Pass rate
77.0%
Around average — 4.6 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 404 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £55–£159
2005 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate
- 2005
- 2 trims combined
- typical 85,446 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
22.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2008 72.0% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 23.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.2%
- Typical mileage
- 85k mi
The 2005 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate is 77.0% of its MOT tests — 4.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz A does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.0× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.4% of everything recorded on the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A, against 5.6% nationally — 5.8 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 22.6%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.4% and this one manages 77.0% — 4.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 26% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Mercedes-Benz A? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz A first registered in 2005 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 4.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.2%. The median 2005 Mercedes-Benz A in this dataset had covered 85,446 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 58% of tests, with a 78.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.9% of the time, April–September 78.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 15.84% of tests.
- 404 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.0% overall pass rate, 71.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz A, the average is 90.3% — best year 2023 (95.5%), worst 2008 (72.0%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 404
- Typical mileage (median)
- 85,446 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz A
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the A MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (58% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the A
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 143 | 79.7% |
| South West | 68 | 69.1% |
| London | 47 | 85.1% |
| East of England | 42 | 83.3% |
| West Midlands | 22 | 72.7% |
| Yorkshire | 20 | 70.0% |
| North West | 18 | 72.2% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2005 A
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2005 A
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the windscreen 7.2% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the lights 4.5% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the coil springs 4.0% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2005 A through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £55–£159 — and 26% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £55–£159
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 26%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 404 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the A, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2005 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.0% to 95.5% — a spread of 23.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 77.0%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 74.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 75.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 72.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2012 79.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 78.9% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2014 79.0% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2015 83.5% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2016 86.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.8% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2018 87.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2019 89.9% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 91.1% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 91.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 92.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 95.5% has a cut in excess of the…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2005 cars with a similar record
- BMW 3 Series 77.1%
- Land Rover Defender 76.9%
- Audi A6 76.9%
- Nissan Elgrand 76.9%
- Toyota Hiace 77.1%
- BMW 116 76.7%
Closest pass rates among 2005 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 1,001 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 233 | 22.60% | 20.89% | +1.71 |
| Tyres | 173 | 16.80% | 19.76% | −2.96 |
| Suspension | 136 | 13.20% | 20.98% | −7.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 135 | 13.10% | 12.21% | +0.89 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 117 | 11.40% | 5.57% | +5.83 |
| Visibility | 79 | 7.70% | 4.97% | +2.73 |
| Non-component advisories | 55 | 5.30% | 4.18% | +1.12 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 27 | 2.60% | 5.52% | −2.92 |
| Steering | 25 | 2.40% | 2.57% | −0.17 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 21 | 2.00% | 0.82% | +1.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 15.8% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 7.2% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 7.2% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.5% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £25–65 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 3.5% | £5–15 |
| Side repeaters lens defective which has no effect on emitted light Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.2% | £3–15 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.2% | £3–12 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.0% | £80–180 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 18.1% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.1% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 14.6% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.6% | £45–110 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 7.9% | £25–70 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 7 | 100.0% | 24,103 mi |
| 30-60k | 51 | 86.3% | 49,839 mi |
| 60-90k | 167 | 79.0% | 76,137 mi |
| 90-120k | 119 | 72.3% | 103,256 mi |
| 120k+ | 41 | 68.3% | 136,328 mi |
Source: 404 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2005 A MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Mercedes-Benz A?
77.0% of the 404 2005 Mercedes-Benz A tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 71.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Mercedes-Benz A?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (15.84%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (7.18%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.18%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 68.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Mercedes-Benz A in this dataset had covered 85,446 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2005 Mercedes-Benz A?
Petrol: 78.7% pass rate across 235 tests. Diesel: 74.6% pass rate across 169 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2005 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 78.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.