NCT due this month, no date until july

Turtle-TM

HI all,

Quick question, my NCT is due, i tried to book online but with nothing available rang the booking line, and was told that the centre i want is totally booked and i can go on a waiting list to get my test within the month, however i wont be able to chose the time for the test, which isnt convenient for me with work, they text you with 24 hrs notice if they have an opening.

the only time i could book that was at a time that was convenient for me was in mid july. I have printed the booking email out and put it in the glove box to show if i am stopped, is a gard likely to take this as a reasonable excuse as to why my nct is out, i can also show my up to date servicing book proving the car is road worthy.

todolist

Waiting list to have a MOT.What a banana republic.

Turtle-TM

having an out of date nct risks having your car seized. trying to get said nct takes booking 3-4 months in advance. it seems like a broken system to me

No Pants

1. Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks and no greater than four weeks. The customer will be provided with a test free of charge where an appointment cannot be offered within a four week period provided that:

• The Customer has not declined a test appointment (either confirmed or provisional) more than twice, at a centre of their choosing, for the test due at this time
• The Customer has not previously accepted a booking outside of the 4 week period.

From the NCT customer charter here.

Turtle-TM

i took an appointment 2 weeks ago for this coming sunday, but have been called into work so wont be able to, was told i have to pay a €22 cancellation fee cause i didnt give 5 business days notice, absolutely ridiculous. If they cant offer me a time and date that suits me within 4 weeks then I shouldnt have to pay. might ring them about it on tuesday.

corktina

todolist wrote: »

Waiting list to have a MOT.What a banana republic.

NCT not MoT. We may be a banana republic, but we are a Republic

todolist

corktina wrote: »

NCT not MoT. We may be a banana republic, but we are a Republic

A BANANA republic where nothing works.Can't even get your car MOT'D.:mad:

CiniO

todolist wrote: »

A BANANA republic where nothing works.Can't even get your car MOT'D.:mad:

Maybe you can't have your car MOT'd, but we are the only country in the world, where you can have your car NCT'ed. Isn't it great?

corktina

Of course you can't ...we don't have the MoT here....Britain doesn't have a Ministry of Transport either any more I think.

gooner99

I rang bout the wifes car . They gave me a date 6 weeks away.Then I said so thats a free test, which the girl never heard off. After talking to the supervisor, she said give me your number and we'll put you on the cancelation list.low and behold a week later I got a date within the 28 days.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I rang to book my car in. Straight away he said it'll be 2 months and without me saying a word he said thats too long, give me your number and I'll get you one faster amd they did. Wonder if they have my number on a blacklist.

Guy:Incognito

todolist wrote: »

A BANANA republic where nothing works.Can't even get your car MOT'D.:mad:

Could be worse. Garages could be mot'ing cars and "finding" a few hundred or a couple of grands worth of work to do and doing you a "favour" on the price, you know, cos your a good customer and all. Ah the old infallible MOT.

dharma200

All you do is phone them, you get an appointment.
Simples

wotzgoingon

I don't get why people keep making these threads you can book a NCT 3 months in advance of it running out. You know yourself it will be running out but ah sure I will leave it on the long finger and then when it is suddenly too late, they go make threads on boards giving out, even though they knew months in advance that their NCT will be out at that date.

jhegarty

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I don't get why people keep making these threads you can book a NCT 3 months in advance of it running out. You know yourself it will be running out but ah sure I will leave it on the long finger and then when it is suddenly too late, they go make threads on boards giving out, even though they knew months in advance that their NCT will be out at that date.

Because people expect that booking a month in advance of expiry will be fine.

macplaxton

corktina wrote: »

Britain doesn't have a Ministry of Transport either any more I think.

Careful now with this thinking business!

They haven't used that name for that government department since 1981.

Turtle-TM

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I don't get why people keep making these threads you can book a NCT 3 months in advance of it running out. You know yourself it will be running out but ah sure I will leave it on the long finger and then when it is suddenly too late, they go make threads on boards giving out, even though they knew months in advance that their NCT will be out at that date.

Yes you are correct that you can book your nct 3 months in advance, unfortunately some people have a busy work schedule and need to prioritise other things.

Is it not reasonable to expect that for a test that is required by law to put your car through that you should be able to have a date that suits for the test that is not 3 months past the due date?

If I were to ring them and go on the "priority" list I will get a date within the month however I will only be told about that date within 24hrs of the date becoming available, which is not convenient for me with my work schedule.

Thetruthking

In regards to the law what is the case here? Am I correct in saying even if it is booked but it's expired you are not aloud to have the car on the road? I know if you don't have NCT that you are not covered by most insurance company's

snaps

To me the NCT system looks like it needs revamping. It seems to be broken now and needs a good long look at as in time the back log for bookings will get worse and worse as 10 year old cars need testing once a year.

Surely more NCT test centers need to be opened or even perhaps going 24 hrs in busy spots?

Having to book your car in more than 3 months in advance is ridiculous and no member of the public can be blamed for not thinking that a booking has to be made in this timescale.

Trying to book your car in for a test say with in a month of it expiring would be the normal surely?

Seems its been getting worse for years now and not a thing has been done or suggested to improve the NCT service.

No Pants

Thetruthking wrote: »

Am I correct in saying even if it is booked but it's expired you are not aloud to have the car on the road?

Potential five points and a fine I think. Maybe a court appearance.

corktina

No Pants wrote: »

Potential five points and a fine I think. Maybe a court appearance.

Mandatory court appearance, 5 points on conviction and up to €1500 fine

corktina

Thetruthking wrote: »

In regards to the law what is the case here? Am I correct in saying even if it is booked but it's expired you are not aloud to have the car on the road? I know if you don't have NCT that you are not covered by most insurance company's

That's about it. I'd say you have minimum third party cover to satisfy the RTA but not a hope of them paying out to you if you have an accident

i57dwun4yb1pt8

if you have free time and get a yearly nct 3 months before its due on a 12 year old car , when would you need to go again ?

a year from the new date , or a year from the old date ? their site is not clear .

No Pants

snaps wrote: »

Having to book your car in more than 3 months in advance is ridiculous and no member of the public can be blamed for not thinking that a booking has to be made in this timescale.

I booked mine in March and got an appointment within two weeks or so. NCT wasn't due until June, but since there's no penalty for doing it early, I got it out of the way. I don't know why more people don't do it that way rather than come on here and complain.

Guy:Incognito

DaDumTish wrote: »

if you have free time and get a yearly nct 3 months before its due on a 12 year old car , when would you need to go again ?

a year from the new date , or a year from the old date ? their site is not clear .

The test always runs to the anniversary of registration. So if your car is registered on the 6th of January, your nct will always expire on the 6th of January of whatever year the test is till, regardless of whether you do the test.

snaps

No Pants wrote: »

I booked mine in March and got an appointment within two weeks or so. NCT wasn't due until June, but since there's no penalty for doing it early, I got it out of the way. I don't know why more people don't do it that way rather than come on here and complain.

I completely understand what you are saying, but does the majority of the public know your nct can be done 3 months before it expires??

Its the same with tax/Insurance, You only renew that when it expires and not 3 months before??

Guy:Incognito

snaps wrote: »

I completely understand what you are saying, but does the majority of the public know your nct can be done 3 months before it expires??

The majority of the public seem to know **** all outside their immediate interests. Theres only so much hand holding you can do. All the info to do with the NCT is on the site. Short of ringing everyone and running through all aspects of life,theres not much more can be done, they have to educate themselves about things.

cerastes

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Could be worse. Garages could be mot'ing cars and "finding" a few hundred or a couple of grands worth of work to do and doing you a "favour" on the price, you know, cos your a good customer and all. Ah the old infallible MOT.

There are other places to get the MOT done over there too, that arent garages.

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I don't get why people keep making these threads you can book a NCT 3 months in advance of it running out. You know yourself it will be running out but ah sure I will leave it on the long finger and then when it is suddenly too late, they go make threads on boards giving out, even though they knew months in advance that their NCT will be out at that date.

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

The majority of the public seem to know **** all outside their immediate interests. Theres only so much hand holding you can do. All the info to do with the NCT is on the site. Short of ringing everyone and running through all aspects of life,theres not much more can be done, they have to educate themselves about things.

NCTS says in their customer charter on their site they will provide the NCT within 4 weeks, which is a reasonable time. It seems fair enough to go by that, if they cant provide them in that time they should be open about it and say you need to book 3 months in advance, which will highlight the problem so they wont be saying that, but really if it wont help fix the problem if everyone starts doing that as it will just advance the problem or make the bottleneck even worse, much easier if NCTS can fob you off and get you to agree to and accept a date outside their own charter, which may cause the person to fall foul of the law?

1. Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks and no greater than four weeks. The customer will be provided with a test free of charge where an appointment cannot be offered within a four week period provided that:

I believe on one occasion, I rang just prior to the 3 months and they declined to even deal with me, fair enough I suppose but it should have been just as easy to provide a date.

edit, maybe it should say this
[*]Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks monthsand no greater than four weeksmonths. The customer will be provided with a test free of charge where an appointment cannot be offered within a four week month period provided that::(

Thetruthking

corktina wrote: »

Mandatory court appearance, 5 points on conviction and up to €1500 fine

That's what I thought alright

schoolhouse

you can book your test 3 months in advance.
Then you can go in to the site and check for cancellations and if one is available you can change your booking to the new date.
There is no limit to the amount of times that this can be done without penalty.
However once you get to within 5 days of your booking you would have a cancellation charge so you just stick with your final date.

People who seem to have such limited times when they are available to get their cars declared legally roadworthy really need to get prepared early.
Test centres are open seven days a week from early morning until late at night, no excuses.

cerastes

schoolhouse wrote: »

you can book your test 3 months in advance.
Then you can go in to the site and check for cancellations and if one is available you can change your booking to the new date.
There is no limit to the amount of times that this can be done without penalty.
However once you get to within 5 days of your booking you would have a cancellation charge so you just stick with your final date.

People who seem to have such limited times when they are available to get their cars declared legally roadworthy really need to get prepared early.
Test centres are open seven days a week from early morning until late at night, no excuses.

Some people dont have time for that kind of messing about and chopping and changing their schedule, it would be reasonable if NCTS stuck to their charter and could provide dates within a reasonable time.

corktina

I don't bother with all that booking and then looking for a cancellation...I just phone them or email them and ask to be put on the cancellation list. Always got an early appointment within a couple of days..