MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Mercedes-Benz S-Class MOT pass rate
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class passed 85.97% of its 23,727 initial MOT tests in 2025 — above the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 8.7 percentage points better than average.
How the Mercedes-Benz S-Class holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 350 | 92.57% |
| 6–10 years | 11,357 | 89.78% |
| 11 years and over | 12,009 | 82.16% |
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class loses 10.4 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket — a normal pattern for a car of this age, but still worth checking the individual history.
Why the Mercedes-Benz S-Class fails its MOT
Across every Mercedes-Benz S-Class that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 22.59% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 22.59% | 1,800 |
| Brakes | 21.2% | 1,689 |
| Tyres | 19.27% | 1,535 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 11.21% | 893 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 7.79% | 621 |
| Visibility | 6.38% | 508 |
How the Mercedes-Benz S-Class compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sits 206th of 651 models in this data , and 17th of the 37 Mercedes-Benz models covered . Mercedes-Benz as a whole averaged 80.28%, so this model runs 5.7 points ahead of its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Mercedes-Benz S-Class
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Mercedes-Benz S-Class came to its 2025 test at 96,755 miles and 12.7 years old. Most examples tested were diesel.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Mercedes-Benz models
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class 77.86% pass rate · 233,512 tests
- Mercedes-Benz GLA 85.48% pass rate · 86,803 tests
- Mercedes-Benz Vito 73.61% pass rate · 84,511 tests
- Mercedes-Benz GLC 88.01% pass rate · 81,421 tests
- Mercedes-Benz CLA 83.53% pass rate · 72,854 tests
- Mercedes-Benz B-Class 74.91% pass rate · 60,783 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Hyundai Tucson 85.88% pass rate
- Toyota Prius 86.68% pass rate
- Tesla Model 85.2% pass rate
- Toyota Corolla 84.79% pass rate
- Audi Q5 86.09% pass rate
- BMW X1 85.23% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.