See all Motoring AdviceThe National Car Test (NCT) is a check-up of every vehicle on Ireland’s roads, to ensure their ongoing worthiness. For any car up to ten years old, they get checked over on their second, fourth, sixth and eighth anniversaries of their first registration; on their tenth ‘birthday’ and beyond, the NCT becomes an annual requirement.
Here, then, are our top tips as to what you can do to pre-inspect your car before its scheduled NCT so that it will come out the other side with a pass rather than a fail.
Lights
All of the exterior lights are going to be checked to see if they’re working properly. That means the front sidelights, the front dipped beam and the front main beam, plus taillights, brake lights, fog lights, reversing lights, all indicator bulbs and even the illumination for the rear licence plate. Therefore, an easy thing to do before the NCT is to get help from a friend or family member and go around all of the above to check they are all illuminating correctly. Any blown or missing bulbs will need to be replaced prior to the NCT to gain a pass – and make sure you don’t fit any fancy colours, either. For example, brake lights must illuminate red, while the bulb(s) above the rear registration plate has to be white in colour. If in doubt as to which colour bulb you should be fitting, check online or in your vehicle’s handbook before buying a replacement.
Tyres
Check the tread depth on all four tyres, plus the spare wheel (if fitted). It should be 3mm minimum across the central 75 per cent of the tyre’s tread pattern, and no lower than 1.6mm at any point. Tyres have tread wear blocks built into them that indicate how worn they are, if you know what you’re looking for, while a good tip is to run a €1 coin in the shallowest groove cut into your tyre, then look at the coin side on – if you can see the gold edge around the silver centre of the coin, then your tyre is below the legal 1.6mm limit.
It’s not just tread depth you’re checking though, but the general condition of the tyres. They need to be fitted correctly, not be showing any obvious signs of damage (like cracks or ‘crazing’ in the sidewalls, or huge bulges in the sidewalls either), and they should be inflated to the correct tyre pressure. If you’re not sure what that should be, most cars have their tyre pressure printed in a clear infographic inside the door openings of the passenger compartment, or sometimes even on the reverse side of the fuel-filler cap, but failing that the pressures will definitely be in the vehicle’s owner handbook.
Windscreen, wipers and washer jets
Make sure the windscreen doesn’t have big chips in it, especially in the driver’s line of sight, and also check for cracks; either of these defects are an instant NCT fail, and you’ll need the windscreen replacing. Make sure the wipers for the windscreen are fitted, working properly and clear the screen – tired or worn wiper blades that don’t clean the glass effectively are easy and cheap to replace, but will fail the NCT if you don’t. Check the washer jets aren’t blocked, that the washer fluid reservoir is topped up with the correct mix of water to detergent and also make sure the jets are positioned correctly to squirt fluid onto the screen, rather than over the roof of the car or to the side of the vehicle.
Brakes
This will need a little more technical knowledge, so if you’re not good with cars then you need to get someone who is to help you out with it. But here, you’re looking for worn pads or scored discs on the brakes. Drive the car and check that when it is braking, there aren’t loud screeching or grinding noises from the brakes. Make sure the specialist brake fluid is topped up to the correct levels.
Horn
The vehicle’s horn must work properly, and it must be correctly secured. If it isn’t in either instance, it will fail the NCT.
Seatbelts
Inside, check the seatbelts are all working properly, as in they reel in and out smoothly, and they buckle in tightly in all seating positions in the car. Ensure they’re all on show (so if you’ve got fold-down rear seats, don’t trap one of the back belts behind the seats themselves), and then check all of the belts for tears, fraying or signs of previous repairs.
Registration plates and mirrors
It’s a good idea to clean the car before it goes for the NCT, because a requirement of the test is that both licence plates – front and rear – and all exterior mirrors are either easy to view (plates) or offer clear visibility (mirrors). If any of them are covered in muck or sludge to the point they don’t meet these requirements, you’ll fail the test when all it would have taken was a quick wash of the car to get it ready. With the registration plates, there are more considerations, however: they need to be the right colour (black lettering on a white background both front and rear), the right font, and with the right letter and number sizing, and they cannot be damaged to the point that letters or numbers are missing. They need to be complete, properly mounted on the car and visible.
Advanced checks: exhaust and emissions, general fluid levels, suspension, steering
There are more checks you can do on the car prior to an NCT to work out if it is going to fail or pass, but they’re harder to diagnose – as you either need someone with specialist knowledge of cars or even specialist equipment to check them out, not to mention then remedying the matter prior to the NCT. However, if you know what you’re doing, then check all the fluid levels under the bonnet, including the brake fluid and windscreen-washer reservoir as mentioned, but also the power steering fluid, the coolant and the engine oil. Drive the car and listen for any loud or unusual noises from the suspension, or excessive play in the steering. Check the exhaust on start-up, to see if there are excessive clouds of smoke from the exit pipes and keep an eye out in your mirror while driving to ensure it’s not smoking when driving.
All of these could indicate there’s a problem with your car that might cause it to fail the NCT, and while some of them can be easily rectified at home, if it’s more serious work then it will need attending to by professionals. If you’re worried, then many local garages do carry out pre-NCT checks that will identify if there’s a deeper-seated issue with your vehicle that needs attention before you take it in for its test.