NCT during the 2020/21 Covid19 pandemic

I'm about to advertise our DD, and wondering how to deal with NCT - it was due 28th March.....and so was one of those they cancelled ( I had a booking).

So now what ?

I think buying & selling without NCT is going to be the new norm, as even the (used) car we're thinking of would need one and may not - even from a garage and they can't access tests either naturally..............

The Nutty M wrote: »

Technically it's not out of NCT, look it up on NCTS website and it will show you the exact date it has an NCT to. Mine was the 30th of April and the new NCT is due by the 1st of September.

Just looked mine up out of curiosity - still says due date 20/03/2020 :rolleyes:

Wife's car was due in May and now says 03/09/2020

Guess which one has barely left the driveway in the last 8 weeks :pac:

wonski wrote: »

They only extend from 25 or 28March forward.

20/03 will not be changed unfortunately.

Well I'm driving regardless. They did half a test, passed that part, and then I was left in limbo. :rolleyes:

I'm in the same boat, kind of. Brought it for testing on 4 March and they were unable to do the underbody checks, so, since there were no retest slots available, I was left in limbo when they subsequently shut down. I just carry a copy of the report and the subsequent emails asking about a retest. In fairness, if you fell slightly outside the cut-off date it would be harsh to prosecute where there was evidence showing that the owner had made every reasonable effort to get the car tested.

Whats date are you showing?

They're going to have to add a lot more than 4 months on.

wassie wrote: »

Good call.

I presume you're referring to the post above yours, because I haven't seen Shane Ross or NCTS make a good call, ever. Before the shutdown debacle. Before the lifts debacle. The service NCTS provide has never been good enough.

wassie wrote: »

Certainly was. I fully supported the shutdown and agree we need to take precautions as we open up. Most other workplaces seem to be able to develop a safe working protocal, yet the NCTS is somehow so unique it isn't?

As has been said before, Shane Ross is just kicking the can down the road so its someones else problem after he is gone.

Lets take a look at what some of the people involved in the motor trade using this forum have explained with their own protocols for car servicing in dealerships (which is a similar affair, a car gets brought in and is taken into a garage/lift setup).

In this case, they're having to ozone the customer car before and after leaving the workshop. It takes 30 minutes to ozone a single car once, and the machine to do it costs €2k. The difference is that people generally drop their car off and come back once it's ready to be collected at a dealership/workshop.

Apply that to an NCT centre where people are expecting a turnaround time of 40 mins for a complete test, and you can start to see why there'd be a few problems. If you wanted centres to operate at any sort of capacity you'd need at least 3+ ozone machines for every centre in the country (that's roughly €300,000). You'd also need extra staff to monitor the cars being treated with ozone machines in them, while other testers are carrying out procedures in the test lanes.

Not to mention that NCT centres have generally quite small waiting rooms (and even smaller office space), and with the rest of the restrictions in place it's not like even if the location allowed, people dropping off their car for NCT could go sit down and have a coffee while they wait. Given all of the above it could take more than 2 hours to test a single car.

Or wait a few weeks until it's safer. I know which sounds more reasonable.

Where is the evidence that a car needs the 'ozone' treatment to make it safe? Sounds like a load of bollacks and marketing.

Surely a car can be 'aired' easily enough and contact points cleaned down. If people have to be inconvenienced and wait outside so be it. Construction industry seems to be able to deal with confined spaces & contact points readily enough.

As for waiting a few weeks - this is going to be reality for much longer than that and we are going to need to learn to work with it until a vaccine is found potentially.

challengemaster wrote: »

You should get on the phone to Dr Tony Holohan. He’ll be very glad to know that the virus can be “aired out” in a matter of minutes and if we just open all the windows in the country we can get back to normal much quicker.

In fairness he did say contact points cleared down. You're quoting him as if he said roll down the windows a bit.

The tester should be wearing a medical grade mask and should get out of the car if they need to cough or sneeze. They spend very little of the test inside the car anyway.

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The tester should be wearing a medical grade mask and should get out of the car if they need to cough or sneeze. They spend very little of the test inside the car anyway.

While I agree totally having the tester adhering completely to hygiene guidelines I must say what seems to be forgotten is the hygiene and cleanliness of those who use the cars beforehand and also the car itself which is put forward for test.

Theres a social responsibility on every member of the public to be hygienic for themselves and their property in which others may come in contact with especially in this case of the NCT as there could well be a high volume of cross contamination without the tester actually being infected themselves through surface to surface contact.

I would hope there would be guidelines issued to anyone bringing a car for a test to disinfect their car as best possible beforehand especially taxis , an awareness of those who travel in the car and maybe a free cancellation period to reduce the risk of unwell people visiting the centres

Curveball: so I got to get my cabrio tested, with the top down, basically you'll be 'ozoning' Co Galway.

Discuss :pac:

I would go one step further and allow every driver to NCT their own car as many are experts in vehicle maintenance and safety :rolleyes:

Driver1980 wrote: »

He said it's not unsafe. But it don't feel like it. Knocking when you hit the holes/on uneaven grounds, steering moves when on uneven grounds, all together more stress driving this car than it's wort it.

NCT lads should spot it straight aways like at least touching the wheel left/right to see any play, but they just don't bother which is completely unprofesional ! This car passed nct with this play 2 times ! They only look under the car with the flash light to see any visual damage, but cars don't work like that. There could be something wrong like play on some parts. The imbalance check for suspension is another scam, 2 even bad shocks can give you a perfect imbalance and pass

Btw this car passed alignment too once but 2 months after my 2 new tyres were wearing so bad. It's extremely easy to pass NCT once your emissions are fine, even with the crap car. Their pass range is too wide. This car what I'm talking about passed the breaks with almost 90% effort when in the last year it had 70% and I never changed the breakes. Break only have to be 55% as far as I remember, good luck driving with the car with 50% breaks having 3-4 people on boards and try to break in emergency. NCT is not right. Thanks God I'm not using this vehicle any more, but according to nct it's ROAD WORTHY so no worries haha.

That’s unreal. So it passed wheel alignment and two months later it was wearing tyres. Surely that can’t be possible?? What did your mechanic say after it passed nct twice with the same play??

Driver1980 wrote: »

NCT in this country is crazy I have to say. I remember had a nice car passed everything, drove well no suspesion knocking everything great, but unfortunately kept failing emissions. While had another car, perfect emissions but it drove like a piece of crap, play on the wheel due to steering rack all pased, allignment, imbalance, breakes etc, but car was absolutely sh** to drive and I have to say unsafe. mechanics said play on the rack is not unsafe but to listen to this f** knocking was making the driver mad...You could feel the steering moving while driving on rough grounds etc.

So the question is, they rather fail you for emissions but let you go with a car that's feels unsafe, has a play on the wheel etc, and all together wierd to steer.

NCT should be done in the private garages ! At least with this crazy pan***demic the NCT would be running fine. People think there could be scams due to the private, but it's garages reputation etc, gards would catch a car that passed in private garage but it's not roadworthy then lets say 10 000 fine for the garage therefore all of them would be honest

Nah. They won't be honest. They would definitely pass emissions for a friend as its something no Garda would notice.

NCT is fine as it is.

Driver1980 wrote: »

Police is strict there I heard and they can do you on the checkpoints and take your documents, logbook from you even when you have the nct. So I don't know. It could be 1 in 100 doing this, but usual people won't risk it.

But I hoped this won't happen in the goverment scheme. I did think if your car passed NCT it's safe to use etc, but it's not, mechanic can check the car better than the NCT lads. They don't use the crowbar to inspect each parts for play etc while mechanic when looking for the issue is doing it. Imbalance suspension should not be only checking imbalanc but the play on each parts. There are diagnostic station when it moves the whole car for the play and the computer shows you which is plying like, bearing, ball joints, tie rods end, bushings etc, they just check the imbalanc and that's a big "suspension test" .

I remembr got the car once from my friend, he doesn't know anything about the cars, it just passed the fresh NCT, I drove the car a week decided to check the oil, and guess what? THERE WAS NO OIL AT ALL ON THE DIPSTICK ! I had to add 2 litres before it went to the minimum mark ! NCT lad should not do emission test without checking the oil.

But I know how they do it, they remove the dipstick which always at the start is showing the wrong oil elve, they see if there is some level and say **** it, but when you wipe it put it back and then take it out that's the correct reading, they don't even bother to do this !

Honestly , you haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Plus, it’s up to your friend to check his oil level at least weekly, not the nct lads. All you’re doing is spreading false information here.

Driver1980 wrote: »

have you see the test? I saw it 5 times, suspension imbalance check only check imbalance not the play of other parts !!!

"Plus, it’s up to your friend to check his oil level at least weekly, not the nct lads."

You serious? it's their f8888 job to check it ! It even said on the NCT instructions "no emissions test should be done if there is no oil in the car". Why? they can burn the engine !

I have this experience where poor car passed and great didnt. And wont change my mind that nct is not testing the car properly. Suspension is most important all they do is imbalance for shocks and visual things with flash light.car i used to have passed with the big play on the wheel end of story .

Some will pass, some will fail.

Not sure what's your issue with the current test is, but passing it over to the garages, Polish/UK style, is not a solution.

If you have a big play on the wheel fix it regardless. This is a basic safety/regulatory test, not "all cars that pass the test are perfect" test.

Booking made - refreshing to have so much choice of appointments.

Worth noting also in the FAQ - Customers of those vehicles that had a test due date prior to 28 March 2020 are now invited to make a booking for one of the following centres...

https://www.ncts.ie/1115