Mercedes-Benz SLC MOT reliability

Mercedes-Benz SLCs passed their MOT first time 75% of the time across 16 tests in 2025. 7,936 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from only 16 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

First-time pass rate

75%

MOTs analysed

16

Still licensed (GB)

7,936

Body type

–

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

1979 petrol

3 MOTs

Passed first time 33%. Typical mileage 73,725 (most between 65,417 and 85,597).

2005: 100% → 2006: 100% → 2007: 100% → 2008: 100% → 2009: 60% → 2010: 50% → 2011: 50% → 2012: 67% → 2013: 80% → 2014: 80% → 2015: 60% → 2016: 100% → 2017: 67% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 100% → 2020: 100% → 2021: 86% → 2022: 33% → 2023: 67% → 2024: 71% → 2025: 33%

Most common failures

Headlamp: not working on dipped beam (33.3%)
Non catalyst emissions: emissions carbon monoxide content excessive (33.3%)

Where 1979 SLCs fail

Lights & electrics

33.3%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

33.3%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.