24 Hour NCT testing

Just announced, 24hour test center opening to help with the backlog.

3 test centers in total. Northpoint, North Dublin. Deansgrange, South Dublin & Little Island, Cork.

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The 24-hour testing began in Dublin on Monday, and will run for four nights a week, shared between North Point and Deansgrange test centres. It also began at Little Island in Cork on Tuesday.

Additional inspection lanes for cars will be provided in Blarney, Naas, Mullingar and Portlaoise. Opening hours will be increased at Galway, Ballina, Enniscorthy and Killarney, which will operated from 7am to 11.30pm four days a week. Other centres too will see an additional early or late opening day.

Thanks be! I'm on a "Priority" list for the past 10 days for either Little Island or Blarney.

I was on the priority list for about 3 weeks and nothing then I rang and they gave me a date 3 days later


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On the list since 31st Jan for the F10... Might be time for a follow-up.

I have a text that they are tying to find an appointment to test the Golf since the 27th Feb, if 4 weeks pass and still no test would that be sufficient proof to get a free test?

Edit: test!

Booked mine in Little island for for Friday 27th March....at 1.15am!!
I had the same text as you for over a week but I decided that I just wanted to get the test done & dusted.
@Peter-E36 You could argue it but If you don;t jump soon for the night time tests in march, it looks like the next available tests are May!

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

Booked mine in Little island for for Friday 27th March....at 1.15am!!
I had the same text as you for over a week but I decided that I just wanted to get the test done & dusted.
@Peter-E36 You could argue it but If you don;t jump soon for the night time tests in march, it looks like the next available tests are May!

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Thanks Mark! F that, I want to get it over with, will give them a shout now, cheers!

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Originally Posted by Peter-E36

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

Booked mine in Little island for for Friday 27th March....at 1.15am!!
I had the same text as you for over a week but I decided that I just wanted to get the test done & dusted.
@Peter-E36 You could argue it but If you don;t jump soon for the night time tests in march, it looks like the next available tests are May!

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Thanks Mark! F that, I want to get it over with, will give them a shout now, cheers!

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You can book those times online!

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

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Originally Posted by Peter-E36

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

Booked mine in Little island for for Friday 27th March....at 1.15am!!
I had the same text as you for over a week but I decided that I just wanted to get the test done & dusted.
@Peter-E36 You could argue it but If you don;t jump soon for the night time tests in march, it looks like the next available tests are May!

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Thanks Mark! F that, I want to get it over with, will give them a shout now, cheers!

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You can book those times online!

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Update: When I checked the text it was actually from the 17th February, I called now and they offered 24th March 2:55 in the morning! I said it was outside the 4 weeks and I want it for free she argued a little then put me through to customer service, who then booked me in straight away for the 17th March at 8:20. Goes to show knowing your rights goes a long way! 8:20 is fine too, I could pop in before work whereas 2:55 am is a bit ridiculous...

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Originally Posted by ciars

Just announced, 24hour test center opening to help with the backlog.

3 test centers in total. Northpoint, North Dublin. Deansgrange, South Dublin & Little Island, Cork.

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The 24-hour testing began in Dublin on Monday, and will run for four nights a week, shared between North Point and Deansgrange test centres. It also began at Little Island in Cork on Tuesday.

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Thats just daft and a complete waste of money to be paying staff overtime rate and allowance for unsociable hours to be doing nothing.

I totally understand extending working hours to late at night even up to 12pm to clear the back log. But who in God's name wants to go to the NCT in the wee hours of the morning???? :huh::huh::huh::huh::huh:

Who is paying for the extended opening?? The State or the privatised NCT companies???

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Originally Posted by DoktorB

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Originally Posted by ciars

Just announced, 24hour test center opening to help with the backlog.

3 test centers in total. Northpoint, North Dublin. Deansgrange, South Dublin & Little Island, Cork.

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The 24-hour testing began in Dublin on Monday, and will run for four nights a week, shared between North Point and Deansgrange test centres. It also began at Little Island in Cork on Tuesday.

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Thats just daft and a complete waste of money to be paying staff overtime rate and allowance for unsociable hours to be doing nothing.

I totally understand extending working hours to late at night even up to 12pm to clear the back log. But who in God's name wants to go to the NCT in the wee hours of the morning???? :huh::huh::huh::huh::huh:

Who is paying for the extended opening?? The State or the privatised NCT companies???

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Its cheaper than opening a new test centre to sort out the backlog. There would be all sorts of upfront costs to open a center its just not cost effective. Its simpler to run the existing test centers for longer.

Simple example is:
100,000 cars need to be tested each year. Each car they test (50euro per car for simple maths) makes them a profit. (So the make 5,000,000)
Lets say they have 5 test centers. The test center costs 100,000 a year to operate. (500,000 each year)
So they make 4,500,000 a year. With the 5 test centers.
Why would the open up a new test center and cost themselves another 100,000 per year.
The 100,000 cars still need to be tested that's not going to change, but they wont make any more money with a new test center. They will make exactly the same amount. The revenue might slip a couple of months because of the backlog, but overall they will make the same amount.
The only one who is impacted are the people with the cars who have to wait 3 months for a date.

Someone needs to look at the NCT contract and financially crucify the private company when they let a backlog of cars reach this long thats the only way to ensure this wont happen again. At the moment the crowd running the centers have 0 interest clearing a backlog and costing them more money, they are out to maximize profits and minimize costs.

€23/hour or there abouts per tester.

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Originally Posted by ciars

€23/hour or there abouts per tester.

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Plus the 50 quid notes left in the ash tray!

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Everybody is talking about it as being a backlog right now. The system has been busy since May last year! You always have to book 2-3 months in advance now. That is ridiculous!

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

Everybody is talking about it as being a backlog right now. The system has been busy since May last year! You always have to book 2-3 months in advance now. That is ridiculous!

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It's very annoying, the M5 hasn't been through an NCT since 2013, my insurance company will insure the car for a limit of two weeks in which time I need to present an NCT cert, soonest date I can get is the end of May :crying:

I have had two cars through the nct since december (both early), and each time I booked I had an appointment within the month. It may have been luck on my part but when I rang for an appointment and was offered a date six to eight weeks away I initially refused, and then asked would it be free because its over a month away. Both times I was told that I would get a txt with a date within the month from the call. And each time I received the txt with at least a weeks notice of my appointment.
But this will not work if they offer you an appointment months away and you accept it, stick to your guns and look for an appointment within the month as per their customer charter.

They should change the requirement for 10+ year old cars to have a yearly NCT to at least 15 years +. 10 years on a car these days is nothing, Realistically is a yearly test necessary? Do they think cars go to junk on their 10th birthday?

Lads another tip for trying to get the pick of test appointments is to search the online system sometime after 11pm at night. Apparently this is when the database is updated with all of the days booking updates (i.e. cancellations, date changes etc). It worked for me last year anyway, a 3 month wait became a 3 weeks time appointment.

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Originally Posted by Cisk

They should change the requirement for 10+ year old cars to have a yearly NCT to at least 15 years +. 10 years on a car these days is nothing, Realistically is a yearly test necessary? Do they think cars go to junk on their 10th birthday?

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Hi, I think it is a good idea to have a yearly test. If the systems gets sorted to run properly then it means that cars will at least get 1 check over per year. I think it should be brought in at a younger age. Of course the current set up can't deal with the volume as it is right now, obviously this should be priority number one & then move on to improvements.

It's frightening when you talk to some people about their cars & the disregard they have for them. I'm talking about safety items in particular but there is a high level of recklessness & apathy in a high proportion of people in relation to motor maintenance. Some even wear it as a badge of pride that they "didn't spend a penny" on the car!

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

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Originally Posted by Cisk

They should change the requirement for 10+ year old cars to have a yearly NCT to at least 15 years +. 10 years on a car these days is nothing, Realistically is a yearly test necessary? Do they think cars go to junk on their 10th birthday?

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Hi, I think it is a good idea to have a yearly test. If the systems gets sorted to run properly then it means that cars will at least get 1 check over per year. I think it should be brought in at a younger age. Of course the current set up can't deal with the volume as it is right now, obviously this should be priority number one & then move on to improvements.

It's frightening when you talk to some people about their cars & the disregard they have for them. I'm talking about safety items in particular but there is a high level of recklessness & apathy in a high proportion of people in relation to motor maintenance. Some even wear it as a badge of pride that they "didn't spend a penny" on the car!

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It's not a popular opinion, and NCTs can certainly be a pain, but I agree. A worrying number of people told me they do absolutely 0 maintenance on their car unless it fails the NCT, or literally stops working, otherwise not even an oil change or tyres! I didn't sense that it was a "badge of pride" but simply ignorance/lackof knowledge/interest in cars, and one of them was wondering why she can't get 200 miles out of a tank of petrol in her 1.4 astra :p

It's an opel....... They never break down!!

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Originally Posted by Paddy

It's an opel....... They never break down!!

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http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zm-ANQBG5i...2BSchiffer.jpg

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Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

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Originally Posted by Cisk

They should change the requirement for 10+ year old cars to have a yearly NCT to at least 15 years +. 10 years on a car these days is nothing, Realistically is a yearly test necessary? Do they think cars go to junk on their 10th birthday?

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Hi, I think it is a good idea to have a yearly test. If the systems gets sorted to run properly then it means that cars will at least get 1 check over per year. I think it should be brought in at a younger age. Of course the current set up can't deal with the volume as it is right now, obviously this should be priority number one & then move on to improvements.

It's frightening when you talk to some people about their cars & the disregard they have for them. I'm talking about safety items in particular but there is a high level of recklessness & apathy in a high proportion of people in relation to motor maintenance. Some even wear it as a badge of pride that they "didn't spend a penny" on the car!

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Very true, if only they were competent to improve the system to cope with it all.

The upfront cost of opening a new test Centre is damn all to the operator, they don't build or own any of the buildings they use and I'd be fairly certain they don't own the testing equipment either. Really all your looking at is a few extra testers and the operating costs. Applus were already in contract when the NCT regs changed regarding the 10 year rule so at that stage the contract should have been revised to make sure extra facilities were put in place. The idea of 24hr testing is nothing more than a smoke screen, now they can accommodate more cars within the 4 week window but really, who's going to accept a 4am NCT when offered?

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Originally Posted by michael320

The upfront cost of opening a new test Centre is damn all to the operator, they don't build or own any of the buildings they use and I'd be fairly certain they don't own the testing equipment either. Really all your looking at is a few extra testers and the operating costs. Applus were already in contract when the NCT regs changed regarding the 10 year rule so at that stage the contract should have been revised to make sure extra facilities were put in place. The idea of 24hr testing is nothing more than a smoke screen, now they can accommodate more cars within the 4 week window but really, who's going to accept a 4am NCT when offered?

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It would cost them to look at and evaluate the project and re-negotiate the contract for how many centers they are supposed to staff etc. Its all cost with no benefit, unless they re-negotiate how much they get paid from it but its extremely unlikely you could do that. If it was my company I wouldn't even entertain the idea of opening a new center either.

I think they are trying to minimize cost again, your entitled to a free test if you can't get one within 4 weeks. BUT if they offer you one and you refuse it your not entitled to a free test. They are covering themselves.