An NCT certificate is not a substitute for vetting a second hand car

Brendan Burgess said:
And they get the AA to independently test some as well.
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I presume that "they" means the NCT/Applus+ Inspection Services Ireland? Is that true? I never heard of it before and can't find anything online about it. And there's no mention of the AA in the RSA's NCT manual.
 
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But dealer did the repair. In the old days Rte would have a reporter at the dealers house or running alongside his car with a microphone.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
How many tests did they do last year?
How many do they get wrong?

I would say it's a very rare occurrence and when it does happen, they would review it.
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You tell me. You are the one saying it's a very rare occurrence with no evidence.
This case got the headlines because the incident happened so soon after the NCT and the car very obviously should not have passed.

Something has gone very wrong for that car to pass the NCT.

So it is entirely justified for the NCT to be criticised here.
People should be aware of the limitations of the NCT and the primary fault here lies with the dealership but the NCT should not get a free pass on it either.
 
odyssey06 said:
You tell me. You are the one saying it's a very rare occurrence with no evidence.
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Sorry, they were hypothetical questions.

They do hundreds of thousands of tests a year.

The gave the figures in the Prime Time programme. But I did not note them.

They gave the number of tests.
They gave the number of inhouse verification of tests.
They gave the number which are independently verified by the AA

From memory, they confirm about 99% of the tests.



Brendan
 
ClubMan said:
I presume that "they" means the NCT/Applus+ Inspection Services Ireland? Is that true? I never heard of it before and can't find anything online about it. And there's no mention of the AA in the RSA's NCT manual.
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I suppose that the spokesman for the NCT on Prime Time could have been spoofing, but it's unlikely.

And as you would say yourself...

 
The big red flag was that the car had failed twice before so third time lucky for the dealership. NCT should have been more thorough in light of that.

The welding job was atrocious and as Miriam O'Callaghan said "even she could see that it was dangerous". The battery was not tied down and the engineer said it was very dangerous too.
 
My 10 year old car passed NCT with a rusted away back subframe. The car when driven on the road was unstable. Only found out when I took it to my garage thinking it was a brake problem.
 
The NCT test is a whistle stop run through 3 separate inspection bays. It lasts between 20 - 30 minutes. It is impossible for one human tester to check and spot all possible safety faults in this timeframe.

The tester could not read through the list of checks in this amount of time , never mind actually do them.

I have had cars up to 20 years old tested and in fairness to the NCT testers they have spotted difficult enough to see faults on all of them.

If all the NCT manual tests were thoroughly checked the test would need to last for several hours, and would be very costly.
 

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S class said:
If all the NCT manual tests were thoroughly checked the test would need to last for several hours, and would be very costly.
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Agree.

If people want a perfect NCT test, then expect to have
  • two testers assigned to each car
  • A test lasting a few hours
  • A much higher failure rate
  • and a much, much, higher fee.
The current test seems to me to strike about the right balance.
 
The NCT is designed to provide assurance at population level, not at individual level.


Many of us are old enough to remember how common rusting bodywork and bald tyres once were - the only control mechanism were Garda checks.

The fleet on Irish roads is radically better since NCT introduction and as a result vehicle quality is rarely the primary cause of RTAs any more.
 
But don't put ideas in their head .... because it could happen at a very increased cost to us all .
 
This subject is driving the thread to the status of the Joe Duffy radio show. Like the title says:- An NCT certificate is not a substitute for vetting a secondhand car.

Anyone can make a mistake, all of us do and that includes the NCT workers.

But, you can take precautions against such problems by doing some simple tests yourself on the car before purchase. Very few do such tests and trust “gangsters.”

Trusting a mechanic not known to you is just as bad.

Use your head a test the car yourself before you hand over a penny. I wouldn’t buy a secondhand wheel-barrow without testing it.
 
T McGibney said:
Fear of litigation probably.
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RTÉ constantly beat up on public bodies as they know they won’t sue, witness constant stories about the public health service.

Meanwhile there are large private sector bodies with thousands of employees they won’t even look at.
 
It's important that RTE hold public bodies to account - at least with private sector you have some agency and can use a different provider etc
No option to do that with the NCT etc
 
rayn said:
The difference in passed percentages around the country show that they are unfit for purpose.
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So you'd expect the pass rate to be the same in south Dublin where there is a higher percentage of premium, newer cars, driving shorter distances on better roads as that in a rural area with older, inferior cars driving greater distances on poor roads??
 
T McGibney said:
They must have won the lotto down there since the last time I visited,
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Who knows what the reason is, but the only way to ensure uniform pass rates across the country is to mandate different test criteria to each centre rather than seek consistency in testing.
 
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