The NCT - People Views/Opinions

Gabbo57

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what peoples views on the NCT is. I work in one of the test centres and the amount of grief I have to deal with on a daily basis is ridiculous.

Why do people think it's okay to have a go at us on various things about their car when ultimately it's their responsibility. We're only there to do a job.

It's feel so downhearted sometimes leaving work, I'm starting to hate the general public, nobody seems to have any manners any more. Is it the recession? Or do people just hate the fact that the have to pay €50?

Tell me some things that bother you (or even some nice experiences you've had) so i've a better understanding!!

corktina

an essential safety check...not by any means perfect but was long over-due when brought in.

muckwarrior

I'm the type that likes to keep everything on my car in perfect working order, so I appreciated the opportunity to have it given a good once over for only €50. It flew through and I thanked the tester.

wildefalcon

A cheap way of getting a thorough checkover of the car. I like it.

What annoys people is when the car fails on marginal items, or on things that are designed that way, for example the suspension on LandRover Defender Passenger versions usually fails as it is too stiff.

G.

Mycroft H

It does weed bad cars out of the system but there is a lot of cars failed that are perfectly fine - money making is what I can see.

thetyreman

Gabbo57 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what peoples views on the NCT is. I work in one of the test centres and the amount of grief I have to deal with on a daily basis is ridiculous.

Why do people think it's okay to have a go at us on various things about their car when ultimately it's their responsibility. We're only there to do a job.

It's feel so downhearted sometimes leaving work, I'm starting to hate the general public, nobody seems to have any manners any more. Is it the recession? Or do people just hate the fact that the have to pay €50?

Tell me some things that bother you (or even some nice experiences you've had) so i've a better understanding!!

Failing certain things,and passing the said fail item on the retest even though nothing had been done to repair the item/defect....A very good example would be with regard to Headlight Focusing/wheel allignment....
I see this every second day,,,The NCT is a very good idea and a very good safety measure and i do get alot of business from it,but it has to be a Fair and Honest test,its these things that get up peoples back and hence put them in bad form and hence they take it out on the staff,,IMHO

Gabbo57

landyman wrote: »

It does weed bad cars out of the system but there is a lot of cars failed that are perfectly fine - money making is what I can see.

Money making? What incentive do we have failing perfectly fine cars? Do you think the inspectors make any extra money by failing cars?

Gabbo57

thetyreman wrote: »

Failing certain things,and passing the said fail item on the retest even though nothing had been done to repair the item/defect....A very good example would be with regard to Headlight Focusing/wheel allignment....
I see this every second day,,,The NCT is a very good idea and a very good safety measure and i do get alot of business from it,but it has to be a Fair and Honest test,its these things that get up peoples back and hence put them in bad form and hence they take it out on the staff,,IMHO

They're tested with computers though, it's hard to argue with them.

What people need to remember is that, everybody is entitled to appeal any aspect of the NCT test itself. If you not happy with it at the time say something, 99% of the inspectors will bring you on the test lane itself and show you the defect.

trad

Brought my car in for NCT, failed on play in steering. Replaced the defective part of the steering rack and track rod end with new parts.

Failed again with massive play in the steering only evident on sideslip. Turns out I was given the wrong track rod end and it could have had disasterous results (incorrect taper). I took my hat off to them.

flower tattoo

i have no problem with the nct BUT my car failed on a broken alloy a few years ago and then passed this time with the same broken alloy AND it was the same tester!!

panorton

I've met a guy who drove 30 miles on terrible roads paid €50 and failed because his indicators weren't orange enough. When he asked just how orange they needed to be he got a shrug of the shoulders.

oregano

Is the "my mechanic says its alright and he's working on cars years" line the one you hear the most? There's always someone shouting at an NCT Tester when I'm in Fonthill, and that's the usual patter.

Personally, I think the hot chocolate for a Euro in Fonthill makes it all worthwhile

kippy

flower tattoo wrote: »

i have no problem with the nct BUT my car failed on a broken alloy a few years ago and then passed this time with the same broken alloy AND it was the same tester!!

You'd better make a complaint about that.......................


Overall, it is a good idea and one which has no doubt taken a lot of crap off the roads while at least trying to keep people on the straight and narrow in relation to road worthiness of their cars.
What is going to annoy me however is the change of 24 month tests to 12 month tests for 10 year plus cars. I see this as a blatent attempt by the government via the RSA and NCT to get people to buy new cars instead of having to spend time and money every year on the test. (which I dont think is fair on any level)

I've put my car through 2 NCT's at this stage and both required retests. What it failed on were general wear and tear and would have required replacement anyway. I've always found the testers fair and indeed very informative, so hopefully OP you dont let people get to you, there are w4nkers of customers in every trade.

101sean

See I'm not the only one who's had suspension test problems with a Defender. First 2 tests after importation (with new shocks) had to be repeated until it passed (manager of the centre at the time was an ex LR employee!)

Passed last week no problem despite now being on bigger tyres, lifted suspension and some v expensive shocks.

I've always found the the testers OK in Cahir, even having a bit of a banter with customers when there's time. Not been anywhere else but the waitng facilities are dismal and uncomfortable, not helped by the time of my test being after school, one guy came in with 3 kids under 6, it was packed :mad:

For those not mechanically minded, it's a cheap way of getting an unbiased safety check on a car and as they aren't tied to a garage unlikely to fail stuff to generate work. 4 years to the first test is too long given the state of some of our roads and that some owners never lift the bonnet or check their tyres

Gabbo57

oregano wrote: »

Is the "my mechanic says its alright and he's working on cars years" line the one you hear the most? There's always someone shouting at an NCT Tester when I'm in Fonthill, and that's the usual patter.

Personally, I think the hot chocolate for a Euro in Fonthill makes it all worthwhile

Hear this ALL the time, or 'it's just been serviced' or ' it's only been driving 10,000 miles since my last test'!!

Kippy, the whole NCT every 12 months thing isn't confirmed, we haven't heard anything about it!!

Gabbo57

panorton wrote: »

I've met a guy who drove 30 miles on terrible roads paid €50 and failed because his indicators weren't orange enough. When he asked just how orange they needed to be he got a shrug of the shoulders.

That's the type off additude i mean, fair enough if the fella shrugged his shoulders that's not really on but if the indicators have to be orange, well then, the have to be orange. We can't treat anyone different whether they've travelled 3 or 30 miles

thetyreman

Gabbo57 wrote: »

They're tested with computers though, it's hard to argue with them.

What people need to remember is that, everybody is entitled to appeal any aspect of the NCT test itself. If you not happy with it at the time say something, 99% of the inspectors will bring you on the test lane itself and show you the defect.

Not Argueing with a computer dosnt stand up in this case,,
I have focused headlights for customers,they have driven the 5mls to test center,failed the light focusing test,return to me complaining (rightly),looking for there lights to be done again and wanting the 27.50 retest price from me.So what i do is recheck the lights,make no adjustments and tell them to do the retest and if it fails again i will refund them the retest cost,and guess what i have NEVER had to refund a retest yet,now i know it is no coincedence that the fail item they fail on involves useing your equipment so hence involves a retest fee....
Just listening to my self makes me sound paranoide when i see it in writeing,but it is the truth,and has happened on many occasions.
I tell the customer to pull the tester up on it after they get there cert but they seem to think its not a good idea to give the tester hassel,but they dont mind comeing back to me to give me a earfull when they fail the original test,,,,ah well such is life i suppose

BrianD3

I've nothing negative to say about the NCT or the testers. I've been bringing cars to various NCT centres (eg Naas, Tullamore, Cavan) for the last 10 years.

While sitting in the waiting rooms I have heard quite a lot of whinging by owners. Have also seen a few women in tears. A relatively common occurence seems to be a car fails the emissions by a big margin and is brought back for its retest - but all that was done to it for the retest is some gobsh1te changed the air filter or put injector cleaner in the tank. Car then fails retest. Tears are shed.

pete_mcs

Driving on pothole, sinking roads in Conemara, spend a fortune to keep a car up to a safe condition. Not the testers or the systems fault, but the local authority failure to keep the roads in a condition where it wont damage the cars. People around here pay the same road tax as everyone in the country, but have to endure bad road conditions, therefore the cars get ruined faster, brought to the NCT centre, and the poor tester gets the brunt of their rage!
P/S, the man at Clifden is very professional.

CiniO

Gabbo57 wrote: »

Tell me some things that bother you (or even some nice experiences you've had) so i've a better understanding!!

Went to do NCT with my Fiat Bravo last year.
I spend some time before a test to make sure car was grand. Checked pretty much everything I could check myself with my knowledge, some tools, and a pit. There was small bit of rust underneath, so I cleared it and painted to make sure it'll keep for another while.
I also cleaned the car, outside, inside, underbody. Took the hubcups off, and got all seatbelts out from underneath the seat. Everything as required in FAQ on NCT website.

In my car there used to be a small problem with thread for a wheel screw in a hub, which broke. What I had done, was I fitted a screw from the opposite side and put a nut on it. I ended with having wheel attached with 3 screws and one nut. This was done about a year before a test.

I booked for a test, got appointment. I was there 10 minutes before as advised.
My car was taken, checked and after guy comes with a paper stating it failed. It failed on "incorrect nut assy".
I was surpriced, as while I'm interested in car mechanics, I didn't know that nut was assembled the wrong way.
Anyway man told me, that it's only visual retest, so it won't cost me anything. Just fix it, and come any time within something like 21 days.
I told him, that I can fix this in less then a minute (just to take nut off and put in on correctly), and then he can do retest (just look at it - probably about 10 seconds), and issue me with documents.
He said that is was impossible, as I was the last person for the test on that day, and now they are all finished. And that I'm very welcomed tomorrow. Saying please, and telling him, that I have to drive 50km each way to get to the test centre, while now for him it was less then 1 minute didn't help.

I really felt like I wasn't in Ireland, but something like Germany - rules are rules, and no exceptions at all!!!

So what I did was I got home, spend about 45 seconds, fixing the nut, and went there next day to do retest.
I lost almost 10 euros extra for petrol, and about 2 hours of my private time.
For comparision, it would be only extra minute with no costs for this inspector in NCT centre.

Say whatever you want, but in my opinion, that was really rude...

CiniO

pete_mcs wrote: »

Driving on pothole, sinking roads in Conemara, spend a fortune to keep a car up to a safe condition. Not the testers or the systems fault, but the local authority failure to keep the roads in a condition where it wont damage the cars. People around here pay the same road tax as everyone in the country, but have to endure bad road conditions, therefore the cars get ruined faster, brought to the NCT centre, and the poor tester gets the brunt of their rage!
P/S, the man at Clifden is very professional.

I have slightly different view on it.
I live very close to Conemara, and I know the roads who bad they are.
Anyway while I heard local people saying to abolish NCT, because of the bad roads it makes me laugh.
On such a bad roads, good suspension in perfect condition is a must to make journeys happy.
That's just a extra cost that we pay for living in such a beautiful but rural area.

PS. On the other hand. You say we pay the same road tax as everyone in the country.
That's not exactly true. Lot's of local drivers don't pay road tax at all, and local guards never bother catching them. That kind a something like a quiet permission for driving without tax.
I know it's illegal, but as I said. We pay extra cost on car maintenance because of bad roads, but on the other hand we can save on road tax, while our area is so rural.

Dilbert75

Never had any problem with any of the tests or the findings, either in Waterford or Enniscorthy. I do, however, have a significant problem with the length of time it took to get a booking this year - but that's nothing to do with you OP.

I'm guessing people get stroppy because their car's failure of a fairly basic test is generally a reflection on how they've looked after it.

I've been in NCT centres frequently enough in the last two years, twice with a Rover 400 (Blarney), twice with my Prelude (Limerick), 3 times with my Merc (Galway). The multiple trips were retests, I reckon the NCT is not a bad ole thing and have yet to meet a muppet tester. At the end of the day if a car fails it fails for a reason.

Nothing negative to report from me in recent times :cool:

BTW OP, most of us hate going into work (I know half the country is on the scratch and we're lucky to be working but I'd rather be smoking cheap cigars in the office of my sleazy stripclub (we all have dreams) )

Seth Brundle

I received a fail/advisory on my E30 several years ago for the indicator bulb not being orange enough. I was also told that one of my headlamps was too bright. It was brand new (a stone killed the original one) and if anything the other one should have failed for being too dim!

I also failed last time (partly) because apparently the reflector on my passenger side headlamp was worn. It wasn't and was a poor diagnosis! I did not do anything to rectify it (was I expected to replace it?) and after the retest I questioned how it looked with the tester. He was happy with it.
This is the problem that I keep hearing regarding the NCT. There doesn't appear to be consistency when the diagnosis isn't made by a computer!

kippy

kbannon wrote: »

There doesn't appear to be consistency when the diagnosis isn't made by a computer!

Thats probably a fair point, and something that you could say right across the board when human opinion comes into it.

hiluxman

my take on the nct test is that its not concistant, being in the motor trade ive seen cars come back from the test with dangerous problems, for example i had a '06 merc in last week that had passed its nct the previous week and one of the steel brake lines had burst due to rust
i then had to show the owner of the car the problem because he wouldnt believe me because as he put it himself, "sure it was only tested last week"
ive seen cars fail on brakes when there is nothing wrong, i make a point of testing cars on my own equiptment before doing anything with them. when the car is sent back in it passes without any work being done, what the story with that?
ive seen brake flexi hoses with massive cracks in them and they pass, bulbs not working, bushings worn out, and loads of other stuff and it still passes.
then theres all the stupid stuff that testers fail cars on, hubcaps not removed, how hard is it to remove 4 hubcaps, seatbelts underneath seats, just pull them out, bushing being failed that arent worn, i mean how can you check cars concistanly when the test isnt concistant
the nct is not the be all and end all of vehicle testing like the general public think it is.

kippy

hiluxman wrote: »

my take on the nct test is that its not concistant, being in the motor trade ive seen cars come back from the test with dangerous problems, for example i had a '06 merc in last week that had passed its nct the previous week and one of the steel brake lines had burst due to rust
i then had to show the owner of the car the problem because he wouldnt believe me because as he put it himself, "sure it was only tested last week"
ive seen cars fail on brakes when there is nothing wrong, i make a point of testing cars on my own equiptment before doing anything with them. when the car is sent back in it passes without any work being done, what the story with that?
ive seen brake flexi hoses with massive cracks in them and they pass, bulbs not working, bushings worn out, and loads of other stuff and it still passes.
then theres all the stupid stuff that testers fail cars on, hubcaps not removed, how hard is it to remove 4 hubcaps, seatbelts underneath seats, just pull them out, bushing being failed that arent worn, i mean how can you check cars concistanly when the test isnt concistant
the nct is not the be all and end all of vehicle testing like the general public think it is.

But it's a hell of a lot better than nothing.

hiluxman

oh yeah, i totally agree, we need a need the nct otherwise there would be very unsafe cars on the road, but the testing has to be fair and consistant or its just a waste of time and money

Guy:Incognito

kippy wrote: »

I see this as a blatent attempt by the government via the RSA and NCT to get people to buy new cars instead of having to spend time and money every year on the test. (which I dont think is fair on any level)
.

Regardless of how long there is between tests, your supposed to kep your car in roadworthy condition. What your not supposed to is let your car fall to peices then spend loads in one go fixing everythign then whinge about the NCT.

Your car should be able to pass an NCT on any given day so a change from 24 months to 12 should only result in doubling your test costs, the cost to keep your car roadworthy wont go up.

CiniO wrote: »

PS. On the other hand. You say we pay the same road tax as everyone in the country.
That's not exactly true. Lot's of local drivers don't pay road tax at all, and local guards never bother catching them. That kind a something like a quiet permission for driving without tax.
I know it's illegal, but as I said. We pay extra cost on car maintenance because of bad roads, but on the other hand we can save on road tax, while our area is so rural.

pete_mcs wrote: »

. People around here pay the same road tax as everyone in the country, but have to endure bad road conditions, therefore the cars get ruined faster, .

Neither of you pay any road tax. You pay Motor Tax. Nowhere does it say it's ringfenced for roads. It goes to the general coffers and is spent by the councils on anythign and eveyrthing.

pete_mcs

I pay my road taxes, always have. Used to drive 40 mile into Galway each day. Had a Megane, in 2 years had to replace the shocks and struts twice in that time, at a cost of 400 euro at a time. My wifes car just went through the NCT, a 06 Focus, had to replace the entire suspension system and she drives 20 mile per day. I bought a commercial jeep, just could not afford to keep fixing the suspensions every year.

Guy:Incognito

pete_mcs wrote: »

I pay my road taxes, always have. Used to drive 40 mile into Galway each day. Had a Megane, in 2 years had to replace the shocks and struts twice in that time, at a cost of 400 euro at a time. My wifes car just went through the NCT, a 06 Focus, had to replace the entire suspension system and she drives 20 mile per day. I bought a commercial jeep, just could not afford to keep fixing the suspensions every year.

Which road taxes are these?


Your local council spends money fixing the roads, this comes from various sources. By all means get on to them about issues, but dont use "I pay my road tax" as an arguement. As above, there is no road tax. Theres motor tax.

CarrickMcJoe

My car failed on emissions even though my own mechanic checked them. Got a retest first thing next morning (due to a cancellation) and it passed even though I never touched it.

My mechanic pointed out that he cleans his equipment after every test but the NCT testers only clean their filters at the end of the day.

While it gets a lot of the scrap off the roads I have never heard of an accident caused by an indicator not being orange enough or a county name not in irish

CiniO

CarrickMcJoe wrote: »

My car failed on emissions even though my own mechanic checked them. Got a retest first thing next morning (due to a cancellation) and it passed even though I never touched it.

My mechanic pointed out that he cleans his equipment after every test but the NCT testers only clean their filters at the end of the day.

While it gets a lot of the scrap off the roads I have never heard of an accident caused by an indicator not being orange enough or a county name not in irish

Bought my Mondeo in middle 2009, and because NCT was due on January 2010, I did in in October 2009. Passed without any problems.
Only few weeks later I realised, that previous owner changed rear lights for a new type (my mondeo was 02, he changed light for the ones after lifting in 2005).
Anyway, because of it, indicators were completely white, (as in new lights, there are yellow bulbs to make them yellow), and there were no reflectors (as in new shape, reflectors are in the bumper, instead of in the rear light).

So in other words my car passed NCT withour rear reflectors, and with completely white rear indicators.

Actually I changed bulbs to yellow, and bought set of reflectors just after I realised they were missing.

kippy

Stekelly wrote: »

Regardless of how long there is between tests, your supposed to kep your car in roadworthy condition. What your not supposed to is let your car fall to peices then spend loads in one go fixing everythign then whinge about the NCT.

Your car should be able to pass an NCT on any given day so a change from 24 months to 12 should only result in doubling your test costs, the cost to keep your car roadworthy wont go up.

Eh, its not that part of it that puts people off tbh and I fully agree with your summation.
Its the hassle for anyone who lives more than a few minutes from the test centre- taking off hubcabs, sorting seatbelts, paying 50 squids, driving an hour or possibly more each way together with your time input.
I dont mind this "hassle" every two years but every year? Perhaps many will see it as a minor hassle to keep your car on the road. I don't however.

E39MSport

I love it and think it's great value for money. I'm delighted to have all my motors on the button every time (except when the starlet failed for tie wraps around the battery).

However, I take issue with how some individuals test older and/or 4 wheel and/or rear wheel drive vehicles. Some of them display a total lack of understanding about how some vehicle types operate and should be treated.

While I am no broad expert myself, I like to understand the vehicles that I own and I expect the experts at the NCT centres to have at least the same level of understanding and be able to demonstrate such during testing.

Having said that, my last 2 tests were pleasant experiences and the guys did look a little shocked when I shook their hands afterwards.

@OP Sorry for you that people give you grief. Try not to take it outside the workplace. It amazes me how people expect a machine to serve them without fault when they put little or no effort into maintaining it then blame everyone around them when they are hit with the realisation that their lack of due attention is going to cost them.

Wibbs

hiluxman wrote: »

my take on the nct test is that its not concistant, being in the motor trade ive seen cars come back from the test with dangerous problems, for example i had a '06 merc in last week that had passed its nct the previous week and one of the steel brake lines had burst due to rust
i then had to show the owner of the car the problem because he wouldnt believe me because as he put it himself, "sure it was only tested last week"
ive seen cars fail on brakes when there is nothing wrong, i make a point of testing cars on my own equiptment before doing anything with them. when the car is sent back in it passes without any work being done, what the story with that?
ive seen brake flexi hoses with massive cracks in them and they pass, bulbs not working, bushings worn out, and loads of other stuff and it still passes.
then theres all the stupid stuff that testers fail cars on, hubcaps not removed, how hard is it to remove 4 hubcaps, seatbelts underneath seats, just pull them out, bushing being failed that arent worn, i mean how can you check cars concistanly when the test isnt concistant
the nct is not the be all and end all of vehicle testing like the general public think it is.

I would broadly agree with this. Having mates in the motor trade you hear this a lot. I would dismiss it as some self perpetuating meme if I hadn't seen this very inconsistency for myself with friends cars. Ive seen cars with suspensions that are completely wrecked, but equally wrecked on both sides pass. I've been lucky myself, though I have had to complain on two occasions. The first time was more a query and was sorted amicably. The second was less so. Watching through the window I see a tester doing pull ups on my suspension components. I kid thee not. This was after he revved the car up to the redline repeatedly. Another thing is the lack of expertise and bad advice given. I've personally been told that my engine was gone, worn out and it would be better to scrap the car, because of high CO levels at higher RPM. I had to laugh at that one, especially given how low my hydrocarbons were. :rolleyes: When I came back for the retest(with a new cat converter) I insisted that fool didnt test the car. While waiting there was an elderly woman in tears outside. Again she had been told her engine was dead(by a different guy) and better off scrapping the car. I looked at her results and it looked fine, so sent her to a mate who just replaced the O2 sensor. You would think they were getting scrappage deal backhanders. Needless to say I dont use that centre anymore.

kippy wrote: »

But it's a hell of a lot better than nothing.

But is it? Yes it appears to be a very good idea, but in actuality has it made a difference to road safety? Do stats show a change in incidences involving unsafe vehicles? Are there stats at all? Serious question BTW. The other aspect is those people who assume just because it has the cert their car is perfect for two years. IMHO as wel as safety and emissions stuff, it also was planned as a shot in the arm for the motor indudtry.

E39MSport wrote:

However, I take issue with how some individuals test older and/or 4 wheel and/or rear wheel drive vehicles. Some of them display a total lack of understanding about how some vehicle types operate and should be treated.

While I am no broad expert myself, I like to understand the vehicles that I own and I expect the experts at the NCT centres to have at least the same level of understanding and be able to demonstrate such during testing.

+1 Expertise certainly varies a lot. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/unqualified-tester-loses-job--dismissal-case-against-nct-309475.html Now they're supposed to have a C grade in garage practice. What does that entail? Does this make them mechanics?

sean1141

i failed my test once for lights being to high on my avensis. re booked a test and got it passed without doing a thing to the lights. my sister was refused a test because she had an air freshner hanging on the rear view mirror!! my mams old starlet failed on a knuckle joint in the steering. could not find a second hand one and a new one was mad money so the mechanic cleaned it and put yellow tipx type stuff on it and guess what....it passed!!
the test needs to be way more concistant!! i think it should be millage bassed also. some people could only drive 5k a year while others could put up 35k

dr.fuzzenstein

When I came here first (1994), every car came as standard with:

Cracked windscreen, dent on every single panel, cracked lenses on all lights, 4 entirely different types of tires and sizes of wheel on the car, rims mix'n'match from different makes of cars (whatever fits), only one front light ever working (balanced out by working foglight on other side), lights focused to look for birds in the trees, rustholes the size of your head, bumper held on by baling twine, oil-free engines, suspension held up by springs only, shocks only for show, flintstone floors, lakes under the seats, moss growing around every crease in the car and since they're not for looking where you're going, no rear lights ever.

On the whole, best idea ever, great car check for the money, anyone who says different is either a moron or a liar.
Now all the Irish have to figure out is to get their cars serviced on time, maybe even keep them in garages and buy anything else than horrendous 1.4 liter jap and euro boxes and you'll have something approaching a car culture.

Though I have to say I once bought a completely clapped out and quite possibly dangerous Focus that had a brand new NCT, no printout and a note saying the cert has been "manually issued".
I smell a case of €50 "left" in the ashtray prior to test, because there is no way ON EARTH that thing should have passed.

pete_mcs

Stekelly wrote: »

, there is no road tax. Theres motor tax.

Explain the difference between "Road Tax" and "Motor Tax"? My original point was that cars can get damaged en-route to NCT centre, i.e. Lights Focus are knocked out due to hitting a pothole or wheel alignment can be knocked off line due to hitting bumps. Its much more expensive to maintain a cars suspension system on bad roads than it is say in the city. The worst conditions city drivers probably face daily are probably speed bumps.
Of course there is much less of a population in rural Ireland, and therefore less income from "motor tax" than in the city areas, therefore the poorer road conditions.

Viper_JB

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

On the whole, best idea ever, great car check for the money, anyone who says different is either a moron or a liar.
Now all the Irish have to figure out is to get their cars serviced on time, maybe even keep them in garages and buy anything else than horrendous 1.4 liter jap and euro boxes and you'll have something approaching a car culture.

Best idea ever is a bit strong.....the NCT is a great idea sure, terrible implementation though. It would be alot more credable if it didn't seem like an exercise in raising money. People are being failed on a daily basis for issue which have no bearing on the safty of the car, eg. county printed in irish on the lisence plate. I had issues with the last tester though, he managed to stall my car 3 times on the floor, couldn't get it started one of the times because it was on the rollers, he just sat there like a eejit cranking the engine :rolleyes: followed that up by failing my car on emissions even though it's not eligable to be tested, following that I had to do his job for him and get the mess sorted out by ringing head office - this was Balarney on a sunday btw...be warned.

With all the above being said AND the whole implementation of the yearly tests for any car more then 10 years old (while maintaining the same price for test (almost seems like a fiscal penelty for owning an older car)) I believe the NCT loses it's credibility, and a car testing system that I cannot place any belief in is in my eyes a epic waste of time and money. However as it's currently a more serious offence to have no NCT then it is to be driving down the wrong side of a motor way speeding while talking on the phone, we have no choice but to deal with it.

Max Power1

pete_mcs wrote: »

Explain the difference between "Road Tax" and "Motor Tax"?.

[pedant] its called motor tax, as it is a tax on car ownership. Its not a road tax as the proceeds are not ringfenced solely for the upkeep of the roads[/pedant]

Its a case of potato potaaato imo.

chessman

n.c.t. has cleared a lot of rubbish off the road and made people aware of bad lights tyres,etc $50is not too bad .
got my car done last year in blarney,the staff were fine but the guy on recption was right -anker,full of his own self-importance.
i was 45 minutes early for the test and he told me to wait outside,NOT IN THE WAITING ROOM lucky it was a fine day.
if a car fails ITS NOT YOUR FAULT,so be polite but dont take any crap from the general public

Stekelly

Stekelly wrote: »

Which road taxes are these?


Your local council spends money fixing the roads, this comes from various sources. By all means get on to them about issues, but dont use "I pay my road tax" as an arguement. As above, there is no road tax. Theres motor tax.

Max Power1 wrote: »

[pedant] its called motor tax, as it is a tax on car ownership. Its not a road tax as the proceeds are not ringfenced solely for the upkeep of the roads[/pedant]

Its a case of potato potaaato imo.

I can stand that sort of rubbish above. You know well what the lads mean when they say road tax.

I'd also argue with the above interpretation, its not a tax on car ownership, you dont need tax if the car is kept on private land and not on a public road. You need tax to drive on a public road so in essence it is road tax.

Also it should be going towards fixing the roads and not other rubbish, why should the tax I pay to be on the road go towards funding something to benefit a person who does not drive.

On the subject of the nct, I have put two cars through it in the last 5 years (both just once), I had been putting off doing it for ages with both and both cars passed with zero work bar a quick check by myself so I cant really complain. I find it a bit of a nuisance tbh, especially if it goes to every 12 months.

ardmacha

why should the tax I pay to be on the road go towards funding something to benefit a person who does not drive.

Indeed. Why should the tax I pay on my salary go towards someone who does not work?