Pass rate
78.8%
Around average — 1.6 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 19,178 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £32–£86
2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 4 trims combined
- typical 68,247 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
28.9% 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 →
10.7 pts down across model years — 11.4% in 2000, 0.7% in 2016.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 93.0% pass
- Avoid 2000 70.6% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 22.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 73.7%
- Typical mileage
- 68k mi
The 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate is 78.8% of its MOT tests — 1.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz A-Class does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.4× the national share
Brakes make up 28.9% of everything recorded on the 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class, against 20.9% nationally — 8.0 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
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-Class? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz A-Class first registered in 2012 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 1.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.7%. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class in this dataset had covered 68,247 mi.
55% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 79.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 78.8% of the time, April–September 78.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 3.76% of tests.
- 19,178 recorded tests behind this page.
- 78.8% overall pass rate, 73.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the average is 82.5% — best year 2021 (93.0%), worst 2000 (70.6%).
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
- 19,178
- Typical mileage (median)
- 68,247 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the A-Class MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (55% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the A-Class
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 4,766 | 81.3% |
| South West | 2,334 | 77.3% |
| East of England | 1,950 | 79.0% |
| North West | 1,904 | 78.0% |
| West Midlands | 1,880 | 80.0% |
| London | 1,341 | 82.3% |
| Yorkshire | 1,312 | 76.8% |
| East Midlands | 1,162 | 78.4% |
| Wales | 965 | 75.1% |
| Scotland | 945 | 72.8% |
| North East | 619 | 75.0% |
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 2012 A-Class
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 2012 A-Class
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 coil springs 3.8% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.3% 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 windscreen 2.2% 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.
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 2012 A-Class through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £32–£86 — and 39% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £32–£86
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £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
- 39%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 19,178 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-Class, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.6% to 93.0% — a spread of 22.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 72.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 73.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 74.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 76.5% side repeaters not working
- 2011 78.4% side repeaters not working
- 2012 78.8%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 79.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 80.5% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2015 82.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 84.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.9% srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 87.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
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 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Skoda Yeti 78.8%
- Volkswagen Golf 78.7%
- Volkswagen Touran 78.7%
- Volkswagen Sharan 79.0%
- Volvo S60 78.6%
- Ford C-Max 78.5%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class 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 29,861 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 | 8,835 | 28.90% | 20.89% | +8.01 |
| Tyres | 6,626 | 21.70% | 19.76% | +1.94 |
| Suspension | 4,112 | 13.50% | 20.98% | −7.48 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,349 | 11.00% | 12.21% | −1.21 |
| Visibility | 1,848 | 6.10% | 4.97% | +1.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,717 | 5.60% | 4.18% | +1.42 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,353 | 4.40% | 5.57% | −1.17 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 977 | 3.20% | 5.52% | −2.32 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 646 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
| Steering | 398 | 1.30% | 2.57% | −1.27 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.8% | £25–65 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.2% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.1% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.0% | £5–20 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £80–180 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.5% | £5–15 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.2% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.8% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 14.2% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.8% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.1% | £18–45 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 3.0% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,014 | 89.2% | 22,874 mi |
| 30-60k | 6,428 | 81.7% | 46,955 mi |
| 60-90k | 6,766 | 78.4% | 73,783 mi |
| 90-120k | 3,562 | 73.7% | 102,841 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,401 | 72.9% | 139,013 mi |
Source: 19,178 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.
2012 A-Class MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
78.8% of the 19,178 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 73.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (3.76%), side repeaters not working (3.25%), ball joint excessively worn (2.30%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.2% of the time, falling to 72.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class in this dataset had covered 68,247 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
Petrol: 79.5% pass rate across 10,575 tests. Diesel: 77.9% pass rate across 8,603 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 78.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 78.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.