# NCT - yes or no?



## fatherdougalmaguire (9 Feb 2004)

Caught [broken link removed] on www.examiner.ie over the weekend.

Does anyone know if you can renew your tax without an NCT? What other aspects of NCT should we be aware of? Can lack of NCT have an effect on insurance pay out for example?


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## stobear (9 Feb 2004)

It says very clearly on the NCT paperwork the car will not be taxed without an NCT cert when you go to renew it, but whether they reject it and return it I dont know. Would you take that chance of getting points/fine when stopped without tax?

To save money, just bring the carto the NCT, get a list of the problems, have it serviced/fixed, pay your retest fee and your done. No matter what you do with your headlights it seems very difficult to get them adjusted so they pass 1st go!

And I dont think the gov. get a penny of the retest cost (could be wrong though)


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## Matlock (9 Feb 2004)

*Seems to me...*

If its not compulsory to NCT your car in order to re-tax it then the tax office cannot refuse to do so for that reason as there is no legal basis for them to do so.

In this case the car owner should get a letter from the tax office clearly stating that they will not tax the car because it was not NCTed. When you get pulled (and you will) bring the letter to court and show it to the judge along with a letter form the dept of transport stipulating that you never needed the NCT in the first place.

This leaves the court in the position of having a defendant who attempted to tax his/her car and then had the tax office refuse to accommodate him for reasons outside of their authority.

Anyone care to comment on this?


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## mise (9 Feb 2004)

*nct cert when taxing car*

Don't know about the legality of having the NCT or not, but in the last 2 years I have been in the tax office a few times for car tax and was never asked for an NCT cert.  Also, one day I was there, one man said he forgot his cert and the girl in the tax office said they don't check for NCT anymore. This was at least a year ago.


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## scampy (9 Feb 2004)

*NCT - Insurance*

The motor taxation office themselves said over the weekend they do tax cars and one of the major insurance companies AXA said also it had no bearing on insurance.....


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## Matlock (9 Feb 2004)

*???*

So just to get this straight. Is there ANY legal obligation for a car owner to put thier car through the NCT?


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## <A HREF=http://pub145.ezboard.com/baskaboutmoney.s (9 Feb 2004)

*Re: ???*

Yes:


www.google.ie/search?as_q...afe=images


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## Matlock (9 Feb 2004)

*From the examiner link above*

"The Department of Transport says NCT approval has not been compulsory since 2001." 


What exactly does this mean then?


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## clicker4 (9 Feb 2004)

*N.C.T.*

from personal experience you don't need NCT to tax your car........i've a march 95 car..taxed it each year........only submitted car for first test last april;
But you should have nct disc displayed........however the only people i've heard charged for non display of disc are those who are also charged for non insurance non tax etc.


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## D (10 Feb 2004)

*nct and tax*

Just taxed my car for a further six months. Called the tax office before renewing as my car is due an NCT this month (OO car) and was told that I do not need an NCT Cert. even though the tax renewal form states that it is required. Also renewed my insurance-no mention of NCT.

My car is due an NCT by 14/02/04. Received no notice from NCT Ireland. I called them in January and made booking as I thought I would need the NCT Cert. for my tax.

Shouldn't have bothered!


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## Ben (10 Feb 2004)

*.*

There was a piece on the radio today advocating the new motortaxonline.ie site where you can tax on line. This is going to be national now after a successful trial in Galway, Clare and a few others where 10% of people who taxed their cars used the online service.

you need insurance details when taxing, but no NCT information is required.


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## Elcato (10 Feb 2004)

*Re: .*

According to last nights rte news you dont need your NCT cert when taxing your car any more. As and from March you will be able to pay online by just giving the insurance company name and policy number so you wont need to actually furnish the details in person.


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## fatherdougalmaguire (10 Feb 2004)

*Re: .*

Just want to remind people that the NCT is still compulsory. This tax/NCT relationship is all that appears to be affected. You can still get 'hit' for not having an NCTed motor.


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## <A HREF=http://pub145.ezboard.com/baskaboutmoney.s (10 Feb 2004)

*Re: .*

With the online system no proof of NCT or insurance will be required when renewing motor tax. However these still need to be acquired and displayed. Not to do so is an offence.


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## Curious (10 Feb 2004)

*.*

So to clarify, you can tax the car without an NCT, but if you are found to have a car on the road without an NCT you may be prosecuted?


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## <A HREF=http://pub145.ezboard.com/baskaboutmoney.s (10 Feb 2004)

*Re: .*

Yes


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## mister (10 Feb 2004)

*re*

Gurantee it will be a pointable offence within the next few months


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## vidapura (18 Feb 2004)

*motortaxonline.ie  rocks!*

Yea,
You might not need an NCT to tax the car but I did get a bollickin from a guard at a tax checkpoint one night.. so ... it WAS 4 months pas due ... heh...

Initially I though the NCt would be a good thing, it would eliminate all the gobshites running around with one headlight and the like... but it hasn't .... 
And when I read somewhere that less than 1% of accidents are attributed to equipment failure? 
Well you have to wonder would they not be better off getting more gardai on the road to spank eejits who drive around with their foglights on permanently or drive at 40 miles an hour with two hundred cars behind em... no wonder people speed when they get out from behind some wally after an hour or pottling along...

People get stressed with all this crap goin on... then they do stupid things... and the ridiculous road surfaces simply kill people...

But I used the motortaxonline.ie last month there.. oh god why didn't this happen sooner? No queues, no arsin around, and the disc arrived a day later!! Smashin...


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## <A HREF=http://pub145.ezboard.com/baskaboutmoney.s (18 Feb 2004)

*Re: motortaxonline.ie  rocks!*



> You might not need an NCT to tax the car but I did get a bollickin from a guard at a tax checkpoint one night.. so ... it WAS 4 months pas due ... heh...
> 
> Initially I though the NCt would be a good thing, it would eliminate all the gobshites running around with one headlight and the like... but it hasn't ....



Gobshites that don't get their NCT when it's due or until they are reprimanded for example?


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## vidapura (18 Feb 2004)

*.*

Touche!


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## daltonr (18 Feb 2004)

*Re: .*

The skyrocketing of Insurance Premiums seemed to coincide with the introduction of the NCT.

I have no problem with the NCT, but when I heard that you fail for not removing your hubcaps, or for leaving a Baby Seat in the back I did wonder if this wasn't more of a Scam than a Safety Scheme.

What person when making up the rules for something like this decides that having hub caps should cause a car to fail?
Perhaps if the hub caps couldn't be removed, or if they were loose, or perhaps if the baby seat was incorrectly installed.  But lets have a bit of cop on or it'll be just another stupid law where the resentment people feel outweighs the obvious benefits.

And dammit we have enough bad laws and bad enforcement already, we don't need any more.

-Rd


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## cushtie (28 Oct 2004)

or the most ridiculous of all, being failed because your number plate does nto have the county name in irish in small letters along the top.

I know I know that by law you have to have the proper number plates fitted but the NCT is supposed to be about safety, having the county name in irish will not make my car safer.


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## cullenswood (28 Oct 2004)

I hate when people give out about failing for the stupid little things that the NCT also tests for.   The point is EVERYONE should know about these things at this stage, so if you are dumb enough to leave your hub caps on, or not get the proper number plate, then you deserve to fail.   It's all written clearly in the rules so just do what it tells you and then you wont fail, as simple as that.


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## cushtie (28 Oct 2004)

Exactly, its the rule that is an ass in this case. how will having the county name in irish have any effect on the safety of my car?


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## ajapale (28 Oct 2004)

*Standard Format Numberplates*

Cushtie,
Do you accept that Number Plates should be visible and conform to a standard design template?

ajapale


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## cushtie (28 Oct 2004)

I have no reason to object to standards / conformity of the number plate. the NCT was introduced to test the roadworthiness of the vehicle. All I am saying is that having the county name on my number plate will not make my car any safer therfore it should not be part of the NCT test.


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## car (28 Oct 2004)

*nct*

I failed the nct on the emissions recently.  Had 1.1% CO2 coming out where 0.8% was the failure rate.  
540 euros later, and a new flux capacitor installed under the car and it passed.  I know the mechanic told me exactly what it was hed fitted but my he told me the price first and I stopped listening after that.  In fact, Im pretty sure I stopped breathing for a while as well.

Has anyone ever been stopped and fined for not having an NCT cert displayed?  If the gards arent doing this, then because you dont need the nct to get taxed, I could have driven the car into the ground and never had to worry about having the outlay such as above.


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## ajapale (28 Oct 2004)

*Re: nct*

From the ncts website: www.ncts.ie/

Ncts is concerned primarilly with road safety and environmental compliance. Registration Plates are explicitly included in the test under section 12.

I agree with you that the Irish Number Plate is a bit daft but if thats the standard then the NCT should test against it. I have seen several plates (all from the border counties) which are illegible because of small or jazzy script. A car which is easily identifiable contributes to road safety not least because traffic infringements can be reported to the authorities.

12.Miscellaneous 
  Registration Plates 
  Adaptations for disabled drivers 
  Towing Bracket / Coupling


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## cushtie (28 Oct 2004)

I suppose I'll have to give you that one ajapale. It would indeed be easier to report someone that say left the scene of an accident if they have a clearly visible plate.

I still think it should be enforced by the gardai as a traffic violation as opposed to a safety issue though.

my brother is very much into his cars (not a boy racer) and usually has some kind of fancy plate on his car, when NCT time comes around he simply swaps them for the standard ones. 

he has never once been pulled up the Gardai for having a non standard plate


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## ajapale (28 Oct 2004)

> ...he simply swaps them for the standard ones.
> ...he has never once been pulled up the Gardai for having a non standard plate



Hi Cushtie,

This is interesting. I wonder if it is posslible to get plates which look ok but which "dazzle" speed cameras?

ajapale


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## cushtie (28 Oct 2004)

no idea, although I have seen ones that seem fairly standard but have a kinda blue hue to them. often wondered about them, maybe this is what you refer to


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