NCT Damaged my Car!

I recently had my car in for the NCT,the first time it failed a few minor things so I got my mechanic to do the required work.Brought it back last night for a re-test and they did the usual bouncing it around test up on the lift.After wards my German friend delighted me with the news that it had passed and that he would see me in 2008.Great I thought I went out to my car put the key in the ignition and tried to drive away...could not find first gear...had to start it in third..eventually found 4th gear but when I went into 5th...it went back to 3rd again!The gearstick is all over the place,very loose,so now my mechanic has to fix my gear problem,but he wasn't suprised at all about this saying,he has had loads of cars tested and once they start boucing them,things can break...best of all you can't hold the NCT centre responsible...great isn't it!

You should be glad if happened at NCT centre... it could have happened on the small road in Kerry or Donegal at 2am on a rainy winter day

One on the conditions of the NCT is that your car is in a fit state. If the little bit of "bouncing" they do was enough to cause this, then the car clearly was in a dangerous condition prior to the test.

But I'm thinking it wouldn't have happened at all if they were not bouncing it around....if I was on a road which was that bumpy I would stop driving!

yes but if you left it parked on pearse st you could come back to find kids bouncing on it. then youd have the same problem. i think cars should be bounce friendly (especially off walls)

Hit one of the many larger potholes littered on our roads at any significant speed and your suspension will bear a load far greater than that applied by the NCT tests.

Penny I think if a bit of bouncing could damage the car like this it was going to happen anyway.

Although the car in fit state waiver is a nice little cover.

I think just accept that the problem was on its way.

how come it passed the test when there was clearly a problem with the gears?

NCT doesn't test the gearbox.

Ok thanks for the replies ...I'm just in Denial...what's the next stage anger or sadness....maybe when the mechanic gives me his bill I'll feel both and move on to the next stage and put it all behind me!!!

If my car was damaged while having its NCT I think I'd be pretty angry!

Icarus said:

If my car was damaged while having its NCT I think I'd be pretty angry!

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Fair enough it is the paint or body.
Bu how can NCT be responsible for having damaged what's look like the inside of a gearbox ?

While I'd accept that a gearbox needs to be able to withstand reasonable shaking, it seems a little odd that the NCT person who was doing the test didn't notice that the gearbox worked differently at the end of the test.

To just hand the car over with an oblivious attitude at the end to me makes it sound like they were aware of what happened and that it was less likely to be an exceptional occurence. Most people trying to drive a car without a first gear would probably notice and mention it to the owner.

Surely they have a responsibility from a safety and professional point of view (or even just out of politeness) to tell the driver of the car anything they know of that broke in the test, even if they're not responsible for the cost of repair.

pennypincher said:

But I'm thinking it wouldn't have happened at all if they were not bouncing it around....if I was on a road which was that bumpy I would stop driving!

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Its a bit like doctor my arm hurts when I do this doctor reply's well stop doing that