Pass rate
92.5%
Above average — 8.5 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 107 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£86
2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 167,136 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
24.0% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £60–£90 for Brake discs seriously weakened. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 92.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2015 92.4% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 0.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.9%
- Typical mileage
- 167k mi
The 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 MOT pass rate is 92.5% of its MOT tests — 8.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes 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 V220 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Identification: 6.1× the national share
Identification accounts for 10.7% of everything recorded on the 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220, against 1.8% nationally — 8.9 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 24.0%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A missing or unreadable VIN plate is an administrative failure — usually easy to fix, but it stops the test.
- 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 84.0% and this one manages 92.5% — 8.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 31% 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 V220? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 8.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.9%. The median 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 in this dataset had covered 167,136 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 94.3% of the time, April–September 90.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 1.87% of tests.
- 107 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.5% overall pass rate, 91.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz V220, the average is 92.4% — best year 2016 (92.5%), worst 2015 (92.4%).
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
- 107
- Typical mileage (median)
- 167,136 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz V220
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the V220 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 83% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the V220
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 48 | 91.7% |
| London | 32 | 96.9% |
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 2016 V220
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 2016 V220
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 suspension joints 1.9% 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 lights 1.9% of tests
“rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface”
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 brakes 0.9% of tests
“brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 2016 V220 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£86 — and 31% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£86
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators not working
- £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
- 31%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 107 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 V220, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2015 to 2016. Across them the pass rate runs from 92.4% to 92.5% — a spread of 0.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2015 92.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 92.5%ball joint excessively worn
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 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 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 2016 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 75 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 | 18 | 24.00% | 20.89% | +3.11 |
| Tyres | 16 | 21.30% | 19.76% | +1.54 |
| Suspension | 11 | 14.70% | 20.98% | −6.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 9 | 12.00% | 12.21% | −0.21 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 8 | 10.70% | 1.76% | +8.94 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5 | 6.70% | 5.52% | +1.18 |
| Non-component advisories | 5 | 6.70% | 4.18% | +2.52 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 2.70% | 5.57% | −2.87 |
| Visibility | 1 | 1.30% | 4.97% | −3.67 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 1.9% | £80–250 |
| Rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.9% | £5–25 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Major | 0.93% | £45–110 |
| Electronic parking brake warning indicates a malfunction Brakes | Major | 0.93% | £25–80 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.93% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.93% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.93% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on main beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.93% | £5–25 |
| Individual direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.93% | £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 | 11.2% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 7.5% | £20–80 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 4.7% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.7% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.8% | £20–80 |
| Electronic parking brake control defective so that it cannot be satisfactorily operated Brakes | Advisory | 1.9% | £25–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 5 | 100.0% | 49,105 mi |
| 60-90k | 3 | 100.0% | 66,648 mi |
| 90-120k | 6 | 100.0% | 111,613 mi |
| 120k+ | 90 | 91.1% | 190,275 mi |
Source: 107 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.
2016 V220 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220?
92.5% of the 107 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 91.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (1.87%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (1.87%), rear reflectors defective or damaged by up to 50% of the reflecting surface (1.87%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 91.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 in this dataset had covered 167,136 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 Mercedes-Benz V220 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 94.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.