Friend changing car wants first time NCT pass

LoveCoke

A friend who is not a boards member is looking to change her car. She has a 2001 Fiesta Zetec 1.25 which has passed all NCT's first time so far. She has the records going back

She is looking for maybe a fiesta or a focus say 2005ish which also passed tests first time. Is that reasonable?

seanyleary

Yes

seanyleary

Yes

rocky

No

bazz26

It depends. A car can fail it's NCT the first time round for a trivial thing like a blown bulb or out of alignment headlights.

coylemj

LoveCoke wrote: »

She is looking for maybe a fiesta or a focus say 2005ish which also passed tests first time. Is that reasonable?

The likelihood is that if she's looking at a 2005 Fiesta, the seller won't have the older (2009 & 2011) NCT certs and even if he does, how does your friend know that the car didn't fail the test a week before, the owner got the problem fixed and then passed the retest?

I don't think the NCT cert indicates if this is a pass after a recent fail. Same applies to a certificate of competency after you pass the driving test.

It might be reasonable for her to have this requirement but if she goes demanding this off prospective sellers, they might write her off as a time-waster with OTT demands, I would.

colm_mcm

Its a bit picky. I had to retest mine over a tyre and id laugh at anyone who would pull out of buying it because of this.

oregano

LoveCoke wrote: »

A friend who is not a boards member is looking to change her car. She has a 2001 Fiesta Zetec 1.25 which has passed all NCT's first time so far. She has the records going back

She is looking for maybe a fiesta or a focus say 2005ish which also passed tests first time. Is that reasonable?

It is reasonable. It is however implausible and unnecessary.

podger456

coylemj wrote: »

I don't think the NCT cert indicates if this is a pass after a recent fail. Same applies to a certificate of competency after you pass the driving test.

There's a "number of inspections" field on the results sheet.

coylemj

podger456 wrote: »

There's a "number of inspections" field on the results sheet.

Fine but I think the current condition of the car is way more important than that it failed on some minor defect that was easily fixed two or four years ago so I think the OP's friend is being unreasonable in her demand.

corkgsxr

The nct misses so much its laughable. And then theres the I know someone who'll pass it and the tester buying buckets ncting it themselves and selling on for a few hundred more.

Id take no notice of nct myself. Just go over everything with a slow calm eye

CiniO

You guys must admit though, that it is some kind of indication how previous owner cared about the car.
Of course there is no 100% guarantee, but there is a difference between a car which was driven without doing any work, and then presented for NCT, failed on many things which got fixed and passed retest, comparing to owner who cared about his car, and kept it in good order all the time, in which case it's more likely to have all NCT passed first time.

I'm trying to keep my cars in good order, and over last 5 year I think I've done 8 NCTs on different cars, out of which I failed only one.

coylemj

Being able to provide a paperwork trail such as receipts for parts (e.g. wiper blades) and service invoices is far more important than a 100% pass rate in the NCT.

bmstuff

CiniO wrote: »

You guys must admit though, that it is some kind of indication how previous owner cared about the car.
Of course there is no 100% guarantee, but there is a difference between a car which was driven without doing any work, and then presented for NCT, failed on many things which got fixed and passed retest, comparing to owner who cared about his car, and kept it in good order all the time, in which case it's more likely to have all NCT passed first time.

I'm trying to keep my cars in good order, and over last 5 year I think I've done 8 NCTs on different cars, out of which I failed only one.

Mine failed because I accidentally left the middle belt socket under the rear seat after I cleaned it a few days before...

I drive my other car to the NCT centre, roll up the window and bing the window falls all the way down...in the NCT car park 5mn before the test.

Sh1t happens

kirving

It might be an indicator that the car was reasonably well looked after, but it's not a guarantee of a reliable car by any means.

ottostreet

Sounds mental to me, and like someone who places WAAAAY too much stock in the NCT.

corkgsxr

National crappy test

biko

It seems to me to be overly *something* to focus on cars that must have passed the test first time.
As long as it passed it has a degree of road worthiness.

If she is worried, have a mechanic inspect the vehicle before purchase.

colm_mcm

Once had a prospect who wouldn't buy a car because it had 4 stud wheels and he preferred cars with 5 studs because the wheels were less likely to fall off.

Matt Simis

A retarded requirement from someone who understands neither the NCT or cars in general. I have had cars fail for "not having plastic clips on seat bench screws" and "no switch for automatic lights". Yeah, should steer clear of those deathtraps..

peter barrins

This post has been deleted.

LoveCoke

coylemj wrote: »

The likelihood is that if she's looking at a 2005 Fiesta, the seller won't have the older (2009 & 2011) NCT certs and even if he does, how does your friend know that the car didn't fail the test a week before, the owner got the problem fixed and then passed the retest?

I don't think the NCT cert indicates if this is a pass after a recent fail. Same applies to a certificate of competency after you pass the driving test.

It might be reasonable for her to have this requirement but if she goes demanding this off prospective sellers, they might write her off as a time-waster with OTT demands, I would.

you would be left keep it. anyone who thinks relevant question a waste of time would wasting her time

LPGParkLane

Last week..changing brake pads on nice looking fresh customers( 07) Mercedes , just about 3 weeks after it passed NCT.
Front left brake pad ( 1 of 2) was worn down to about 3 mm, another one had 6mm on it but did look strange..,different from another one.. .on closer inspection and after questioning customer ...i was told that night b4 test front wheel locked up on braking..his mate took the wheel and caliper off to find that the brake pad had separated from metal backing plate and as it was too late in the eve to buy new pads, he had "Superglue"d the pad back on.. passed Nct and lasted for another 1500 miles ..
Find it rather shocking..but just shows how NCT works ...fails you on plastic srew covers ..lets thru with breaks like that.

djimi

I think she is kidding herself if she thinks that looking for a car like this is going to mean she finds the perfect car or something. Cars are mechanical objects; things break from time to time. Whether it was repaired before the first NCT or after the test is utterly irrelevant; all that matters is that the car is in good working order when she buys it. A valid NCT (be it the first test or after a retest) goes some of the way to showing how good a car is; her mechanic giving the car the green light is more important and more relevant though.

To be honest, show me a car that has never had any problems and I'll assume it is a car with a problem waiting to happen.

Mar4ix

My car also passed NCT for first time(look picture), looking to straight swap for for fiesta, which passed in first go.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9510/1001if.jpg

EDIT: :pac:

Merch

At least its a record of the mileage?

Can joe or Josephine public access that info on a car they are interested in buying?

Or does the NCT notice decreases in odometer readings?

Can someone even access from the NCT if a car has had tests and what it may have failed on?

At a price or at all?