Car failed NCT after being serviced

Silent Runner · 10-02-2012 11:59AM #1

I got the car serviced a good few days before the NCT, should of had it sooner but didn't think anything was seriously wrong with it. Rang up to have a servce carried out and told them I had the NCT at the end of the week. Got the service done and told me some small faults in the car and said to bring it in the next day, the day before the NCT. Tried to get a hold of them the next day but they were full up and my car wasn't seen to and subsequently failed the test.

I know I was cutting it thight but were do I stand here, what should I expect from the garage. I usually had a friend mechanic look over my car but not this time

10-02-2012 12:02PM

Silent Runner wrote: »

I got the car serviced a good few days before the NCT, should of had it sooner but didn't think anything was seriously wrong with it. Rang up to have a servce carried out and told them I had the NCT at the end of the week. Got the service done and told me some small faults in the car and said to bring it in the next day, the day before the NCT. Tried to get a hold of them the next day but they were full up and my car wasn't seen to and subsequently failed the test.

I know I was cutting it thight but were do I stand here, what should I expect from the garage. I usually had a friend mechanic look over my car but not this time

So you think the garage is at fault because your car failed the nct !

dave1982 · 10-02-2012 12:06PM

You should have got the car checked sooner, not the Garages fault they are busy!!

Dacelonid · 10-02-2012 12:09PM

Even if the garage had serviced the car I wouldn't hold them responsible if the car subsequently failed the nct.

Servicing a car =/= passing nct

jimmycrackcorm · 10-02-2012 12:10PM

Silent Runner wrote: »

should of had it sooner

This bit.

phil1nj · 10-02-2012 12:15PM

Dacelonid wrote: »

Even if the garage had serviced the car I wouldn't hold them responsible if the car subsequently failed the nct.

Servicing a car =/= passing nct

What about garages offering a service with a free pre-NCT check (as some are doing now)?

The reason I ask is that last year my wife's car was serviced and given a free pre-NCT check by the garage. It then went on to fail the NCT (some slight corrosion on the bodywork). When I took it back to the garage I was told that the NCT is a very subjective test and depending on the testers POV certain things that would ordinarily pass would get dinged. This may be true or it may have been that the garage didn't do the NCT check correctly (which makes me wonder about the standard of servicing there also).

BostonB · 10-02-2012 12:19PM

Silent Runner wrote: »

.... were do I stand here, what should I expect from the garage...

Is this a trick question. Nothing? You left it too late. Nothing more to it than that. You now know what needs doing, get it done, and then pass the NCT.

ebbsy · 10-02-2012 12:19PM

Sometimes it will happen that my car fails on something small after being with my mechanic beforehand, I just bring it back to him again with the fail papers.

It does happen. C'ant really blame the garage here I feel.

BostonB · 10-02-2012 12:24PM

phil1nj wrote: »

What about garages offering a service with a free pre-NCT check (as some are doing now)?

The reason I ask is that last year my wife's car was serviced and given a free pre-NCT check by the garage. It then went on to fail the NCT (some slight corrosion on the bodywork). When I took it back to the garage I was told that the NCT is a very subjective test and depending on the testers POV certain things that would ordinarily pass would get dinged. This may be true or it may have been that the garage didn't do the NCT check correctly (which makes me wonder about the standard of servicing there also).

Calling it a pre NCT check is a marketing ploy to get gullible people who take no interest in their cars, into the Garage. Nothing wrong with marketing.

The NCT is a bit random. I've seen them miss bald tyres, only to fail advisory on a number plate light. My last fail advisory was the indicator bulbs weren't orange enough.

phil1nj · 10-02-2012 12:30PM

BostonB wrote: »

Calling it a pre NCT check is a marketing ploy to get gullible people who take no interest in their cars, into the Garage. Nothing wrong with marketing. .

Marketing? Maybe but false advertising also springs to mind if they are advertising something that doesn't actually do what it should (i.e. highlight anything that would fail the NCT itself). Also in my wife's case, seeing as the car had to be serviced anyway and the test was at no additional cost I'd hardly consider her gullible. Although she did marry me so you never know:D

BostonB wrote: »

The NCT is a bit random. I've seen them miss bald tyres, only to fail advisory on a number plate light. My last fail advisory was the indicator bulbs weren't orange enough.

Agree with this. Been stung a couple of times on litte things too.

gonko · 10-02-2012 12:33PM

The NCT test is a farce anyway

Silent Runner · 10-02-2012 12:33PM

Ok thanks just wanted a second opinion, I'm annoyed at my self for leaving it late and there isn't anything seriously wrong with it so there's no big problem

BostonB · 10-02-2012 12:35PM

Dacelonid wrote: »

...
Servicing a car =/= passing nct

Thats because servicing is often not done properly, and often neither is the NCT. If they were both done properly, a service, should allow a car to pass the NCT.

corktina · 10-02-2012 12:36PM

€50 to get the car checked over and a list of items needing attention is great value.

Why take it to a garage to do this when you have to take it to the NCT anyway. ?

Re-test is only €28 so effectively it is this cost that covers the pre-test element anyway, and you never know , it might pass first time (mine did)

omb0wyn5ehpij9 · 10-02-2012 12:38PM

corktina wrote: »

€50 to get the car checked over and a list of items needing attention is great value.

Why take it to a garage to do this when you have to take it to the NCT anyway. ?

Re-test is only €28 so effectively it is this cost that covers the pre-test element anyway, and you never know , it might pass first time (mine did)

Agree 100% with this. And have had this debate with friends plenty of times too

no1beemerfan · 10-02-2012 12:40PM

Silent Runner wrote: »

I got the car serviced a good few days before the NCT, should of had it sooner but didn't think anything was seriously wrong with it. Rang up to have a servce carried out and told them I had the NCT at the end of the week. Got the service done and told me some small faults in the car and said to bring it in the next day, the day before the NCT. Tried to get a hold of them the next day but they were full up and my car wasn't seen to and subsequently failed the test.

I know I was cutting it thight but were do I stand here, what should I expect from the garage. I usually had a friend mechanic look over my car but not this time

Are you for real? Its totally your own fault the car failed. Can't believe what I've read in your op tbh!

BostonB · 10-02-2012 12:40PM

phil1nj wrote: »

Marketing? Maybe but false advertising also springs to mind if they are advertising something that doesn't actually do what it should (i.e. highlight anything that would fail the NCT itself). Also in my wife's case, seeing as the car had to be serviced anyway and the test was at no additional cost I'd hardly consider her gullible. Although she did marry me so you never know:D....

The issue here is does the check do what it advertises it will do. I expect no Pre NCT check, says it will 100% get you through the test. Might offer to cover anything found though. I expect most don't. Gullible if you take things at face value.

HellFireClub · 10-02-2012 12:42PM

It really depends on what you failed the NCT for. If you failed for items such as blown bulbs, leaking brakes cylinders, leaking shock absorbers, etc, then I'd argue that these are items that should definitely be flagged during a service, same for misaligned headlamps, tyre problems (worn or nicked), emission issues, etc.

BostonB · 10-02-2012 12:44PM

corktina wrote: »

...Why take it to a garage to do this when you have to take it to the NCT anyway ?

The only exception to that is if the car has a known problem, you might as well get that sorted before the test. Theres a chance you might pass once that problem is sorted.

Nissan doctor · 10-02-2012 12:54PM

BostonB wrote: »

Thats because servicing is often not done properly, and often neither is the NCT. If they were both done properly, a service, should allow a car to pass the NCT.

How so?

Servicing a car has nothing to do with the NCT, despite the NCT being the only reason that some people will bring the car for a service.:rolleyes:

A service changes schedualed items and checks all wearable items such as tyres, brakes, suspension etc etc.

If I have a car in for a normal service and I do the above but don't note some rust on the sill or maybe a delaminating reg plate and the car fails on these has the service not been done correctly?
And if I do note every tiny little thing that may be an NCT issue, then the customers likely gets the impression that everyone here has, that I'm just trying to screw them before the test!

Also standard servicing does not include suspension imbalance test, emissions test or side slip etc etc. Brakes, suspension etc are checked for obvious faults or signs of wear, not for the exact measurements that the NCT test on their machines.

There is no garage in the country who will garentee a car to pass the NCT after being serviced due to the NCT's standards being as random as the garage industries can be.

Gophur · 10-02-2012 01:02PM

I had a car fail it's NCT on emissions. Some clown had, before I got the car, welded a catalytic converter down stream of the sensors (making it's function useless). My mechanic claimed to have conducted loads of tests and concluded the cat (up-stream) "needed replacing".

I bought a catalytic converter and fitted it myself. It turned out the car had no catalytic converter (where it should have been fitted, originally) and the ECU was reading before and after signals that were the same.

The car sailed through the test subsequently.

BostonB · 10-02-2012 02:58PM

Nissan doctor wrote: »

How so?

Servicing a car has nothing to do with the NCT, despite the NCT being the only reason that some people will bring the car for a service.:rolleyes:

....

Oh I agree with you. Yet I think though, that a car thats well maintained, and serviced as it should be ,will (as a sweeping generalisation) generally pass the NCT without any special attention. In generally most of the things you need to do keep a car in good condition, are things you should be doing anyway, to prolong the life of the car, and be safe and legal on the road. (in general)

As you say, what constitutes a "service" (Minor or Major) varies enormously. For some its simply a oil change, some its check everything. But that's more of a consumer not educating themselves to what a car requires. If rust wasn't pointed out, especially in structural area I would consider that inept. Many people wouldn't know how important that is, in the even of an accident.

People are human, and besides I've had things fail on the way over to the NCT, a light bulb or similar. Theres no predicting that.

phil1nj · 10-02-2012 03:27PM

BostonB wrote: »

The issue here is does the check do what it advertises it will do. I expect no Pre NCT check, says it will 100% get you through the test. Might offer to cover anything found though. I expect most don't. Gullible if you take things at face value.

I don't understand why you seem to think everyone who accepts the results of a free NCT pre-test at face value is gullible? The NCT has a list of items that need to be checked, most garages can (I and others on here would assume) can adequately do these checks and advise the customer on what work needs to be done in order to pass the test. However, the mechanic is only human and could miss certain things or misjudge the acceptable level of something being slightly off (bodywork corrosion in my instance).

Of course you could take the approach that's already been highlighted here and get the test done first, highlight what's wrong and then do the re-test with the items corrected.

Either way a retest is involved except in the first instance a service was completed which was needed and can only help with the overall running of the car and the NCT still gets the same money out of the punter. Don't see the any gullibility contained in either of those scenarios. It's just the way it is.

woodseb · 10-02-2012 04:12PM

I had my car serviced two weeks before the NCT and told the garage it was going for the NCT then - it subsequently failed on headlight alignment and the garage reluctantly agreed to refund the cost of the retest after much protestation

BostonB · 10-02-2012 04:23PM

phil1nj wrote: »

I don't understand why you seem to think everyone who accepts the results of a free NCT pre-test at face value is gullible? ...

I think accepting anything at face value is misguided.

phil1nj · 10-02-2012 04:31PM

BostonB wrote: »

I think accepting anything at face value is misguided.

Included in that would be medication dosage instructions, rules of the road, laws of motion, gravity, physics etc

These all work pretty well for me and I take them at face value. I must be extremely misguided in my daily life then.....

BostonB · 10-02-2012 04:44PM

A lot of them you don't you learn them as a baby/child from bitter experience of falling etc. You don't listen to what you are told. Rules of the road, from being tested and practical experience. One of the reason young drivers feature high in stats is because they don't take rules at face value. You should always read the instructions of medicines and not take them at face value, as some shouldn't be taken with other medicines, with some conditions etc. That people don't do this, is why many of them are not on the shelf, but behind the counter.

I'm just suggesting theres no need to waste your time going to a garage twice instead of once. For example headlight alignment should have been done at the scheduled service, and would often be noticed by how the lights fall on the road, signs, or even on cars ahead. Not always granted. But if you were getting a precheck, you should check that its does a headlight alignment, for example. To save yourself the hassle of going to the garage twice and to the NCT center twice.

BronsonTB · 10-02-2012 04:46PM

Another lesson learned the hard way...Don't do a garage pre-test...do a re-test as it's alot cheaper in the long run....

Good luck on the re-test.....

BostonB · 10-02-2012 05:01PM

Another tip is do it earlier in the day when halfords is open, so you pop across grab what you need, a bulb or something then head back over to the NCT. It the time saved as much as the money, IMO.

bazz26 · 10-02-2012 06:08PM

phil1nj wrote: »

I don't understand why you seem to think everyone who accepts the results of a free NCT pre-test at face value is gullible? The NCT has a list of items that need to be checked, most garages can (I and others on here would assume) can adequately do these checks and advise the customer on what work needs to be done in order to pass the test. However, the mechanic is only human and could miss certain things or misjudge the acceptable level of something being slightly off (bodywork corrosion in my instance).

Of course you could take the approach that's already been highlighted here and get the test done first, highlight what's wrong and then do the re-test with the items corrected.

Either way a retest is involved except in the first instance a service was completed which was needed and can only help with the overall running of the car and the NCT still gets the same money out of the punter. Don't see the any gullibility contained in either of those scenarios. It's just the way it is.

Think about it, how many garages offering pre NCT checkes have the same equipment that is used by the NCT centre to test your car? Very few I would think as this equipement is very expensive to buy. A pre NCT test is nothing more than a marketing term for them to check common NCT failure items on your car such as brake pad wear, all lights are working and your tyres have legel thread dept, in other words visual checks. They can then sell you these things if they need replacing.

It is not a guarantee of a pass though which the majority of people seem to think. How could they possibly guarantee that your car will pass on emmissions for example, if they don't have the equipment to measure it?

Avns1s · 10-02-2012 06:22PM

In general, I would be a supporter of the NCT but the test is definitely subjective.

I saw a car go through the NCT recently with two old tyres well over 6 years old, with crater like cracks in the sidewall, particularly on the inside. The age of the tyres was noted on the report as an advisory.

The car did fail on excessive handbrake travel....... (about 7 or 8 clicks), but the tyres that I tried not to allow on the road to the test centre, passed.

Go figure!!

Car failed NCT after being serviced

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