Garda & expired NCT?

Winger_PL

Hi,

I have a valid insurance & motor tax, yet my car's NCT has expired in April and failed test because of some bodywork which would require around 2k to fix.
I want this repaired and have NCT passed, just don't have cash for repairs at the mo, however, since 1st of May I've been driving with xpired NCT.
The thing is, during last month I've been checked by Garda around 4-5 times. They've always checked insurance & motor tax discs, yet they never said a word regarding expired NCT (while they clearly see 04-06 on the disc). Even today, being stopped at a checkpoint, they examined my discs for a minute or so before asking me to make sure motor tax is sorted (expires this month but I have already renewed via Internet and waiting for new disc).

I'm wondering how come they had never even ask about NCT while I was expecting big trouble being stopped. I know ppl get **** load of troubles driving without insurance or tax (which I'd never do despite paying over 2k for ins). Does anyone know what makes me the lucky one, or is it some unofficial rule saying I'm ok with valid insurance & motor tax only?

Thanks for all opinions.

andrew_ireland

Mine was out for a few days last year and I was stopped by the Gardai, not only that but I was still on a provisional(1st). All they seem to be doing is checking Tax, insurance and DUI. I know plenty of people who's NCT is long overdue and they've had no hassle. I think if the NCT was that important you'd have to produce evidence of your car having passed it in order to tax/insure the car.

Lord Nikon

andrew_ireland wrote:

I think if the NCT was that important you'd have to produce evidence of your car having passed it in order to tax/insure the car.

This was the case when the NCT was launched. I got a fine for having no tax. I couldn't tax my car because it needed to be NCT'd. Only problem was, was that I was waiting the the NCT, which was a month away.

andrew_ireland

That's a bloody disgrace that you got fined, so many of the government's law passing ends up as a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. I think you now can move your NCT dates forward by a few months in case you need to for whatever reasons- that should've been the case from the beginning.

Our man in Havana

It is my experience that if the tax and insurance are current, they don't worry too much about the NCT. My last car had no NCT for 15 months and I passed thru dozens of checkpoints and not a word was said. You would need to piss off a Garda royally before they would bother doing you for no NCT.

numorouno

indeed i would agree but be warned i think there is some clause somewhere in your insurance policy that if you dont have a valid NCT your insurance maybe invalid. ie if you failed the NCT due to faulty breaks they may use that against you in a crash and not insure you. i dont know if this has occurred yet but knowing some insurance companies theyd only love to try it?

testicle

My car was due its first NCT in March 2005. It was never done. At this stage I couldn't be arsed getting one done, only to have to do it again next March, so I think I will hold off until next year to do it...

seamus

It's no longer possible to tax your vehicle without a valid NCT cert.

Riamfada

seamus wrote:

It's no longer possible to tax your vehicle without a valid NCT cert.

i did it no problem online . It never asked me for any NCT numbers or nothing. I was very proud of myself having got my NCT done for the first time last month. Its was supposed to be done in 2004

Winger_PL

seamus wrote:

It's no longer possible to tax your vehicle without a valid NCT cert.

Then how come 2 days ago I've received motor tax renewal form (with pin for Internet transaction which I used straight away)? Motor tax renewal form clearly states: NCT DUE DATE 04-Apr-2006

Wibbs

Really seamus, I did just that last month. No questions at all. No mind an out of date NCT I have a very obvious blank spot on my windscreen where the NCT should be and I've gotten no hassle from the guards at all. In fact on one occasion myself and this guard had a long collective moan about the whole thing(he was having trouble with them himself).

Both the NCT and the organisation behind can tend towards farce IMHO. One example; I have been trying to NCT my car for the last 3 months(just imported). Every time I try they tell me it's not on their system, go to your local NCT office and register it. So I have. Three times!! They still won't give me a test date and give me the same reason. The tax office seem to be able to deal with me with no great difficulty(brought the car in myself and they were very helpful altogether. Gave me lots of help to be fair). Unreal.

seamus

Must be the online one then. It's well known that you can tax your vehicle online without having valid insurance either.

The normal renewal form has a field for the NCT cert details. I had to send mine off when I was getting my car taxed last year.

Perhaps there's some legal issue which makes them ignore it.

testicle

seamus wrote:

The normal renewal form has a field for the NCT cert details. I had to send mine off when I was getting my car taxed last year.

Nope, it doesn't. It has a section for Certificate of Roadworthiness details, which os for Commercial vehikles. An NCT is by no means a certificate of roadworthiness!

layke

testicle wrote:

My car was due its first NCT in March 2005. It was never done. At this stage I couldn't be arsed getting one done, only to have to do it again next March, so I think I will hold off until next year to do it...

They backdate it, the fu**ers. Stupid, I know.

Also, My um... friend* taxed the car last week and his NCT is out of date. He just didn't put it down on the tax form. The tax office didn't care, they just wanted his* money.

AdrianR

The Garda don't give a damn about the NCT, apparantly there has only ever been one conviction and that was a known drug dealer that they couldn't get for anything else.

After a serious accident your car will be tested/examined for roadworthyness, If your car is found to be unroadworthy you're insurance may well not pay up or reduce your claim. Whither you have a valid NCT or not is irrelevant. Even in the case of a minor accident, when the assessor examines the car he will be watching out for things like bald tyres.

Remember the NCT only states that the car was in a roadworthy condition on the day it was tested, you're car could be judged to be in an unroathworthy condition after the tyres wear down another mm or 2 which could be after another few miles of driving.

Henry Ford III

AdrianR wrote:

The Garda don't give a damn about the NCT, apparantly there has only ever been one conviction and that was a known drug dealer that they couldn't get for anything else.

After a serious accident your car will be tested/examined for roadworthyness, If your car is found to be unroadworthy you're insurance may well not pay up or reduce your claim. Whither you have a valid NCT or not is irrelevant. Even in the case of a minor accident, when the assessor examines the car he will be watching out for things like bald tyres.

Remember the NCT only states that the car was in a roadworthy condition on the day it was tested, you're car could be judged to be in an unroathworthy condition after the tyres wear down another mm or 2 which could be after another few miles of driving.

1/. They should. Enforcing the law id their job after all.

2/. Is it a not condition of insurance that your car must be roadworthy/NCT'd?

3/. Have you a better idea? Annual testing like the UK?

ToxicPaddy

I know of someone who's driving an 1998 car and to this day has never got an NCT cert for the car, they dont even have a plastic holder on the windscreen to put it in but dont give a toss about it. Have gone through lots of garda checkpoints and not a word has been said.

I personally dont like the thoughts of going around with no NCT and always make sure my tax and insurance are upto date. My NCT is due at the end of this month and I know my car will fail due to a problem with the suspension, so I'm getting it sorted asap.

Are there laws in place to enforce this whole NCT thing? There was some confusion a while back as to it wasnt there?

Personally, I think it should be linked to tax and insurance, as if you dont have the NCT, then you cant get your car taxed or insured as if it cant pass that then it isnt technically roadworthy. Maybe give the person a grace period of a few months to get it into a way that it can pass the NCT.

But sure then thats just my thinking anyway

Tox

Big Nelly

Winger_PL wrote:

Hi,

I have a valid insurance & motor tax, yet my car's NCT has expired in April and failed test because of some bodywork which would require around 2k to fix.
I want this repaired and have NCT passed, just don't have cash for repairs at the mo, however, since 1st of May I've been driving with xpired NCT.
The thing is, during last month I've been checked by Garda around 4-5 times. They've always checked insurance & motor tax discs, yet they never said a word regarding expired NCT (while they clearly see 04-06 on the disc). Even today, being stopped at a checkpoint, they examined my discs for a minute or so before asking me to make sure motor tax is sorted (expires this month but I have already renewed via Internet and waiting for new disc).

I'm wondering how come they had never even ask about NCT while I was expecting big trouble being stopped. I know ppl get **** load of troubles driving without insurance or tax (which I'd never do despite paying over 2k for ins). Does anyone know what makes me the lucky one, or is it some unofficial rule saying I'm ok with valid insurance & motor tax only?

Thanks for all opinions.

If you cant pay for an NCT then dont drive the car!! simple as that! this just shows the usual Irish atitude, break the law and drive a banger around and complain because the Garda are not doing you, then when you get stopped there will be another thread complaining about the Garda "atitude" towards you. Grow up and act like an adult will you. If your driving a banger that cant pass the NCT then it shouldnt be on the road. End of Story. Fix it up, pass the NCT and then drive again. NCT is there to make sure the car is road worthy, plainly yours isnt!

jhegarty

ToxicPaddy wrote:

Personally, I think it should be linked to tax and insurance, as if you dont have the NCT, then you cant get your car taxed or insured as if it cant pass that then it isnt technically roadworthy.

Tox

Good idea, what this country needs is more uninsured drivers going around....

Big Nelly

If you crash and you dont have a valid NCT the insurance company do not have to pay out to you because the vehicle is not road worthy. Insurance company told my uncle that years ago when he was a month over the NCT, never received letter for date and didnt know he had to book himself. Rang insurance to find out story and they told him that.

seamus

testicle wrote:

Nope, it doesn't. It has a section for Certificate of Roadworthiness details, which os for Commercial vehikles. An NCT is by no means a certificate of roadworthiness!

It does say NCT
http://www.countycarlow.ie/services/motorvehicles/forms/Motor_tax_Renewal.pdf

The Muppet

It used to be the case that you could not tax your car without a valid NCT cert. I am fairly certain that is no longer the case. The NCT testers went on strike a few years ago the Gov/motor taxation office had to choose between accpetaing car tax without an nct cert or suspend taking car tax from drivers who did not have a valid cert. Nio prizes for guessing which avenue was taken.

kc66

Big Nelly wrote:

If you crash and you dont have a valid NCT the insurance company do not have to pay out to you because the vehicle is not road worthy. Insurance company told my uncle that years ago when he was a month over the NCT, never received letter for date and didnt know he had to book himself. Rang insurance to find out story and they told him that.

If you have no NCT it doesnt mean your car is not roadworthy.

kc66

seamus wrote:

It does say NCT
http://www.countycarlow.ie/services/motorvehicles/forms/Motor_tax_Renewal.pdf

Not here: https://www.motortax.ie/mtoapp/pdf/RF100A_en.pdf

Big Nelly

kc66 wrote:

If you have no NCT it doesnt mean your car is not roadworthy.

Yes it does, if you have failed the test, ok if you are waiting for test but if you went for test and it failed then car is not road worthy. End of Story, get off the road before you kill yourself or someone else

dahamsta

seamus, I think someone said here recently that they stopped checking for an NCT when you're taxing your car because of a strike at the NCT a while back, and never reintroduced the requirement. Dunno if it's true or not, but it might explain the situation.

adam

SouperComputer

Big Nelly wrote:

if you went for test and it failed then car is not road worthy. End of Story, get off the road before you kill yourself or someone else

I think unkel might disagree with this one, as would many classic car owners. (Classics dont require an NCT)

Bond 007 wrote:

Don't feed the trolls.

Yea you're right

Our man in Havana

Don't feed the trolls.

layke

Big Nelly wrote:

Yes it does, if you have failed the test, ok if you are waiting for test but if you went for test and it failed then car is not road worthy. End of Story, get off the road before you kill yourself or someone else

LOL!

Please don't be another one of them holier then thou boards posters, there are too many here who live on a pedistal.

junkyard

I have never NCT tested any of my cars and have no intention of doing so unless its made absolute law. All my cars are serviced regularly, have good tyres and are well cared for. The NCT is just another scam in this rip-off land.:mad:

Big Nelly

layke wrote:

LOL!

Please don't be another one of them holier then thou boards posters, there are too many here who live on a pedistal.

So you want our roads full of banger with no brakes etc so more people get killed. Why don't you grow up and act like an adult. I know when I go out on the road I want to be sure the cars that are on the road with me are capable of actually driving/stopping etc.