Nct nightmare ... again

JungleBunny

Hey guys, just had to get something off my chest.
I went in to get the NCT done on my car last Saturday, where they failed me for an imbalance in my rear shocks. I only had them changed last year, so I went into a garage and had them tested again and to nobody's surprise, the car was fine.

I have just come back from the NCT where I have been arguing with a manager over the results for about 20 minutes. When the wanted me to pay, I thought I was gonna loose the head completely.

Is this just another money making scam. I was watching all the people comin in there for a re-test and was wondering how many of them should have passed teh first time around?!
This is not the first time that the car has failed but it was actually because the machine was faulty.

Anybody have any experiences with this lot, or am I the only one?

pauln

Ya it's a complete and utter scam. It properly started of with good intentions to improve road safety but as far as I can see the company running it have gone off the wall and are milking it for all its worth, example: where is the safety problem with not having the county in Irish on your number plate?

I've to go in for a test soon and I not looking forward to it one bit, I just know they are going to find something completely stupid or something that is just fine and fail me anyway, costing me to have it replaced and the re-test fee (which looks to be their real money earner).

There's no point in arguing with them as they are the judge and jury, it's one of those things that really p***** me off.

Sorry to hear of your problems looks like you join a every increasing club.

JungleBunny

I did not get pi$$ed off. I got even. I pretty much told everyone waiting in the waiting area that if your schocks are dodgy, today is a good day for a test and that if they had have come in like me on saturday they would have failed. The maanger tried to get me into his office but I was having none of it.
He really was treating me like an absolute idiot... maybe it had something to do with the fact that i am a girl?? But he was messin with the wrong girl this morning

dealgan

Yep..
I had to get new plates made up. The original ones which were on the car when it was sold in 1997 had digits which were *marginally) too small !!
OK, fine.

The rear exhaust box mounting flange was a bit rusty, but wasnt falling off, or wasnt making a noise. Once of the rubber mountings from the exhaust box to the chassis was unhooked .. which I dont believe was unhooked before the "technican" got hold of it. - how do I know ? It was one of the few things I looked at before going to the test centre.
and, last but not least ... I was missing a stud from one of the wheels !! No way .. I just had a new set of tyres fitted 2 days before that, and all 5 studs were present when I washed the car that morning. I remember because I spent ages cleaning the wheels !

Makes you wonder.

PlayaFlow

well heres my 2 cents;
I went in with my car , they told me i failed as my lights "werent" functioning properly. I insisted that he come out and show me. we went outside and he said only 1 of my sidelights arent working, get a bulb replaced and come back. I took the keys off him , turned the car on and wouldnt ya know both of them turned on. He acted completley surprised as he thought he could screw me over because im young. As if he didnt know that when key is out of ignition only 1 light acts as a parking light ( the light opposite to the driver , incase youre parked on a kerb or somethin )
think of how many clueless women (or men) they could have gotten with this that had to come back after spendin money replacing a perfectly good bulb.
scam artists

pauln

JungleBunny wrote:

I did not get pi$$ed off. I got even. I pretty much told everyone waiting in the waiting area that if your schocks are dodgy, today is a good day for a test and that if they had have come in like me on saturday they would have failed. The maanger tried to get me into his office but I was having none of it.
He really was treating me like an absolute idiot... maybe it had something to do with the fact that i am a girl?? But he was messin with the wrong girl this morning

Ha ha nice one!

JungleBunny

That is ridiculous! In all honesty, they do not look like the brightest bunch of people in there so nothing surprises me with them.
I think you just really need to stand up for yourself.
I think I may have lost the head a bit this morning, but there was no way I was replacing my shocks when they are perfectly fine (and not even a year old) and under no circumstances was I paying for the re-test.
I think I made that pretty clear to everyone there this morning. I think i may have told the manager to stop treating me like an idiot too. :mad:
That really did help.
I would really advise anyone that is challenging their result of the test to just be a harsh as you can. If you know what you are talking about you are sorted.
Such a bummer you failed dude, not just that but they actaully managed to loose parts of your car! Now that's what I call service!

pauln

While on things people have failed for has anyone here failed on the colour of there headlamps? Now i don't mean having blue neons or anything just for having ones that are say closer to the blue end of the spectrum then the yellow?

Reason I ask is I know someone who failed on this and think I might also.
Do they actually have a machine that can measure the wavelength of the light from the headlamps and give a printout or is it simply a case of the tech looking at them, I mean how do I know they aren't colour blind and seeing them as neon green or something?

If i have this problem I'll certainly be looking for the machine printout and will cause a war if he only "looked" at them, they get away too easy with these things most of the time.

JungleBunny

I think that could be a reason to fail alright.
They have a machine laright that tests the spectrum.
If you want to be on the safe side though, you should go to a garage and get that checked. I think most garages have them. If they offer pre-NCT services, they will have the machine for sure. It only takes about 4 minutes to check the lights. It will save you being re-tested.
Might be worth doing before you go for the test.

They really do fail you for the stupidest things.

I am actually in the middle of making a formal complaint to them about my fail. It probably wont help but it will make me feel better

pauln

@JungleBunny

I am actually in the middle of making a formal complaint to them about my fail. It probably wont help but it will make me feel better

I think i'll start mine now, to get a run at it so to speak .

I think that could be a reason to fail alright.
They have a machine laright that tests the spectrum.
If you want to be on the safe side though, you should go to a garage and get that checked. I think most garages have them. If they offer pre-NCT services, they will have the machine for sure. It only takes about 4 minutes to check the lights. It will save you being re-tested.
Might be worth doing before you go for the test.

I was thinking that, ahh well It's a old enough car and I feel the lights will be the last of my problems to be honest. I'm going to give it a good once over the weekend before it heads in and wait and see. They're so unpredictable that I don't see the point in spending money on parts that they might not even notice as a problem.

Anyway thanks for that, It'll be interesting if anything comes of your letter.

JungleBunny

Come to think of it pauln.... I am not sure if it does test the spectrum.
It tests the alignment alright. No harm in asking in a garage though i guess.

Gatster

AFAIK you are allowed to actually go through the tests with your car, ie. you don't have to wait in the waiting room. Someone on here has done this and I did when my old car was restested last year.

It makes sense to do so, as this is a genuine scam and they will fail you for supposed faults that don't exist (too late when you leave)...I don't think the people running the tests are qualified to do so. The 'supervisor' last year could barely speak English.

JungleBunny

That's a good point!
I think that they have a viewing room in the NCT place in Deansgrange in Dublin. I have never been in it before though. I have heard of someone lookinf while its being done, so the customer must have the chance to have a look at what they are doing.
I hear ya about the guys not being able to speak english.
When i failed, I asked the guy if I passed or failed and he just tutted at me.
When I asked him questions on why it failed he could barely give me an answer.

I would love to boycott that place altogehter but I dont fancy paying a €400 fine for not displaying

BrianD3

JungleBunny wrote:

Hey guys, just had to get something off my chest.
I went in to get the NCT done on my car last Saturday, where they failed me for an imbalance in my rear shocks. I only had them changed last year, so I went into a garage and had them tested again and to nobody's surprise, the car was fine.

I have just come back from the NCT where I have been arguing with a manager over the results for about 20 minutes. When the wanted me to pay, I thought I was gonna loose the head completely.

Is this just another money making scam. I was watching all the people comin in there for a re-test and was wondering how many of them should have passed teh first time around?!
This is not the first time that the car has failed but it was actually because the machine was faulty.

How do you know the machine was faulty? Did the manager of the centre admit that it was? Was everyone there that day failing on shocks?

Personally, I'd be more inlcined to trust the NCTS and their equipment than garages. There are an awful lot of useless eejits, rip off merchants and chancers working in the motor trade. I'm not even sure if most garages would have the right equipment to test shocks properly. Also I wouldn't trust many garages to fit a pair of shocks without either messing it up it up or else pulling some sort of scam (eg fitting 2nd hand or spurios parts and charging for new genuine parts)

I myself have never had a problem with the NCT. Cars have passed when they deserved to pass and failed when they deserved to fail.

Our man in Havana

JungleBunny wrote:

I would love to boycott that place altogehter but I dont fancy paying a €400 fine for not displaying

The chances of getting done are extremely slim. I have been avoiding it for 8 months now been thru countless checkpoints and they say nothing.

I am not going to contribute one cent towards this government sponsored scam.

pauln

Bond-007 wrote:

The chances of getting done are extremely slim. I have been avoiding it for 8 months now been thru countless checkpoints and they say nothing.

I am not going to contribute one cent towards this government sponsored scam.

I remember reading on here somewhere that you can get called up before the court for not having one?
I don't know how accurate that is but it makes some sense. I wonder do they cross reference road tax with NCT certs somewhere to see if you have both?

Our man in Havana

pauln wrote:

I remember reading on here somewhere that you can get called up before the court for not having one?
I don't know how accurate that is but it makes some sense. I wonder do they cross reference road tax with NCT certs somewhere to see if you have both?

No they do not!

PauloMN

How do you get your road tax if you don't have an NCT cert when the car should have one?

My car ('01, 45k miles) also failed on the rear suspension - there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the shocks to me, but a new set sorted the problem out and the car passed no problem. I was pee'd off at the time, mainly due to more expense and hassle, but sure the cert lasts 2 years and overall I think it's improving the quality of cars on the road.

The shocks seem to be a common failure, but as BrianD3 said how many garages have the proper equipment that would measure a suspension imbalance? Very few, but there's plenty of garages offering so-called "full NCT checks".

I do agree that the county in Irish thing is daft though, although it was a free recheck for that (maybe that's not the case anymore). If you have a correctly size plate with legal letters/numbers/spacing/colours etc., I don't see why having the county in English/Irish or not present should make any difference whatsoever. They should focus on the clowns with gothic, script and calculator digits! :mad:

ibanez

The NCT is a load of Bollocks i sent a 97 Renault Megane for its test yesterday it failed because one brake light was brighter than the other.This car had no work done it was sent for an NCT just to see what they would fail it on the items they missed were Cracked headlight,Worn track rod end,Speedo not working, and an electrical fault that stopped the indicators from working when you pressed the brakes.None of these were on the printout they gave me.

Interceptor

ibanez wrote:

The NCT is a load of Bollocks i sent a 97 Renault Megane for its test yesterday it failed because one brake light was brighter than the other.This car had no work done it was sent for an NCT just to see what they would fail it on the items they missed were Cracked headlight,Worn track rod end,Speedo not working, and an electrical fault that stopped the indicators from working when you pressed the brakes.None of these were on the printout they gave me.

HA HA! ROFL - those NCT pr1cks couldn't find their ar$es with two hands and a map. Best I had was a Mazda 323f which passed without ANY comment and the doors didn't lock, the cooling fan was wired to stay on all the time, it didn't have a petrol cap, the exhaust backbox had a hole in it and the speedo didn't work. A mate had a Mondeo pass recently and I wouldn't use it to keep chickens in, but the mechanics brother works in the test centre so no prizes for guessing what happened....

'c

Our man in Havana

PauloMN wrote:

How do you get your road tax if you don't have an NCT cert when the car should have one?

Its not a requirement to get road tax.

JungleBunny

BrianD3 wrote:

How do you know the machine was faulty? Did the manager of the centre admit that it was? Was everyone there that day failing on shocks?

Personally, I'd be more inlcined to trust the NCTS and their equipment than garages.

The garage I went to is MSL. They get all the equipment sent over from the likes of Mercededs, VW etc to make sure that the cars are 100% road-safe. The equipment gets tested frequently and is calibrated. Unlike the NCT the equipment is also not used as often, thus more than likely making it more accurate.

Also, the NCT even got the vehicle weight wrong!!!!
MSL had this fdrom VW itself. There was a huge diffference in the weight leading me to believe that NCT equipment is faulty. Obviously the manager is not going to admit to anything!

Also, my dad is a mechanice, so he knows I am nor being ripped off by anyone!

I did make sure I had all the facts before I posted, so I would not say anything about the NCT that was not true.

I am glad that you have had no problems, but sofar I have heard more negative things than positive. Hope you dont have any problems in the furture.

lomb

Bond-007 wrote:

The chances of getting done are extremely slim. I have been avoiding it for 8 months now been thru countless checkpoints and they say nothing.

I am not going to contribute one cent towards this government sponsored scam.

the nct is no joke, apart from your insurance being invalid technically, they check the nct is valid before any payout(ask me how i know that is)

god help you if u injure or kill anyone in an un ncted car, its not going to look good in front of a judge even if it was an accident...

JungleBunny

lomb wrote:

the nct is no joke, apart from your insurance being invalid technically, they check the nct is valid before any payout(ask me how i know that is)QUOTE]

Ok... How do you know that is???

lomb

JungleBunny wrote:

lomb wrote:

the nct is no joke, apart from your insurance being invalid technically, they check the nct is valid before any payout(ask me how i know that is)QUOTE]

Ok... How do you know that is???

the claims assesor who came to look at my motehrs car (he says he comes out to 100% of all claims-eagle star insist on it) the first thing he looked at was the nct disk, and he spent 2 minutes writing down the numbers on it. he said they wouldnt pay if it wasnt tested as it was a violation of the terms of the policy.

the law would look at someone as reckless if he killed or seriously injured someone because he thought the nct was a money making scam(which partly it is )it is incredibly unwise to not nct a car

the penalty funny enough to drive an un ncted car is HIGHER than driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and carries a 5 Point endorsement on your license.

JungleBunny

Thought it might be something like that alright.
That's a pretty high penalty though! Robbery!!

Our man in Havana

lomb wrote:

the penalty funny enough to drive an un ncted car is HIGHER than driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and carries a 5 Point endorsement on your license.

Source?

There are no points for this offense.

lomb

Bond-007 wrote:

Source?

There are no points for this offense.

http://www.motornet.ie/MotoringLife/penaltypoints_flat_story.asp

Also a 2 grand mandatory fine afaik, they changed it to include the nct last year afaik, 5 points are mandatory tbh, as is the fine, even a traffic warden can write u a ticket.

Seth Brundle

My old E30 320i failed its NCT because the drivers side headlamp was too bright. About a fortnight before the test it had been replaced because the old one smashed due to a stone chip. The new one was OEM and contained the appropriate bulb.
I contacted the NCTS about light intensity and was given a bull**** response from them. Basically it is a visual check done by the tester. See this thread here...
Unfair NCT failures


Last year my E39 failed on headlamp misalignment. I went apeshít as they had been done the day before by a dealer. Anyway, the manager told me to bring the car around again and he would show me. I did and sure enough, the dealer hadn't done it (despite charging me). I then drive out of the centre rightly pi$$ed off at the dealer. I also did a nice slide on the floor from when I had to change lane on my way out - gave some satisfaction!

lomb

the nct is a bit of a joke alright, still i think its worth it , its taken a lot of unsafe crap off the road, probably saved a few lifes and definately brought insurance premiums down.

its actually worse in the uk, they dod it in ordinary garages there where they are the ones that fix ur car lol so they def have a vested interest.

also there its done EVERY YEAR and not 2 years here, people in ireland actually have it good, thats what u guys dont realise.

Our man in Havana

lomb wrote:

http://www.motornet.ie/MotoringLife/penaltypoints_flat_story.asp

Also a 2 grand mandatory fine afaik, they changed it to include the nct last year afaik, 5 points are mandatory tbh, as is the fine, even a traffic warden can write u a ticket.

Thats, not implented yet. With no timeframe for implementation yet. The only things that attract points are speeding and insurance offenses.

testicle

4 cases where penalty points are awarded :

Speeding
Seatbelt
Insurance
Careless Driving

lomb

Bond-007 wrote:

Thats, not implented yet. With no timeframe for implementation yet. The only things that attract points are speeding and insurance offenses.

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/driving_offences.html
So none of that has been implemented yet?
even if it hasnt it doesnt take away from the fact your insurance is totally invalid.

Gerry

lomb wrote:

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/driving_offences.html
So none of that has been implemented yet?
even if it hasnt it doesnt take away from the fact your insurance is totally invalid.

Legally, I don't think you have to have nct to be insured. But, it may be specified as part of your insurance policy. I'll have to take a read of the policy.

Gerry

Just got off the phone to my insurance broker. He was a bit vague, but basically they are concerned with roadworthiness. If the car isn't due for an nct fair enough, but if it has failed one, or the nct has expired, the insurance won't be valid. It does leave the area around getting your first nct as a bit of a grey area though. My car is imported, and I don't think the nct will be due for a year. He is happy enough to accept the last MOT as proof of roadworthiness.

Hotblack Desiato

lomb wrote:

http://www.motornet.ie/MotoringLife/penaltypoints_flat_story.aspAlso a 2 grand mandatory fine afaik, they changed it to include the nct last year afaik, 5 points are mandatory tbh, as is the fine, even a traffic warden can write u a ticket.

This is the offence of driving a dangerously defective vehicle - and it doesn't have points yet. Not the same thing at all as having no NCT - e.g. your car might be perfectly safe but never underwent an NCT.

is_that_so

Bond-007 wrote:

The chances of getting done are extremely slim. I have been avoiding it for 8 months now been thru countless checkpoints and they say nothing.

I am not going to contribute one cent towards this government sponsored scam.

You may have problems selling your car. I for one would not touch a car that hasn't done an NCT. The principle of the NCT is good but like many other things in this country it is not consistently applied and IMO it is not properly regulated. But it also sums up an attitude that applies here "I pay enough in road tax and the rest, I'm not paying for another scam". In most other countries it's mandatory and you can get done for it. Even if that was the case here "we'd take our chances". NCT on Tuesday.

is_that_so

lomb wrote:

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/driving_offences.html
So none of that has been implemented yet?
even if it hasnt it doesnt take away from the fact your insurance is totally invalid.

There are 67 offences. Rumour has it they will all be included eventually. On the basis of one offence a year being included ......