Almost half failed initial NCT test in Dundalk last year

As many as 48.7% of the initial NCT tests carried out at the Dundalk test centre in 2021 failed, new figures have revealed.

Of the 19,121 NCT tests carried out in Dundalk last year, 9,309 failed the initial test. 8,974 of those passed the re-test however, with just 875 failing the retest, according to figures released last week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Nationally, 47.2% of the 1,418,114 NCT tests that were carried out in 2021 failed the initial test, indicating that the failure rate in Dundalk for the initial test was just slightly higher than the national failure rate.

In Drogheda, the failure rate was 47.2%, with 17,220 of the 36,503 tests failing the initial test, and 1,472 failing the retest.

The test centre with the highest failure rate nationally, was Castlerea at 61.9% and the one with the lowest initial failure rate was Portlaoise at 39.8%.

The Dundalk Democrat contacted Applus+, the company operating the National Car Testing service on behalf of the Road Safety Authority, for a comment on the failure rate for initial tests.

A spokesperson for Applus+ said: “In terms of statistics, the overall pass/fail rate in the NCT has remained reasonably consistent over the years and you can find near real-time information on NCT statistics such as pass/fail stats by centre and the top failure items on the NCTS website under the statistics tab (ncts.ie).

“The NCT plays a key role as a preventative road safety measure. The NCT is a check of minimum roadworthiness requirements at the time of the test without any dismantling of the vehicle. It assesses components which are visible and accessible and does not replace or purport to replace the regular maintenance that a mechanic needs to carry out on a car.

"It is not a diagnostic of the condition of the vehicle. Responsibility rests with the owner to ensure a vehicle is maintained in a roadworthy condition at all times when in use in a public place.

“There are many factors that can affect the pass rates of vehicles:

• The age of the vehicle – 4-year-old vehicles have a pass rate over 80% which drops to 40% for cars 10 years and older.
• The mileage that a car has undergone has a marked effect on pass rates, with larger mileage vehicles more prone to failure. This particularly affects some rural locations.
• Differing profiles of use of vehicles and impacts of the different environments e.g. rural, coastal, urban.
• Differences in the condition of the roads in a particular locality, which can lead to the prevalence of particular failure items such as brakes or suspension components.
• It has been found previously that an estimated 1/3 of customers do not service their cars before testing and the failure rate of these is, on average 11% higher than those that have been serviced ahead of the test. Again, any variance in the number of people using the test as a diagnostic will affect the pass rate.

“The network of NCT Centres operate independently of the motor trade and garage network, ensuring consistency of testing across the country.”