Mercedes-Benz CLC MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Mercedes-Benz CLC in Great Britain in 2025 — 7,987 tests. Figures cover every CLC first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the CLC ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
55.8%
16.5 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
7,987
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
12.4%
of CLC first tests; national 7.3%

How many Mercedes-Benz CLC cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 9,899 Mercedes-Benz CLC cars that were taxed or on SORN: 8,836 taxed and 1,063 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. Mercedes-Benz CLC vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
8,836
89.3% of the 9,899 CLC cars taxed or on SORN; 23 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
1,063
declared off the road by their keepers — 10.7% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed CLC cars peaked at 13,507 at the end of 2014 and has since fallen by 4,671 (34.6%) to 8,836 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 72 at the end of 2014 to 1,063 at the end of 2025, up 1376.4%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed CLC cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

05k10k15k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed CLC cars, year 2014: 14kTaxed CLC cars, year 2015: 13kTaxed CLC cars, year 2016: 13kTaxed CLC cars, year 2017: 13kTaxed CLC cars, year 2018: 13kTaxed CLC cars, year 2019: 12kTaxed CLC cars, year 2020: 12kTaxed CLC cars, year 2021: 12kTaxed CLC cars, year 2022: 11kTaxed CLC cars, year 2023: 11kTaxed CLC cars, year 2024: 10kTaxed CLC cars, year 2025: 9k9k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed CLC cars
201413,507
201513,317
201613,087
201712,900
201812,659
201912,322
202012,051
202111,768
202211,357
202310,670
20249,773
20258,836

CLC cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — SORN counts are a fraction of the taxed count.

05001k2k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)CLC cars on SORN, year 2014: 72CLC cars on SORN, year 2015: 106CLC cars on SORN, year 2016: 164CLC cars on SORN, year 2017: 200CLC cars on SORN, year 2018: 263CLC cars on SORN, year 2019: 377CLC cars on SORN, year 2020: 473CLC cars on SORN, year 2021: 501CLC cars on SORN, year 2022: 562CLC cars on SORN, year 2023: 723CLC cars on SORN, year 2024: 908CLC cars on SORN, year 2025: 1k1k
View this chart as a table
YearCLC cars on SORN
201472
2015106
2016164
2017200
2018263
2019377
2020473
2021501
2022562
2023723
2024908
20251,063

Which model years survive

Taxed CLC cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 8,836 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed CLC cars
20117158.1%
20102,65930.1%
20093,29337.3%
20082,16624.5%
All other build years (six years, each under 1%)30.0%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model name CLC CLASS under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the CLC ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, CLC vs all cars, 2025.

Mercedes-Benz CLCAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Mercedes-Benz CLC, vehicle age 14: 61.9%Mercedes-Benz CLC, vehicle age 15: 54.7%Mercedes-Benz CLC, vehicle age 16: 54.8%Mercedes-Benz CLC, vehicle age 17: 57%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%All cars 57.6%Mercedes-Benz CLC 57%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)CLC testsCLC pass rateAll cars
1455161.9%61.2%
152,37854.7%59.3%
163,03154.8%58.3%
172,00157.0%57.2%

Better or worse than the average car?

The CLC's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the CLC beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

CLC aheadCLC behind
-6-3+0+3+6Age 14: +0.7 points vs the average carAge 15: -4.6 points vs the average car15Age 16: -3.5 points vs the average carAge 17: -0.2 points vs the average car17Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
14+0.7
15-4.6
16-3.5
17-0.2

The CLC fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the CLC fleet still in use.

01k2k3k4kAge 14: 55114Age 15: 2kAge 16: 3k16Age 17: 2k17Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
14551
152,378
163,031
172,001

What a CLC fails on

Where the failure items land when a CLC fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Suspension33.4%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment20.5%
Brakes14.9%
Tyres9.9%
Visibility6.6%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.2%
Steering4.0%
Body, chassis, structure2.3%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (96.7% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a CLC, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Suspension: 30.2% of advisories30.2%Brakes: 28.8% of advisories28.8%Tyres: 20.3% of advisories20.3%Body, chassis, structure: 5.0% of advisoriesNon-component advisories: 4.6% of advisoriesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 4.0% of advisories
SuspensionBrakesTyresBody, chassis, structureNon-component advisoriesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Suspension30.2%
Brakes28.8%
Tyres20.3%
Body, chassis, structure5.0%
Non-component advisories4.6%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment4.0%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid CLC?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested CLC fuel types, 2025, against the all-cars average. Fleet ages differ by fuel — newer fleets help the electrified bars.

50%60%70%80%90%100%all cars 72.3%Petrol: 57.5% of 5,300 tests57.5%Petrol5,300 testsDiesel: 52.5% of 2,686 tests52.5%Diesel2,686 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Petrol5,30057.5%
Diesel2,68652.5%

What mileage is normal for a CLC?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) CLC; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical CLC (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k150k141617Vehicle age (years)Age 14: typical 86,250 miles (middle half 66,250–106,250)Age 15: typical 96,250 miles (middle half 73,750–118,750)Age 16: typical 103,750 miles (middle half 81,250–128,750)Age 17: typical 108,750 miles (middle half 86,250–133,750)108k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
1466,25086,250106,250
1573,75096,250118,750
1681,250103,750128,750
1786,250108,750133,750

More vehicles we've checked

How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.