With Covid and lockdowns over the last two years many cars will have been left unused - particularly if the owner is in a multicar household, working from home, or shielding. Why spend money on tax, insurance and servicing if it isn't being used.

Assuming it has not been serviced in the last three years I would give it a very thorough examination and get a full service done before using it. Could be a good way to negotiate the price down.

Mercedes have gone through some ups and downs in terms of reliability, so I'd be wanting to find out what age the car is and what engine is under the bonnet before making any comment.

But in short, the absence of it being MOT'd for a couple of years, on its own, wouldn't be putting me off too much.

Any particular reason why it may have missed those MOT's? Taxi maybe?

Not sure why you'd think the lack of an MOT for two years would point to it being a taxi?, don't get that at all.

I also noticed that it doesn't have the model badges on the boot lid. Warning sign of a potential repaired accident damage?

Not sure if it is still the case, or if anyone actually ticks that box, but on Merc's, as with BMW's, you did have a badge 'delete option' when ordering new. There could be two reasons to choose this, either you could only afford a poverty spec, but don't want anyone to know. Or you'd bought a powerful version, but didn't want to draw attention to the fact. So while the lack of badges could suggest bodywork repairs,itisn't necessarily the case.

Clearly the car has not been legally driven in 2 years or more. If it has been stood idle then battery and tyres would have seriously degraded. If it has been stood outside then look for corrosion elsewhere exhaust etc. There are plenty of cars out there to choose from, this one I would avoid it will be cheap for a reason