NCT scam

hadepsx

Hi all.

I bought a car last week, all seemed well until the weekend when the noises came. Took to mechanic today, and got it up on lift, all shocks and coils were bad, track rod end very badly corroded, some bad bushings and mounts. Test drive when buying car and driving a few days afterwards was fine, nothing that would signal red flags. How could this have passed an NCT. The reason I bought the car was it had just passed the NCT in August 23. I know I can't go back to seller as it was sold as seen, but can I make a complaint to NCT. Would it lead to anywhere, has anyone else complained to NCT with a similar issue. Any financial comeback, as I'll have to pump another e1000 into car to get it safe.

LIGHTNING

You bought private so its tough luck on that. And I don't see what the NCT has got to do with this. A car can be rough as houses looking but still pass. I had a car with shocks that looked awful but it still passed. Why didnt you get the car inspected before you bought it?

hadepsx

Yeah I know it's tough luck, like I said sold as seen.

My issue is with NCT passing such a car in first place and not flagging up the issues I stated.

So extremely badly corroded/rusted parts can now pass the NCT?. So much for making sure cars are roadworthy.

You can only inspect so much outside someone's house.

mk7r

An NCT is a very specific test of certain basic components of a car, parts can be completely worn out/missing and still pass if it's not specifically a fail in the manual.

Its definitely not an indication of the cars overall condition although many people take it that way

hadepsx

Fair enough. I'm in the majority then in thinking that a fresh NCT equals a safe car overall.

LIGHTNING

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121126944#Comment_121126944

Think your twisting the words of the posts. From the NCT site ->

"The NCT is a check of basic requirements at the time of the test. It assesses components which are visible and accessible. It does not replace or purport to replace your responsibility to ensure your car is roadworthy at all times or the regular maintenance that a mechanic needs to carry out on your car"

Your original post says certain parts are worn. There is a massive difference between warn brushings, old shocks and say two cars welded together.

hadepsx

Didn't say worn. I said they are bad, bad corrosion etc. Bit of a difference. So if I was involved in a car crash and crash inspector saw the track rod end snapped in half due to being compromised, whose at fault, me for thinking it's a safe car for having a recent NCT, or the NCT for passing a car that has clearly a bad component. Must have been a back hand, money in glove box job to pass it.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127046#Comment_121127046

I'm sure it's rusty but a track rod end is very thick cast steel, I have never seen one rusted to the point of being compromised (they can look pretty nasty yes) so it was and probably still is sound for the purposes of the NCT

Padre_Pio

The NCT checks for imbalace between one side and the other. If both sides are equally worn then it's not picked up on the NCT.

hadepsx

Grand so. Thanks for the replies people. Learn something new every day.

It’s a terrible shame that people use the NCT as some sort of confirmation that a car is perfect to drive.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121126944#Comment_121126944

Have you checked the NCT is real?

hadepsx

How do you check if it's real?

dring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127203#Comment_121127203

I'm sure you can contact them to check.

bazz26

Try and book it on the website using the reg. It should tell you the correct expiry date as per the disc/cert.

hadepsx

Yeah it's legit. Just checked as advised.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127203#Comment_121127203

put reg on the NCT website. It will tell you when it’s sue etc

the_amazing_raisin

Did you see the NCT test report? There's a section called visual test and I've seen them make observations in there that a component wasn't looking great but wasn't a fail

bucketybuck

Hypothetically, an unscrupulous mechanic could fit new parts to get a car through the NCT, then immediately remove them all and fit shite parts before selling the car privately. Then he keeps the new parts to sell on a repair job or perhaps even return to where he bought them. All it costs him is his own labour.

Not saying that happened here, but it does illustrate why any test is nothing but a snapshot in time. It simply cannot be a guarantee of anything once that vehicle leaves the testing centre.

hadepsx

Yeah NCT report clear, no comments.

Vic_08

Who and where did you buy the car from? Was it actually a private sale or was it really a motor trader.

Dealers of any kind cannot by law retail to the public "Sold as seen", the sale of goods act applies to cars from anyone selling for profit although in this cowboy country it is so common for scum car dealers to do this most of the public don't even realise they are being duped.

mickdw

Shocks equally worn will often pass but if showing oil leaking from shock should not pass.

Broken springs should not pass either.

Rust is not something that will fail a track rod end.

At the end of the day, it's your baby now regardless.

It's possible that the nct was marginally dodgy as it has been known that traders can get stuff through that another might not.

hadepsx

@vic. Yeah it was bought in Wexford. Private sale, went to house and all, was not a carpark sale job, so seemed safe enough. Met family and everything. Obviously I just need to reduce my expectations of how reliable a fresh NCT is. Live and learn as the saying goes.

User1998

Have you been underneath the car? Do you trust the mechanic isn’t ripping you off?

hadepsx

No I trust my mechanic. There was no faking the noises I experienced over the weekend, ended up going over ramps at 5 km due to the harsh scraping noises, and me not wanting to cause further damage. Anyways thanks everyone for your input. Appreciate your time/help/information.

homingbird

testers are still taking money to pass cars i know of one tester doing it if you have the test sheet the testers name is on it go back to nct with it wont help you but will weed him out.

Dirty Nails

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127582#Comment_121127582

So what actually caused the noise? Nothing you have listed so far accounts for a scraping noise or an NCT scam.

hadepsx

Read again 🙄

reubenreuben

Was there not a story a few years back where someone died driving a car that had recently passed. It was discovered that all the shockers were very worn but were worn equally. Car was dangerous to drive.

The test only tested for imbalance between the 2 axles. It passed that.

It takes the common sense away from the mechanic. The computer says yes basically. Load of balls.

Not sure if nct has been changed since.

delusiondestroyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058314362/nct-scam

The NCT is a scam, not only is it bare bones to pass it I once put an Avensis that literally had a lightbulb holder melting in it and it passed with flying colors.

Not to mention people in the "know" can get Stevie Wonder to be there tester... if you get my meaning...

You'd be as well off using your star signs the day your going to buy the car as to be relying on the NCT cert.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121131023#Comment_121131023

The NCT is definitely not a scam, but it's not perfect. Are there testers taking money for tests? Yes absolutely, is it limited in scope, yes it is but the government set the rules for what's tested and if they make it stricter it's a "money racket"

I know many people who will absolutely only fix dangerous problems with their cars because the NCT told them to, I'd rather have it than not have it, it's responsible for taking some serious sh1te off the roads.

mickdw

Ya all being well, the test is a reasonable check of the main running gear of a car in terms of catching it if in dangerous condition.

That is a big improvement over what we had previous to the test being introduced.

Sure, some things get through that shouldn't and no doubt there are dodgy testers but overall, ita keeping the 15 year old that running around in reasonable road going condition by forcing the people that don't ever look at their car to replace tyres and suspension and do brake discs occasionally.

No a scam but can be a nightmare when things go wrong.

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127304#Comment_121127304

Hypothetical, a well known car dealer in cork is known for doing this.. alleged even bringing in a different car and just swapping the plates.

It would fail on the vin not matching, which is (or was) just a visual retest.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137354#Comment_121137354

In my experience, they refused to carry out the test if the VIN doesn’t match. The mileage is also recorded so that would be another issue. So what your saying is most likely untrue.

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137590#Comment_121137590

Nope. True.

Vin was just a visual, dunno if that's still the case.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148048#Comment_121148048

In my case, the tester told me that if up to 3 digits are incorrect its a visual. My VIN was completely wrong so they refused to carry out the test. Not sure how true that is tho.