Pass rate
85.4%
Above average — 8.2 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 349 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £51–£140
2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 2 trims combined
- typical 100,023 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
26.8% 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 2020 93.7% pass
- Avoid 2009 81.2% pass
Across the 15 years on record, a spread of 12.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 83.2%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl MOT pass rate is 85.4% of its MOT tests — 8.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz Gl does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.8× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 15.3% of everything recorded on the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl, against 5.5% nationally — 9.8 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 26.8%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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 77.2% and this one manages 85.4% — 8.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 Gl? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz Gl first registered in 2012 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 8.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 83.2%. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl in this dataset had covered 100,023 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 93% of tests, with a 85.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 86.8% of the time, April–September 84.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 4.01% of tests.
- 349 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.4% overall pass rate, 83.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz Gl, the average is 85.8% — best year 2020 (93.7%), worst 2009 (81.2%).
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
- 349
- Typical mileage (median)
- 100,023 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz Gl
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Gl MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (93% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Gl
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 101 | 86.1% |
| East of England | 51 | 90.2% |
| North West | 42 | 78.6% |
| West Midlands | 32 | 90.6% |
| East Midlands | 29 | 86.2% |
| South West | 28 | 71.4% |
| Scotland | 20 | 80.0% |
| Yorkshire | 17 | 94.1% |
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 Gl
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 Gl
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 4.0% 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 1.4% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 brake pipes 1.1% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
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 Gl through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £51–£140 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £51–£140
- 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
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 349 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 Gl, side by side
15 model years on record, from 2006 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 81.2% to 93.7% — a spread of 12.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 85.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 82.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 81.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 85.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 84.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2012 85.4%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 87.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2014 88.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2015 87.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2016 88.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2017 84.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2018 91.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2019 87.3% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2020 93.7% coil spring fractured or broken
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 Gl 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
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 Gl 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 447 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 | 121 | 26.80% | 20.89% | +5.91 |
| Tyres | 97 | 21.50% | 19.76% | +1.74 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 69 | 15.30% | 5.52% | +9.78 |
| Suspension | 58 | 12.90% | 20.98% | −8.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 30 | 6.70% | 12.21% | −5.51 |
| Visibility | 21 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 19 | 4.20% | 5.57% | −1.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 15 | 3.30% | 4.18% | −0.88 |
| Steering | 13 | 2.90% | 2.57% | +0.33 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 0.90% | 1.76% | −0.86 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.0% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.4% | £80–250 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.1% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.1% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.1% | £5–25 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £80–180 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 0.86% | £3–12 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 16.1% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.3% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 9.2% | £80–180 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 5.7% | £30–75 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.4% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1 | 100.0% | 28,643 mi |
| 30-60k | 25 | 96.0% | 42,599 mi |
| 60-90k | 93 | 79.6% | 78,187 mi |
| 90-120k | 129 | 85.3% | 103,639 mi |
| 120k+ | 101 | 88.1% | 149,663 mi |
Source: 349 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 Gl MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl?
85.4% of the 349 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 83.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.01%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.44%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.01%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 88.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl in this dataset had covered 100,023 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl?
Diesel: 85.8% pass rate across 324 tests. Petrol: 80.0% pass rate across 25 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Gl MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 86.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 84.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.