NCT deadline for the 1st May.

S

samanthajane

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Have been out of the country for a while and only heard of the new rules a week or so ago. ( yes i know ignorance isnt an excuse )

Has taken me 3 days of ringing and i finally got through to them this morning. My test is on the 3rd June.

So does this mean that i cant drive my car from the 1st of may? How do they think i'm going to get the car to the test centre in the first place? Or if i shown them the text i got from them confirming my appointment will i get away with it. There's no possible way i can get it done sooner there snowed under with bookings at the moment.

I cant afford 8 points on my licence, but i need the car for work, and it's not possible for me to use public transport, i'd never be able to carry all my equipment that i need for work. I doubt i'd get away with avoiding check points for a whole month, in the last week i've been stopped by 4.
 
I've never had a nct before, this will be the first time, but it's due in may. So it's not like the car is 10 years old and not had an nct for years it's only just due.

Even so from the 1st of may it will be due and i'll be driving around for a month without any.

I'll have to hope if i do get stopped the guard will take pity on me. I must go and find a low cut top and mini skirt...see if that helps haha
 
That's the same dilemma as posed (without answer) in the Irish Times today: [broken link removed]
 
Assuming your car is ready for Nct and I know you already have a date, I suggest the following:

If you log in on line everyday on nct.ie( best time is before 9am as they have cancelled list up dated) you could change you date online and more than likely get a earlier date. The system is up dated daily and if you check every day you could pick up one of the cancel spots.

Also check all the other Nct centre within 40miles of you as it gives you more range to get appointment at short notice.
 
I do not have any sympaty with people who do not have a valid NCT on their car.

To use the excuse that there are no reminders sent out, or that the reminder comes late is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. There is a disk on the windscreen of the car showing the expiry date.

The fact that the NCT centres are overwhelmed with applications for tests is testament to the number of cars without valid certs.

In respect of the deadline on the 1st May, I would be very confident the police will be reasonable in their approach. If you can show that you have applied for the test then I cannot see them proceeding with a prosecution. Also I could not see a court convicting in these circumstances.
 
I would expect that there will be a 'settling in' period, where they won't be too strict on you. Carry your confirmation email/printout/letter, you can't really do anymore.
 
callybags said:
To use the excuse that there are no reminders sent out, or that the reminder comes late is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. There is a disk on the windscreen of the car showing the expiry date.
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I'm not using that as an excuse i knew i would need an nct when the car was 4 years old, i didn't need a reminder. I've been out of the country and only back a few weeks and knew i needed to book it in, but with the new rules the waiting times are now longer, which is why i have to wait 6 weeks. I've only had 1 nct done on a previous car and i got the test the next week. I didn't factor in that they would bring this in or i would of arranged to book it in weeks ago. I just thought when i got back to Ireland i could be able to book and have it done in time for when it was due.

Papervalue...what web address are you going to. The www.ncts.ie website just has a message up, and there are no other links or tabs you can click on.

I did ask the girl about being put on a cancellation list but she said everyone is asking that and too be honest there isn't much point in doing so. And i cant be put on any other area's cancellation list if i have made the booking with ballymum centre.
 
If your car is due for it's first NCT on the first of May, then I'm assuming your car is a 05 reg? In that case I don't think you'll be asked about it at check points (unless your reg is something blatantly early like 05-D-01).

I'm sure Gardaí at check points have some way to check if a car is due an NCT or not, but considering you would be borderline, I don't forsee a Garda taking much time to check if a 05 reg car is due or not when there could be a string of older cars behind you that blatantly don't have an NCT.

So my advice (in addition to what Smashbox said), forget the low cut top and mini skirt, and instead drive in front of alot older cars with no NCT :D.
 
So my advice (in addition to what Smashbox said), forget the low cut top and mini skirt, and instead drive in front of alot older cars with no NCT
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Haha :D Yeah Sam, don't be driving all smutty and stuff!
 
samanthajane said:
I'm not using that as an excuse i knew i would need an nct when the car was 4 years old, i didn't need a reminder. I've been out of the country and only back a few weeks and knew i needed to book it in, but with the new rules the waiting times are now longer, which is why i have to wait 6 weeks. I've only had 1 nct done on a previous car and i got the test the next week. I didn't factor in that they would bring this in or i would of arranged to book it in weeks ago. I just thought when i got back to Ireland i could be able to book and have it done in time for when it was due.
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Apologies, Samanthajane. I wasn't referring to you with my comments.

I think when anything new like this comes out, the media in particular overreact and try to be completely negative.

In the article in the Irish times the reporter used the excuse of not getting a reminder. He also never mentioned in the article that you only get the penalty points if you are convicted in court.
 
lol smashbox...who me smutty!!! where ever did you get that idea?.

Callybage..good to hear you dont get the points straight away only if your convicted in court, which i will be throwing a fit if it got that far with me.
 
samanthajane said:
I'm not using that as an excuse i knew i would need an nct when the car was 4 years old, i didn't need a reminder. I've been out of the country and only back a few weeks and knew i needed to book it in, but with the new rules the waiting times are now longer, which is why i have to wait 6 weeks. I've only had 1 nct done on a previous car and i got the test the next week. I didn't factor in that they would bring this in or i would of arranged to book it in weeks ago. I just thought when i got back to Ireland i could be able to book and have it done in time for when it was due.

Papervalue...what web address are you going to. The www.ncts.ie website just has a message up, and there are no other links or tabs you can click on.

I did ask the girl about being put on a cancellation list but she said everyone is asking that and too be honest there isn't much point in doing so. And i cant be put on any other area's cancellation list if i have made the booking with ballymum centre.
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I booked online for a relative a day before they announced it. Did not know the website login gone down since. I am sure the login part will become live again fairly soon.

might ring them and ask them when will website login be live again
Keep an eye on the webpage.
 
callybags said:
I do not have any sympaty with people who do not have a valid NCT on their car.

To use the excuse that there are no reminders sent out, or that the reminder comes late is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. There is a disk on the windscreen of the car showing the expiry date...
Click to expand...

I have sympathy with people who do not have a valid NCT: I am one. My cert expired at the end of March. Normally they send a reminder with a proposed date, and last time the date they offered was in April, so they were allowing themselves some latitude. When no reminder came, I think it was reasonable for me to presume that they were again giving themselves some latitude. Still no reminder came, so I went online to book a date. It can't be done online, so I used the phone number supplied. I can't get through.

About the issue of reminders, this is what they say:
NCTS do endeavour to contact as many car owners as possible and from the 1st January this year we have sent over 247,000 notifications regarding their NCT however, it should be noted that in some instances such as, change of ownership of the vehicle, if the vehicle is off the road or if the vehicle is out of tax that can affect whether a letter is issued for that vehicle.
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I have the same car I submitted for testing two years ago, live at the same address, and have taxed it continuously.

If anybody attempts to "do" me over my NCT, I think I have the basis of a robust defence.
 
Oh just a point, I myself have never had a reminder for my 01 Almera, but my OH got a reminder... yesterday!
 
Just to piggyback back this thread, i have been trying the site and the phone number for the past 2 days but cant get through on any, the number wont ring and the site is constantly down with the message outlined below. What is the next step? Mine is due on the 20th of may so i thought i was leaving myself plenty of time. I only got the car last oct so i havent got any reminder.
 
It seems wrong to me that no reminders are issued for NCT. If we are obliged to have an NCT, its a bit like a television license, they should tell us when it's due surely? Should we accept this kind of poor service from the Department of the Environment or whoever is responsible?

I know that the testing is private and that they can't be bothered spending money on stamps to tell us about appointments, but who decided that we weren't to be given reminders? We used to get them, why was it changed?
 
I got a dog licence reminder the other day, it showed it was out of date since February. They didn't send it in Jan, Feb, or March. But April.

So its not just the NCT that don't do renewals correct.
 
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