Used car without nct

Ryder

Hi. Looking at getting a car. See one i. Interested in but no nct done for a few months. Drives fine to me and plan on getting a mechanic to look over. Don't want to waste money though if the car won't pass.

What would you do.....insist on an nct first or get an undertaking that they will carry out the repairs to pass it?

Thanks

Atlantic Dawn

If it's from a private seller you would have to ask yourself is there some issue they don't want to be found before the sale. If it's from a dealer I'd insist on NCT prior to sale.

freshpopcorn

It would depend on how much the car was and what was needed to pass the NCT.
If I felt I was getting a good deal and know what was needed to pass. I'd chance it.

_Brian

Ryder wrote: »

Hi. Looking at getting a car. See one i. Interested in but no nct done for a few months. Drives fine to me and plan on getting a mechanic to look over. Don't want to waste money though if the car won't pass.

What would you do.....insist on an nct first or get an undertaking that they will carry out the repairs to pass it?

Thanks

Not that the nct is everything it with so many cars in the market buying one without unless its dirt cheap it's foolish.

If the car is good enough to pass it's only €55, surely the seller would do that and ask a bit more.

You often see ads selling cars that "will fly through test", I laugh at these idiots, who are they kidding.

AnneFrank

Nct is a must. I'm selling mine at the moment and made sure it has nct and tax

Are Am Eye

Maybe it "will fly through nct"





(Tell him to nct it and deal goes at current price, otherwise look for big discount or else walk...lots of cars out there)

Lantus

Unlikely the seller will go through the nct process purely on the time it takes to book a date.

Atlantic Dawn

Lantus wrote: »

Unlikely the seller will go through the nct process purely on the time it takes to book a date.

You can usually get one within a week almost anywhere in the country, especially this time of the year when it's quiet.

mikeybrennan

Don't bother without NCT upfront

There's any amount of cars with fresh nct

freshpopcorn

Have you a link to the car your looking at?

Isambard

I'd go ahead assuming the car was priced very keenly due to not having a test. That leaves you a window of expenditure to get it through the test.

bazz26

How well priced is the car compared to ones with a test? Depending on the price buying a car without a NCT can be a complete gamble. I'd prefer the owner even had put it through and if it failed at least it has a fail sheet and you can judge if it's worth buying or not. No NCT otherwise could potentially be money down the drain especially if it fails on something serious where it costs as much or as more to fix than the car is worth.

Dravokivich

To be honest. I don't see why they wouldn't put it through nct at all. If it's got less than 3 months the seller has an advantage by putting it in early, to get the additional 12 months and sell off. If they don't do that, it'll put me off. I'd expect to see a fail sheet.

degsie

How did you test drive a car without an nct?

EIREAROEIRE

I have a Passat with full nct just passed good price too

acronym Chilli

It all comes down to asymmetric information, and the answer to one question: "Why haven't they tested it themselves?"

The worst answer is: they haven't tested it because they know something's wrong and that it'll fail badly and the repairs indicated make the car uneconomic to repair. In that case, you would practically never buy even at bangernomics money. It's not a transfer of risk here, it's a transfer of the problem from them to you.

However, if you can satisfy yourself that there's a more favourable explanation, you might be prepared to go ahead and buy (with risk).

Marginally more favourable: seller is pessimistic about car and NCT, but doesn't know of any fault. This person may want to put the price up after the NCT is done if the news is good/not-bad. The purchase would represent a transfer of risk (from seller to buyer).

Much more favourable: seller is daunted by NCT process and just wants quick sale (e.g. if it was an old person who dreaded having to go up to NCT centre etc.,). Or person looking for quick exit (relocation etc., has 100 other things to do rather than book and attend for NCT). Here you're getting some risk, but mostly you're subsidising their time/energy.

A very real danger if you like the car is that you convince yourself of a more favourable explanation than reality. Personally I might risk it, but only at bangernomics money and I'd want to really like the car (e.g. maybe a model/edition that I was looking for and that wasn't easy to find).

biko

If you don't feel confident that you yourself can judge the car you really should get a mechanic to look it over.
NCT is a fairly good all-round check but won't spot or bother with things that are not security related.

What you could do (if you are close enough) is to testdrive it straight to a garage that does free pre-nct tests and let them go over it. Ask them to give you feedback on everything they find.
Don't trust them though, "free pre-nct" garages have a knack for finding faults that might not actually exist.

Best is of course to take it to a mechanic you trust.

mikeybrennan

It wouldn't be worth it at bangernomics money

You could walk into a situation where it's failing or has already failed on multiple things
and you've basically thrown your money away

beauf

A car with a failed nct would at least be a known issue to deal with.
.

coylemj

I'd assume that the car was put through the NCT, failed on a potentially expensive item like suspension, emissons or steering and the owner is now trying to offload it onto some mug.

If a car is due an NCT and he's trying to sell it with no NCT, there's really only one reason for this. A car with an NCT is worth far more than than it's value without an NCT plus €55 i.e. economically there is no reason not to put a car through the NCT if you're selling it.

Even thinking about buying this car is madness, it's like the people who buy secondhand cars with warning lights on the dash and they accept some BS explanation from the sales guy, then they come here to complain when they can't get him to fix it after they've handed over the cash.

Just walk.

mgbgt1978

OP, just to satisfy your curiosity, do a 'Test Booking' for the car. This will tell you if it's a periodic inspection (hasn't been presented for an NCT recently) or a Retest (it has failed in the last month).
Either way unless it's massively underpriced compared to similar models, I would just look at cars with a at least 6 months NCT.