NCT Obligations

Sizzler

Sorry if this has been discussed before, had a quick look and couldnt see anything...

What exactly are the obligations in putting your car through the NCT?

1) You dont need it to tax your car. Check.
2) Garda usually wont lose any sleep over it if you're stopped once the tax and insurance are current. Check.
2) Does it invalidate your insurance

I was due my 1st one this month but heard nothing and to be honest I wont be chasing them to ask where my booking is :rolleyes:

MercMad

They dont seem to be sending out notifications. I am the first owner on two cars on reg'd May '03 and the other Aug. '03. We never recieved anything stating the NCT was due. I booked both myself and enquired at the test centre and they insisted that notification was sent !! :rolleyes:

Anyway for €50 its good to know that your car is safe, they check things that most mechanics cant without expensive equipment !

For peace of mind its well worth it !

Also I think if you had a crash the Ins.Co. would try anything to wriggle out of it, especially if you were at fault !

zilog_jones

Yes it does test your car's roadworthyness to an extent, i.e. if your car passes the NCT it's probably not going to kill anyone under normal circumstances (or blind anyone from badly misaligned headlights ). However it by no means tells you much regarding how mechanically sound your car is. I went through mine without a functioning thermostat or temperature gauge, so it could have been overheating or anything (I was aware of the problem though). They failed me on some wheel nuts being on the wrong way round...

Avns1s

zilog_jones wrote: »

They failed me on some wheel nuts being on the wrong way round...

This was worthwhile in finding as the nuts are designed not to come loose normally when fitted properly but can come undone on a hundred metres of travel if fitted incorrectly. NCT theoretically could have saved your life.

Coming back to the OP's situation:
1. Legally, you're supposed to have your car NCT'd, you could face a fine.
2. There is no great point in delaying as it will be effective from the same dates anyway so there's no financial advantage in not having it done.
3. No-one will want to buy your car without and NCT cert.
4. The insurance company may well use the excuse to get out of a claim.
5. The test could well detect something that could save your or someone elses life.

But it's your decision:rolleyes:

C_Breeze

MercMad wrote: »

They dont seem to be sending out notifications. I am the first owner on two cars on reg'd May '03 and the other Aug. '03. We never recieved anything stating the NCT was due. I booked both myself and enquired at the test centre and they insisted that notification was sent !! :rolleyes:

Anyway for €50 its good to know that your car is safe, they check things that most mechanics cant without expensive equipment !

For peace of mind its well worth it !

Also I think if you had a crash the Ins.Co. would try anything to wriggle out of it, especially if you were at fault !

They dont send you bookings anymore. - youre obliged to look after it yourself if your car is due , so thats no excuse.

Sizzler

Avns1s wrote: »

This was worthwhile in finding as the nuts are designed not to come loose normally when fitted properly but can come undone on a hundred metres of travel if fitted incorrectly. NCT theoretically could have saved your life.

Coming back to the OP's situation:
1. Legally, you're supposed to have your car NCT'd, you could face a fine.
2. There is no great point in delaying as it will be effective from the same dates anyway so there's no financial advantage in not having it done.
3. No-one will want to buy your car without and NCT cert.
4. The insurance company may well use the excuse to get out of a claim.
5. The test could well detect something that could save your or someone elses life.

But it's your decision:rolleyes:

1) You could face a fine? Because the NCT made a mistake by not notifying me? Im not doing their job for them :rolleyes:
2) Not correct. On my last car I planned to sell it so I NCT'd it 4 months early and the NCT cert I was given me covered me for 28 months, not 24.
3) Agreed, but I aint selling it
4) Theres that could word again.....can they?
5)The car has just been serviced its in PMO. As a previous poster said they are checking the bare essentials, not the inherent mechanics.

I'll wait till they notify me.

C_Breeze

Sizzler wrote: »

1) You could face a fine? Because the NCT made a mistake by not notifying me? Im not doing their job for them :rolleyes:
2) Not correct. On my last car I planned to sell it so I NCT'd it 4 months early and the NCT cert I was given me covered me for 28 months, not 24.
3) Agreed, but I aint selling it
4) Theres that could word again.....can they?
5)The car has just been serviced its in PMO. As a previous poster said they are checking the bare essentials, not the inherent mechanics.

I'll wait till they notify me.

Read my post.

They dont notify you , and they wont notify you. ITS UP TO YOU TO BOOK IT IN, its not their jobs to hound you so you are WRONG there.

So if you drive uninsured its up to insurnace compnaies to contact you is it?! NO

An NCT is obligatory , stop trying to weasel your way out of it because your car is a heap of junk.

If youre so confident it will pass why not pay the 50e get it done and have piece of mind against any if's and but's and be inline with the law.

Sizzler

C_Breeze wrote: »

Read my post.

They dont notify you , and they wont notify you. ITS UP TO YOU TO BOOK IT IN, its not their jobs to hound you so you are WRONG there.

So if you drive uninsured its up to insurnace compnaies to contact you is it?! NO

An NCT is obligatory , stop trying to weasel your way out of it because your car is a heap of junk.

If youre so confident it will pass why not pay the 50e get it done and have piece of mind against any if's and but's and be inline with the law.

Chief, get off the lucozade there for a second :eek: I saw your post after mine had gone up.

Grand, so I have to contact them, no worries, I didnt realise.

I'm not getting into a schoolyard conversation about what car I drive but so Im not even going to bother getting into the junker comment. Dont make assumptions. If it was obligatory then there would be penalty points / stringer enforcement, I think we can see there is no hard and fast rule on this.

As for the no insurance comment, my insurance company always writes to me when its due, doesnt yours? Same point. When something is due for payment, you generally get a reminder.

Gran Hermano

It is my understanding there was an 'IT problem' with the database NCT (SGS)
receive from the Government over the summer, this was the reason no letters
were sent out to people who had cars first registered in 2003 informing them
that their cars were due their first NCT. I know people who were due tests
early this summer but only received the letters in October. SGS as the outsourced
operator for NCT do need to send out a letter informing you a car is due it's first NCT.

(There was an article in the Irish Times confirming this problem in early September).

FGR

It's alright to be out by a few months..but go over six and guards might start noticing it.

It all depends on the condition of your vehicle, too..

IncredibleHulk

ForegoneReality wrote: »

It's alright to be out by a few months..but go over six and guards might start noticing it.

It all depends on the condition of your vehicle, too..

I remember seeing a notice at the NCT cenre that a Garda prosecution for non display of up to date nct is 2,500 euro, as far as I can recall

Tazzle

Just to add to this, my NCT was out 3 months at one stage. I drove through a few checkpoints, checked for insurance and tax. NCT being right next to them I can only presume they had a look at that too and nothing was said. Waved on. Like alot of things in Ireland it seems not to be enforced unless they're catching you for something else too. I'm sure if you got caught for something else they'd pull you up for the lack of NCT aswell, but on it's own it looks to me like there's some leeway.

galwaytt

Avns1s wrote: »

This was worthwhile in finding as the nuts are designed not to come loose normally when fitted properly but can come undone on a hundred metres of travel if fitted incorrectly. NCT theoretically could have saved your life.

Coming back to the OP's situation:
1. Legally, you're supposed to have your car NCT'd, you could face a fine.
2. There is no great point in delaying as it will be effective from the same dates anyway so there's no financial advantage in not having it done.
3. No-one will want to buy your car without and NCT cert.
4. The insurance company may well use the excuse to get out of a claim.
5. The test could well detect something that could save your or someone elses life.

But it's your decision:rolleyes:

1. Yes, you could....
2. depends, if your car has been off the road for a period........
3. Not so. NCT is not a warranty, and no-one can use it to enforce one - it's only a 'snapshot' record.
4. Sorry, they can't. Just like they can't invalidate your insurance for not having a licence. Both, being obligatory, means they are obliged to cover for it - this has already been tested in court, I believe.....
5. True. Or not. As mentioned - should you have a crash, even due to something that should have been spotted in the NCT, you have no comeback.

It's all 50:50 really,........

Avns1s

galwaytt wrote: »

1. Yes, you could....
2. depends, if your car has been off the road for a period........
3. Not so. NCT is not a warranty, and no-one can use it to enforce one - it's only a 'snapshot' record.
4. Sorry, they can't. Just like they can't invalidate your insurance for not having a licence. Both, being obligatory, means they are obliged to cover for it - this has already been tested in court, I believe.....
5. True. Or not. As mentioned - should you have a crash, even due to something that should have been spotted in the NCT, you have no comeback.

It's all 50:50 really,........

Fine sure don't bother getting your car nct'd then either like sizzler. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to disagree with it and try and do things by the book.

Perhaps one of you might be so kind as to post back when it's proven to you that at least one of the points made to you is correct.

Whether you like it or not, it's the law to have your car nct'd , if you cant afford it or simply won't then you shouldn't have a car on the road.

galwaytt

Avns1s wrote: »

Fine sure don't bother getting your car nct'd then either like sizzler. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to disagree with it and try and do things by the book.

Perhaps one of you might be so kind as to post back when it's proven to you that at least one of the points made to you is correct.

Whether you like it or not, it's the law to have your car nct'd , if you cant afford it or simply won't then you shouldn't have a car on the road.

First off - lose the tone, and the quasi-moral high ground. You are no police.
Second - do not presume to know anything about the NCT status of my vehicle: I have made no comment on whether I have or not - you are making assumption because I dared to take issue with your points.
Thirdly - You made a few points which I've made comment on: in general that your comments are sweeping, and not factually correct. I don't have to prove anything anymore than you do about your sweeping one.......other posters have more confirmed rather than denied that the lacking of NCT is not top of Garda enforcement policy.........that said, my comment on the legal position vis-a-vis NCT and warranty is entirely correct. It is not a warranty, and you can attach none to it.

OwenM

My car was registered in 2002 and for several reasons i haven't gotten around to doing it's first NCT (due since may 2006), the car hasn't been off of the road either.

Since the certification runs in 2 year cycles, what happens if I wait till the 2 year anniversary of the first NCT due date? (next May)?

Sizzler

OwenM wrote: »

My car was registered in 2002 and for several reasons i haven't gotten around to doing it's first NCT (due since may 2006), the car hasn't been off of the road either.

Careful mate, Ans1s and C Breeze are reading your post assuming you are a) Either stoneybroke or You are diving a 1984 Opel Kadett :rolleyes:

I suppose the 2 lads also have a solution for the amount of PL / LT / LV / RO reg cars on our roads, whats the NCT policy there lads, you seem to have all the answers.

liamo

Like a lot of others, I'm not too punctual with the renewal of my NCT. At one point I was 15 or so months out of date. And, like others, my encounters with the Gardai had been uneventful - they were only interested in tax and insurance.

Last weekend, however, I was stopped and scolded quite strongly by a Garda. He said that I could be done for not having an up-to-date NCT and also for not displaying an up-to-date NCT cert. He additionally said that judges were becoming less tolerant of NCT offenses because of the continuing carnage on the roads.

I took the warning to heart and have requested a cancellation appointment from the NCT centre. I hope to have an up-to-date NCT cert in a few weeks.

Sizzler

liamo wrote: »

Like a lot of others, I'm not too punctual with the renewal of my NCT. At one point I was 15 or so months out of date. And, like others, my encounters with the Gardai had been uneventful - they were only interested in tax and insurance.

Last weekend, however, I was stopped and scolded quite strongly by a Garda. He said that I could be done for not having an up-to-date NCT and also for not displaying an up-to-date NCT cert. He additionally said that judges were becoming less tolerant of NCT offenses because of the continuing carnage on the roads.

I took the warning to heart and have requested a cancellation appointment from the NCT centre. I hope to have an up-to-date NCT cert in a few weeks.

Hes given you the frighteners there chief, if he could have done you he would have. You can be sure if you're tax was 15 months out of date he wouldnt have let you drive off like that

Gumbo

Sizzler wrote: »

Chief, get off the lucozade there for a second :eek: I saw your post after mine had gone up.

Grand, so I have to contact them, no worries, I didnt realise.

I'm not getting into a schoolyard conversation about what car I drive but so Im not even going to bother getting into the junker comment. Dont make assumptions. If it was obligatory then there would be penalty points / stringer enforcement, I think we can see there is no hard and fast rule on this.

As for the no insurance comment, my insurance company always writes to me when its due, doesnt yours? Same point. When something is due for payment, you generally get a reminder.

ring your insurance company, thats the easy way out of it!
tell them that you have no NCT cert and am i still insured????

small print on a lot of insurance policies have in it that the car must be legally prepared to drive on public roads.

no nct = not legal, and trust me insurance companies will try everything to wriggle out of a claim.

i suggest you do it and stop putting it off.
you can book your car in now up to 6 months before its due, hence why you can now get an NCT cert for over 2 years.

Avns1s

galwaytt wrote: »

....... You are no police.

You know this for a fact?

galwaytt wrote: »

Second - do not presume to know anything about the NCT status of my vehicle: I have made no comment on whether I have or not - you are making assumption because I dared to take issue with your points.

Show me where I commented on the current NCT status of YOUR CAR!

galwaytt wrote: »

Thirdly - You made a few points which I've made comment on: in general that your comments are sweeping, and not factually correct. I don't have to prove anything anymore than you do about your sweeping one.......other posters have more confirmed rather than denied that the lacking of NCT is not top of Garda enforcement policy.........that said, my comment on the legal position vis-a-vis NCT and warranty is entirely correct. It is not a warranty, and you can attach none to it.

Don't you just love it when insecurities in relation to the position being adopted leads to a defence like this.:rolleyes:

MercMad

Well that explaination about the database being corrupt makes sense, since the NCT website states that you will be informed, and always has, AND the person in the test centre confirmed to me earlier this month that letters were indeed sent !

Both my cars were '03 so the glitch affected both !

I believe that whilst NCT checking was not high on the list of Garda priorities is IS high now. Think about it, the Gov. pressurised the Insurance Industry to reduce prices and get competitive, the Ins. Ind. therefore pressurised the Gov. to have the existing law implemented, hence penalty points................and now NCT checks !

They now share database information !

Anyway as mentioned nowdays you can get tested 6 months in advance, therefore your disc will be dated sometime approx 30 months away. If you leave it un-NCT'd and get it done 18 months late, it will only be valid for 6 months !

Personally I believe the NCT is a great test, its a good thing as it removed a huge amount of unsafe shltboxes from our roads, and with better enforcement it will remove the remainder !

Now that HAS to be good for ALL of us !

Sizzler

MercMad wrote: »

Personally I believe the NCT is a great test, its a good thing as it removed a huge amount of unsafe shltboxes from our roads, and with better enforcement it will remove the remainder !

Except the eastern european ones :rolleyes:

cashmni1

Avns1s wrote: »

You know this for a fact?




Show me where I commented on the current NCT status of YOUR CAR!




Don't you just love it when insecurities in relation to the position being adopted leads to a defence like this.:rolleyes:

Guess who has the "insecurities" ??

Avns1s

cashmni1 wrote: »

Guess who has the "insecurities" ??

Maturity abounds in this thread:eek:

snaps

I think we need to get a lot of the tax dodging, insurance dodging left hand drive foreign cars off the road. Its got out of control here in Galway. i know quite a few people who have European registered cars (Un insured/untaxed) on our galway roads for many many years. The people that dive these cars know they have no insurance but like they say to me when i bring it up "Why should we get our plates changed and be legal, When we are getting away with it now with not getting caught?" To be honest, i was shocked, but in the end sort of agree, If no one is checking that these cars are legal or safe, perhaps why should they be legal?

Is it right no one is responsible for these cars on our roads? The Gardai as far as i can make out have no power??

I actually know one guy who has been here nearly 6 years, has a CZ reg car, Never been told to change plates or anything (Even when stopped by Gardai). It even breaks his heart he has to pay €1.16 a litre for petrol!

This wound some guy up at work so much, he reported the guy to customs, Who he thought was responsible, Gave them his address, reg number work place etc, But a year on he still drives around as proud as punch in the car!

So perhaps having an Irish reg car a few months out of nct isnt to bad!!!!

Glad i read this as i have a 2004 car that will be due next year. If they not sending out reminders, Id better book her in!

Sizzler

snaps wrote: »

I think we need to get a lot of the tax dodging, insurance dodging left hand drive foreign cars off the road. Its got out of control here in Galway. i know quite a few people who have European registered cars (Un insured/untaxed) on our galway roads for many many years. The people that dive these cars know they have no insurance but like they say to me when i bring it up "Why should we get our plates changed and be legal, When we are getting away with it now with not getting caught?" To be honest, i was shocked, but in the end sort of agree, If no one is checking that these cars are legal or safe, perhaps why should they be legal?

Is it right no one is responsible for these cars on our roads? The Gardai as far as i can make out have no power??

I actually know one guy who has been here nearly 6 years, has a CZ reg car, Never been told to change plates or anything (Even when stopped by Gardai). It even breaks his heart he has to pay €1.16 a litre for petrol!

This wound some guy up at work so much, he reported the guy to customs, Who he thought was responsible, Gave them his address, reg number work place etc, But a year on he still drives around as proud as punch in the car!

So perhaps having an Irish reg car a few months out of nct isnt to bad!!!!

Glad i read this as i have a 2004 car that will be due next year. If they not sending out reminders, Id better book her in!

The RSA are frankly pulling the pi** with all their new legislation when theres so many LHD's on the road. TBH I cant blame the EE drivers when the system is so weak. I'm sure most people could write a list of PL/LT/LV/SK reg'd cars within a 5 min walk of their home without even blinking but yet nothing happens.

Great aul system, no tax/insurance/NCT or penalty points. Imagine being involved in an accident with one of these cars ? The Gardai wouldnt even know where to start looking would they

Back on topic for a moment. Was stopped on sat night (No NCT) and the Guard was only interested in tax and insurance.

Sizzler

Avns1s wrote: »

4. The insurance company may well use the excuse to get out of a claim.

Just to put this one to bed, out of sheer curiousity I rang my insurance company today to ask what the position was as I was currently waiting on my NCT....the lady said "You have paid your insurance premium and you are fully covered, no NCT has no bearing whatsoever on your cover".

On another note, was stopped again last night and Guards only interested in tax and insurance. Quick glance at the windscreen and waved on!

MercMad

Well my mother's car was involved in an accident about 4 years ago, not here fault, she was stopped, so it was doiwn to the guy that hit her to have his insurance pay up.

They sent an accesor out to inspect the car, and he looked at the tyres, brake pipes, he looked through the wheels to see the pads and discs and started the car then pumped the brakes etc....

He was being quite thorough, the NCT had been done a few months prior to the crash, and I asked him what the story was, he simply stated that if they can prove the car was unroadworthy at the time of the crash they will try to wangle out of payment !

Vikings

MercMad wrote: »

He was being quite thorough, the NCT had been done a few months prior to the crash, and I asked him what the story was, he simply stated that if they can prove the car was unroadworthy at the time of the crash they will try to wangle out of payment !

But does simply not having a current valid NCT prove that your car is unroadworthy?

If you have failed an NCT test and not bothered to remedy the problem then maybe, but if the car has not been tested at all since the NCT expiry date then simply not having renewed it does not make the car any less roadworthy.

Personally, mines been out of date for months. Been meaning to book it in but the cars been serviced and running well so its not right up there on my priorities. Tax and insurance on the other hand, well I wont drive without them.

Oh and i've passed through numerous checkpoints with nothing said about this out of date NCT so it doesnt seem to be a priority for bother drivers and Gardai.

galwaytt

and another reason why NCT - or the lack thereof - cannot be used to hold up a claim is that it's a 'snapshot' test only - that is, it only states that the car, at time of inspection, passed muster.

5 minutes - or 5 days - afterwards and it's all moot. That's why the poster above pointed out the assessor inspected the car for roadworthiness after the accident. It is because he's interested in the condition of the car at the time of the accident, and the NCT doesn't help him in that regard.