NCT Backlog

mgbgt1978

cormie wrote: »

Sorry, where is the "pay online" link you're referring to? I just tried to login again, with my date of first registration, and it said no information found

After you click "Create a new booking" it's just below the "choose payment" button. If you click it then all you need to input is your Reg number to find available slots.

davidoco

ShaunieVW wrote: »

11.30 things always works. I have always gotten dates in 2 weeks using this method! Im prepared this year, NCT is due the end of May so its booked in for March!

Thanks. First time I checked at 11:30 last night got test for next Wednesday evening in Carlow.

cormie

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

After you click "Create a new booking" it's just below the "choose payment" button. If you click it then all you need to input is your Reg number to find available slots.

Cool, thanks I tried it and it worked but I couldn't go to the booking centre as I got this:



I guess I'd need to follow the reschedule one maybe.

I wonder if they do actually get me a test in the 28 days, will it still be free?

mmg0305

The backlog isn't just at the first quarter, in Dublin anyway (dunno about elsewhere). My NCT was due in September. I was away in September, so I tried to book in early October. First appointment I could get was JANUARY(!!). Thankfully, I didn't get stopped in the meantime and it passed so I'm ok for now.

I realise I probably could have got an earlier appointment by getting up in the middle of the night or phoning them 20 times a day or whatever. But I shouldn't have to. They know how many cars are on the road and how old they are. It shouldn't come as a surprise when they don't have enough capacity.

corktina

as has been said numerous times, do not rely on the online booking system, if you really can't get a suitable date, phone them and ask for an appt in the next 28 days. I booked about 8.30 am on the first of Jan and got an appointment on the 6th....and that was online

tossy

Just booked a test for Naas, less than 2 weeks wait

slinky2000

I don't know if it's been mentioned or not but what I usually do is

- Book a test, what ever the closest date is, doesn't matter if it's months away
- Every morning about 8/9am I go to change the booking date, keep trying it a few times and different centers close by
- Without fail I can get a test date within 2 weeks, sometimes it might take a few days or trying but I usually get it.

I was told by a woman on the phone years ago that the nct cancellations get released in the morning times in bulk.

Works for me anyway.

[EDIT] Just read a page back people are doing this at 11 at night. maybe that's a better time?

Anjobe

cormie wrote: »

Sorry, where is the "pay online" link you're referring to? I just tried to login again, with my date of first registration, and it said no information found

I then went to: https://www.ncts.ie/internet_bookings.html , clicked "book your NCT or re-test" and got this:

tossy wrote: »

trying to book a test also and getting this

KC161 wrote: »

I got the exact same

All those seeing cert errors, one of the booking links on the site has https://ncts.ie rather than https://www.ncts.ie. This generates a warning as the server certificate was issued for www.ncts.ie. If you are concerned about the security warning just correct the URL in your browser address bar, but the connection will still be encrypted if you choose to ignore the cert warning and proceed.

Stheno

slinky2000 wrote: »

I don't know if it's been mentioned or not but what I usually do is

- Book a test, what ever the closest date is, doesn't matter if it's months away
- Every morning about 8/9am I go to change the booking date, keep trying it a few times and different centers close by
- Without fail I can get a test date within 2 weeks, sometimes it might take a few days or trying but I usually get it.

I was told by a woman on the phone years ago that the nct cancellations get released in the morning times in bulk.

Works for me anyway.

[EDIT] Just read a page back people are doing this at 11 at night. maybe that's a better time?

Yeah half eleven

nlgbbbblth

Test due 15 January. Got no renewal letter (not an excuse but it’s a good prompt).
No spare appointments in Naas until 11 March.
Rang NCT people on 31 December and got text today for a test on Saturday 24 January – which suits great as I don’t need to take time off work.

cormie

Other than the fact you'll be driving with no NCT for 9 days :pac:

slinky2000

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Test due 15 January. Got no renewal letter (not an excuse but it’s a good prompt).
No spare appointments in Naas until 11 March.
Rang NCT people on 31 December and got text today for a test on Saturday 24 January – which suits great as I don’t need to take time off work.

There was appointments online for Nass next week this morning.

mgbgt1978

cormie wrote: »

Cool, thanks I tried it and it worked but I couldn't go to the booking centre as I got this:



I guess I'd need to follow the reschedule one maybe.

I wonder if they do actually get me a test in the 28 days, will it still be free?

This shows that they have given you an appointment (beyond the 28 days, which is why they are saying that no fee is required). Did you get confirmation of an appointment Cormie ? If not, give them a ring & see what date they have given you.
I'd say if you click the reschedule link you will lose your free test as you will be 'accepting' a new test.
BTW if they have given you a test appointment you can cancel it (over the phone) up to two times and reschedule and still get a free test, as long as the appointment stays beyond 28 days of you 1st contacting them.

cormie

Interesting, thanks, so as long as the appointment is beyond 28 days of the first time I rang to book, some time in December it was, I'll get it free, even if it's still before my expiry date?

I was given an appointment but it's for March 26th which is a month after my expiry date so rang them about getting it for free and they said they would put me on the priority list and would guarantee I'd have a date within 28 days and would have a confirmed date within 10 days. I'll wait it out and see how I get on.

boardsuser1

cormie wrote: »

Interesting, thanks, so as long as the appointment is beyond 28 days of the first time I rang to book, some time in December it was, I'll get it free, even if it's still before my expiry date?

I was given an appointment but it's for March 26th which is a month after my expiry date so rang them about getting it for free and they said they would put me on the priority list and would guarantee I'd have a date within 28 days and would have a confirmed date within 10 days. I'll wait it out and see how I get on.

How does this free text work???you pay on the day then they issue a refund??? No one has come on here saying they got a free test that i know of

tom petty

My wife's car is due an NCT on 15-1 . No letter has arrived prompting me to book and it was only when washing the car I noticed it....
Went on line and was confronted with a window warning me the connection was unsafe , went advanced feeling rather vulnerable and input correct info and pressed search ... nothing, waited still nothing so went through the same process again after second attempt I'm told the reg. number has been locked due to too many attempts to log in !
Called the number given after 5 attempts due to clearly all lines being engaged I got through told the girl what was needed and she gave me a date of 30 March. I politely said that that was just not acceptable as it left us exposed to prosecution
She has put me on the priority list but said that it could take up to 10 days to get notification of a date I'll call the customer helpline tomorrow as they had all swanned off at 4pm .
No matter what , there is something fundamentally wrong with a national system that clearly cannot cope with the demand and is simply playing catch up to get by.
You see it , I see it , the politicians see it but as there are no votes in it it's allowed to continue .
I'll be pretty pissed if she gets stopped and charged with having no NCT .

corktina

you have done it right so far. Your only mistke was missing that it was due. They will come bck (hopefully) with a date that's more acceptable, and if they can't offer you a test within 28 days, don't forget to remind them it will be free.

nlgbbbblth

slinky2000 wrote: »

There was appointments online for Nass next week this morning.

Ok - I hadn't checked since the 2nd. At that point January and February were completely full.

slinky2000

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Ok - I hadn't checked since the 2nd. At that point January and February were completely full.

As mentioned earlier cancellations are released every night around 11/11:30 so keep checking!

flogen

Did my test in Greenhills yesterday (failed, sadly - but nothing that's not fixable!).

Anyway - when I registered I was told it was a free test... presumedly because I was waiting over 28 days for a date (though I didn't ask in case they changed their mind).

Will have to pay for the retest, but still works out a little cheaper in the end!

CiniO

When I was visiting my family in Poland in December, my dad said his test was running out, so I decided to hop onto the car with him to go for a test.
Nothing was pre-booked.
We drove the nearest testing centre in the city - guy said there was a queue of about 30 minutes waiting, so we drove to other testing centre about 2km away. They were free so they tested car straight away. Took us no more than 45 minutes all together from moment of leaving home to moment of returning home.
Can't understand why can't it be so easy in Ireland as well.

cormie

How's the fraud prevention on it in .PL? I know you used to easily be able to pay to pass the driving test there, I'm not sure is that still the case, or the case with the vehicle test too?

The DOE here is apparently too risky for any workers to risk giving a pass for a bribe. In the UK I believe it can help if you know the testers too. I was told this after recently buying a van that had JUST passed the UK MOT, but failed the DOE and ended up costing over €1,000 in repairs :mad:

CiniO

cormie wrote: »

How's the fraud prevention on it in .PL? I know you used to easily be able to pay to pass the driving test there, I'm not sure is that still the case, or the case with the vehicle test too?

Well that's another matter.
I haven't heard about ability to pay for driving test there. If there were any cases like that, I'd say they were minority as it might happen anywhere including Ireland.
Vehicle roadworthiness test is bit different, as it's not as strict as here in Ireland. Many things that would fail in Ireland will pass in Poland with advisory (tester is just going to tell you that your shocks are not great and it would be advisable to change them).
But if there is some serious problem with the car which could be dangerous they will fail it.
On the other hand I heard of cases where you can get test for a bribe without even bringing the car to the test centre. And this is what should be addressed there.

The DOE here is apparently too risky for any workers to risk giving a pass for a bribe.

Well that's what I mean. My understanding is that DOE tests here are done by independent garages having licence for DOE (I think it's called CVRT now). And they do care about those licences and don't take bribes. If this works well, then NCT should be done in similar way instead of licensing it to one company which is unable to cope with the demand.

In the UK I believe it can help if you know the testers too. I was told this after recently buying a van that had JUST passed the UK MOT, but failed the DOE and ended up costing over €1,000 in repairs :mad:

Well no system is perfect.
I'm sure as well that there are people who can get NCT for a bribe here.
It doesn't change a fact that waiting lists for NCT of few months and a need of ringing them everyday, checking website at certain hour at night are generally not exactly best way of doing things.
You should be able to get your test booking within few days the latest, and in emergency cases if you are willing to wait in the queue, you should be able to get your test on that day on the spot.
That's who normal systems work.

Enzokk

Test is due 31st January, called them on the 21st December for an appointment as nothing was available online, got told they will be in touch in 10 days. Have heard nothing since then. Will check the website for an appointment, otherwise call tomorrow for update. Does the "free test" apply from first contact date? I don't care about not paying, just looking for a little leverage when contacting them about getting a appointment.

Sheldons Brain

CiniO wrote: »

You should be able to get your test booking within few days the latest, and in emergency cases if you are willing to wait in the queue, you should be able to get your test on that day on the spot.
That's who normal systems work.

A government that is happy to allow seriously ill people queue up is not likely to lose much sleep over a few motorists having to book early.

stimpson

I rang on the 9th and was put on the priority list for January. On the 19th I got a text with an appointment for the 15th of January. I rang them last week and asked if it would be free but I was told that they were on holidays for 12 working days and they don't count. I politely pointed out that it said nothing on the charter about it and said they I was available over Christmas so I didn't accept their position. I was told I'd get a call back from their customer service supervisor on Thursday. After I pointed out that the charter said 4 weeks and said nothing about Christmas holidays she gave me a free test as a goodwill measure.

Should go some way towards paying for the lower ball joint I just had replaced...

downonthefarm

If you got booking confirmation just keep it in the car in case you get pulled

mgbgt1978

Enzokk wrote: »

Test is due 31st January, called them on the 21st December for an appointment as nothing was available online, got told they will be in touch in 10 days. Have heard nothing since then. Will check the website for an appointment, otherwise call tomorrow for update. Does the "free test" apply from first contact date? I don't care about not paying, just looking for a little leverage when contacting them about getting a appointment.

Yes, it does. But it's no harm to remind them when you ring tomorrow.

TheSheriff

Well lads OP here,

Just wanted to come back to this as I had the NCT tonight.

Good news - I didnt have to pay anything. When I arrived he just told me there was no charge.

Now to slightly hijack my own thread, I failed because the "Axial and Wishbone Bushes" are work, anyone have any idea if this is expensive to repair :0

Cheers in advance

George Dalton

What kind of car? Front or rear bushes?

TheSheriff

Its a Fiat stilo and the NCT docket says Offside rear and Nearside rear

alias no.9

It's worth checking at random times during the day. I looked Monday evening for my wifes car and nothing anywhere in the country until April. I checked again yesterday morning, still nothing but then I got a booking for Jan 28th in Fonthill, my closest centre, at about 1:30pm yesterday afternoon.

George Dalton

Sorry I don't know a whole lot about Stilos, I am glad to say :pac:

TheSheriff

George Dalton wrote: »

Sorry I don't know a whole lot about Stilos, I am glad to say :pac:

No problem. Ill start ringing places tomorrow to get an idea of prices

George Dalton

TheSheriff wrote: »

No problem. Ill start ringing places tomorrow to get an idea of prices

If it's the rear bush in the front wishbone then as far as I know you have to replace the whole wishbone as the bushes are not available separately. However as I say I'm not too familiar with Fiats so I'm open to correction on that.

cormie

TheSheriff, props to you and all the others for the info here. I posted it as a facebook post on my business page and it's been my most popular post ever with over 1,000 shares and a reach of over 70,000 so far :eek: I even got a phone call from applus asking me to remove the initial post I put up because I included their logo and the RSA were on to them about it too :pac:

stimpson

If anyone is wondering if a free test means an automatic fail, I can confirm it doesn't. Just passed first time on a freebie.

advertsfox

Lads I've LED's all around in my Avensis (reg, interior, doors but not the headlights) and because of the low resistance, I get the infamous blown bulb icon on my speedo. Do the lads in the NCT center give a toss about this? All of my interior lights work of course, not sure if this even is tested.

_Kaiser_

advertsfox wrote: »

Lads I've LED's all around in my Avensis (reg, interior, doors but not the headlights) and because of the low resistance, I get the infamous blown bulb icon on my speedo. Do the lads in the NCT center give a toss about this? All of my interior lights work of course, not sure if this even is tested.

Any warning lights on the dash will count as a fail AFAIK

joujoujou

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Any warning lights on the dash will count as a fail AFAIK

Nope. Only the "vital" ones, re: brakes, airbags etc.

pippip

Only warning lights you fail on are ABS or airbag.

Anjobe

pippip wrote: »

Only warning lights you fail on are ABS or airbag.

Not quite true, the list from the current NCT manual is:

Malfunction indicator for
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
airbags, electronic stability control
(ESC), antilock brake system (ABS),
electronic braking system (EBS),
parking brake, tyre pressure
monitoring systems (TPMS),
electronic power steering (EPS),
or brake fluid warning lamp.

Stheno

Anjobe wrote: »

Not quite true, the list from the current NCT manual is:

Malfunction indicator for
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
airbags, electronic stability control
(ESC), antilock brake system (ABS),
electronic braking system (EBS),
parking brake, tyre pressure
monitoring systems (TPMS),
electronic power steering (EPS),
or brake fluid warning lamp.

And the engine light for diesels

advertsfox

Anjobe wrote: »

Not quite true, the list from the current NCT manual is:

Malfunction indicator for
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS)
airbags, electronic stability control
(ESC), antilock brake system (ABS),
electronic braking system (EBS),
parking brake, tyre pressure
monitoring systems (TPMS),
electronic power steering (EPS),
or brake fluid warning lamp.

Which is not my light, great - don't have to change them back to bulbs. Should I let them know prior to the test? I'm not the only person to have interior LED's.

slinky2000

Do you fail the NCT for an Engine management light on?

Cleveland Hot Pocket

slinky2000 wrote: »

Do you fail the NCT for an Engine management light on?

no

Stheno

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

no

You do for diesels

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Stheno wrote: »

And the engine light for diesels

You don't fail on it though.
Technically, you fail because they won't allow the smoke test to be carried out if the EML is on.

Clant blame them really though to be fair.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Stheno wrote: »

You do for diesels

As I said just as you posted this:

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

You don't fail on it though.
Technically, you fail because they won't allow the smoke test to be carried out if the EML is on.

Clant blame them really though to be fair.

slinky2000

So EML on a petrol will be grand?

I've an ibiza with an EML on here but it's an unspecified error, but emissions and everything are well under the limits.