2020 Mercedes-Benz E MOT pass rate

2020
9 trims combined
typical 38,723 mi

Pass rate

87.7%

Above average — 3.0 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 13,538 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £43–£100

Most common fault

Tyres

47.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally

mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.

Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

Best 2023 98.5% pass
Avoid 2020 87.7% pass · this year

Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 10.8 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass: 86.3%
Typical mileage: 39k mi

The 2020 Mercedes-Benz E MOT pass rate is 87.7% of its MOT tests — 3.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 47.7% of what testers record.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz E does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Tyres: 2.4× the national share

Tyres make up 47.7% of everything recorded on the 2020 Mercedes-Benz E, against 19.8% nationally — 27.9 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.

Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 90.7%; this one manages 87.7% — 3.0 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
When it fails, it costs. Only 5% 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

Every Mercedes-Benz E first registered in 2020 is combined here — 9 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.

How does the 2020 Mercedes-Benz E compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 3.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.3%. The median 2020 Mercedes-Benz E in this dataset had covered 38,723 mi.

95% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 87.6% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.9% of the time, April–September 87.6%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 2.03% of tests.

13,538 recorded tests behind this page.
87.7% overall pass rate, 86.3% on a first attempt.
Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz E, the average is 89.0% — best year 2023 (98.5%), worst 2020 (87.7%).

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: 13,538
Typical mileage (median): 38,723 mi
Make and model: Mercedes-Benz E
Updated: 2026-11-05

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Tyres

Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.

Does mileage affect the E MOT pass rate?

0-30k 88.5%

30-60k 86.4%

60-90k 89.0%

90-120k 89.8%

120k+ 90.5%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 87.6%

Petrol 83.5%

Other 94.3%

Hybrid 95.7%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (95% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the E

Region	Tests	Pass rate
South East	3,923	88.1%
London	1,626	93.5%
East of England	1,389	84.9%
North West	1,337	87.2%
West Midlands	1,169	85.5%
South West	941	84.6%
Yorkshire	916	87.9%
Scotland	772	86.9%
East Midlands	723	86.2%
North East	395	89.9%
Wales	347	88.5%

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 2020 E

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.

Tyres 47.7%

+27.9 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices

Brakes 18.3%

−2.6 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts

Suspension 8.5%

−12.5 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts

Road wheels 6.6%

+5.8 pts vs national national 0.8% Price road wheels parts

Show the other 6 fault categories

Visibility 6.5%
Advisories 6.5%
Lamps & electrics 2.2%
Identification 1.8%
Body & chassis 0.7%
Emissions & leaks 0.6%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2020 Mercedes-Benz E tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2020 E

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 1.9% 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 tyre tread 0.7% of tests

“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”

Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
Check the suspension joints 0.6% 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.

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 2020 E through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£100 — and 5% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items: £43–£100
Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective: £8–£22
Dearest common item: windscreen damaged: £80–£200
Common items a careful owner can do at home: 90%
Repairs that still cost under £30: 5%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 13,538 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 E, side by side

9 model years on record, from 2017 to 2025. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.7% to 98.5% — a spread of 10.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

2017 94.8% malfunction indicator lamp…
2018 91.4% windscreen damaged but not…
2019 88.4% windscreen damaged but not…
2020 87.7%
has a cut in excess of the…
2021 89.6% fractured
2022 91.9% has a cut in excess of the…
2023 98.5% fractured
2024 97.8% windscreen damaged but not…
2025 98.2% headlamp aim too far to the right

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 2020 Mercedes-Benz E 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.

Compare 2020 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2020 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Mercedes-Benz E 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 6,947 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
Tyres	3,331	47.70%	19.76%	+27.94
Brakes	1,276	18.30%	20.89%	−2.59
Suspension	592	8.50%	20.98%	−12.48
Road Wheels	464	6.60%	0.75%	+5.85
Visibility	456	6.50%	4.97%	+1.53
Non-component advisories	456	6.50%	4.18%	+2.32
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	154	2.20%	12.21%	−10.01
Identification of the vehicle	124	1.80%	1.76%	+0.04
Body, chassis, structure	51	0.70%	5.57%	−4.87
Noise, emissions and leaks	43	0.60%	5.52%	−4.92

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 13,538 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item	Severity	Tests	Est. cost	Part
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres	Major	2.0%	£45–95	Tyres →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility	Minor	1.9%	£80–200	Windscreen →
Fractured Road Wheels	Major	1.9%	£20–55	Wheel Hub Bearing Kit →
Has ply or cords exposed Tyres	Major	1.8%	£45–95	Tyres →
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Major	1.4%	£45–95	Tyres →
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres	Major	0.69%	£45–95	Tyres →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension	Major	0.64%	£18–45	Ball Joint →
Wipers blade defective Visibility	Minor	0.55%	£8–22	Wiper Blade →
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Major	0.35%	£45–95	Tyres →
Has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Major	0.32%	£45–95	Tyres →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item	Severity	Tests	Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres	Advisory	10.4%	£45–95
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes	Advisory	4.8%	£18–45
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension	Advisory	3.2%	£18–45
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres	Advisory	2.6%	£45–95
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes	Advisory	2.0%	£45–110
Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes	Advisory	1.7%	£45–110

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage	Tests	Pass rate	Median odometer
0-30k	4,453	88.5%	21,322 mi
30-60k	6,229	86.4%	43,067 mi
60-90k	1,893	89.0%	71,679 mi
90-120k	580	89.8%	102,993 mi
120k+	378	90.5%	152,386 mi

Source: 13,538 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.

2020 E MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Mercedes-Benz E?

87.7% of the 13,538 2020 Mercedes-Benz E tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 86.3%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Mercedes-Benz E?

The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.03%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.92%), fractured (1.91%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2020 Mercedes-Benz E MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.5% of the time, falling to 90.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Mercedes-Benz E in this dataset had covered 38,723 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 Mercedes-Benz E?

Diesel: 87.6% pass rate across 12,801 tests. Petrol: 83.5% pass rate across 322 tests. Other: 94.3% pass rate across 299 tests. Hybrid: 95.7% pass rate across 116 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2020 Mercedes-Benz E MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.