Pass rate
94.2%
Above average — 21.1 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 104 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£102
2008 Hummer H3 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- 2 trims combined
- typical 72,721 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
24.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2008 94.2% pass · this year
- Avoid 2007 77.6% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 16.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.9%
- Typical mileage
- 73k mi
The 2008 Hummer H3 MOT pass rate is 94.2% of its MOT tests — 21.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hummer H3 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Advisories: 2.6× the national share
Advisories make up 10.9% of everything recorded on the 2008 Hummer H3, against 4.2% nationally — 6.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 24.5%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Most of what testers record here is advisory — worth reading, not worth walking away from on its own.
- 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 73.1% and this one manages 94.2% — 21.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 23% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 Hummer H3? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Hummer H3 first registered in 2008 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2008 Hummer H3 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 21.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.9%. The median 2008 Hummer H3 in this dataset had covered 72,721 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 94.2% of the time, April–September 94.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.73% of tests.
- 104 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.2% overall pass rate, 93.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hummer H3, the average is 85.3% — best year 2008 (94.2%), worst 2007 (77.6%).
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
- 104
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,721 mi
- Make and model
- Hummer H3
- 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 H3 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 81% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the H3
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 38 | 94.7% |
| East of England | 16 | 87.5% |
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 2008 H3
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 2008 H3
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 6.7% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely 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 battery 2.9% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
-
Check the lights 2.9% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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.
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 2008 H3 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£102 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£102
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated,
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 104 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 H3, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2006 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 77.6% to 94.2% — a spread of 16.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 82.8% rear fog lamp missing
- 2007 77.6% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2008 94.2%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2009 88.2% joints constant velocity boot…
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 2008 Hummer H3 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Bentley Continental 91.4%
- Porsche 911 91.0%
- BMW M3 90.0%
- Porsche Boxster 89.4%
- Audi A8 87.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.7%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 Hummer H3 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 147 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 | 36 | 24.50% | 20.98% | +3.52 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 26 | 17.70% | 12.21% | +5.49 |
| Brakes | 18 | 12.20% | 20.89% | −8.69 |
| Non-component advisories | 16 | 10.90% | 4.18% | +6.72 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 15 | 10.20% | 5.57% | +4.63 |
| Steering | 11 | 7.50% | 2.57% | +4.93 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 9 | 6.10% | 5.52% | +0.58 |
| Tyres | 8 | 5.40% | 19.76% | −14.36 |
| Visibility | 7 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 0.70% | 1.76% | −1.06 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.7% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.8% | £80–250 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.9% | £60–140 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.9% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.9% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.9% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.9% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Steering rack gaiter damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.9% | £120–300 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 11.5% | £120–300 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.7% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.7% | £18–45 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 5.8% | £20–55 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 4.8% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 16,416 mi |
| 30-60k | 29 | 93.1% | 47,916 mi |
| 60-90k | 28 | 89.3% | 68,436 mi |
| 90-120k | 32 | 96.9% | 102,350 mi |
| 120k+ | 13 | 100.0% | 149,813 mi |
Source: 104 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.
2008 H3 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Hummer H3?
94.2% of the 104 2008 Hummer H3 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 93.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Hummer H3?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.73%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.81%), battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (2.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Hummer H3 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Hummer H3 in this dataset had covered 72,721 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Hummer H3 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 94.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.