NCT idiody/illegality

Chris_533976

Ok so my car is due up for the NCT in "05-06" according to the square of paper on its windscreen. Well, its May now (May 2006 is 05-06 in their books), and having heard nothing, I rang up the local NCT centre on Little Island to find out what the story was.

"Well we have you booked in for the 20th June, theres nothing at all available before that, we're fully booked out". The date mentioned was around the 20th June, cant remember offhand. I was told they'd "just sent the letter out".

So how am I legally with this? Basicially my car is technically not proven roadworthy between the end of May and the 20th June. So what happens if a policeman decides hes going to pull me over for expired NCT discs? Hes not going to believe that they're fully booked out until then!

The only thing I can think of doing is bringing my NCT letter (with the booking date) along with me. But thats going to do no good if Mr. Plod is in a bad mood.

Anyone else been in this situation, and can I legally drive in the time between the end of May and the 20th June? Or whats the story? FWIW my tax isnt out for a few months yet.

Thanks.

_Kaiser_

Chris_533976 wrote:

Ok so my car is due up for the NCT in "05-06" according to the square of paper on its windscreen. Well, its May now (May 2006 is 05-06 in their books), and having heard nothing, I rang up the local NCT centre on Little Island to find out what the story was.

"Well we have you booked in for the 20th June, theres nothing at all available before that, we're fully booked out". The date mentioned was around the 20th June, cant remember offhand. I was told they'd "just sent the letter out".

So how am I legally with this? Basicially my car is technically not proven roadworthy between the end of May and the 20th June. So what happens if a policeman decides hes going to pull me over for expired NCT discs? Hes not going to believe that they're fully booked out until then!

The only thing I can think of doing is bringing my NCT letter (with the booking date) along with me. But thats going to do no good if Mr. Plod is in a bad mood.

Anyone else been in this situation, and can I legally drive in the time between the end of May and the 20th June? Or whats the story? FWIW my tax isnt out for a few months yet.

Thanks.

That's what I would/did do while waiting on the documentation. As long as you have some proof what can they really do? It's hardly your fault.

VroomVroom

Yep, just bring whatever proof that you have and you should be fine. Car is currently not taxed, because I was lazy and didn't renew it within the month specified.

Chancing my arm, I sent the Dept. of Environment an email, told the truth, they said they would re-issue me with another PIN so I didn't have to go to tax office. I printed out their email and stuck it in the glove box. Sure enough, stopped over the weekend at a checkpoint, showed the printed out email (which says that I just hadn't bothered renewing the tax) and he accepted it. I think as long as you have some sort of proof of at least an attempt to put things right, most of the Gardai are fairly decent.

I wouldn't let it go on for months though...

Litcagral

They are not legally obliged to notify a vehicle owner that their NCT will expire but they usually do so as a matter of courtesy. It is the responsibility of the owner to make an appointment to ensure that their vehicle has a valid NCT. The same applies to road tax - the owner is obliged to ensure that they have a valid tax disc regardless of whether they were notified of its immiment expiry.

kc66

Gardai dont care too much about NCT either. I didnt bother NCTing my last car and went through a few checkpoints without hassle.

seamus

If your current NCT cert is still valid, you can get your car taxed. You don't need to be NCT'd for the period of taxation, you only need to have a valid cert on the day that you get taxed.

GerardKeating

seamus wrote:

If your current NCT cert is still valid, you can get your car taxed. You don't need to be NCT'd for the period of taxation, you only need to have a valid cert on the day that you get taxed.

Actually, you can renew your tax even when the NCT is over two years out of date, they don't ask/check anymore.

Seth Brundle

I had to go down to Kildare last Friday and decided to tax my car (> 1 month out of date) (I needed to waste time anyway and what better way!). Anyhow the nice lady was not interested in seeing my ownership document, NCT cert or my insurance cert.
The only thing she wanted to see was the numbered ticket to prove that I was next in the queue!

aliveandkicking

kbannon wrote:

I had to go down to Kildare last Friday and decided to tax my car (> 1 month out of date) (I needed to waste time anyway and what better way!). Anyhow the nice lady was not interested in seeing my ownership document, NCT cert or my insurance cert.
The only thing she wanted to see was the numbered ticket to prove that I was next in the queue!

Yes ever since the introduction of the Motor tax online system the offices dont ask for any documentation. The only thing you have to do is fill your insurance policy number on your tax renewal form. Theres no point in the offices demanding to see documentation if you can just go off and do it on the internet instead without any documentation.

Our man in Havana

And the insurance details you provide are not checked. You can enter a made up policy number and they don't care. Shocking.

NUTLEY BOY

Chris,

The NCT test dates system seems a bit funny.

Seemingly, in Dublin anyway, they only release appointment dates for NO MORE than 5 weeks ahead if you ring up.

I rang up and got some ridiculous appointment for several weeks ahead. Once I got my appointment letter with the booking reference I then went in to their web site to use the facility to check appointment dates and or change them.

At that stage a pile of vacant slots appeared on the website for my test centre. They were not available when I rang up a few weeks previously ! Anyway, I changed the appointment for an earlier date and time that suited much better.

Try it for the Little Island centre and see if you can get the same result, you might be lucky.

Chris_533976

Thanks... I did that and there were a couple of earlier slots.

But the earliest slots are only a few days before my booked date. Not gonna make much difference unfortunately I'll keep an eye out for cancellations through that tho.

Our man in Havana

Beware that once you are within a week of your booked date you won't be able to avail of a cancellation without incuring a cancellation fee! :eek: Madness