Pass rate
78.8%
Around average — 6.2 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 80 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £20–£60
2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 72,899 mi
Only 80 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
20.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 83.6% pass
- Avoid 2008 68.4% pass
Across the 11 years on record, a spread of 15.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 73.4%
- Typical mileage
- 73k mi
The 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler MOT pass rate is 78.8% of its MOT tests — 6.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Chrysler Jeep Wrangler does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.5× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 14.1% of everything recorded on the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler, against 5.6% nationally — 8.5 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 20.4%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.6% and this one manages 78.8% — 6.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 80 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Chrysler Jeep Wrangler? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 6.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.4%. The median 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler in this dataset had covered 72,899 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.3% of the time, April–September 82.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 6.25% of tests.
- 80 recorded tests behind this page.
- 78.8% overall pass rate, 73.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Chrysler Jeep Wrangler, the average is 74.7% — best year 2002 (83.6%), worst 2008 (68.4%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 80
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,899 mi
- Make and model
- Chrysler Jeep Wrangler
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Wrangler MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Wrangler
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 15 | 73.3% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2003 Wrangler
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2003 Wrangler
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the suspension joints 6.3% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated,”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the lights 5.0% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the brakes 1.3% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2003 Wrangler through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £20–£60 — and 50% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £20–£60
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints excessively worn
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 50%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 80 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Wrangler, side by side
11 model years on record, from 2000 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.4% to 83.6% — a spread of 15.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.5% rear fog lamp not working
- 2001 74.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 83.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 78.8%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2004 76.2% rear fog lamp not working
- 2006 79.8% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2007 72.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 68.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 73.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 76.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 83.3% rear fog lamp not working
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2003 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar Xj 78.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 78.3%
- Lexus IS200 78.0%
- Subaru Impreza 80.0%
- BMW Z4 77.5%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
Closest pass rates among 2003 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 140 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 29 | 20.40% | 20.98% | −0.58 |
| Brakes | 25 | 17.60% | 20.89% | −3.29 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 22 | 15.50% | 12.21% | +3.29 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 20 | 14.10% | 5.57% | +8.53 |
| Steering | 14 | 9.90% | 2.57% | +7.33 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 7.70% | 5.52% | +2.18 |
| Tyres | 8 | 5.60% | 19.76% | −14.16 |
| Visibility | 5 | 3.50% | 4.97% | −1.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 4 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 6.3% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 5.0% | £3–12 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £3–15 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £3–12 |
| Joints excessively worn Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.5% | £80–250 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.5% | £40–120 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £60–150 |
| All direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Bonnet cannot be secured in the closed position Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £20–80 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.3% | £18–45 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £18–45 |
| Joints excessively worn Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 10.0% | £80–250 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £45–110 |
| Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.8% | £40–150 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 7.5% | £45–120 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 9 | 100.0% | 21,623 mi |
| 30-60k | 28 | 67.9% | 52,442 mi |
| 60-90k | 24 | 83.3% | 81,430 mi |
| 90-120k | 13 | 76.9% | 98,568 mi |
| 120k+ | 6 | 83.3% | 204,420 mi |
Source: 80 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2003 Wrangler MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler?
78.8% of the 80 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 73.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (6.25%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (5.00%), rear fog lamp not working (5.00%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 83.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler in this dataset had covered 72,899 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.