NCT due this month, no date until july

schoolhouse · 03-05-2014 05:10PM

I never said that you had to look for cancellation if you had a booking.
I merely advised that it was an option.

If someone has a very limited timeframe in they are willing to accept an appointment, for whatever reasons, they seriously cannot expect to be accommodated at the last minute (or last month) for an appointment at a specific time, at the expense of someone who is more organised.

Why would you leave the test until the last minute when you can avail of a service that gives you a 15 month cert if you pass and time to make repairs if necessary and get retested before the registration anniversary.

Why risk penalty points, fine, and possible insurance premium hike, all for the sake of a little organisation.

The system is far from perfect but there are ways to work it, if you can be bothered to put in a little effort and apply on time.

CiniO · 03-05-2014 11:33PM

snaps wrote: »

I completely understand what you are saying, but does the majority of the public know your nct can be done 3 months before it expires??

Its the same with tax/Insurance, You only renew that when it expires and not 3 months before??

You can renew tax up to 1 month before it expires.
Most insurance companies allow to renew 30 days before expiration.

Thetruthking · 04-05-2014 11:18PM

CiniO wrote: »

You can renew tax up to 1 month before it expires.
Most insurance companies allow to renew 30 days before expiration.

in regards to nct dates

look on http://nct.ie/bookings.html

"NCTS can issue your certificate up to 6 MONTHS early for a first time NCT and 3 MONTHS early for subsequent NCT tests"

if it is your first ever nct on the car it can be done 6 months early and all other nct's can be don't 3 months early, for example if your nct is due now on the 6-OCT-14,, you can nct it anytime from 6th-July-14,,, 3 months early andf you will still get until 6-OCT-15 or 16 depending on the age of your car, (once old enough they have to be nct'd every year)

Turtle-TM · 05-05-2014 01:13AM

Well good on the people who have the time to book their nct 3 months in advance.

My point is, if you can't get a time and date that is convenient then proving you have booked the nct should be enough if you are pulled over or at a checkpoint.

I work weekdays,weekends, both day and nights so finding a convenient time is maybe a little more difficult than someone who works 9-5, however being told on the phone to a) get someone else to bring the car b) go on a cancellation list where you get 24hrs notice is just not acceptable.

I'll be ringing them on Tuesday with a list of dates and times I am available for May, and if they can't fit me in they will be paying for the test

No Pants · 05-05-2014 07:12AM

Turtle-TM wrote: »

Well good on the people who have the time to book their nct 3 months in advance.

I work weekdays,weekends, both day and nights so finding a convenient time is maybe a little more difficult than someone who works 9-5, however being told on the phone to a) get someone else to bring the car b) go on a cancellation list where you get 24hrs notice is just not acceptable.

If you can find the time to post on here, you can find the time to book your NCT online. :rolleyes:

Dry your eyes and take a bit of personal responsibility for your own life.

Turtle-TM · 05-05-2014 07:15AM

No Pants wrote: »

If you can find the time to post on here, you can find the time to book your NCT online. :rolleyes:

Dry your eyes and take a bit of personal responsibility for your own life.

I think you'll find my point is that when I went to book online the next available appointment is July.

Some of us can't drop everything with 24 hrs notice to do something that is supposed to be bookable at a time of ones choosing

No Pants · 05-05-2014 07:17AM

Turtle-TM wrote: »

I think you'll find my point is that when I went to book online the next available appointment is July.

Some of us can't drop everything with 24 hrs notice to do something that is supposed to be bookable at a time of ones choosing

24 hours? You've had three months minimum to get this sorted and you haven't.

Turtle-TM · 05-05-2014 07:24AM

No Pants wrote: »

24 hours? You've had three months minimum to get this sorted and you haven't.

As has been previously posted from the nct website.

"Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks and no greater than four weeks."

So am I to presume now that I'm supposed to make sure I do everything months in advance, rather than expect that as per their "customer charter" I will get the required test within a month?

Honestly, the absolute self righteousness in this particular board is mind blowing. You'd swear everyone was the best driver in Ireland, obeyed every rule of the road, and had every single piece of documentation managed 8 years in advance.

Cop yourself on, and if you can't say add something constructive to the discussion go and take a piece of paper and a crayon and sit in the corner.

No Pants · 05-05-2014 07:36AM

Turtle-TM wrote: »

Cop yourself on, and if you can't say add something constructive to the discussion go and take a piece of paper and a crayon and sit in the corner.

Grand. You do what you like. The consequences of not having an NCT on a car driven on a public road will be borne by you, no one else.

Turtle-TM · 05-05-2014 07:38AM

Again, if there's nothing constructive you can add then off to the children's corner with you while the grown ups talk.

dar83 · 05-05-2014 07:53AM

I think the point most people are making here is that if you, or someone like you has such an important schedule that cannot be predicted or altered quickly, then the option of booking your NCT three months on advance is available to you.

No offence, but is seems like the three month in advance option is made exactly for people like you, who need to be able to have the test on a specific day and time that they know they will be free. The option is there so you should use it, you may have been unaware of it until now, but I would suggest using it from next year (or two) onwards. It'll save you a lot of this headache.

We all understand the backlog is crap, but you're not 100% free of blame either as you've said you have a test booked for Sunday yet will be cancelling it because your schedule has changed... You should think about the person who only had free time at your centre in that time slot who had to book a test at an inconvenient time for them because you took it and now won't use it.

No Pants · 05-05-2014 08:07AM

Turtle-TM wrote: »

Again, if there's nothing constructive you can add then off to the children's corner with you while the grown ups talk.

You mean the type of grown ups who can manage their lives on their own, or the ones who can't understand a process clearly documented on a website, manage to book a simple test in the 24-hour to 3 month range, then receive advice and still spit the dummy and cry "Waaahhhh!" rather than simply say thanks and make the necessary arrangements?

I'll stick with the former defined group, thanks. :cool:

gooner99 · 05-05-2014 09:39AM

Thetruthking wrote: »

in regards to nct dates

look on http://nct.ie/bookings.html

"NCTS can issue your certificate up to 6 MONTHS early for a first time NCT and 3 MONTHS early for subsequent NCT tests"

if it is your first ever nct on the car it can be done 6 months early and all other nct's can be don't 3 months early, for example if your nct is due now on the 6-OCT-14,, you can nct it anytime from 6th-July-14,,, 3 months early andf you will still get until 6-OCT-15 or 16 depending on the age of your car, (once old enough they have to be nct'd every year)

Also the free test rule also applies to early booking, but the booking call must be made within the 3 months. Using the above example if you were to ring on the 5th of July and they could only offer you a test that was more than a month away the rule would not apply,as technically you should not be booking.

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 06-05-2014 02:21PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

The test always runs to the anniversary of registration. So if your car is registered on the 6th of January, your nct will always expire on the 6th of January of whatever year the test is till, regardless of whether you do the test.

bear with me on this ......

so test due august 2014

i do it say june 2014

test is due again = august 2015 ?

or june 2015 ?

corktina · 06-05-2014 02:29PM

august 2015

slimjimmc · 06-05-2014 02:55PM

DaDumTish wrote: »

if you have free time and get a yearly nct 3 months before its due on a 12 year old car , when would you need to go again ?

a year from the new date , or a year from the old date ? their site is not clear .

DaDumTish wrote: »

bear with me on this ......

so test due august 2014

i do it say june 2014

test is due again = august 2015 ?

or june 2015 ?

August 2015

http://www.ncts.ie/q4.html

PLEASE NOTE: NCTS can issue your certificate up to six months early for a first time NCT and three months early for subsequent NCT tests. For example, a car was first registered on the 5th June 2010. The car was due for its NCT on the 5th June 2014, the car is brought for its NCT on the 20th January 2014 and it passes. An NCT Certificate is received with an expiry date of 4th June 2016

cerastes · 06-05-2014 03:05PM

dar83 wrote: »

I think the point most people are making here is that if you, or someone like you has such an important schedule that cannot be predicted or altered quickly, then the option of booking your NCT three months on advance is available to you.

No offence, but is seems like the three month in advance option is made exactly for people like you, who need to be able to have the test on a specific day and time that they know they will be free. The option is there so you should use it, you may have been unaware of it until now, but I would suggest using it from next year (or two) onwards. It'll save you a lot of this headache.

We all understand the backlog is crap, but you're not 100% free of blame either as you've said you have a test booked for Sunday yet will be cancelling it because your schedule has changed... You should think about the person who only had free time at your centre in that time slot who had to book a test at an inconvenient time for them because you took it and now won't use it.

NCTS should just say, you absolutely need to book 3 months in advance to get a date by your nct expiry. That they cant provide it in the 4 weeks they claim to provide it in isn't anyone else s fault.

No Pants wrote: »

You mean the type of grown ups who can manage their lives on their own, or the ones who can't understand a process clearly documented on a website, manage to book a simple test in the 24-hour to 3 month range, then receive advice and still spit the dummy and cry "Waaahhhh!" rather than simply say thanks and make the necessary arrangements?

I'll stick with the former defined group, thanks. :cool:

But their website doesnt say you need to book 3-6 months early, I tried to book just over 3 months early before and they refused to deal with me, it says they will provide one withing 4 weeks, they at least are insinuating that, if they cant then they should just be open about it, remove that bit and put the truth in, I dont see how it will improve the problem, as people will advance their bookings and the backlog will meet the bottleneck then, so dates still wont be available for re test, they dont seem to have the capacity for what is mostly yeary testing.
Everyone I know and from reading here not just people I have spoken to either cannot get a test within 4 weeks, most have been offered one months later, I was just offered one in 2 months until I brought up the free test, even then I haven't been given a booking, so how does the test date availability they cant see now, but have told me will be inside 4 weeks magically appear?

rameire · 06-05-2014 03:12PM

Turtle-TM wrote: »

I think you'll find my point is that when I went to book online the next available appointment is July.

Some of us can't drop everything with 24 hrs notice to do something that is supposed to be bookable at a time of ones choosing

for my two cars I have recently got the NCT,
both times I rang up for the cancellation list,
both times I received the notification within a week of my contact with them and
both times I was given a 10 day lead into the NCT date.

rameire · 06-05-2014 03:14PM

I suggest some of the people here to check your passports.
otherwise we will be seeing you elsewhere on boards complaining about not being able to get a passport before you are flying out the next day.

cerastes · 06-05-2014 04:03PM

rameire wrote: »

I suggest some of the people here to check your passports.
otherwise we will be seeing you elsewhere on boards complaining about not being able to get a passport before you are flying out the next day.

But NCTS can't provide a test within the time they claim they will, skirt around that by offering dates well outside the claimed timeframe, instead of saying, you absolutely need to ring 3 months in advance.

Not one person Ive spoken to and others Ive read about has gotten the test within the 4 weeks without pressing for it by stating it is free in such a case, they even lied to me about the free test as I booked a relatives test.

The passport office isnt saying they will provide passports the next day???
I think they even have a timeframe for it now.

So there's a bit of a difference,
I dont mind booking months in advance if thats essential, but if everyone starts doing that, how does that reduce the backlog bottleneck?
and thats why NCTS cant/wont be honest about it, as it wont help/will likely worsen their situation, in the meantime the owner carries the can and pays the price for NCTS shortcomings/inability to have the right capacity. Its virtually every year for most cars.
How hard can it be to work out the required capacity, they have all the figures, the number of cars isnt changing that much, the number of days,hours in a year is fixed.

corktina · 06-05-2014 04:10PM

cerastes wrote: »

But NCTS can't provide a test within the time they claim they will, skirt around that by offering dates well outside the claimed timeframe, instead of saying, you absolutely need to ring 3 months in advance.

Not one person Ive spoken to and others Ive read about has gotten the test within the 4 weeks without pressing for it by stating it is free in such a case, they even lied to me about the free test as I booked a relatives test.

The passport office isnt saying they will provide passports the next day???
I think they even have a timeframe for it now.

So there's a bit of a difference,
I dont mind booking months in advance if thats essential, but if everyone starts doing that, how does that reduce the backlog bottleneck?
and thats why NCTS cant/wont be honest about it, as it wont help/will likely worsen their situation, in the meantime the owner carries the can and pays the price for NCTS shortcomings/inability to have the right capacity. Its virtually every year for most cars.
How hard can it be to work out the required capacity, they have all the figures, the number of cars isnt changing that much, the number of days,hours in a year is fixed.

That's not my experience at all. I have on quite a few occasions simply asked them to put me on the cancellation list and had an early appointment in days.

cerastes · 06-05-2014 04:35PM

corktina wrote: »

That's not my experience at all. I have on quite a few occasions simply asked them to put me on the cancellation list and had an early appointment in days.

Thats fair enough, I havent experienced it myself.
they could offer me what they call priority booking, and said I should receive a text within a certain timeframe, but they wouldnt contact me if via cancellation a space became available, said Id have to ring every day to see whats available, thats ridiculous, who has the time for that? Im open to being contacted if there's a cancellation and if I can make it I'll accept and free up a space in the future which my booking would have taken.

It looks like they dont have the capacity already when the amount of cars requiring nct increases every year. I still cant understand how they wouldnt accept my booking attempt when I was prior to the 3 months previously, should be allowed book as far in advance as their system allows, 6 months sounds reasonable. I think its worse than last year, so from now on I'll be contacting them earlier and earlier, we'll have to get a booking after you complete your previous nct

.

snaps · 06-05-2014 04:55PM

So how exactly does the "Free test" work?

Is it a free test if they cannot provide a test within 4 weeks of you trying to book? Or is there catch?

Like they say they will put you on a cancellation or standby list and you have to accept one at a drop of a hat?

jhegarty · 06-05-2014 05:04PM

rameire wrote: »

I suggest some of the people here to check your passports.
otherwise we will be seeing you elsewhere on boards complaining about not being able to get a passport before you are flying out the next day.

Passports take 10 to 11 working days, and it's detailed on the website.

On the other hand the NCT website says :

Ensure that the average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks and no greater than four weeks. The customer will be provided with a test free of charge where an appointment cannot be offered within a four week period provided that:

• The Customer has not declined a test appointment (either confirmed or provisional) more than twice, at a centre of their choosing, for the test due at this time

• The Customer has not previously accepted a booking outside of the 4 week period.

NCT due this month, no date until july

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