Pass rate
72.0%
Below average — 1.1 pts behind the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 93 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£141
2008 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 82,579 mi
Only 93 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Brakes
32.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2008 72.0% pass · this year
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 23.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 63.8%
- Typical mileage
- 83k mi
The 2008 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate is 72.0% of its MOT tests — 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.7% 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
Brakes: 1.6× the national share
Brakes make up 32.7% of everything recorded on the 2008 Mercedes-Benz A, against 20.9% nationally — 11.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 8% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 93 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 .
How does the 2008 Mercedes-Benz A compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 1.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.8%. The median 2008 Mercedes-Benz A in this dataset had covered 82,579 mi.
54% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 72.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.5% of the time, April–September 67.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 8.60% of tests.
- 93 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.0% overall pass rate, 63.8% 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
- 93
- Typical mileage (median)
- 82,579 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 55% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (54% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the A
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 30 | 83.3% |
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 2008 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 2008 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 suspension joints 5.4% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the shock absorbers 4.3% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
-
Check the windscreen 4.3% 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.
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 2008 A through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£141 — and 8% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£141
- Cheapest common item: side repeaters not working
- £5–£25
- 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
- 8%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 93 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 2008 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 206 72.0%
- Volvo C70 72.1%
- Jaguar X-Type 72.2%
- Toyota Hilux 71.8%
- Peugeot 407 72.2%
- Ford Fiesta 72.3%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 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 204 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 | 68 | 32.70% | 20.89% | +11.81 |
| Suspension | 37 | 17.80% | 20.98% | −3.18 |
| Tyres | 26 | 12.50% | 19.76% | −7.26 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 23 | 11.10% | 5.57% | +5.53 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 15 | 7.20% | 12.21% | −5.01 |
| Visibility | 11 | 5.30% | 4.97% | +0.33 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 4.80% | 4.18% | +0.62 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 8 | 3.80% | 5.52% | −1.72 |
| Steering | 4 | 1.90% | 2.57% | −0.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 1.00% | 1.76% | −0.76 |
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 | 8.6% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.5% | £80–250 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.4% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 4.3% | £30–75 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.3% | £80–200 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £25–65 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.2% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.1% | £18–45 |
| Flexible brake hoses slightly chafed Brakes | Minor | 2.1% | £25–70 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.1% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 20.4% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 12.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.9% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.7% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.5% | £25–65 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.4% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 8 | 75.0% | 13,503 mi |
| 30-60k | 19 | 78.9% | 48,329 mi |
| 60-90k | 23 | 73.9% | 72,077 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 71.4% | 107,719 mi |
| 120k+ | 22 | 63.6% | 135,670 mi |
Source: 93 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.
2008 A MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Mercedes-Benz A?
72.0% of the 93 2008 Mercedes-Benz A tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 63.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Mercedes-Benz A?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (8.60%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.45%), ball joint excessively worn (5.38%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 63.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Mercedes-Benz A in this dataset had covered 82,579 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 Mercedes-Benz A?
Petrol: 72.0% pass rate across 50 tests. Diesel: 72.1% pass rate across 43 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 Mercedes-Benz A MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.