Has the NCT got tougher recently?

Brendan Burgess

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My practice in the past has been to get my (15 year old) car serviced a week or so before the NCT.

I know that others have recommended getting the NCT first and then getting the faults fixed as part of the service. But I have always passed bar one small issue once.

But when I was booking my car in for its service, the mechanic said that they have become very difficult since resuming testing and he recommended getting the NCT first and then he would fix whatever they pick up.

I was surprised at that and wonder if he has just had an unlucky run. A customer who fails an NCT probably gets annoyed at the mechanic who serviced the car a week earlier.

Brendan
 
It's a pretty standard checklist process with very little room for tester discretion.

I wasn't aware of anything in the criteria having been tightened recently.
 
Just anecdotal....but my mother's 16yr old car went for the NCT recently and it failed. My dad brought it for the test and he told me that it was a "young lad" doing the test and he was very thorough. My dad was watching him and knew the car was going to fail because the guy was taking so long going through it.

That's just one example from one test centre though. So I'm not sure how representative it is.
 
But where does thoroughness make a difference? Lights, belts, horn either work or they don't. The test of the brakes is done by machine. Same for emissions. Tyres either have enough tread depth or they don't.

I guess they have some discretion on the condition of shock absorbers and wheels but that's about it.
 
the test result are determine by the computerised lane and the upper and lower tolerances are printed on the report. The manual part is things like Nick's in the tyres, bulbs, brake hoses, rot etc
 
I was surprised to fail on a non-functioning reg plate bulb recently - possible they always checked for it, but was a new one for me.
 
I once failed on the EU flag on my registration plate being partially scratched!

The reg plate itself was perfect, the EU flag was clear, just partially scratched; had to pay out for a new reg plate.
 
We had a perfectly good windscreen wiper, functioned properly, did the job. Our car failed on it. There is a guy across the road from the Deansgrange test centre who could have replaced it in 5 minutes. We asked the tester could we get this done immediately rather than having to come back (during Covid) to have the replacement checked. We were told "No". We had to go home and make another appointment to have this done.
 
Did one recently. Didn’t appear to be tougher than usual (last one two years ago).

what did strike me was the number of people there with cars having obvious problems. The guy ahead of me had a vertical crack down the full length of his windscreen. Not sure what he was trying to achieve.
 
on NCT tests I went to book recently, and earliest date as Nov/Dec in any of teh Dublin centtres, so I booked a slot. I then read that if you log in about 8pm, 9pm that some cancellation dates come up, so last night I tried this, a lot of refreshing but suddenly a time became available for this Saturday, so jumped at it at a centre closer to me.

Its easier when you have an appointment and then you are looking to reschedue it, as less to key in for the booking, as credit card details already on the original booking.

You may have to refresh a few times as not sure when the cancellation slots become available.
 

I always log in after 2300 and will get multiple slots. Recently had my NCT and it was not noticeably harder, car is 2004.
 
The problem with the NCT is that they have equipment that many garages don't have. So they find things a garage won't.
So the only way to know if the car will pass is to do the test. Then fix what it fails on.

Getting a car serviced is entirely different. A car might pass a NCT but still need a few things doing that might cause problems during the coming year. For example a NCT will pass tyres that many people would suggest are past their best, but are still legal. If the car needs tyres I'll get them replaced regardless if its before or after a NCT.

I pass a lot more often at some NCT more than others. There are always delays at some NCT centers. Usually the ones that are filthy and poorly maintained in the public areas. One I go to a lot, has has broken PA everytime I've been there.

The whole broken lift thing was very poorly managed. A shambles in fact.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
It's a pretty standard checklist process with very little room for tester discretion.
Click to expand...

Ho, Ho , Ho and also Ha, Ha, Ha

I brought in my trusty old Passat some years ago. It failed due to excessive rust in the bonnet. Mechanic replaced bonnet, Passat passed. Then mechanic asked if I wanted to keep new bonnet or put back the old one, he assured me the old one was perfectly safe. So we put back the old bonnet. Two years later the trusty rusty Passat was back for NCT complete with bonnet that had perviously failed, now two years rustier. Pasat passed, no bonnet issue.
 
That is typical of the Irish system alright. Was it the same person on both occasions , just wondering.
 
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