Pass rate
83.7%
Around average — 6.5 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 8,976 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£137
2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 4 trims combined
- typical 99,758 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
24.0% 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 →
1.2 pts down across model years — 7.5% in 2000, 6.3% in 2015.
Which year to buy
- Best 2015 87.4% pass
- Avoid 2003 72.3% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 15.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.1%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml MOT pass rate is 83.7% of its MOT tests — 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz Ml does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.0× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 10.9% of everything recorded on the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml, against 5.5% nationally — 5.4 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 24.0%, but at 19.8% 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 83.7% — 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 24% 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 Ml? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz Ml 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 Ml compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 6.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.1%. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml in this dataset had covered 99,758 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 98% of tests, with a 83.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.0% of the time, April–September 83.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 7.60% of tests.
- 8,976 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.7% overall pass rate, 81.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz Ml, the average is 80.8% — best year 2015 (87.4%), worst 2003 (72.3%).
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
- 8,976
- Typical mileage (median)
- 99,758 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz Ml
- 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 Ml MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (98% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Ml
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,307 | 84.7% |
| East of England | 988 | 82.7% |
| South West | 839 | 82.2% |
| North West | 807 | 85.0% |
| West Midlands | 786 | 85.5% |
| Yorkshire | 763 | 81.4% |
| London | 756 | 89.2% |
| East Midlands | 575 | 82.6% |
| Scotland | 495 | 80.2% |
| Wales | 413 | 79.9% |
| North East | 245 | 80.8% |
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 Ml
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 Ml
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 4.8% 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 windscreen 3.5% 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 2.9% 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.
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 Ml through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£137 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£137
- 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
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 8,976 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 Ml, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2000 to 2015. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.3% to 87.4% — a spread of 15.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2001 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 72.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 73.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 78.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 78.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 78.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 78.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 78.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 79.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2012 83.7%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2013 86.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2014 86.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 87.4% 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 Ml 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
- BMW 640 83.7%
- MINI Countryman COOPER D 83.7%
- Volkswagen Up 83.8%
- BMW 530 83.5%
- Toyota RAV4 84.1%
- MINI Mini 83.3%
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 Ml 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 11,012 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 | 2,670 | 24.00% | 19.76% | +4.24 |
| Brakes | 2,052 | 18.50% | 20.89% | −2.39 |
| Suspension | 1,571 | 14.10% | 20.98% | −6.88 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,215 | 10.90% | 5.52% | +5.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,135 | 10.20% | 5.57% | +4.63 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,064 | 9.60% | 12.21% | −2.61 |
| Visibility | 570 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Non-component advisories | 458 | 4.10% | 4.18% | −0.08 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 175 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 102 | 0.90% | 0.82% | +0.08 |
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 | 7.6% | £80–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.5% | £80–200 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.7% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.7% | £80–250 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.94% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 0.89% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.4% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.7% | £200–700 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £45–110 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 42 | 97.6% | 23,961 mi |
| 30-60k | 572 | 88.6% | 49,064 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,608 | 85.4% | 77,404 mi |
| 90-120k | 3,439 | 83.3% | 104,108 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,311 | 81.0% | 142,414 mi |
Source: 8,976 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 Ml MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml?
83.7% of the 8,976 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 81.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (7.60%), coil spring fractured or broken (4.85%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.53%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.6% of the time, falling to 81.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml in this dataset had covered 99,758 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml?
Diesel: 83.7% pass rate across 8,778 tests. Petrol: 85.4% pass rate across 198 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Ml MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.