NCT broke my gearbox

th hen

My car was tested on Friday 13th of December ( i realise irony of date lol )its a 2012 Mercedes c250 cdi manual. it passed the test with flying colours. I went out to the car park where it was parked in the usual alloted parking spaces. i went to put the car into reverse and it wouldn't go into reverse, it wouldn't go into 2nd either. all other gears it was going into but 5th was spongy. I went back in and got the tester and told him what happened. he came out and tried to get it into gear ( forcefully ) but to no avail. he would take no responsibility and the only offer of assistance was to tell me he would help me push it out so i could drive it out forwards to go to a mechanic.

I did sign a waiver before test but is this for engine damage or all damages.

In the heel of the hunt i brought it to a Mercedes specialist and they said the selector was gone and i had to bring it to naas gearbox centre to be repaired at a bill of 1300 euro. I was without the car from December 13 for a month also due to the Xmas period and trying to diagnose problem etc.

have i any recourse against the nct centre does anyone know.

thanks for any advice in advance

mondeo

I think it's up to the NCT to decide to take responsibility or not, probably just bad luck that the selector gave up just as the test was done. Things fail on cars.

colm_mcm

Unlikely. The fact that it drove out of the centre would suggest it was working.

It obviously was going to break either way.

c.p.w.g.w

So legally you need to get your car NCT'd but you have to sign a waiver that they are free from liability if they damage your car...That can not be correct?

th hen

colm_mcm wrote: »

Unlikely. The fact that it drove out of the centre would suggest it was working.

It obviously was going to break either way.

yes it was working as in the fact it had 4 gears which propelled the vehicle forward but having no reverse or 2nd gear is not a working vehicle to be fair.

no one can say for certainit would break either way. the only certainty is the test carried out caused the damage

robtri

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/nct-test-challenge-pays-off-in-court-1.520790

Millionaire only not

th hen wrote: »

My car was tested on Friday 13th of December ( i realise irony of date lol )its a 2012 Mercedes c250 cdi manual. it passed the test with flying colours. I went out to the car park where it was parked in the usual alloted parking spaces. i went to put the car into reverse and it wouldn't go into reverse, it wouldn't go into 2nd either. all other gears it was going into but 5th was spongy. I went back in and got the tester and told him what happened. he came out and tried to get it into gear ( forcefully ) but to no avail. he would take no responsibility and the only offer of assistance was to tell me he would help me push it out so i could drive it out forwards to go to a mechanic.

I did sign a waiver before test but is this for engine damage or all damages.

In the heel of the hunt i brought it to a Mercedes specialist and they said the selector was gone and i had to bring it to naas gearbox centre to be repaired at a bill of 1300 euro. I was without the car from December 13 for a month also due to the Xmas period and trying to diagnose problem etc.

have i any recourse against the nct centre does anyone know.

thanks for any advice in advance

If Sinn Fein are elected next week send the bill to pierce Doherty they’ll sort it I’d say !

th hen

@robtri thats from 2005 . you sign a disclaimer now but im hearing conflicting stories that the disclaimer is for engine damage ie. timing belt breakages

un5byh7sqpd2x0

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

So legally you need to get your car NCT'd but you have to sign a waiver that they are free from liability if they damage your car...That can not be correct?

The waiver is on the timing belt/chain not the rest

colm_mcm

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

So legally you need to get your car NCT'd but you have to sign a waiver that they are free from liability if they damage your car...That can not be correct?

It’s not correct

colm_mcm

robtri wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/nct-test-challenge-pays-off-in-court-1.520790

That’s a crackpot district court judgement that only took the oath of the lads mechanic as evidence that the car shouldn’t really have shat itself during the test because the €2000 car was in good working order beforehand. You couldn’t make this Shiite up.

his mechanic swore that the car was in good mechanical order the day before it was tested

bucketybuck

th hen wrote: »

the only certainty is the test carried out caused the damage

No, that is simply not true.

colm_mcm

th hen wrote: »

yes it was working as in the fact it had 4 gears which propelled the vehicle forward but having no reverse or 2nd gear is not a working vehicle to be fair.

no one can say for certain it would break either way. the only certainty is the test carried out caused the damage

Whoa. The only certainty is that it failed during or after the test. There is no certainty that the test caused the damage.

ruwithme

th hen wrote: »

My car was tested on Friday 13th of December ( i realise irony of date lol )its a 2012 Mercedes c250 cdi manual. it passed the test with flying colours. I went out to the car park where it was parked in the usual alloted parking spaces. i went to put the car into reverse and it wouldn't go into reverse, it wouldn't go into 2nd either. all other gears it was going into but 5th was spongy. I went back in and got the tester and told him what happened. he came out and tried to get it into gear ( forcefully ) but to no avail. he would take no responsibility and the only offer of assistance was to tell me he would help me push it out so i could drive it out forwards to go to a mechanic.

I did sign a waiver before test but is this for engine damage or all damages.

In the heel of the hunt i brought it to a Mercedes specialist and they said the selector was gone and i had to bring it to naas gearbox centre to be repaired at a bill of 1300 euro. I was without the car from December 13 for a month also due to the Xmas period and trying to diagnose problem etc.

have i any recourse against the nct centre does anyone know.

thanks for any advice in advance

Op your best talk to a solicitor on the matter. much commentary on here would drive anyone round in circles. best of luck in the matter

Kristopherus

bucketybuck wrote: »

No, that is simply not true.

How so???

colm_mcm

Kristopherus wrote: »

How so???

Because to say that there is certainty the test caused the damage, rather than the part failed during the test implies blame on the person doing the test, or the test procedure.

bucketybuck

Kristopherus wrote: »

How so???

Basic knowledge of how cars work, how tests work, how parts fail, and the definitions of words like "certainty" and "caused", mean that it simply is not true that:

the only certainty is the test carried out caused the damage

Bunkernumber1

Do affair few Mercedes day in day out and I can tell you that this part does fail. To be honest do having the correct diagnostics to code it is the expensive part. Anyways I would be thinking u paid well above the price for the job but look you needed it sorted. Anyways I'd go after the nct I think there a money grabbing shower any way. At the end of the day the car drove in ok when you got back into it it wasnt right. Simple really. But just so u know the part does actually give a bit of bother.

colm_mcm

Bunkernumber1 wrote: »

Do affair few Mercedes day in day out and I can tell you that this part does fail. To be honest do having the correct diagnostics to code it is the expensive part. Anyways I would be thinking u paid well above the price for the job but look you needed it sorted. Anyways I'd go after the nct I think there a money grabbing shower any way. At the end of the day the car drove in ok when you got back into it it wasnt right. Simple really. But just so u know the part does actually give a bit of bother.

So to recap, it wasn’t really the NCT testers fault, but go after them anyway.

Needles73

So explain how NCT broke your car as opposed to your car happened to break during NCT ?
What are you accusing the tester or test of doing wrong ? To look for compensation someone has to make a mistake surely....

George Dalton

Bunkernumber1 wrote: »

Do affair few Mercedes day in day out and I can tell you that this part does fail. To be honest do having the correct diagnostics to code it is the expensive part. Anyways I would be thinking u paid well above the price for the job but look you needed it sorted. Anyways I'd go after the nct I think there a money grabbing shower any way. At the end of the day the car drove in ok when you got back into it it wasnt right. Simple really. But just so u know the part does actually give a bit of bother.

Diagnostics to code a broken selector in a manual gearbox? Are you sure you aren’t thinking of the auto version?

greasepalm

I cant see the nct breaking a gearbox as its not tested by any device they have and as we know how good german quality is not and one of those things that happened be it at the nct centre or out in a carpark.

JustAThought

greasepalm wrote: »

I cant see the nct breaking a gearbox as its not tested by any device they have and as we know how good german quality is not and one of those things that happened be it at the nct centre or out in a carpark.

They certainly could if some jealous rough lout forced the gears - I’d definately follow up OP. Signing a waiver does not give them the right to wreck or force or be rough with your car. Does the NcT centre have cctv -
mine dis when I made a ckmplaint about how my car was driven and treated. I’d start with formal complaint there.Also, if the car was driven out then the last man handling it and his driving and treatment of it could be the issue. Ignore the waiver and complain.

Tazzimus

JustAThought wrote: »

They certainly could if some jealous rough lout forced the gears

Lol what?
It's an 8 year old diesel Merc, not a Ferrari.

coolbeans

Is there any way in the OP's mind that this is not the NCT's fault? It could just have broken you know. An eight year old Merc is not going to be perfect and a gearbox issue wouldn't be out of the ordinary. I'd say the OP will have some job pinning it on the NCT centre as the likelihood is a part that was on its way out failed after or during the test. As such, you can't really expect them to take the blame.

coolbeans

JustAThought wrote: »

They certainly could if some jealous rough lout forced the gears - I’d definately follow up OP.

On what planet is a jealous rough lout working at the NCT centre taking out his frustrations in life on a stranger's eight year old diesel Merc?

JustAThought

coolbeans wrote: »

On what planet is a jealous rough lout working at the NCT centre taking out his frustrations in life on a stranger's eight year old diesel Merc?

planet me.