NCT Broke my car!

CJ83

It seems everyone I talk to has a bad NCT story, particularly I'm referring to stories where the car has gone in fine and has been broken by someone doing the test. I've only talked to a small handful of people and so far I have a few good ones. Has anyone else got a bad story, more importantly did making any kind of complaint actually get you anywhere?

CJ83

A friend in work who I talk car stuff with. Went in they took the cap off to check the fluid levels and didn't put it back on. They did the test then called him out to the car and showed him their handy work. Engine bay was absolutely covered in steering fluid, insisted it's a leak and he must get it fixed, needless to say he was furious when it was painfully obvious it was their fault. Two cleans later and a few months on do you think there's a leak? of course not.

CJ83

My best mate recently went in and his handbrake would have come on in three clicks of the lever now requires full extension and still doesn't hold on a hill. It actually Passed the test. Someone else went in they broke the key in the ignition, how do you break a key? From the story I heard he kicked up quite the fuss, and rightly so.

CJ83

And lastly the reason for this post, I've just been out fixing a family members car. They failed it and nearly wouldn't let them drive it home because they couldn't close the bonnet. They broke the mechanism inside the car. The handle moves about 120 degrees when you pull it, but it only needs to be pulled about 60 degrees to open the bonnet. They were just in a rush, careless and forced it too hard.
These stories are only from the few people I've even talked to about the NCT, and despite making complaints they have got absolutely nowhere. I think it's ridiculous. These guys don't care in the slightest and at this stage they must know that they don't even have to.

Max Power1

do you talk to yourself often

bmw535d

in diesel yoks they make you sign a form saying that if your engine blows up while they are testing it, they cannot be held responsible. even though thats not worth the paper its wrote on, it must have happened to someone before.

CJ83

Max Power1 wrote: »

do you talk to yourself often

When I'm annoyed I do, yes. Sorry rant over, but that's what the internet is for yeah?:mad:

Anan1

I've NCTd lots of cars, never had any problems. The only complaint i've ever heard personally (as opposed to on the internet) was a German tester telling a friends wife not to use her foglights on a clear day.

johndaman66

Anan1 wrote: »

a German tester telling a friends wife not to use her foglights on a clear day.

Allbeit not particularly his place to say but thats a fair enough comment he made I would have thought?

SV

The guy I bought my clio off(who's on here incidentally) had the NCT burst the radiator on it when he was getting the car tested.

As far as I'm aware they paid for a new one.

Funfair

Anan1 wrote: »

German tester telling a friends wife not to use her foglights on a clear day.

I bet he was looking at her chest when he said that and got all flustered

biko

Anan1 wrote: »

The only complaint i've ever heard personally (as opposed to on the internet) was a German tester telling a friends wife not to use her foglights on a clear day.

Fair play to the lad!

On topic, nope never had an issue nor have I heard of one.

El Guapo!

Two weeks ago a guy I know brought his 05 Aston Martin DB9 to be NCT'd (in the Ballymun centre). They failed it on advanced corrosion on the front brake lines. Now this guy is extremely particular with his car so he knew there was no problem with the pipes. He argued his case but was told basically to go away.

He immediately brought the car up to Aston Martin in belfast and asked them to check the pipes. They said there was a miniscule nit of surface rust on one of the pipes but its definately not a fail by a country mile. They took photographs and he got an official letter from them to state their opinion. He returned to the NCT and showed them but they still insisted they were right. They finally agreed to get the car inspected by an independant engineer (AA). The inspection had to be carried out in the test centre and under the supervision of NCT officials. The engineer said there was absolutely nothing wrong with any aspect of the car and it should be passed. The NCT officials were extremely pissed off but they had to pass it (without an apology)

The owner told me it was nothing to do with money but it was the principle of it all. He'd have no problem getting it repaired if it was genuinely damaged (as I said he's very particular and spares no expense)
At least he got a result!

solerina

Its only a small thing but it caused me a lot of hassle....my old car was a hatch back with rear windscreen wiper and those lines to defrost the window....both worked properly before the NCT as it was a frosty month when I was doing the test and had used them the day before...any way after the shaking about the car got doing the NCT neither of them ever worked again.

sean1141

been true the test about 7or 8 times with various cars and never had a problem

Guy:Incognito

I havtn had any issues with any of my cars but my uncle is a panel beater that does a fair bit of Lotus work and had an Elise in a couple of months back that had been jacked up at the wrong points durign an NCT. broken fibreglass everywhere

rodneys

not a bad story but I once took my uncles 93 fiesta in for its nct, thought the steering was a bit iffy on the way, they drove it in did the emissions /lights etc, was driving it forward to do brakes and stopped ( I was watchin from window) , called over 4 others and they all lifted the front passenger side up an rolled the car backwards out of the centre the ball joint had popped out, was worn to hell , To give em their due they re-funded me and told me if I got it fixed that day they would do the test again.
so there i was stranded 30 miles from home, had a look in the boot, and there were some spanners and a hammer , jacked it up put it back in, went down the road bought a new on , drove back up and fitted it in the car park of the nct centre:p , and got it passed:D

FunkyExige

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I havtn had any issues with any of my cars but my uncle is a panel beater that does a fair bit of Lotus work and had an Elise in a couple of months back that had been jacked up at the wrong points durign an NCT. broken fibreglass everywhere

Funny i was going to post on this thread myself. That's the car my partner bought! Small world or what! I dont have pics at the moment but the damage to the sills was bad! It was before it was bought by us and the nct didn't give the guy anything and it wasn't a cheap fix either! Unreal they can get away with it. All they had to do was look at the manual to see the jacking points?! I think its unfair that if they dont know how to do something or open something etc that they can't just come and ask to be shown how it works. It's horrible having to take any car you love in those places

Guy:Incognito

FunkyExige wrote: »

Funny i was going to post on this thread myself. That's the car my partner bought! Small world or what! I dont have pics at the moment but the damage to the sills was bad! It was before it was bought by us and the nct didn't give the guy anything and it wasn't a cheap fix either! Unreal they can get away with it. All they had to do was look at the manual to see the jacking points?! I think its unfair that if they dont know how to do something or open something etc that they can't just come and ask to be shown how it works. It's horrible having to take any car you love in those places

Sure is Yeah I had a look when it was up in the garage, damage was bad alright.

OT but my cousin (the panel beaters son) drives an Elise himself and lives where theres on street parking (all parallel) . People keep hitting it when parking. It's been cracked pretty bad a few times. They just crumble with any sort of contact.

FunkyExige

Ive heard a few of his stories alright on octane Ive been really lucky with more then 6 years of everyday driving a lotus (elise then exige) and never had anyone tip into me. Then again the problem is the cars are so low that some people just dont check their mirrors good enough but your cousin has been mega unlucky in fairness! The idea with the lotus is that the front and back ends are all one piece to aid in a crash, basically your in a crash box that protects you in the crash and the clams are made so they sustain all the damage. Its a very safe car but then again that design isnt great for small tips because sometimes you may need the full clam repaired/replaced instead of what would be a small panel or bumper on another car. In fact this quote says it all about how their designed:

"The chassis design is inspired by F-1 cars and utilizes a self-sacrificing principle"

Midnight_EG

FunkyExige wrote: »

Ive heard a few of his stories alright on octane Ive been really lucky with more then 6 years of everyday driving a lotus (elise then exige) and never had anyone tip into me. Then again the problem is the cars are so low that some people just dont check their mirrors good enough but your cousin has been mega unlucky in fairness!

To be fair...nobody could possibly miss your car

FunkyExige

Midnight_EG wrote: »

To be fair...nobody could possibly miss your car

Thats a fair point :P But from 2005-2009 i drove a dark blue one so not quite as easy to notice!!

Voodoomelon

Meh, you only hear the bad stories, not the thousands of good ones every week.

dnme

Have we any NCT testers on here?

scudzilla

Does the 50Euro in the ashtray still work?

Topdeck

scudzilla wrote: »

Does the 50Euro in the ashtray still work?

No i think them days are gone i tried it with the tester because i knew my car would fail on the air bag light.He said no way he couldnt do it.

mondeo

scudzilla wrote: »

Does the 50Euro in the ashtray still work?

No it went up to 55 in the last budget.

dr.fuzzenstein

Topdeck wrote: »

No i think them days are gone i tried it with the tester because i knew my car would fail on the air bag light.He said no way he couldnt do it.

I bought a Focus last year, it was such a wreck that it would not have passed the NCT in a million years on front suspension alone.
It had a brand new NCT with a letter stating that the computer was broken and therefore no NCT report was available with the cert.
That just screams "dodgy" to me.

doctorchopper

Topdeck wrote: »

No i think them days are gone i tried it with the tester because i knew my car would fail on the air bag light.He said no way he couldnt do it.

easy fix, take the bulb out

stevenmu

doctorchopper wrote: »

easy fix, take the bulb out

I think they're supposed to check that the bulb lights up for the self test when the car is started. A very easy thing to miss or overlook though.

Topdeck

doctorchopper wrote: »

easy fix, take the bulb out

I did,the fecker failed me on it not lighting up