Gardai examine €130 car after two die in pier plunge

DonJose

I pity the poor family of those two fellas who died in this tragedy. But what the hell was this car doing on the road. The NCT is a failure as the guards don't seem to enforce it. Why don't the guards in Ireland have a system like that in the UK where the police cars have cameras that can read the registration of cars and tell if the car is insured, taxed and NCT'ed.

I heard figures of 10% of cars on our roads are not insured, I don't know what the figure is for Tax and NCT. Also there is a huge number of cars driving around with one functioning headlight, just passed one earlier today bring the kids to school. This is an everyday occurance.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-examine-8364130-car-after-two-die-in-pier-plunge-1236238.html

Henry Ford III

Did the car have an NCT? Report doesn't say yeah or neah.

eringobragh

Yeah but i'm guessing no at that price or its mileage was to the moon & back.

DonJose

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Did the car have an NCT? Report doesn't say yeah or neah.

If it had an NCT would the brakes have passed. Would you NCT a car and sell it for €130, I don't think so.

bazz26

Even if that car had a valid NCT cert, components can fail at any time, even if not on the day of the NCT itself.

Unfortunately something like the brakes could have failed at that exact moment on the pier. Until the results of the forensic examination are made public, this is mere speculation.

cornbb

I recently sold a car with damaged bodywork/upholstry for €100, there was over a year left on the NCT and everything was in perfect working order, brakes, tyres, everything. You can't make assumptions on what shape the car was in based on the price.

maidhc

DonJose wrote: »

But what the hell was this car doing on the road.

I think the question is why was the car driving at speed on a fishing pier in the first place. The NCT is a test of a car at a particular time, and it certainly doesn't test things that can fail quite suddenly like the master cylinder. I own and drive a car identical to that mondeo with 200k and quite frankly the fact the car is the age it is and has the milage it has should be respected... i.e. I don't drive up peoples rear end as most cars on the road now have better brakes than it.

DonJose

cornbb wrote: »

I recently sold a car with damaged bodywork/upholstry for €100, there was over a year left on the NCT and everything was in perfect working order, brakes, tyres, everything. You can't make assumptions on what shape the car was in based on the price.

Well the cheapest mondeo I could find on carzone was selling for €495 and it needed an engine. For its breaks to fail within 24 hours of purchase must be an indicator of the state the car was in.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=792038

Henry Ford III

bazz26 wrote: »

Even if that car had a valid NCT cert, components can fail at any time, even if not on the day of the NCT itself.

Unfortunately something like the brakes could have failed at that exact moment on the pier. Until the results of the forensic examination are made public, this is mere speculation.

QFT. Speculation is pretty much pointless.

maidhc

DonJose wrote: »

Well the cheapest mondeo I could find on carzone was selling for €495 and it needed an engine. For its breaks to fail within 24 hours of purchase must be an indicator of the state the car was in.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=792038

Don't mind carzone. You can quite easily find a reasonably servicible mondeo for ~€200 on the buy and sell. I went to see one a few months ago, and it was in grand condition. I was only going to break it for parts, but in the end decided there was enough junk in the yard and just bought parts for my own.

Brakes do fail though. It happened me before in a 3 year old tractor. The vehicle in question had a length of rubber hose that chafed and when I slammed on the brakes going down a hill it burst. Frightening experience, let me say... I went straight through a stop sign on a main road and thanks be to god no one was coming.

craichoe

DonJose wrote: »

Well the cheapest mondeo I could find on carzone was selling for €495 and it needed an engine. For its breaks to fail within 24 hours of purchase must be an indicator of the state the car was in.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=792038

Yeah .. Carzone is a rip

JHMEG

"All three had earlier been socialising in Carraroe" -- good chance alcohol was involved.

Henry Ford III

Such unfounded speculation is unfair to the dead and their relatives I feel.

Marcus.Aurelius

And besides, who said they didn't buy the car so they could die in it by driving it over the side?

Better than destroying a new one, an unwanted financial strain on those left behind.

Sad, sad stuff

mike65

The price of a car is not a guide to anything really. Nor is the presence of a current NCT disk. Why people insist on driving about on exposed quays is a more pertinent question.

Mike.

prendy

The price of a car is not a guide to anything really. Nor is the presence of a current NCT disk.

amm ya it is the NCT increases the value of used cars.

eg. if you have 2 similar cars(same year milage make model etc) the one with an NCT is worth more therfore the NCT does affect price!

mike65

I meant safety! A car might have disk thats almost two years old and be a death trap, another car with no disk might have no mechancial problems at all.

Mike.

Lucifer

The NCT is not a huge indication of how roadworthy a car is. I am a mechanic and have seen plenty of items that should of failed and the car passed, on the other hand i have seen plenty of things fail when they have nothing wrong with them. Such as my dads car about 2 years ago, i focused the lights on it and it failed, then i rechecked them and it failed. rechecked them again and it passed. is very hit and miss.

My current car has no NCT (out by 1 year) but i know myself that the car is safe. I'd rather know myself the condition of my car by checking it regularly than some piece of paper that says it was ok on a certain day. The one main reason i may put it through the test is that when selling it people look for nct and will make it alot easier to sell.

Tipsy Mac

maidhc wrote: »

I think the question is why was the car driving at speed on a fishing pier in the first place.

Exactly, I'd say at even upto 10mph it would not be possible to go over the 6inch edging. NCT or no NCT a pier is no place for speed.

unkel

Terrible tragedy. Several posters have made points that are probably valid. There's no point to speculate now though - the inquest will come up with some facts in due course