Has the NCT got tougher recently?

Human error can go for or against you, testers like anyone else make mistakes, my car failed as the rear brakes were sticking.

Mechanic said nothing wrong with the rear brakes, the tester forgot to take the handbrake off, bring it back and tell them you got it fixed, it passed.
 
@cremeegg

You have helpfully confirmed my point. There are edge cases where tester discretion indeed plays a part

Now try going through 50 times with 1mm tread on your tyres and see how many times you pass.
 
Not sure about tougher, but when mine passed I wish I checked the mileage they put on it. It was 5000 miles less than the actual mileage.
 
I think it isn’t getting tougher it’s just our cars are getting older. It should come as no surprise really that older cars will have a higher fail rate.
 

Looks like 8.55 years last year. Registrations in the run up to 2016 were still a way off pre-bust levels.

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So I had my NCT today. I usually get the car serviced first, but this time, the mechanic told me to get the test done, and he would fix the list.

My last NCT was in May 2019. The car is 15 years old but I have only done 3,500 km since then.

To my surprise and delight, I passed.

The new expiry date is September 2021. Which is probably 12 months + 4 months Covid Extension after the last test was due?

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
this time, the mechanic told me to get the test done, and he would fix the list.
Click to expand...

I would say something like "buy your mechanic a pint..." for giving you that advice - but now you have you get food with a pint, sit outside etc... too much could be implied by you doing such

And congrats on passing the NCT
 
I got a call at 11am this morning from the garage where I bought my car last month.there is a spot tonight at 8.10pm for a NCT test.
Oh the joys
 
Just home from NCT center.
The car is no booked in until December 15.
I was told by the garage where I bought it from the test is today.

It's a trade booking.could the NCT center say I never showed up and still get paid for the no show ?

I don't see why a main dealer would get a cancelled spot only not too get the dates correct.

A waste of time & fuel going over there.one un happy camper
 
That is frustrating.

While I was in Deansgrange today, the customer at the next hatch greeted the NCT employee by name. "Hi George , any chance of an NCT today?" to which George replied " A full or a retest?" . The customer said "A full" and George said "Let me see what I can do".

So clearly dealers rock up on spec. and take their chances. Not sure if others could do that.

Brendan
 
I would not have thought that they would do that ( take one on spec) . But if they had a "quiet day" perhaps they should be able ....
 

maybe a happy AAM member
 
joer said:
I would not have thought that they would do that ( take one on spec) .
Click to expand...

I understand that the trade often does that. They take in a second hand car to sell. They do it up and can't really wait three months for an NCT.

It's fair enough really.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
So clearly dealers rock up on spec. and take their chances.
Click to expand...

Where my wife is from the local mechanic does that. They drop off the car, mechanic takes care of the service and NCT, there was never an issue getting the test done on the day pre-COVID, but I'm not sure what the situation is now.
 
I failed an NCT a good few years ago due to human error.
It was in Deansgrange and I’d a late booking. The tester explained that the red indication light doesn’t come on when the fog lamp knob is pulled out. He said it failed but the retest would be visual only.
As I drove home I was thinking about it and I started turning on-and-off the foglamps. It worked fine. Then I realised it was a mistake by the tester. The first notch turns on just the front fog lamps (no red indication lamp) whereas the second/full notch turns on the rear fog lamps too (and red indicat lamp).
I did a u-turn in Stillorgan and made it back to the test centre just before they closed, and found the tester. Demonstrated and explained how the knob worked.

He passed me without hesitation.
 
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