I had my third NCT at the weekend and failed because of a rusted dent in the small/thin panel between the rear bumper and the boot door (hatchback car).
NCT Says:
ITEM: Bodywork
DESCRIPTION: Primary Structure Condition
REASON: Damaged/Broken
This has passed 2 previous NCT's EXACTLY as is, and I have previously confirmed with garage / crash repair etc that there is no structural or safety issue and car was serviced in last month.
I plan to get estimates tomorrow, but only plan to hold on to the car for another year or two and expect to scrap it after that (00 car that has had a few unfortunate incidents, generally repaired other than above). As such only want to spend a few hundred repairing.
I'm assuming that if I do nothing and bring for the Re-test it will fail again, fair enough.
What would happen if I did nothing, let the time run out for the Re-test (within 1 month) and apply for a full test again? Would they review the original test and re-fail me? Or take it from scratch?
My instinct tells me that someone else would overlook this, that this fail was discretionary.
Any thoughts? I'm reasonably happy to spend a few hundred Euros, but effectively it's money down the drain.