No NCT an offence?

curadh

Got stopped and the guard took my details and said Ive to produce my insurance certificate, aswell as an NCT certificate i presume he means an application for an NCT, within 10 days, or I will be summonsed.
I thought the NCT was neither here nor there at the moment? Or was the guard just in a bad mood.

Gary ITR

It is an offence not to have a valid nct cert. He could summons you for it if he likes

Anan1

curadh wrote: »

I thought the NCT was neither here nor there at the moment?

??

Canis_major

The NCT was always required, but it seems only recently that its actually being enforced. Your best bet is to see if you can ring the local test centre and see if you can get a test cancellation or similar ASAP .

As far as i know if you do get summonsed its usually a €250 or so fine + the hassle of having to turn up to court.

curadh

Ouch! methinks I better apply asap and hope for a cancellation. ta for the replies

allybhoy

Same thing happened to me recently, went through the same checkpoint twice in half an hour, 1st time no issues, 2nd time the garda asked y I hadnt got an nct,I said it was recently imported etc etc, he said he could take the car off me if he wanted and to produce all my details, insurance certificate etc down in the station in 10days. Went down the station that night and gave them everything, they barely looked at the forms just said "yep thats grand ill put you in the system as having produced ". Didnt mention anything about an NCT, although I have since applied for it.

mcwhirter

Onkle wrote: »

It is an offence not to have a valid nct cert. He could summons you for it if he likes

If they take it that seriously then why do they not send out reminders like they used too. Sometimes life can be far too busy to keep checking when your NCT is about to expire.
Car, house insurance and road tax send out out reminders why not the NCT too?

Henry Ford III

mcwhirter wrote: »

If they take it that seriously then why do they not send out reminders like they used too. Sometimes life can be far too busy to keep checking when your NCT is about to expire.
Car, house insurance and road tax send out out reminders why not the NCT too?

The onus is on the owner I guess.

Johnny Utah

Generally, the NCT is not enforced. However, this will vary greatly depending on the Guard you meet, whether you have a bad attitude at the checkpoint, whether you would be classed as a boy racer, etc.
I've been through plenty of checkpoints and the distinct lack of an nct has never been brought up.


The NCT itself is a pisstake. I wouldn't trust them with my car tbh.

G-Money

This is good to know about. I recently imported my car and I went to the NCT centre a day or two later with the documentation that the Revenue gave me when I paid the VRT. The girl said they needed something that showed the exact date the car was first registered and for me to come back when I have the reg certificate.

I was a bit delayed in applying for the motor tax because of a change of address, but I applied and paid for it last week so I'm waiting for the disc to arrive. Hopefully the vehicle reg certificate will appear soon after.

furtzy

The local paper is full of prosecutions for no NCT every week. Its usually a €250 fine.

Is it true that Quinn Direct will void your insurance if you don't have one?

mcwhirter

So why won't they send reminders, having no insurance and tax is an offence but you receive reminders through the post. Why can the NCT not do the same, it's very lazy of them not to, especially when you can be fined for not having one.

Johnny Utah

mcwhirter wrote: »

So why won't they send reminders, having no insurance and tax is an offence but you receive reminders through the post. Why can the NCT not do the same, it's very lazy of them not to, especially when you can be fined for not having one.

Because they're a shower of incompetent morons that are only interested in profit.

The proof of their incompetence has been reported here many times on various threads.

mcwhirter

In addition to my previous post, I called the nct 'helpline!' number and asked them if they are now sending out reminders, the man said no. So I said so why do you state it on your website that you do , and he said we did until last year and that they will take it off the website. I wouldn't hold your breath.
This is taken from their website.


6. Will I be notified when my test is due?
NCTS will contact owners of eligible motor vehicles (based on official vehicle registration records) in advance of the anniversary date of first registration of your car. You will be offered a provisional appointment for the test that must either be confirmed or rearranged by using our on-line booking service or calling our LoCall booking number.

No they don't!!

oho_noho

I was stopped twice in the six months. Both times i was told i'd be summonsed, I've recieved nothing on either occassion.

Honey-ec

My car won't require an NCT for another two years, but how the hell are you supposed to know your test date if they don't send out a notification???

biko

mcwhirter wrote: »

If they take it that seriously then why do they not send out reminders like they used too. Sometimes life can be far too busy to keep checking when your NCT is about to expire.

They used to but I think they're trying to cut down on paperwork or sumsuch.
Anyway, the onus is on you to remember these things, like paying rent or anything really.
Put it in you calendar or phone to remind you, that's what I do for tax, nct etcetera.

mickoneill30

Honey-ec wrote: »

My car won't require an NCT for another two years, but how the hell are you supposed to know your test date if they don't send out a notification???

Use a diary, mark it on a calendar, put it in your phone, stick the date on your fridge, commit it to your brain. The test date is decided by you.
You just need to remember to organise it before the 4 years from registration or two years from your last test (in that case you have an extra reminder stuck to your windscreen as you have the expiry date of the old NCT displayed).

Gary ITR

mcwhirter wrote: »

If they take it that seriously then why do they not send out reminders like they used too. Sometimes life can be far too busy to keep checking when your NCT is about to expire.
Car, house insurance and road tax send out out reminders why not the NCT too?

Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse. Your car is exactly that 'Your car' and it's up to you to make sure that you have all the correct documentation to allow you drive the car

emmemm

oho_noho wrote: »

I was stopped twice in the six months. Both times i was told i'd be summonsed, I've recieved nothing on either occassion.

let us know if you get the hat trick:D

your reminder for the nct is on your windscreen weans.

mcwhirter

Onkle wrote: »

Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse. Your car is exactly that 'Your car' and it's up to you to make sure that you have all the correct documentation to allow you drive the car

So why do we receive reminders for car tax, car insurance, house insurance(not legally required), and other bills then.
There is a slight inconsistency here.

mickoneill30

mcwhirter wrote: »

So why do we receive reminders for car tax, car insurance, house insurance(not legally required), and other bills then.
There is a slight inconsistency here.

Well for car insurance and house insurance the insurance money is making money off you. They want to remind you to give them profit.

Dunno about car tax reminders. Maybe they're just nice

mcwhirter

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Well for car insurance and house insurance the insurance money is making money off you. They want to remind you to give them profit.

Dunno about car tax reminders. Maybe they're just nice

Yes but car insurance is legally required and so is car tax so why can they not treat the NCT as important as them. It is after all a check to ensure the car is road worthy so with all the press lately about road safety surely they could start with at least remindiing us how important the NCT is for our safety.

Traumadoc

The NCT is a pisstake to increase the sales of cars.

Johnny Storm

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Well for car insurance and house insurance the insurance money is making money off you. They want to remind you to give them profit.

Dunno about car tax reminders. Maybe they're just nice

The NCT is run by a private company. You can bet they are making plenty of profit. They have a Government-mandated monopoly. Their customers must come to them every two years by law! :eek: There is zero risk in their business. It's a money-making machine, FFS!
This is why it is totally ludicrous that they cant even bother to send you a fricking letter. :mad:

blastman

Just a quick question as an addition to this:

I have a car that I imported myself and I never NCTed it. I was stopped at a checkpoint this morning and the guard told me he could seize the car for having no NCT. Is that correct or was he just trying to put the frighteners on me? The car is taxed and insured so there's no issues there. I just want to know if it's true for no NCT as I've been gven less-than-accurate information when stopped by guards in the past.

I've been through checkpoints in the past and nothing was said about the NCT, don't know if there's a concerted clampdown in force.

vibe666

i'm in the same boat as you blastman (except I haven't been stopped for it yet). I registered the car, paid my vrt, got my tax, got my incurance etc. but nothing was ever even said about an nct and there's been no request for me to have one done.

i know the onus is on the car owner, but there's been nothing said to me about it in any capacity at all, official or otherwise aside from what I'm reading in this thread now.

i honestly expected to be sent something to tell me i needed to have it done, but this does not seem to be the case.

i have even been receiving an invoice from the VRT office once a month to remind me that my balance is zero and that my transactions this month are zero and that i must pay the owed zero amount in the next 30 days.

seriously, every month i get the same thing with lots of zeros on it.

i'm thinking that maybe they registered me as a dealer or something and keep sending me a monthly statement.

blastman

vibe, I know you have to register the car on the NCT system yourself. You bring the VLC to a test centre and they enter the car's details there and then. Until you do this, the car doesn't exist as far as they're concerned. Completely standalone system.

(I haven't done this either, BTW, just letting you know in case you were expecting them to call you! )

DannyBuoy

blastman wrote: »

vibe, I know you have to register the car on the NCT system yourself...

Only if the car doesn't exist on the Shannon vehicle database, ie imports etc

Seth Brundle

Johnny Storm wrote: »

The NCT is run by a private company. You can bet they are making plenty of profit. They have a Government-mandated monopoly. Their customers must come to them every two years by law! :eek: There is zero risk in their business. It's a money-making machine, FFS!
This is why it is totally ludicrous that they cant even bother to send you a fricking letter. :mad:

Whilst they may wwell be making loads of profit, they are on a fixed fee from the Dept. of Transport and do not make money each time someone fails, etc.
As for it being a Govt. mandated monopoly, what do you suggest? Do you think the UK system is better where the same place can fix the items that you fail on? Furthermore, its not really Govt mandated - its there because of an EU directive that the Irish Govt ignored for a very long time!
Just because you know some big words doesn't mean that your post is correct!

Gary ITR

kbannon wrote: »

Whilst they may wwell be making loads of profit, they are on a fixed fee from the Dept. of Transport and do not make money each time someone fails, etc.
As for it being a Govt. mandated monopoly, what do you suggest? Do you think the UK system is better where the same place can fix the items that you fail on? Furthermore, its not really Govt mandated - its there because of an EU directive that the Irish Govt ignored for a very long time!
Just because you know some big words doesn't mean that your post is correct!

Excellent post.

blastman

DannyBuoy wrote: »

Only if the car doesn't exist on the Shannon vehicle database, ie imports etc

Well, we're talking about imports, so.....

kbannon wrote: »

Whilst they may wwell be making loads of profit, they are on a fixed fee from the Dept. of Transport and do not make money each time someone fails, etc.
As for it being a Govt. mandated monopoly, what do you suggest? Do you think the UK system is better where the same place can fix the items that you fail on? Furthermore, its not really Govt mandated - its there because of an EU directive that the Irish Govt ignored for a very long time!
Just because you know some big words doesn't mean that your post is correct!

As a matter of interest, how legally binding are EU directives? How much obligation are members under to implement them as law in their country?

Anyway, still haven't got an answer to my question, so does anyone know for sure what the scenario is?

Seth Brundle

blastman wrote: »

As a matter of interest, how legally binding are EU directives? How much obligation are members under to implement them as law in their country?

They are pretty much mandatory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_Directive

DundalkDuffman

As an matter of interest to anyone that is going to NCT their imported motor, I imported my car in April from the UK and VRT'd it like a good citizen Waited for a month or so to get word of my reg doc and of my impending NCT. Checked out their website which tells me that I had to go and reg it onto their system and then wait for my date which duly arrived a few weeks later. I went down to my local centre on Thursday morning and passed my test. Grand job I thought, thats the job done now. Got home, was putting the cert onto my screen to see that it expires in May of next year. OK says I it is obviously back dated to the point when it needed a valid NCT here. Wrong again I was, my NCT is only valid until the 3/5/09 as my car was first reg'd in the UK on 3-5-99 and this is the date that they take ! So in theory if I had not bothered to put the car through the test at all until 4/5/09 then I would have my 2 years instead of the 9 months I currently have.
For cleaner safer motoring indeed.

msg11

I was told by a gaurd, that my nct was coming to an end. Nice of him to remind me :pac: .

He then said that they can seize the car from me for the offence..

Now, I was under the impression, that if the car was taxed, it can be on the road in any shape or form.

The only thing I can see them doing is saying, pull into the side and go home, why seize it ?

NCT my arse, the roads are recked in this county let alone contry. Whats the point in having an NCT if the roads do most of the damage to cars ?

Wizard007

This might seem like a really stupid question, but anyway, do you have to have a valid NCT disc to take out the next due tax on your car?

Esel

Wizard007 wrote: »

This might seem like a really stupid question, but anyway, do you have to have a valid NCT disc to take out the next due tax on your car?

Not a stupid question, because the NCT info is requested online and on the paper form. However, you do not need to enter any details, therefore you do not need a valid NCT cert to tax your car.

The current state of play came about a few years ago (anyone remember how long?) when the NCT operatives were on strike. Motorists couldn't get their NCT cert, so couldn't tax their cars. The regulations were changed to allow a car to be taxed without NCT, and were never changed back.

Wizard007

Thanks a mil for the fast reply. That's great to know. I was waiting for the NCT to tax my Isuzu and was petrafied I'd get caught the few times I did have to take it on the road whiles I'm waiting for the test. I didn't realise I could go ahead and tax it.

towel401

The NCT is nothing short of a joke. A bunch of Swiss cowboys get to bounce your car up and down on a big machine in an attempt to break it

Its almost like the government is subsidising garages in this roundabout way, having the NCT check for stuff the EU directive doesn't even require and then sending all the honest and complacent folk on their way to buy new parts because the old ones are no longer good enough for the NCT.

but seriously, i can hardly remember the last time i saw a garda checkpoint, not to mind one that actually gave a damn about the NCT.

mcwhirter

Does the Irish government really care about road safety?
If they did, they would enforce the NCT. It is an absolute joke that there is a car checking procedure out there which isn't taken seriously.
Why should we as motorists care about it if the people making the decisions don't.

Davidth88

My two cents worth.

If a car should have an NCT and does not then legally it shouldn't be roadworthy

Therefore your insurance should be invalid, but rather like driving with no licence here no one seems to take this into account.

In Britain ( the only other country I have owned cars in ) if you don't have an MOT ( NCT ) then you can't tax it, and also your insurance is invalid. ( unless you are driving to a test centre )

As for reminders , well you should get a first one , because after all it's easy to forget the first date of registration , but then again isn't this on the tax reminder thing ?

Like many things here its just not enforced , walk around any car park and you will see about 30% of cars that should have NCT's displayed are not showing them..... if I can see that then why can't the authorities ?

In Britain the MOTs are run by garages, this leaves this slightly open to abuse but is also useful , after all if you book your car into the local dealer for a service/MOT he isn't going to fail it is he !

I have always found the NCT people here very efficient , however a little zelous ( for example failing for not having the county on your NP ), but I suppose rules is rules.

What would people who are posting here suggest as an alternative ? No testing ?

mcwhirter

Davidth88 wrote: »

My two cents worth.

If a car should have an NCT and does not then legally it shouldn't be roadworthy

Therefore your insurance should be invalid, but rather like driving with no licence here no one seems to take this into account.

In Britain ( the only other country I have owned cars in ) if you don't have an MOT ( NCT ) then you can't tax it, and also your insurance is invalid. ( unless you are driving to a test centre )

As for reminders , well you should get a first one , because after all it's easy to forget the first date of registration , but then again isn't this on the tax reminder thing ?

Like many things here its just not enforced , walk around any car park and you will see about 30% of cars that should have NCT's displayed are not showing them..... if I can see that then why can't the authorities ?

In Britain the MOTs are run by garages, this leaves this slightly open to abuse but is also useful , after all if you book your car into the local dealer for a service/MOT he isn't going to fail it is he !

I have always found the NCT people here very efficient , however a little zelous ( for example failing for not having the county on your NP ), but I suppose rules is rules.

What would people who are posting here suggest as an alternative ? No testing ?

Thats all a part of living in ireland, everything half hearted. Its a frustrating place to live in.

L1011

emmemm wrote: »

your reminder for the nct is on your windscreen weans.

Not the first time around its not!

My car went "missing" - NCTS couldn't find it on their system and it appeared not to be on the NVDF till I sent a snotty email to the DOT asking them to refund my roadtax for my mythical car. They blamed NCTS but suddently NCTS could find the car...

ninty9er

Davidth88 wrote: »

My two cents worth.

If a car should have an NCT and does not then legally it shouldn't be roadworthy

This is the reason that they can also seize the car for no NCT; as they have no way of knowing that you're a mechanic (and you'd be biased) and they neither have the time (nor the inclination in many cases) to become a qualified mechanic and inspect every car that doesn't have a NCT each time it's stopped, just because the owner couldn't be arsed to book a test in time/ get one done at all!

mcwhirter

ninty9er wrote: »

just because the owner couldn't be arsed to book a test in time/ get one done at all!

If the government can't be arsed, then who should

Seth Brundle

Its not the governments job to remind you of everything! If you are mature enough to drive a car then you should be mature enough to remember when its due its various appointments!

mcwhirter

kbannon wrote: »

Its not the governments job to remind you of everything! If you are mature enough to drive a car then you should be mature enough to remember when its due its various appointments!

I didn't say it was their job. But to not try and at least remind people that the NCT is very important to car and road safety by tv adverts etc, then it is a sad uncaring country we live in. Check out all the car accidents and deaths in this country, we are quick to blame the roads, but it could be the cars not having the NCT done in time that has caused the accident.

It is the lack of respect for road safety by the lazy government which is inexcusable.

daveharnett

vibe666 wrote: »

I registered the car, paid my vrt, got my tax, got my incurance etc. but nothing was ever even said about an nct and there's been no request for me to have one done.

i honestly expected to be sent something to tell me i needed to have it done, but this does not seem to be the case.

You honestly expected joined up thinking from irish public services?
Don't you realise that two public services can't talk to each other without a 5 year plan and a billion euros for computer consultants?

kbannon wrote: »

Whilst they may well be making loads of profit, they are on a fixed fee from the Dept. of Transport and do not make money each time someone fails, etc.

So the centers get paid the same regardless of what they do? So they're essentially civil servants? That explains a lot.

Downtime

Correct me if I'm wrong but the reminder for the due date for an NCT is on your tax renewal certificate. It clearly states when your NCT is due.

blastman

ninty9er wrote: »

This is the reason that they can also seize the car for no NCT

Can they, though? (Reliable) source?

towel401

mcwhirter wrote: »

Does the Irish government really care about road safety?
If they did, they would enforce the NCT. It is an absolute joke that there is a car checking procedure out there which isn't taken seriously.
Why should we as motorists care about it if the people making the decisions don't.

the NCT has very little to do with safety. we knew that before they brought it in and even for the short while they did enforce it nothing really changed. it has a lot more to do with getting old cars off the road, and new cars on the road than it has to do with safety