.3–11.3%3,515
3–540-70k miles14.7%11.2–19.1%306 (rough estimate)
3–570-100k miles12.2%9.5–15.7%433 (rough estimate)
3–5100-140k miles15.1%12.6–18%680
3–5140k+ miles17.1%14.3–20.1%645
6–9<40k miles11.7%10.9–12.5%6,024
6–940-70k miles21.3%19–23.7%1,174
6–970-100k miles27.7%23.3–32.6%357 (rough estimate)
6–9100-140k miles31.2%27–35.8%429 (rough estimate)
6–9140k+ miles29.6%26.9–32.4%1,078
10–14<40k miles15.3%14.5–16.1%7,977
10–1440-70k miles19.8%18.5–21.2%3,554
10–1470-100k miles32.8%29.4–36.3%702
10–14100-140k miles38.6%34.6–42.7%557
10–14140k+ miles44.8%41.1–48.5%677
15+<40k miles24%23.2–24.8%11,591
15+40-70k miles31.3%30.6–32%16,164
15+70-100k miles40.5%39.1–41.9%4,907
15+100-140k miles44.1%42–46.2%2,124
15+140k+ miles47.1%44.5–49.7%1,395

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
38,36216,22778,1851,868
411,71220,059108,1241,780
513,37522,332112,7721,935
615,97327,31699,2231,787
717,95528,35163,8291,955
818,36527,54749,8212,664
920,06129,26745,8642,668
1022,36931,68848,2302,313
1123,67933,42649,1422,222
1225,30134,44951,0222,511
1327,35537,68052,6233,129
1428,75538,14052,4383,318
1529,65939,27953,0513,502
1632,65643,64560,6714,900
1734,66346,07365,3625,074
1835,32146,79464,3914,414
1936,73848,60364,7384,514
20+42,49856,23275,23413,852

A typical 8-year-old Ducato has ~27,547 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history. This typical figure blends two different lives: working vans that cover many miles and motorhome conversions that cover very few, so judge a camper against other campers and a working van against other working vans.

Where in Britain the Fiat Ducato fails its MOT most

Kirkcaldy area is highest at 39.3%; Bromley area is lowest at 13.2% — the gap is 26.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Fiat Ducato fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Kirkcaldy (KY)39.26%+12.2 pp
Llandrindod Wells (LD)36.58%+9.5 pp
Bristol (BS)36.54%+9.5 pp
Dundee (DD)35.72%+8.7 pp
Truro (TR)35.47%+8.4 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Bromley (BR)13.24%-13.8 pp
Enfield (EN)14.94%-12.1 pp
London NW (NW)17.72%-9.3 pp
Romford (RM)18.23%-8.8 pp
Bolton (BL)18.64%-8.4 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 6.4 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.50, n=101 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 5.8 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.46, n=101 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 4.1 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.32, n=101 areas with ≥800 tests).

Fiat Ducato Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
MOT centre density23.0%29.4%+6.4 ppr=0.50
Distance to coast29.9%24.1%-5.8 ppr=-0.46
Urban share28.2%24.1%-4.1 ppr=-0.32

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.50110123.029.4+6.45.48.8
Distance to coast (km)-0.46110129.924.1-5.85.880.9
Urban share (0–1)-0.31910128.224.1-4.10.40.9
Frost days (days/year)0.24710127.129.0+1.91239.1
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.23910127.529.6+2.2232.4692.4
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.2056126.729.0+2.30.53.7
Income deprivation (score)-0.0338424.524.8+0.30.10.2

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 19%–35% failing.

Fiat Ducato survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is close to the reference at 100.0%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fiat Ducato survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: van age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
312,86494.2%11.8%
413,21596.7%14.42%
513,59999.5%15.24%
614,168100%15.1%
714,874100%16.11%
816,002100%17.22%
916,750100%18.53%
1017,612100%19.02%
1120,480100%20.25%
1223,709100%22.15%
1325,952100%24.96%
1427,811100%27.08%
1528,281100%29.2%
1627,501100%30.47%
1724,255100%32.33%
1820,882100%34.54%
1917,648100%36.16%

By age 19, at least as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈13,661): the older fleet has not thinned out here, so there is no survivor selection to allow for.

How many miles does a Fiat Ducato last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 11.8%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 1.4% — the gap is 10.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles49,26911.79%
150,000+ miles17,8044.26%
200,000+ miles5,8211.39%

Of 417,864 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 11.8% had reached 100k miles, 4.3% had reached 150k miles, 1.4% had reached 200k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a Fiat Ducato likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 14.6 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 4.5 years — the gap is 10.1 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—at least 14.6
8—at least 11.5
10—at least 9.5
12—at least 7.5
15—at least 4.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 9.5 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 19, so the true figure is likely higher.

Fiat Ducato faults that come together

Road Wheels + Tyres stand out at 7.50×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Road WheelsTyres317.5× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension2,3475.88×
BrakesRoad Wheels895.41× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility755.13× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels675.09× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension655.03× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering1,9075.02×
SteeringSuspension1,8574.98×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering3614.65× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems664.48× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres1004.41× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering5174.38×
BrakesSteering2,0444.3×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension8,2774.24×
BrakesSuspension10,3384.23×
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems5274.17×
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks2,5474.12×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter804.11× (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter474.1× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle3674.07× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSpeedometer and speed limiter374.04× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres4804.02× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks904.01× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering553.99× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle2863.97× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment6043.94×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks3,0243.91×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,9883.91×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes9,7043.9×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels1083.86× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres7253.73×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility2993.73× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,5093.71×
SuspensionTyres2,2743.7×
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension2,2223.66×
BrakesTyres2,8123.6×
Identification of the vehicleSuspension2493.51× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureTyres2,1553.45×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks4,5263.44×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering2,7573.42×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres4333.39× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment17,7483.36×
TyresVisibility2,2703.26×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension13,5143.25×
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment13,6713.24×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility2,2183.22×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres4,2523.2×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility14,7163.13×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2,6923.12×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility6,8663.1×
SteeringVisibility1,2983.07×
BrakesVisibility8,4613.06×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility1,3723.03×
SuspensionVisibility6,5393.01×
Buses and coaches supplementary testsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment212.71× (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterVisibility272.65× (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension232.56× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels19too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering16too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belt installation check15too few (rough estimate)
BrakesBuses and coaches supplementary tests13too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkVisibility11too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSpeedometer and speed limiter11too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsSuspension11too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBuses and coaches supplementary tests11too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems10too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterTyres10too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSuspension9too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSteering9too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belt installation check8too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belt installation check8too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels7too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsVisibility7too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSpeedometer and speed limiter6too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsNoise, emissions and leaks5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems» and «Suspension» appear together 5.88× more often than chance (2,347 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a Fiat Ducato?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 16.6%, against 39.4% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year16.55%144,212
8–12k miles/year39.39%10,975
Gap (low − normal)-22.84 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
511.268,09321.51837-10.25 pp
610.729,00624.53803-13.82 pp
711.7810,14725.03799-13.25 pp
812.6911,60930.84775-18.15 pp
913.8312,71039.6793-25.76 pp
1015.0613,98738.27823-23.22 pp
1116.216,49040.69988-24.49 pp
1217.7118,98445.851,420-28.14 pp
1320.1520,72347.491,771-27.34 pp
1422.522,35249.921,957-27.42 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 16.6% vs 39.4% for 8–12k miles/year — 22.8 pp lower (n_low=144,212, n_normal=10,975). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 16.6% low-use vs 39.4% normal (-22.8 pp).

Which Fiat Ducato engine is best?

petrol 1.8–2.0 is highest at 114.0; petrol over 2.0 is lowest at 83.3 — the gap is 30.7 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrolover 2.0 litre83.322.76%246 (rough estimate)
dieselover 2.0 litre97.925.17%367,001
diesel1.8–2.0 litre111.939.04%38,559
petrol1.8–2.0 litre11448.85%6,178

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the petrol 1.8–2.0 runs at 114 against this model's own age norm while the diesel over 2.0 runs at 97.9 — a spread of 16.1 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a Fiat Ducato, and the years to avoid

Build year 2001 is highest at 108.0; Build year 2020 is lowest at 87.6 — the gap is 20.4 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Fiat Ducato build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Fiat Ducato by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202087.679–96.211.12%3,570better
2019107.7100.5–114.814.4%6,002worse
2018103.497.1–109.714.25%7,254no different
2017102.497.4–107.514.46%10,915no different
201698.594.6–102.514.7%16,505no different
201596.592.7–100.215.48%16,469no different
201499.295.1–103.216.69%14,030no different
201310197–10517.81%13,807no different
201297.193.5–100.618.25%15,581no different
201197.794.6–100.819.78%19,363no different
201088.385.6–9119.32%20,711better
200990.487.8–9321.37%21,643better
200892.890.7–94.923.69%30,833better
200799.197.1–101.227.25%32,669no different
2006107.1104.9–109.431.67%28,604worse
2005104.7102.6–106.832.92%29,260worse
2004105.2102.9–107.434.91%24,574worse
2003100.297.9–102.634.84%19,793no different
2002101.598.7–104.336.93%13,438no different
2001108104.6–111.440.53%9,698worse
2000106102–110.140.93%6,369worse
1999102.197.3–106.940.73%4,240no different
1998105.499–111.743.43%2,399no different

The best build year here is 2010 and the weakest is 2001. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 9 of 23 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Fiat Ducato MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £85.79 to £163.00, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£86–163
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment27.4 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£38.36
Brakes15.0 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£22.50
Suspension12.3 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£22.14
Tyres3.1 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£2.79

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £86 to £163, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Fiat Ducato running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 17.0%, against 15.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
15
vehicles needing work (rough estimate: 1,935 tests)
At age 10
17
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£8,579
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
2d
median; 25.43% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
39.85%16,2271,868-5.1 pp
411.18%20,0591,780-3.8 pp
514.94%22,3321,935+0.0 pp
615.67%27,3161,787+0.7 pp
716.57%28,3511,955+1.6 pp
816.67%27,5472,664+1.7 pp
917.2%29,2672,668+2.3 pp
1017.47%31,6882,313+2.5 pp
1119.08%33,4262,222+4.1 pp
1219.04%34,4492,511+4.1 pp
1321.41%37,6803,129+6.5 pp
1421.19%38,1403,318+6.3 pp
1522.79%39,2793,502+7.8 pp
1624.45%43,6454,900+9.5 pp
1728.01%46,0735,074+13.1 pp
1831.9%46,7944,414+17.0 pp
1932.88%48,6034,514+17.9 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 17 and cars aged 18, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 3.89 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Fiat Ducato rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 1.18×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
1.18×
0.9% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
87th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 101 postcode areas

This Fiat Ducato fails on corrosion more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a Fiat Ducato advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 28.1%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 28.1 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Fiat Ducato chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Fiat Ducato, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 28.1% · Body & chassis 18.8% · Brakes 17.7% · Suspension 16% · Seat belts & restraints 7.2% · Tyres 5.5% · Steering 5% · Noise, emissions, leaks 4.6%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment28.1%12.1 months1,61610,388
Body, chassis, structure18.8%12.1 months1,39521,907
Brakes17.7%12.1 months1,37846,646
Suspension16.0%12.1 months1,84444,941
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems7.2%12.1 months1,5731,967
Tyres5.5%12.2 months1,80834,800
Steering5.0%12.1 months1,94110,890
Noise, emissions and leaks4.6%12.1 months2,04115,787
Identification of the vehicle2.9%12.1 months2,0772,821
Non-component advisories0.0%——7,888

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 28 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12.1 months and roughly 1,616 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a Fiat Ducato?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age unknown are highest at 31.4%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.8% — the gap is 29.6 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedVisibility 3.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.0% · Brakes 1.8%10,554
<3advisoryVisibility 5.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.8% · Brakes 3.9%1,066
<3failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.3% · Visibility 5.2% · Brakes 3.8%1,434
3-5passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.0% · Visibility 3.9% · Brakes 2.3%24,755
3-5advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.4% · Visibility 7.3% · Brakes 4.7%3,001
3-5failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.2% · Visibility 7.0% · Brakes 5.7%4,777
6-8passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.8% · Visibility 3.4% · Brakes 2.4%26,911
6-8advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.3% · Visibility 7.2% · Brakes 5.6%5,122
6-8failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.2% · Visibility 8.3% · Brakes 8.3%6,386
9-11passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.8% · Visibility 4.1% · Brakes 3.0%31,949
9-11advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.9% · Visibility 7.7% · Brakes 6.3%8,176
9-11failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.7% · Visibility 9.7% · Brakes 9.3%10,016
12-14passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.2% · Brakes 5.2% · Visibility 4.9%36,871
12-14advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.0% · Brakes 10.0% · Visibility 8.9%13,960
12-14failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 22.3% · Brakes 13.2% · Visibility 11.5%17,918
15-19passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.1% · Brakes 7.9% · Body, chassis, structure 6.5%36,094
15-19advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.2% · Brakes 13.5% · Body, chassis, structure 11.5%21,685
15-19failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.5% · Brakes 15.2% · Suspension 13.4%29,135
20+passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.2% · Body, chassis, structure 11.7% · Brakes 11.5%13,551
20+advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 27.2% · Body, chassis, structure 18.0% · Brakes 17.0%14,479
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 30.8% · Body, chassis, structure 19.2% · Brakes 18.8%21,088
unknownpassedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 31.4% · Body, chassis, structure 18.6% · Brakes 15.7%102 (rough estimate)
unknownfailureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.4% · Visibility 12.0% · Body, chassis, structure 10.2%501

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Fiat Ducato ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 65.7%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 8.9% — the gap is 56.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
25.43%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.742
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
56.7%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
3.787%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 75,352 failures followed through to their re-test, 25.43% were repaired and passed the same day and 65.66% within ten days; the median gap is 2 days. 215,238 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.742 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 1,688 miles a year across 78,110 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 56.7% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 22.71% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 3.787% of 78,408 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 36,806 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Fiat Ducato safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 36.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Fiat Ducato recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Fiat Ducato. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2012: 0 · 2013: 0 · 2014: 0 · 2015: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 0 · 2024: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2026: 1.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Fiat Ducato
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2026/04413/02/2026680Fiat Professional 2025/2026 Ducato (290/295). Fuel pipe leak
R/2025/32004/09/2025447Fiat Professional Ducato. Instrument panel cluster software
R/2024/40222/11/202411Fiat Ducato may have been fitted with the incorrect radio
R/2024/33413/09/202414Fiat Ducato 2024. Proxy update. Vehicle does not comply to emission regulatory requirement
R/2022/26307/10/20223Certain kinds of vehicle acceleration could cause the speed limiter to turn off.
All 36 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2026/04413/02/202609/05/2025 – 11/12/2025680Fiat Professional 2025/2026 Ducato (290/295). Fuel pipe leak
R/2025/32004/09/202507/10/2024 – 11/03/2025447Fiat Professional Ducato. Instrument panel cluster software
R/2024/40222/11/202404/04/2024 – 17/07/202411Fiat Ducato may have been fitted with the incorrect radio
R/2024/33413/09/202406/03/2024 – 06/03/202414Fiat Ducato 2024. Proxy update. Vehicle does not comply to emission regulatory requirement
R/2022/26307/10/202221/10/2020 – 16/07/20223Certain kinds of vehicle acceleration could cause the speed limiter to turn off.
R/2022/02210/02/202227/03/2021 – 22/11/2021213DUE TO A NONCONFORMITY IN PRODUCTION THE SIDE MARKER LIGHTS ARE NOT FUNCTIONING
R/2021/32720/10/202101/02/2021 – 31/07/20215DUE TO A NONCONFORMITY IN PRODUCTION THE SWIVEL PLATES ON WHICH THE TWO FRONT SEATS ARE AN
R/2021/31001/10/202128/04/2021 – 03/08/2021170THE THIRD (HIGH LEVEL) BRAKE LIGHT MAY NOT FUNCTION
R/2021/03405/03/202101/04/2019 – 29/10/20202,633NON CONFORMING STEERING KNUCKLES MAY HAVE BEEN FITTED
R/2019/44124/01/202026/09/2018 – 14/11/2019196THE DRIVE AXLE MAY TOUCH THE WIRING
R/2019/36003/01/202031/10/2014 – 16/07/201924,484THE BRAKE LINE RETAINING CLIP MAY NOT BE FIXED CORRECTLY TO THE TUCKER ON THE DASHBOARD
R/2019/28430/08/201914/03/2019 – 19/06/201977POTENTIAL MOVEMENT OF THE BATTERY
R/2019/10310/05/201901/03/2018 – 14/03/20193,630INTERCOOLER SLEEVE MAY BECOME DETACHED
R/2019/09003/04/201924/08/2018 – 01/02/2019251POSSIBLE INTERFERENCE BETWEEN FUEL SUPPLY AND RETURN LINES
R/2018/03816/03/201817/02/2016 – 13/09/20179,904INTERCOOLER SLEEVE MAY DETACH FROM THE THROTTLE BODY
R/2017/28330/11/201717/02/2016 – 13/09/20174,486EGR PIPE COULD FRACTURE DUE TO A POTENTIAL NON-CONFORMITY
R/2017/08506/03/201714/12/2016 – 09/02/2017239CAMSHAFT MAY FAIL
R/2015/25522/01/201601/10/2014 – 11/12/20155,303ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS MAY BE DEACTIVATED
R/2015/21729/12/201516/09/2015 – 19/10/2015118POWER STEERING PUMP MAY FAIL
R/2015/09022/05/201515/01/2014 – 04/02/201461LOSS OF CONTROL
R/2011/13924/10/201101/09/2011 – 30/09/20118REAR AXLE MAY MOVE
R/2011/09802/09/201101/04/2006 – 31/03/20108,704SPARE WHEEL MAY DETACH
R/2007/17207/12/200716/10/2007 – 14/11/2007336BRAKES MAY FAIL
R/2007/15323/11/200701/07/2006 – 30/06/20075,427STEERING COULD BECOME INCREASINGLY STIFF.
R/2007/15023/11/200701/08/2007 – 30/09/2007368TYRE VALVE MAY BREAK CAUSING RAPID DEFLATION (STEEL WHEELS)
R/2007/15223/11/200701/07/2006 – 31/12/20063,253FRONT WINDSCREEN WIPERS MAY BECOME INOPERATIVE
R/2007/05918/05/200701/07/2001 – 31/01/20054,535POSSIBILITY OF REDUCED BRAKING PERFORMANCE
R/2007/01109/03/200701/05/2006 – 31/07/200629DROPSIDE PANEL MAY DETACH
R/2006/12011/08/200601/01/2006 – 28/02/2006117U-BOLTS ON REAR AXLE MAY BREAK
R/2004/18101/10/200404/01/2004 – 12/03/20044,322POSSIBILITY OF LOSS OF BRAKE FLUIDS AND EXTENDED PEDAL TRAVEL
R/2004/07930/05/200401/07/2001 – 01/04/20033,770POSSIBILITY THAT THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL COULD FOUL ON THE FLOOR
R/2003/02705/02/200301/05/2001 – 30/04/20021,634INTERIOR FAN WIRING MAY CHAFE ON DASHBOARD SUPPORT
R/2002/16909/12/200201/05/2002 – 30/04/200219WATER INGRESS TO ABS CONTROL UNIT
R/2002/07915/04/2002186HANDBRAKE CONCERN
R/2000/11610/01/200101/08/1999 – 31/03/20005,348FUEL TANK MOUNTINGS
R/1997/08620/03/199801/01/1994 – 31/12/1996448POSSIBLE REDUCTION IN BRAKE SERVO ASSISTANCE

DVSA lists 36 safety recall campaigns for the Fiat Ducato, covering roughly 91,429 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Fiat Ducato inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK stands out at 56.3%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)26.65%26.01%+0.6 pp71,072
NetherlandsAPK56.3%50.8%+5.5 pp5,248

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value760failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed487failure
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids327advisory
AC4Steering or suspension ball joint worn up to 1.0 mm283advisory
205Tyre with insufficient tread259failure
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility252failure
497Number-plate light not working or missing244failure
RA1Airbag or seat-belt warning light showing a fault241advisory

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.48 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Fiat Ducato is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

One caveat before you read the UK row: these are raw failure rates, because no other country publishes the age detail our index needs. This model's raw UK rate looks worse than the national average while its age-adjusted index is 75.5 — the fleet here is unusually old, and the raw column silently credits that. The index above is the fair comparison; this table is for reading each country against itself.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Fiat Ducato MOT: quick answers

Fiat Ducato MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 75.5, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Fiat Ducato first-time MOT pass rate?
73.35% of first attempts passed in 2024 (71,072 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 26.65% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 71,072 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 75.5 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Fiat Ducato with other cars

Mercedes-Benz GLC is highest at 75.6; BMW X1 is lowest at 75.1 — the gap is 0.5 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Fiat MOT statisticsFiat Panda MOT statsFiat 500 MOT stats

Similar risk

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque (index 75.5)Mercedes-Benz GLC (index 75.6)BMW X1 (index 75.1)

Same size class

how Volvo XC90 compareshow Toyota Hilux compareshow Volvo XC40 compares

By build year

Fiat Ducato 1998Fiat Ducato 1999Fiat Ducato 2000Fiat Ducato 2001Fiat Ducato 2002Fiat Ducato 2003Fiat Ducato 2004Fiat Ducato 2005Fiat Ducato 2006Fiat Ducato 2007Fiat Ducato 2008Fiat Ducato 2009Fiat Ducato 2010Fiat Ducato 2011Fiat Ducato 2012Fiat Ducato 2013Fiat Ducato 2014Fiat Ducato 2015Fiat Ducato 2016Fiat Ducato 2017Fiat Ducato 2018Fiat Ducato 2019Fiat Ducato 2020

By area

Fiat Ducato MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Fiat Ducato body, chassis and structure failuresFiat Ducato brakes failuresFiat Ducato vehicle identification failuresFiat Ducato lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresFiat Ducato noise, emissions and leaks failuresFiat Ducato road wheels failuresFiat Ducato seat belts and airbags failuresFiat Ducato steering failuresFiat Ducato suspension failuresFiat Ducato tyres failuresFiat Ducato visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Fiat Ducato in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:fiat-ducato:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Fiat Ducato MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/fiat-ducato/ · Published 2026-07-30.