Garage delayed the reparation of my car, missed last day of re-test NCT.

EmilieStiletto

Hi!
I was just talking to the garage that is repairing my car. I was told the car would be done today (left it in this tuesdsy) and now they say I will not get it back until tuesdsy or wednsday next week?! This means I will miss my last day for re-testing and have to do a full test again.
So am I right that they should pay the fee for the test because they knew I had it booked tomorrow and told me my car would be done today?!
I also had it in for a pre-nct test before the real Nct test and they should also know the damage and give me estimated time for the job?

Thanks!

SCOOP 64

Might be better in motors rather then car detailing, but i would certainly ask for the fee ,as you told them you needed it back by a certain date for nct.

EmilieStiletto

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Might be better in motors rather then car detailing, but i would certainly ask for the fee ,as you told them you needed it back by a certain date for nct.

Yes, and they said it would be plenty of time to get it done between Tuesday and Friday. Just lost my trust to them now.

Greyfoot

could you tell us what needs done on ur car?

ardle1

Absolutely, they should pay any 'extra' fees you incur.... All garages and any half legit/decent mechanics know at this stage about any NCT procedures.... And going by your post, you made it clear when your retest date was... I don't quite understand the last part off your post!!

Gaillimh1976

You have 28 days for a re-test and you waited 20 before sending it to the garage ??

bitburger

perhaps money was tight for a few weeks?

dnme

in future get the retest done earlier, now pick up the pieces and move on.

Its a tough world out there, time to take some of the responsibility for your own affairs.

Stoolbend

Unfortunately if you kick up a fuss over the full test fee they'll probably just add it into the bill somewhere.

The fact you got them to to a pretty NCT check they should be covering the fee anyway.

pippip

They may have had to order a part that wont be delivered to them till next week. What did it fail on?

Did they mention what the delay was? If they say they are just busy you could try getting the car back and seeing if someone can squeeze you in on monday.

Have you booked a retest? You can only walk in with visual inspection fails, other than that you need to book a test which would be too late now anyway. If its only visual I'm assuming its only minor repairs and shouldn't have taken that long.

Soarer

If you specified when handing in the car that it needed to be done by day X because the NCT is due and they agreed, then they should definitely foot the bill.

If that wasn't the case, I'd say you're out of luck.

djimi

They are not responsible. You have 28 days to retest a car and you left it until the last week to get it repaired. There could be any number of legitimate reasons why they couldn't get it sorted for you on time, none of which would have mattered had it not been left until the last minute.

ironclaw

Soarer wrote: »

If you specified when handing in the car that it needed to be done by day X because the NCT is due and they agreed, then they should definitely foot the bill.

Unless that is in writing and accepted by both parties, there is no obligation for them to honour a time frame, no matter the reason for working to said time frame. As said by other posters, plenty of legitimate reasons for a delay i.e. Parts sourcing etc.

blade1

So much for the pre-test.
Don't sound very competent, whoever they are.
Next time probably better to just test the car and then do what's needed.

dr.fuzzenstein

Gaillimh1976 wrote: »

You have 28 days for a re-test and you waited 20 before sending it to the garage ??

That.
Don't blame the garage for YOUR lack of planning!
You didn't leave them enough time and I'm sure they just want to be sure to fix it properly, rather than by the timeframe specified.
There could have been unexpected problems that they didn't know about before.

Mister Man

Pre-NCT checks are a load of sh1te if you ask me. Last week, a girl I work with left her car to have it's pre-NCT check. Had a few things fixed and changed. Mechanic gave it the all clear, and un-surprisingly to me - It failed. Best way to find out if there's anything wrong, is to put it through the NCT. No BS that way. Bring the car and fail sheet to your mechanic, and they should be able to sort it and have it passed next time around.
OP - Why did it take so long to plan on getting it fixed and re-tested? The time given is plenty, so I don't see why it was left until the last minute.
I'm assuming the car needed a part(s)? Did you buy them, or did the mechanic have to order them? If so, you really should have taken the delivery, fitting, and testing times into account. Also take into account that an item may be out-of-stock... For all you know, it could have been completely out of his hands.
Out of interest, what's being fixed...?
If you were in such a hurry, you could have found a mechanic that would do it the same day, or at worst, the next day (Assuming that it isn't a major issue with the car) I know the mechanic I use for work I can't do myself, would take my business and have it ready the next day (if possible of course)

blade1

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

That.
Don't blame the garage for YOUR lack of planning!
You didn't leave them enough time and I'm sure they just want to be sure to fix it properly, rather than by the timeframe specified.
There could have been unexpected problems that they didn't know about before.

They pre-tested the car.
If it failed on something they should have spotted, I'd want the pre-test fee back aswell.
Need to know why it failed first?

slimjimmc

blade1 wrote: »

They pre-tested the car.
If it failed on something they should have spotted, I'd want the pre-test fee back aswell.
Need to know why it failed first?

I agree, if (as you say) it failed on something obvious such as headlamp alignment.
Most garages can't cover the full range of tests, they don't have the equipment to check test items such as brake performance, brake imbalance, suspension imbalance, etc. In my experience the shaker rig the NCT have is more effective at finding suspension wear than a tyre lever.

blade1

slimjimmc wrote: »

I'd agree, if it failed on something obvious such as headlamp alignment.
Most garages can't cover the full range of tests, they don't have the equipment to check test items such as brake performance, brake imbalance, suspension imbalance, etc. In my experience the shaker rig the NCT have is more effective at finding suspension wear than a tyre lever.

That's why I said we need to know why it failed.
Also, the garages that do these pre tests, do they tell the customer that they don't cover the full range of tests or are people coming out of the pre test thinking "grand, that's me sorted for the test".
Personally, I wouldn't dream of going for a pre test but each to their own I suppose.

slimjimmc

blade1 wrote: »

That's why I said we need to know why it failed.

I was agreeing with you.

blade1 wrote: »

Also, the garages that do these pre tests, do they tell the customer that they don't cover the full range of tests or are people coming out of the pre test thinking "grand, that's me sorted for the test".
Personally, I wouldn't dream of going for a pre test but each to their own I suppose.

Any I've seen usually tell you they do certain aspects and don't claim to do the full range of tests but they don't volunteer to tell you the limitations either. Ignorance of the service they're buying results in the latter I'm afraid.

blade1

slimjimmc wrote: »

I was agreeing with you.

I know, I read my post back and it sounded like I was giving out lol,
Sorry about that!

dr.fuzzenstein

blade1 wrote: »

They pre-tested the car.
If it failed on something they should have spotted, I'd want the pre-test fee back aswell.
Need to know why it failed first?

Would be handy to know.
If it failed due to a suspension bit broken loose and scraping on the road, I'd want my pre-test fee back as well.
Except I'm not daft enough to book my car in for one of those.
But it always comes back to one thing:
Why wait 20 days to bring it back?
Sounds like OP had NCT pre-test done, did the NCT, failed, waited 20 days and brought it back to garage after 20 days, expecting it to be fixed overnight.
Did the OP even inform the garage over the course of those 20 days? Go in with the NCT report? Have the car assessed by said garage? So much we don't know here.
Now we have a difficult situation, except if my guess is true, the answer form the garage will be: Well, you waited 20 days, don't blame us!"
It could also be that the garage was fully booked for 20 days, but less likely.
Regarding pre-NCT tests:
They only serve the purpose so the garage can sell suspension, brakes, tires, full services, exhausts, etc... to make a quick buck.

ironclaw

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Regarding pre-NCT tests:
They only serve the purpose so the garage can sell suspension, brakes, tires, full services, exhausts, etc... to make a quick buck.

No commercial interest myself nor do I own a garage, but a full NCT costs €55 and a retest for something non-visual is €28. So on the flip side

If you say do a full test and fail, and then have to pay €100 in parts, your down €155.

If you do pretest (Say €30), identify the same problem (€100) and then pay the full test your down €185.

Provided its a good, reputable garage and they do find the problem, your paying the pretest to avoid the inconvenience of having to retest in my opinion. Is that worth say €30? Probably is to be honest, to others maybe not. I usually schedule a service around NCT time anyway so its not that big a deal to ask for it to be checked.

In any case, if they do a decent pretest e.g. Lights, Balancing etc its actually no harm and is something as a motorist we should be checking anyway. I really don't understand why people get uptight about spending money for services, NCT's etc. Its money your going to have to spend anyway

djimi

Except pre-tests dont cost €30; Ive never seen one that costs anything like as little as the NCT.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

djimi wrote: »

Except pre-tests dont cost €30; Ive never seen one that costs anything like as little as the NCT.

Any pre-test unless it is free, ain't worth jack imo.

ironclaw

djimi wrote: »

Except pre-tests dont cost €30; Ive never seen one that costs anything like as little as the NCT.

Fair enough, I was just plucking €30 as a figure. But then again, the point still stands. If a decent pre-test finds the problem the cost of the pre-test is paying for the time you'd have to spend doing the same repair if the NCT are the first to find the problem.

Even if I paid €50 for a pre-test, thats the equivalent of perhaps 5 hours of work I'd have to potentially take off to get the car repaired if the NCT found the problem.

Anyway, I agree you would be mad to go for just a pre-test. Makes far more sense to schedule the whole lot in a service a short time before the test itself.

bucketybuck

What if you had a billion euros worth of unobtanium in the boot of the car and now its going to melt because the car sat too long in the garage, should they have to pay you a billion euros for that as well?

sean1141

ironclaw wrote: »

Even if I paid €50 for a pre-test, thats the equivalent of perhaps 5 hours of work I'd have to potentially take off to get the car repaired if the NCT found the problem.

But you still will have to get the problem repaired. A look over by your mechanic every now and then is no harm. They will most likely spot something that even guy who is handy with a spanner could miss.

Fred Swanson

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Stoolbend

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Some people live more than 50km from an NCT centre.
Add to that having to take time off work to travel, It can be worthwhile to give yourself the best chance possible of passing.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

djimi

Stoolbend wrote: »

Some people live more than 50km from an NCT centre.
Add to that having to take time off work to travel, It can be worthwhile to give yourself the best chance possible of passing.

Id agree with you, if the pre test gave you a guarantee of passing. But it doesnt, and theres a chance that you will spend €100 to get the car inspected and still end up needing repairs and a retest.