Pass rate
80.3%
Around average — 7.0 pts ahead of the 73.3% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 7,296 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£74
2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk MOT pass rate
- 2001
- typical 87,834 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
22.8% 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 →
5.3 pts down across model years — 6.1% in 2000, 0.8% in 2016.
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 87.2% pass
- Avoid 2004 75.8% pass
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 11.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 76.8%
- Typical mileage
- 88k mi
The 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk MOT pass rate is 80.3% of its MOT tests — 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz Slk does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 12.9% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- 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 73.3% and this one manages 80.3% — 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 60% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Slk? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.3%, so this figure is 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.8%. The median 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk in this dataset had covered 87,834 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.4% of the time, April–September 80.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.32% of tests.
- 7,296 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.3% overall pass rate, 76.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz Slk, the average is 79.9% — best year 2016 (87.2%), worst 2004 (75.8%).
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
- 7,296
- Typical mileage (median)
- 87,834 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz Slk
- 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 Slk MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Slk
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,896 | 81.4% |
| South West | 1,031 | 76.2% |
| East of England | 969 | 81.1% |
| North West | 599 | 81.6% |
| Yorkshire | 599 | 82.5% |
| West Midlands | 584 | 81.0% |
| East Midlands | 446 | 81.6% |
| Scotland | 354 | 72.6% |
| Wales | 328 | 77.1% |
| London | 270 | 85.6% |
| North East | 220 | 81.8% |
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 2001 Slk
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 2001 Slk
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 3.3% 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.
-
Check the lights 3.1% of tests
“stop lamp not working”
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 battery 1.8% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
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 2001 Slk through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£74 — and 60% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£74
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 60%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 7,296 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 Slk, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2000 to 2016. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.8% to 87.2% — a spread of 11.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 80.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 80.3%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2002 81.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 78.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2004 75.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2005 76.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2006 76.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2007 76.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2008 77.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 77.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 78.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2011 82.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 81.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 81.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 83.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 85.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 87.2% 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 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk 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 2001 cars with a similar record
- Porsche Boxster 80.5%
- Jaguar XK8 80.6%
- BMW Z3 79.5%
- Subaru Impreza 79.3%
- Jaguar Xkr 79.2%
- Land Rover Range Rover 78.9%
Closest pass rates among 2001 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 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk 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 17,158 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 | 3,952 | 22.80% | 20.89% | +1.91 |
| Suspension | 3,563 | 20.60% | 20.98% | −0.38 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2,586 | 14.90% | 12.21% | +2.69 |
| Tyres | 2,232 | 12.90% | 19.76% | −6.86 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,644 | 9.50% | 5.52% | +3.98 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,022 | 5.90% | 5.57% | +0.33 |
| Visibility | 827 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 529 | 3.10% | 4.18% | −1.08 |
| Steering | 482 | 2.80% | 2.57% | +0.23 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 321 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
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 | 3.3% | £80–200 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–25 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.8% | £60–140 |
| Electronic stability control warning lamp indicates a fault Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £3–15 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.7% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.7% | £8–22 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.7% | £3–12 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £25–65 |
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 | 17.1% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.6% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.3% | £200–700 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 8.8% | £20–55 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.8% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 204 | 90.7% | 20,209 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,226 | 86.1% | 48,116 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,394 | 82.4% | 76,158 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,168 | 77.3% | 103,642 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,294 | 74.5% | 141,245 mi |
Source: 7,296 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.
2001 Slk MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk?
80.3% of the 7,296 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.3% for cars first used in 2001. First-attempt pass rate: 76.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.32%), stop lamp not working (3.06%), headlamp lens slightly defective (2.78%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.7% of the time, falling to 74.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk in this dataset had covered 87,834 mi.
Does the season affect the 2001 Mercedes-Benz Slk MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 80.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.