Peoples experience of the NCT

raspberrypi67

Hi Folks,


Whats people ecperience of the NCT in general, I'm asking because I think there seem to be so many gray areas that really annoys me...
I do think its a good thing to have , but done properly..


I failed due to a crack on my passenger side front windscreen has a crack about the size of a 2 euro coin...Doesent impeed my vision and when it happened was reluctant to change it because I feel that it would not be the same with a new screen fitted, the seal etc ...Perhaps not but just my feeling on it...
Its only a visual, but whats annoying is the fact that a friend of mine has a crack on his drivers side ( size of his thumb nail , ne says) and has never
failed....
I read the criteria on the NCT but its quite vague....
Again, whats annoying is the fact that it seems the testers seem to be given 'carte blanche' to fail something if they've gotton out of the wrong sided of the bed!!!

Typical Irish is it??

kennethsmyth

raspberrypi67 wrote: »

Hi Folks,


Whats people ecperience of the NCT in general, I'm asking because I think there seem to be so many gray areas that really annoys me...
I do think its a good thing to have , but done properly..


I failed due to a crack on my passenger side front windscreen has a crack about the size of a 2 euro coin...Doesent impeed my vision and when it happened was reluctant to change it because I feel that it would not be the same with a new screen fitted, the seal etc ...Perhaps not but just my feeling on it...
Its only a visual, but whats annoying is the fact that a friend of mine has a crack on his drivers side ( size of his thumb nail , ne says) and has never
failed....
I read the criteria on the NCT but its quite vague....
Again, whats annoying is the fact that it seems the testers seem to be given 'carte blanche' to fail something if they've gotton out of the wrong sided of the bed!!!

Typical Irish is it??

Check out page 30 of nct pdf on rsa website. It shows the limits, if on passenger side but within wiper sweep then its 20mm in diameter is allowance

zilog_jones

Yes, the NCT manual is very specific on windscreen damage.

I had a car with a windscreen chip within criteria for failure (size and location) - it passed the NCT the first time with this chip but failed the second. NCT testers are not perfect when it comes to visible inspections.

Jmccoy1

Had one of them fail me for the mirror adjustment motors on a Polo not working as well as emissions. They never worked in the time I owned the car and went through the test without mention on three occasions. Anyway, I said to hell with that, sorted the emissions with Dipetane and went back for re-test. I mentioned to the tester, a different guy about the mirror situation, he said don't worry about, the other lad was being a d*ck, and he's happy if you can nudge them with a finger.

endacl

Never had an issue. Bit of a pain in the hoop having to do it every year, but that’s about it. Currently waiting on the underbody test with the ramp issue. Have that mentally filed under ‘these things happen’.

Bannasidhe

About 3 years ago my Mother's 99 Nissan Micra (little old lady driver, owned from new, regularly serviced, less than 12k on the clock, spent more time on the driveway than on the public highway) sailed through the NCT.
Few weeks later a tyre blew out. Ok we thought, it happens. Maybe when she was parking she scrope it against the pavement or something.
Turns out the car still had the original tyres :eek: Yup, it had 18 year old tyres.
We only discovered this when I took it to get a new one.
The thread on them was within the pass rage which tbh is all I looked at - age wise they should have gotten an advisory many many years earlier.
Not once did any of the NCT inspections ever comment on the fact that since 2005 she should have been getting a "pass advisory" on the tyres.

ba_barabus

I think it's great. For €50 I get someone to do a safety and mechanical check on my car every 2 years.

Cheapest maintenance expense I have.

And even better, as it gets older it goes to every 12 months.

zilog_jones

Jmccoy1 wrote: »

Had one of them fail me for the mirror adjustment motors on a Polo not working as well as emissions. They never worked in the time I owned the car and went through the test without mention on three occasions. Anyway, I said to hell with that, sorted the emissions with Dipetane and went back for re-test. I mentioned to the tester, a different guy about the mirror situation, he said don't worry about, the other lad was being a d*ck, and he's happy if you can nudge them with a finger.

"external rear view mirror is not adjustable" is a reason for failure, but there is no mention of how it is adjusted and no requirement that it needs to be adjustable from inside the car. Many older cars have no internal adjustment and should not fail for this.

Anjobe

NCT is necessary obviously and my experience with it over the years has generally been fine, but it can occasionally be arbitrary and inconsistent.

The only occasion that really annoyed me, I once failed with a torn CV boot, which I got repaired but they failed the other one on the retest. I didn't think they were supposed to do that as I have had a car pass a retest with a blown headlamp bulb and once with a broken CV boot clip which they just informed me of.

Last year I knew my front tyres needed replacing but the tyre fitters couldn't get the ones in I wanted before the test. One was down to the wear bars and should have been a fail, the other not quite as bad but should have been an advisory. I did the test anyway thinking tyres would be a visual retest, and failed for the side lamps not having the same intensity but with no mention of the tyres. I don't get how the tester could be that fussy about side lamps but completely miss worn out tyres!

Voodoomelon

I love the NCT, as above, cheapest checkover you'll get for €50. I love listening to the nonsense by eejits spouted in the waiting room even more.

Princess Calla

Bannasidhe wrote: »

About 3 years ago my Mother's 99 Nissan Micra (little old lady driver, owned from new, regularly serviced, less than 12k on the clock, spent more time on the driveway than on the public highway) sailed through the NCT.
Few weeks later a tyre blew out. Ok we thought, it happens. Maybe when she was parking she scrope it against the pavement or something.
Turns out the car still had the original tyres :eek: Yup, it had 18 year old tyres.
We only discovered this when I took it to get a new one.
The thread on them was within the pass rage which tbh is all I looked at - age wise they should have gotten an advisory many many years earlier.
Not once did any of the NCT inspections ever comment on the fact that since 2005 she should have been getting a "pass advisory" on the tyres.

I'm almost a 100% certain I have received advisory warnings on my tyres for my old car. Think they were flagged for being over 6 yrs old. They were still in good condition as only driven at the weekend. I suppose depends on the tester.

AlfaZen

I had my Alfa GT fail for Fuel Cap Obstructed/Not Visible once. This was purely down to the Tester not knowing where the release button was. It was the last test of the day so he refused to come out and let me show him as the computer wouldn't let him print out the passed NCT.

I had to come back a few days later for the visual retest.

Now granted being an Alfa it was in a strange location next to the ASR(Traction Control) and headlight adjustment buttons but I should not have failed because the guy couldn't find the button.

johnb25

Had mixed experiences. On my wife's previous car there was a small crack down low on the windscreen. It passed for years like that, then last time the tester failed it for the that reason. Then last time on my own car, the tester failed me on rear fog lamp not working. I said it did work, but it is a bit fiddly. So he came out, got me to turn them on and off, and went back and printed a pass cert.

dkd21

I do believe there is a mass amount of misinformation and understanding out there bred by the uninformed general public and motor trade about the NCT test , CVRT included. I see , hear and read about many people disgruntled with the tests for various reasons with a portion that is quite rightly so but I believe many issues are based upon the above, not knowing the clear facts.
Also I see many people people stating various things failed one year and did not the next . The rules and interpretation of them are constantly ever evolving by the RSA , and can be fast paced just like the anti-roll bar drop link dust cover failures a while back . This rule was implemented and then dropped quite quickly over a period of months.

It would be nice for the RSA and APPLUS to give the public and the motor trade a perception from the testing viewpoint , I would believe myself this would clear up a lot of the hearsay and stories that get passed around

tossy

Bannasidhe wrote: »

About 3 years ago my Mother's 99 Nissan Micra (little old lady driver, owned from new, regularly serviced, less than 12k on the clock, spent more time on the driveway than on the public highway) sailed through the NCT.
Few weeks later a tyre blew out. Ok we thought, it happens. Maybe when she was parking she scrope it against the pavement or something.
Turns out the car still had the original tyres :eek: Yup, it had 18 year old tyres.
We only discovered this when I took it to get a new one.
The thread on them was within the pass rage which tbh is all I looked at - age wise they should have gotten an advisory many many years earlier.
Not once did any of the NCT inspections ever comment on the fact that since 2005 she should have been getting a "pass advisory" on the tyres.

So it's the NCTs fault the tyres were gone bad ?

biko

I have never failed on anything that wasn't broken.
So good experience.

crasy dash

Recently bought a cheap 06 Avensis with 290k km up on it as a run a round.
Had been driving it a few weeks no problems with it and put it through the nct.
Failed on a perished flexiblr brake pipe which I would never have known about unless it had gone through.
Mechanic said it was in a bad state and you wouldn't know until it failed under braking.

Cheap 60 euro in my eyes

10fathoms

Had to rearrange the date to a sooner date.
No appointments available online, rang the number, asked for the next appointment available in Kerry including being available for cancellations.... arrived at the centre 4 hours later and passed first go.

So basically got an appointment within 4 hours, passed first go, fierce pleasant staff in the centre.

No complaints here.

zilog_jones

Jmccoy1 wrote: »

Also I see many people people stating various things failed one year and did not the next . The rules and interpretation of them are constantly ever evolving by the RSA , and can be fast paced just like the anti-roll bar drop link dust cover failures a while back . This rule was implemented and then dropped quite quickly over a period of months.

I think it's clear from several examples in this thread that the visual inspection aspect of the NCT is flawed, as many issues that should have failed can go unnoticed. The rules about windscreens have not changed in a long time, but there seems to be a lot of inconsistency around it. The failure to identify things like ancient tyres is a much bigger safety issue IMO.

nigeldaniel

It depends on the tester. Some are fair and honest, more tend to be grumpy as hell and will fail a car if they wish to. I think the ones at the top in each center [manager type] tend to be the toughest on cars. especially if the car is over 10 years old.

michellie

Bannasidhe wrote: »

About 3 years ago my Mother's 99 Nissan Micra (little old lady driver, owned from new, regularly serviced, less than 12k on the clock, spent more time on the driveway than on the public highway) sailed through the NCT.
Few weeks later a tyre blew out. Ok we thought, it happens. Maybe when she was parking she scrope it against the pavement or something.
Turns out the car still had the original tyres :eek: Yup, it had 18 year old tyres.
We only discovered this when I took it to get a new one.
The thread on them was within the pass rage which tbh is all I looked at - age wise they should have gotten an advisory many many years earlier.
Not once did any of the NCT inspections ever comment on the fact that since 2005 she should have been getting a "pass advisory" on the tyres.

People seriously need to be taking responsibility for their own vehicles.

That's ridiculous to be blaming that on the NCT. And id bet money that there is tyre age advisories on the end of her reports.

sligojoek

michellie wrote: »

People seriously need to be taking responsibility for their own vehicles.

That's ridiculous to be blaming that on the NCT. And id bet money that there is tyre age advisories on the end of her reports.

I had a tyre age advisory 2yrs ago. The tester toldd me all about it and ran a highlight pen over it in front of me.

tcawley29

sligojoek wrote: »

I had a tyre age advisory 2yrs ago. The tester toldd me all about it and ran a highlight pen over it in front of me.

Had the same myself a couple of years ago. I never even knew you could read the date on tyres before that and didn't have the car too long either so I didn't know how old they were.

Wildly Boaring

NCT is one of the best things to happen with car ownership here.

There really is a terrible attitude to car maintenance. Not sure it's an irish thing more just a people thng. There are those that will not spend money unless forced too.

Next time you're driving in the dark count the cars with 1 headlight.
Now imagine if they weren't forced to put a bulb in every 2 years.
They'd all be like the avensis in Drogheda yesterday. NO HEADLIGHTS, just the 2 front fogs and a parker

Princess Calla

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

NCT is one of the best things to happen with car ownership here.

There really is a terrible attitude to car maintenance.

I was actually only thinking this the other day.

I remember it was pretty common to see a completely different colour side panel or doors on a beat up car driving around.

Also now the chances of two cars welded together are somewhat reduced.

zilog_jones

Princess Calla wrote: »

I remember it was pretty common to see a completely different colour side panel or doors on a beat up car driving around.

Not sure how wrong colour panels would be a safety issue, and I still see it today. I'm all for repairing vehicles as long as they are still structurally sound, much less wasteful than scrapping it.

Princess Calla

zilog_jones wrote: »

Not sure how wrong colour panels would be a safety issue, and I still see it today. I'm all for repairing vehicles as long as they are still structurally sound, much less wasteful than scrapping it.

I appreciate that.

However I do feel that there was a certain "lob it together, shur it be grand" attitude to car upkeep and maintenance.

There were alot more rust buckets on the road 20/30 years ago than there are now.

sligojoek

Princess Calla wrote: »

I was actually only thinking this the other day.

I remember it was pretty common to see a completely different colour side panel or doors on a beat up car driving around.

Also now the chances of two cars welded together are somewhat reduced.

The "new" door was often in better condition than the rest of the car.

Apiarist

raspberrypi67 wrote: »

Whats people ecperience of the NCT in general...

Drive in, get checked, all is fine, drive away.

raspberrypi67

Bannasidhe wrote: »

About 3 years ago my Mother's 99 Nissan Micra (little old lady driver, owned from new, regularly serviced, less than 12k on the clock, spent more time on the driveway than on the public highway) sailed through the NCT.
Few weeks later a tyre blew out. Ok we thought, it happens. Maybe when she was parking she scrope it against the pavement or something.
Turns out the car still had the original tyres :eek: Yup, it had 18 year old tyres.
We only discovered this when I took it to get a new one.
The thread on them was within the pass rage which tbh is all I looked at - age wise they should have gotten an advisory many many years earlier.
Not once did any of the NCT inspections ever comment on the fact that since 2005 she should have been getting a "pass advisory" on the tyres.

Funny you shoul dmention that because I was given an advisory on my back tyres also, as well as the chip screen fault, the tyre is nearly perfect but 6 years old...Kind of thought...so what!!

raspberrypi67

Princess Calla wrote: »

I was actually only thinking this the other day.

I remember it was pretty common to see a completely different colour side panel or doors on a beat up car driving around.

Also now the chances of two cars welded together are somewhat reduced.

Lol, speaking of welded cars, my wife, gilfriend then, had a micra, needed a job on it, brought it to the garage only to be told it was 2 different cars!!!!
Good weld job all the same.....

mickdw

Generally excellent but 1 bad experience over the years.

zilog_jones

raspberrypi67 wrote: »

Funny you shoul dmention that because I was given an advisory on my back tyres also, as well as the chip screen fault, the tyre is nearly perfect but 6 years old...Kind of thought...so what!!

Tyre rubber degrades over time from exposure to the elements and UV light, the chance of structural failure of a tyre is much higher after six years.

dogmatix

By and large – good. I used to always use the Fonthill centre for my NCT tests. Pleasant place, pleasant staff – car always passed with flying colours.

One year, I got tested at Carlow NCT (I had moved house so it was closer). Horrible kip of a place, surly, aggressive unpleasant staff and the car failed on a lights issue. Got the lights checked – could find no problem – so took the car back to Fonthill 2 weeks later for a retest – passed with no problems.

My current car was up for it’s first NCT recently, so I booked it into Arklow NCT - Pleasant place, pleasant staff – car passed with flying colours.

So it might depend on location and staff. I’d argue if the centre has a rundown, decrepit feel about it, chances are the staff will be too.