NCT Test

billyhead

Folks,

This morning I failed the NCT test due to one minor problem as the mechanic put it. The front right dip light was not correctly positioned. A joke really as I have to pay another 28 euro for the restest. I dropped into a mechanic on the way home who charged 25 euro to fix the problem. A question I have is I had the car fully serviced by my local mechanic last August who I did not drop into on the way home. Should he have picked this up and if so should I have dropped the car back to him and would I have been entitled to get it repositioned for no cost or would he have chraged for this also or could the front light have been in order (correctly posioned )in August but went out of position in 3 months and if so how would that have happened.

djimi

I dont think its the kind of thing a lot of mechanics will check as part of a service to be honest, so unless it was an NCT pre-test that he put the car thru (which I doubt given that it was several months ago) I dont think you have a lot of comeback with him, no.

Unless the thing was very obviously out of position, like pointing at the sky or something...

Zubeneschamali

billyhead wrote: »

A joke really

I'd guess about 1 car in 4 has faulty lights, and it's a deadly serious issue.

whyulittle

Along with telling you to have the car clean, empty, seatbelts visible etc, they also say

NCTS recommend that you have your lights checked and set prior to the NCT.

in the confirmation letter, or some leaflet that comes with it.

dr.fuzzenstein

When I first came to Ireland all the lights on all the cars where out, no one cared, no one could fix it and most people where jokingly saying "Ah, you're looking for the birds in the trees".
Then the NCT came and nothing changed, because lights where a "fail-advisory", so birds where still being bothered.
When I received a fail-advisory for lights I set about having the problem fixed, the mechanic dragged a sheet of plywood out of a bush, had me hold it in front of the car while he adjusted my lights with a screwdriver.
"There ya go, ah be grand, the finesht, ah grand now, she's set to go, sucking diesel"
Finally incorrectly adjustet lights became "fail-retest" and things have improved dramatically.
Lots of people still drive around with lights pointing at strange angles, but at least they're being weeded out.
And had you not been failed on lights you would have been driving your car blinding people quite happily for however long you kept it and the same for the next owner.
I used to be on the road in a previous job and I am wildly happy the NCT is doing it's bit in weeding out all those cars that either blind others or can't see themselves because their lights are shining at the moon.
My only gripe is the fact that adjusting lights (something that takes 5 minutes) has been turned into a money racket.
The usual excuses (we had to send a fellow off to be trained, special flooring needed to be installed with a laser sight, the equipment cost 60 million-billion, this a complicated process, takes a long time amongst other lies) are being wheeled out, same as by everyone else ripping you off, so be carefull where you go, compare prices and get your lights checked every now and then.
And no, it's not part of the standard service.

billyhead

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

When I first came to Ireland all the lights on all the cars where out, no one cared, no one could fix it and most people where jokingly saying "Ah, you're looking for the birds in the trees".
Then the NCT came and nothing changed, because lights where a "fail-advisory", so birds where still being bothered.
When I received a fail-advisory for lights I set about having the problem fixed, the mechanic dragged a sheet of plywood out of a bush, had me hold it in front of the car while he adjusted my lights with a screwdriver.
"There ya go, ah be grand, the finesht, ah grand now, she's set to go, sucking diesel"
Finally incorrectly adjustet lights became "fail-retest" and things have improved dramatically.
Lots of people still drive around with lights pointing at strange angles, but at least they're being weeded out.
And had you not been failed on lights you would have been driving your car blinding people quite happily for however long you kept it and the same for the next owner.
I used to be on the road in a previous job and I am wildly happy the NCT is doing it's bit in weeding out all those cars that either blind others or can't see themselves because their lights are shining at the moon.
My only gripe is the fact that adjusting lights (something that takes 5 minutes) has been turned into a money racket.
The usual excuses (we had to send a fellow off to be trained, special flooring needed to be installed with a laser sight, the equipment cost 60 million-billion, this a complicated process, takes a long time amongst other lies) are being wheeled out, same as by everyone else ripping you off, so be carefull where you go, compare prices and get your lights checked every now and then.
And no, it's not part of the standard service.

I woud have thought it wold be part of the service. The service was a full one. It cost 140

PaulKK

billyhead wrote: »

I woud have thought it wold be part of the service. The service was a full one. It cost 140

Thats a pretty cheap "full service".

However, light alignment would not be part of it. Unless you asked him to do it.

cjt156

And even if it was part of the service, you could hardly pull him up on it 3 months later.