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.