NCT major fail on dip beam nearside

Take it to place that has beam setter equipment and let them do it.

Get a receipt.

when you say you can’t find anything wrong with the alignment, what does that mean?

Headlight alignment is cheap, just take it to a garage and get it checked

NCT's are very finicky for headlight alignment but in fairness they don't make it a secret. It's on the booking letter to get them focused before the test.

I think it's no harm either really, the only issue with it is that it's a booked appointment for an in lane re-test at €28 which is a ballache. If they agreed to retest headlight alignments FOC without an appointment it would be a different story. The retest time in lane would be minimal.

It's nuisance but understandable because they can't check it without equipment.

On the plus side I've had them just look out the office window to see a replaced bulb is working.

If only every fail was as simple 🙂.

You can't check alignment without right equipment. The alignment of the left side is not the same as the right side. As a rough guide you can park a certain distance from a wall and compare beam pattern to similar car in similar spot.

Often what happens is headlight bulb blows, headlight bulb is replaced but it is not fitted exactly correctly and is lose in holder or upside down etc. Have you or garage replaced bulb since last NCT? Parking facing a wall it can be easy seen if beam is not clear and straight. You may need to cover other headlight with a towel for example.

In the past I paid 15 euro for beam alignment but that was 20 years ago so probably more now. What can also happen is reflective coating on headlight can rust etc meaning light can't be set right and cars have adjustable settings and these can fail too. If you have ever been dazzled by oncoming traffic on a dark road you know why it's important to check. Sometimes certain lanes in the NCT can be slightly off.

It's worth paying a professional and if you have a go you may fail again and you may break some plastic part.

It should be ok after they set the beams correctly.

I see I missed where you asked about receipt. It's just in case they fail you again and you have to go back to garage.

By the way if you are not up to it anyone can present the car for NCT, they just need a licence for ID. Also the garage won't care who brings it in to them either.

Good luck with it, take care.

Had same thing myself today with a car that has been tested multiple times and never an issue with lights. When I expressed surprise at this, tester responded fairly sharply saying sure how long since last tested it could happen in the morning.

Until 3 years ago I've never had this problem with any car and now it's happened with 3 different cars in 3 years. Maybe better testing standards to blame?

I had the same, but I'd had them checked and aligned the day before the test. So I went back to the garage that did them, they rechecked immediately and said they're perfect. Back to the test centre and it passed. Its one big fcuking con.

With the last 2 cars the guy said yea they could be considered marginally high but he wouldn't have adjusted them except that they failed the NCT. However, I find the lights very poor since in both cars with the dipped beam range very short, almost uncomfortably so tbh

Had this fail issue myself as well the last three tests and at least twice I had said it to the garage a short time beforehand to check the lights while they were doing some other maintenance work and it still failed and needed another adjustment before the retest gave a pass. Beginning to think it's a con job by the NCT testers to get another 28euro tax on people having to drive an older car.

New cars have headlights too😂

If the cars you see on the road with one headlight are presented for the NCT in that condition they will fail.

The testers can only check the car in front of them regardless of age.

My car failed it's 1st NCT recently (July) on the dip beam for the passenger side and a cut to the sidewall of a tyre. I had the tyre replaced and went back to get the test again. Car passed with flying colours.... I did absolutely nothing to "fix" the dip beam issue, didn't even wipe the headlight, yet it was perfect again? Methinks that sometimes it is a convenient way to fail a car.

I'm no conspiracy theorist but experiences like my own make me wonder about the NCT and how the test is operated.

I've had 3 cars fail on dip beams that had previously passed. On 2 occasions the guy who I took them to said they were within acceptable tolerances but dipped them slightly for safety. In both cases the dipped lights now have unnecessarily short beams making them imo less safe.

Get a receipt from the garage to prove you had the realignment done

They had passed previously with no issue. Prior to that I've never had an issue with light alignment. Sure it doesn't prove anything and who knows maybe modern equipment is just not as robust as the older stuff

Self leveling are still adjustable, most have adjusters as normal and some have to be done with diagnostics