2020 Mercedes-Benz A: MOT pass rate and reliability

91% of 2020 Mercedes-Benz As pass the MOT first time, measured across 29,219 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 32,814 miles.

How the 2020 compares

  • Against all Mercedes-Benz As (90%, 91,485 tests): +1 points
  • Against all 2020 cars (89.4%): +1.6 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Mercedes-Benz A model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2020 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Mercedes-Benz A:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2018 85.7% 840 46,204
2019 88.3% 42,715 40,339
2020 91% 29,219 32,814
2021 92.4% 18,439 26,674

What this means if you are buying a 2020 A

The 2020 sits close to the Mercedes-Benz A average, so there is no strong model-year signal either way. Judge the individual car on its own history. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 6-year-old car fails on

A 2020 car is 6 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is below average for a car this age, worth a mileage-consistency check since an unusually low reading is sometimes clocking rather than luck. On a 2020 Mercedes-Benz A the average at test was 32,814 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2021 at 92.4%, and the weakest in our data is 2018 at 85.7%. That 6.7 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2020 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Mercedes-Benz A MOT data · Every model