Mercedes-Benz A-Class: which years to avoid

Based on 245,783 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2011 is the strongest, failing 18% less often than average.

Found a Mercedes-Benz A-Class you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every A-Class model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the Mercedes-Benz A-Class
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2002	1,244	34.9%	about average
2003	1,681	36.6%	about average
2004	1,618	34.7%	about average
2005	3,550	33.2%	about average
2006	5,178	32.5%	about average
2007	6,780	32.1%	about average
2008	7,305	32.0%	about average
2009	7,356	30.4%	about average
2010	6,454	28.2%	about average
2011	5,591	24.8%	18% better
2012	5,338	24.8%	about average
2013	14,850	24.5%	about average
2014	23,419	22.2%	about average
2015	26,979	19.2%	about average
2016	38,298	16.6%	about average
2017	40,940	14.2%	about average
2018	40,449	11.9%	about average
2019	8,753	11.1%	about average

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Mercedes-Benz A-Class, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.