NCT rip off ?

eadyzrx1200

Just failed my NCT, for the 2nd time. I had to replace a front strut and a dashboard light which I did. The car passed everything else with flying colours. So fix what needed to be fixed and low and behold they fail it for something else. So the car was perfect last wk except for the strut and dashboard light which are now replaced but fails on something else. Begs the question what's the point of the NCT, seems to just be a cash cow that has nothing to do with road safety etc

aisr1ofk43dpy5

eadyzrx1200 wrote: »

Just failed my NCT, for the 2nd time. I had to replace a front strut and a dashboard light which I did. The car passed everything else with flying colours. So fix what needed to be fixed and low and behold they fail it for something else. So the car was perfect last wk except for the strut and dashboard light which are now replaced but fails on something else. Begs the question what's the point of the NCT, seems to just be a cash cow that has nothing to do with road safety etc

Isn't it the case that they just retest the items that failed. What failed the second time.

tossy

So what did it ultimately fail on ?

Voodoomelon

So you didn't get it fixed inside a month?

Chimaera

Welcome to the weekly NCT complaint thread

ba_barabus

We haven't had "The NCT broke my car" threads in a while though.

djimi

I love the fact that you conveniently neglect to mention what it was that the car failed on second time around.

Assuming its not something obvious (lightbulb blown, wheel missing etc) then is is possible that whatever failed the first time around prevented something else from being tested, which has now been tested and itself has failed?

00833827

Tested both cars this morning - shes always slagging off my Avensis, saying her Golf is a way better car - of course i never argue,

Avensis passed no bother :-) - Golf got knocked on headlight alignment - of course she will still have last laugh as its up to me to get her car sorted :-(

The Muppet

eadyzrx1200 wrote: »

Just failed my NCT, for the 2nd time. I had to replace a front strut and a dashboard light which I did. The car passed everything else with flying colours. So fix what needed to be fixed and low and behold they fail it for something else. So the car was perfect last wk except for the strut and dashboard light which are now replaced but fails on something else. Begs the question what's the point of the NCT, seems to just be a cash cow that has nothing to do with road safety etc

Did the afore mentioned dashboard light stay on when you put in a working bulb by any chance? Is this what it failed on?

BNMC

OSI wrote: »

Well, if they've found faults with your car twice already, I would imagine it's serving it's purpose of road safety pretty damn well..

Funnily enough, in the 5 years I've been driving, I've put 5 different cars through at leas 8 NCT's. Only one of those failed, and that was because the battery fitted was too small and was loose in the engine bay. But then, I take the time and effort to ensure my car is maintained well and prepared for the NCT.

Well aren't you just great.

What is it with NCT threads that bring the high horse brigade out of the woodwork?

Valetta

BNMC wrote: »

Well aren't you just great.

What is it with NCT threads that bring the high horse brigade out of the woodwork?

What's "high horse" about his post?

What is it with NCT threads that bring sarcastic condescension out of the woodwork?

biko

BNMC, leave it ooouw.

OP, what did you fail on the second time?
It kinda sounds like you didn't re-test in time and you actually did a full test again?

rex-x

I have a little story which happened last week in the Waterford Centre.
Car went for NCT fully checked over by me as always! failed on what I was told was a badly worn brake hose which was rubbing on something and a badly worn balljoint!
So I took the car to my workshop could find nothing wrong whatsoever as I thought! Booked retest and passed without so much as a tool required!
When queried the lovely tester asked what my problem was that it had passed.....
I was ushered out of the test centre with a complaints form which I am duely fiulling in

NuckingFacker

rex-x wrote: »

I have a little story which happened last week in the Waterford Centre.
Car went for NCT fully checked over by me as always! failed on what I was told was a badly worn brake hose which was rubbing on something and a badly worn balljoint!
So I took the car to my workshop could find nothing wrong whatsoever as I thought! Booked retest and passed without so much as a tool required!
When queried the lovely tester asked what my problem was that it had passed.....
I was ushered out of the test centre with a complaints form which I am duely fiulling in

Are they still printing them on Andrex?

Nonoperational

I think the NCT is overall a good thing. Have put a god few cars through the NCT now, from 10 year old Alfas to relatively new Fiestas. I had one failure (out of about 15 visits) and it was an Alfa 156 front top wishbone which I pretty much knew beforehand. I've no issue at all with the NCT to be honest.

Supergurrier

What Biko said, was probably months in between tests.

visual

My quips is more RSA implementation of NCT than the test itself.

Doing a test should be a cert for 12 / 24 months from date of test rather than the cars registration anniversary to anniversary.

I know you can pay and do the test up to 3 months in advance of anniversary and can get NCT for 15 / 27 months
But it smacks of revenue collection.

I got caught out myself on a second car that when put though the test instead of expected 24 months ended up with a NCT for a little over 3 months...

ardle1

Nonoperational wrote: »

I think the NCT is overall a good thing. Have put a god few cars through the NCT now, from 10 year old Alfas to relatively new Fiestas. I had one failure (out of about 15 visits) and it was an Alfa 156 front top wishbone which I pretty much knew beforehand. I've no issue at all with the NCT to be honest.

I have a particular issue with them forcing and wedging ball joints until they get the slightest movement, just so they can fail you, it's a common procedure, especially on older cars, and very unjust.................... Don't bother posting if your gonna say that this doesn't go on, I've seen them do it and I've spoken to, and heard many a good mechanic story, where the mechanic is totally dumb founded as to why 'this' ball joint or bushing has failed.

dangerus06

i had a car a few yrs ago that failed on a ball joint i had no prob with that because i not long bought it and the nct was covered by the garage ,prob i had is it passed the handbrake which did not work at all used to park the car in gear and it still rolled

fasttalkerchat

visual wrote: »

My quips is more RSA implementation of NCT than the test itself.

Doing a test should be a cert for 12 / 24 months from date of test rather than the cars registration anniversary to anniversary.

I know you can pay and do the test up to 3 months in advance of anniversary and can get NCT for 15 / 27 months
But it smacks of revenue collection.

I got caught out myself on a second car that when put though the test instead of expected 24 months ended up with a NCT for a little over 3 months...

So an expired NCT is backdated?

visual

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

So an expired NCT is backdated?

Yes its backdated

A bit like motor tax except you can't claim car off the road.

djimi

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

So an expired NCT is backdated?

For the first 9/21 months its backdated. Test it within 3 months of the next due date and you get a 15/27 month cert.

ironclaw

visual wrote: »

I know you can pay and do the test up to 3 months in advance of anniversary and can get NCT for 15 / 27 months
But it smacks of revenue collection.

This utterly annoys me. I tested a car in Feb (It had be lying up for a while, NCT was well expired but it was off the road) and had to re-test at the end of August (Earliest date without ringing up being October :rolleyes:). Makes absolutely no sense at all. It should be 2 years from the test date with the first test date set by the registration. It shouldn't matter a dime after that when the car was registered.

Chimaera

The problem with allowing the cert to be valid from the test date is that it can encourage people not to bother testing at all, or to test less often.

You can let the NCT go several months out of date (if you're not caught) and then go in and test it and get a cert that lasts 12/24 months from then, and you've effectively added that much more time onto the length of your cert. It ends up defeating the purpose of the whole system.

Tying it to the registration date incentivises the owner to get it tested in time to maximise the expiry of the cert.

What I do wonder is how this ties in with the new SORN system. If a car is declared off the road, then it's not being used so the NCT requirement is also suspended: should the owner be allowed extend the expiry of their NCT cert in this case?

Stheno

ardle1 wrote: »

I have a particular issue with them forcing and wedging ball joints until they get the slightest movement, just so they can fail you, it's a common procedure, especially on older cars, and very unjust.................... Don't bother posting if your gonna say that this doesn't go on, I've seen them do it and I've spoken to, and heard many a good mechanic story, where the mechanic is totally dumb founded as to why 'this' ball joint or bushing has failed.

I had this happen me on one occasion my mecahanic could not for the life of him figure out how they failed it.

They have on other occasions found faults that did need fixing so the good far outweighs the bad for me.

fasttalkerchat

djimi wrote: »

For the first 9/21 months its backdated. Test it within 3 months of the next due date and you get a 15/27 month cert.

What if you buy a car with expired NCT? Does the new owner get a clean slate?

michellie

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

What if you buy a car with expired NCT? Does the new owner get a clean slate?

No.

YbFocus

I think the nct is a fantastic idea in all respects; but lately had a car fail on flexi brake line.

Got home and jacked it up wondering how I missed it and it was fine. Booked it in and said nothing and it passed??

Someone's a bit out

slimjimmc

djimi wrote: »

For the first 9/21 months its backdated. Test it within 3 months of the next due date and you get a 15/27 month cert.

I understand what you're saying but using the term "backdating" is misleading since it implies you can do the test late and have it apply retrospectively as if you had a valid NCT cert all along. A NCT cert is never backdated, it is only ever valid from the date of testing. I think its important to clarify the difference since some people might think that all they need to do, if charged for no valid NCT, is to pass the test and the charge goes away because the cert can be backdated (it can't).

Del2005

visual wrote: »

My quips is more RSA implementation of NCT than the test itself.

Doing a test should be a cert for 12 / 24 months from date of test rather than the cars registration anniversary to anniversary.

I know you can pay and do the test up to 3 months in advance of anniversary and can get NCT for 15 / 27 months
But it smacks of revenue collection.

I got caught out myself on a second car that when put though the test instead of expected 24 months ended up with a NCT for a little over 3 months...

The reason why it'd tied to the first registration is to remove the incentive not to test. How did you not know the car would only get 3 months if you had the VLC? It's not like they hide the fact and the previous NCT certs expiration date should have been a clue.

visual

Del2005 wrote: »

The reason why it'd tied to the first registration is to remove the incentive not to test. How did you not know the car would only get 3 months if you had the VLC? It's not like they hide the fact and the previous NCT certs expiration date should have been a clue.

There is only one reason and its revenue

It deliberately ignores valid reasons why a car may be off the road due to none use or change of ownership.

In my case if I waited 2 weeks I could have had nct for a period of 27 months. But that is equally wrong as extending the period to next test is less safe.

I needed to use this car at a specific date that is unrelated to cars anniversary or VLC .

Would you be so smug if your insurance company switch to cars anniversary instead of from date you need it.

djimi

slimjimmc wrote: »

I understand what you're saying but using the term "backdating" is misleading since it implies you can do the test late and have it apply retrospectively as if you had a valid NCT cert all along. A NCT cert is never backdated, it is only ever valid from the date of testing. I think its important to clarify the difference since some people might think that all they need to do, if charged for no valid NCT, is to pass the test and the charge goes away because the cert can be backdated (it can't).

I wouldnt have said that using the term backdating implies anything of the sort to be honest (to me it simply means that the cert is dated from when it expired and not from the current date), but if you felt that it needed clarification then fair enough!

Del2005

visual wrote: »

There is only one reason and its revenue

It deliberately ignores valid reasons why a car may be off the road due to none use or change of ownership.

In my case if I waited 2 weeks I could have had nct for a period of 27 months. But that is equally wrong as extending the period to next test is less safe.

I needed to use this car at a specific date that is unrelated to cars anniversary or VLC .

Would you be so smug if your insurance company switch to cars anniversary instead of from date you need it.

If the insurance was only for the car and transfered to the new owner it wouldn't bother me. Our insurance doesn't work that way.

CiniO

Chimaera wrote: »

The problem with allowing the cert to be valid from the test date is that it can encourage people not to bother testing at all, or to test less often.

You can let the NCT go several months out of date (if you're not caught) and then go in and test it and get a cert that lasts 12/24 months from then, and you've effectively added that much more time onto the length of your cert. It ends up defeating the purpose of the whole system.

So how come that kind of system works everywhere else?
If it can work everywhere else, I'm sure it could work in Ireland.

What I do wonder is how this ties in with the new SORN system. If a car is declared off the road, then it's not being used so the NCT requirement is also suspended: should the owner be allowed extend the expiry of their NCT cert in this case?

New declaring off the road, is only for motor tax purposes and doesn't affect anything else (NCT, insurance, etc).

visual

RSA are disconnected from the real world and believe fines and punishment are the way forward. Instead of working for and with the public.

A recent pole or input to improve driving test clearly shows their mentality where stakeholders is not the motorist.

NCT should be a safty test of roadworthiness from commencing on day of test for fixed period. This rubbish of anniversary dates has caused more problems than it solves.

CiniO

visual wrote: »

RSA are disconnected from the real world and believe fines and punishment are the way forward. Instead of working for and with the public.

A recent pole or input to improve driving test clearly shows their mentality where stakeholders is not the motorist.

NCT should be a safty test of roadworthiness from commencing on day of test for fixed period. This rubbish of anniversary dates has caused more problems than it solves.

The best example is situation when someone intends to drive abroad for longer period.

F.e. someone wants to go for a journey through many countries for several months, he might not be able to.
Imagine you plan to leave in May for 12 months. Your NCT is due in September. As you can do your test 3 months in advance, the earliest you can do it is June. So if you leave in May, your NCT will run out in September, and there is nothing you can do to help the situation. Your plan is ruined.
All because of crappy idea of "due date" in NCT legislation.

Chimaera

CiniO wrote: »

New declaring off the road, is only for motor tax purposes and doesn't affect anything else (NCT, insurance, etc).

But if the car is declared off the road under that system, it's not legally permitted to be used on public roads, so unless you're putting up serious mileage on private land it's not going to be used during the SORN period and thus the wear and tear that usually results in NCT failure won't be applied. SORN is effectively suspending the car's registration.

So if you leave in May, your NCT will run out in September, and there is nothing you can do to help the situation. Your plan is ruined.
All because of crappy idea of "due date" in NCT legislation.

No it's not: NCT only has legal effect in this country. While abroad with the car you are not subject to that rule. It's also not difficult to book an NCT appointment while still out of the country, so you can book it while abroad and have the car tested straight away as soon as you are back. You have a legitimate reason for not having the car tested too, should you be stopped.

CiniO

Chimaera wrote: »

But if the car is declared off the road under that system, it's not legally permitted to be used on public roads, so unless you're putting up serious mileage on private land it's not going to be used during the SORN period and thus the wear and tear that usually results in NCT failure won't be applied. SORN is effectively suspending the car's registration.

No. New SORN (declaring off the road system) doesn't suspend car registration. Registration is still valid. VRC is still valid. NCT is still valid, and insurance is still valid.
Once you declare car off the road, you indeed can't legally drive it, but if you do, you can't be prosecuted for driving car without NCT, insurance, etc... All you can be prosecuted for is driving car which was declared off the road for tax purposes. No one really knows what penalties will be for that, but I doubt it will be anything big.

Anyway - when car is declare off the road, NCT due dates doesn't change.
And IMHO that's actually good thing, because even if car is not used, it might develop problems, like rust, perished rubber elements, etc...
NCT should be valid for 1/2 years from last test. That would be ideal, and that's how it works nearly everywhere else than Ireland.

No it's not: NCT only has legal effect in this country. While abroad with the car you are not subject to that rule. It's also not difficult to book an NCT appointment while still out of the country, so you can book it while abroad and have the car tested straight away as soon as you are back. You have a legitimate reason for not having the car tested too, should you be stopped.

That's nonsense.
Driving untested car abroad is the same offence as driving it untested in Ireland. You can not legally drive your car abroad without valid NCT.

visual

Chimaera wrote: »

But if the car is declared off the road under that system, it's not legally permitted to be used on public roads, so unless you're putting up serious mileage on private land it's not going to be used during the SORN period and thus the wear and tear that usually results in NCT failure won't be applied. SORN is effectively suspending the car's registration.





No it's not: NCT only has legal effect in this country. While abroad with the car you are not subject to that rule. It's also not difficult to book an NCT appointment while still out of the country, so you can book it while abroad and have the car tested straight away as soon as you are back. You have a legitimate reason for not having the car tested too, should you be stopped.

Did you miss the bit about driving the car abroad ?

chris445

djimi wrote: »

I wouldnt have said that using the term backdating implies anything of the sort to be honest (to me it simply means that the cert is dated from when it expired and not from the current date), but if you felt that it needed clarification then fair enough!

Its not though. It's dated 'until' that same date 1/2 years on but its only dated 'from' the date you have it tested. If you go a few months past the NCT expiry date, and you then do the test, the date you do the test will be the date shown on the NCT cert.

The question I have is if you had a minor accident in the time when the test wasn't done and passed afterwards could an insurance company argue that the car may not have been in roadworthy condition when the accident happened? For all they know you could have had major work done after the accident to get the car to pass an NCT.

CiniO

chris445 wrote: »

Its not though. It's dated 'until' that same date 1/2 years on but its only dated 'from' the date you have it tested. If you go a few months past the NCT expiry date, and you then do the test, the date you do the test will be the date shown on the NCT cert.

The question I have is if you had a minor accident in the time when the test wasn't done and passed afterwards could an insurance company argue that the car may not have been in roadworthy condition when the accident happened? For all they know you could have had major work done after the accident to get the car to pass an NCT.

Having car in roadworthy condition and having valid NCT on it, might be two separate things.

If insurance company want's to make sure car was roadworthy during accident, all they can do is to have it checked themselves.

This is, that most insurers now require car to be NCTed.
If there is an accident when car doesn't have NCT, and owner does NCT test just after the accident, it won't be backdates.
During the accident car didn't have NCT, and fact that it passed maybe even few days after it, is irrelevant.

visual

CiniO wrote: »

Having car in roadworthy condition and having valid NCT on it, might be two separate things.

If insurance company want's to make sure car was roadworthy during accident, all they can do is to have it checked themselves.

This is, that most insurers now require car to be NCTed.
If there is an accident when car doesn't have NCT, and owner does NCT test just after the accident, it won't be backdates.
During the accident car didn't have NCT, and fact that it passed maybe even few days after it, is irrelevant.

Thats a interesting point NCT only implies at date of test it was road worthy. If you had an accident even with current NCT the car could still be found to be defective and you just as liable if the car had no NCT