Mercedes-Benz Sprinter: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter fails its first MOT more often than the average UK vehicle, by 2.4 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 24,425 individual Mercedes-Benz Sprinter tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 74.3% first-time pass rate means roughly 26 in every 100 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters presented for MOT fail on the first attempt. That is worse than average, so budget for remedial work and treat a fresh 12-month MOT as a genuine selling point rather than a given. The average Mercedes-Benz Sprinter tested had covered 130,082 miles and was built around 2011.

What this means at salvage auction

Pass rate is a proxy for what a car costs to keep on the road. On a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter bought as a repairable salvage, assume the mechanical side needs more than the visible accident damage, and pad your repair estimate accordingly.

Before you bid: run the lot through the analyzer, check the car's own record, check the mileage, decode the VIN, and if it carries a marker use the write-off value calculator. Or compare it against another model.

Looking at a specific Mercedes-Benz Sprinter rather than the model in general? The free check covers its MOT and mileage history, and the full HPI report confirms the insurance write-off category, outstanding finance and whether it is recorded stolen, from licensed data for 5 credits. Already own one that has been damaged? Work out whether fixing it beats selling it with the repair or scrap calculator, and see what damaged Mercedes-Benz Sprinters actually sold for at UK salvage auction.

Most common MOT failures on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

1. Parking brake efficiency less than 50% of the required value, 2.6% of tests (9.5x the national rate for this defect)
2. Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement, 5.4% of tests (5.58x the national rate for this defect)
3. Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded, 3.1% of tests (3.72x the national rate for this defect)
4. Lamp emitted colour, position or intensity not in accordance with the requirements, 1.5% of tests (3.38x the national rate for this defect)
5. A direction indicator lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 1.6% of tests (3.18x the national rate for this defect)
6. Parking brake inoperative on one side, 1.4% of tests (3.1x the national rate for this defect)
7. Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction, 2.8% of tests (3.02x the national rate for this defect)
8. A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 3.9% of tests (2.41x the national rate for this defect)
9. A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, 2.1% of tests (2.23x the national rate for this defect)
10. A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn, 6% of tests (1.62x the national rate for this defect)

From 291,207 DVSA-tracked Mercedes-Benz Sprinter tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 4.04% of these flagged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter pass rate by model year

Pass rates fall steadily as cars age, so the model year matters as much as the model. First-time pass rate for each Mercedes-Benz Sprinter year:

• 1997 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 65.6% first-time pass, 247 tests
• 1998 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 63.3% first-time pass, 381 tests
• 1999 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 66.6% first-time pass, 461 tests
• 2000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68.9% first-time pass, 687 tests
• 2001 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68% first-time pass, 1,220 tests
• 2002 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 65.9% first-time pass, 1,737 tests
• 2003 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 67% first-time pass, 2,000 tests
• 2004 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 64.6% first-time pass, 2,273 tests
• 2005 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 66.6% first-time pass, 2,491 tests
• 2006 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68.1% first-time pass, 2,942 tests
• 2007 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 67.6% first-time pass, 4,852 tests
• 2008 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68.4% first-time pass, 5,455 tests
• 2009 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68.6% first-time pass, 4,688 tests
• 2010 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 68.1% first-time pass, 6,759 tests
• 2011 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 67.5% first-time pass, 7,553 tests
• 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 67.1% first-time pass, 9,674 tests
• 2013 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 69.2% first-time pass, 12,133 tests
• 2014 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 70.6% first-time pass, 13,912 tests
• 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 71.6% first-time pass, 15,598 tests
• 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 74.9% first-time pass, 14,971 tests
• 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 76.6% first-time pass, 17,396 tests
• 2018 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 79.9% first-time pass, 17,551 tests
• 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 80.3% first-time pass, 23,766 tests
• 2020 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 80.8% first-time pass, 17,483 tests
• 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter - 78.1% first-time pass, 1,828 tests

Other Mercedes-Benz models

• Mercedes-Benz C - 77.4%
• Mercedes-Benz A-Class - 78.7%
• Mercedes-Benz E - 79.2%
• Mercedes-Benz A - 89.5%
• Mercedes-Benz Vito - 72.7%
• Mercedes-Benz Gla - 85.2%
• Mercedes-Benz Glc - 87.8%
• Mercedes-Benz B-Class - 74.7%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Fiat Ducato Motorhome - 74.5%
• Ford Focus - 74.4%
• Kia Rio - 74.3%
• MINI One D - 74.3%
• Lexus Is220 - 74.2%
• Perodua Myvi - 74.2%

If this van is a salvage or write-off

• Transit and Sprinter: the van-flipping guide
• Britain's most and least reliable vans: 2.1 million MOT tests analysed
• Does high mileage mean a worse MOT pass rate? The workhorses say no
• What does Cat N mean? Category N explained
• What does Cat S mean? Category S explained
• Cat S vs Cat N: the real differences

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All 2,005 models ranked by MOT pass rate