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THE AVERAGE WAITING time for a National Car Test (NCT) appointment is still almost double the pre-pandemic level, as the service continues to experience staffing disruption due to Covid-19.
In January and February alone this year there were 36,000 test appointment cancellations, of which 11,400 were cancelled by the NCTS.
The service has said levels of Covid-19 among staff have presented challenges, but it has been criticised for failing to ensure contingency plans were in place to cope with the considerable backlog that built up during the pandemic.
One reader who contacted The Journal this week said a mid-June appointment that was booked back in February has now been cancelled. The car’s NCT will expire in April.
“I looked on the NCT site and the next available date is July 8th for Waterford and August 5th for Kilkenny,” he said. “I don’t know if this is isolated or nationwide, but a three and a half month wait is a bit crazy.”
Similar delays have been reported elsewhere:
Need to book the car in for the NCT, which expires soon, but the next available appointments I'm getting in Dublin are in July? Any one with any advice on this? Try and get on a cancellation list?
— The Champ Champs (@GifsRugbyNStuff) March 5, 2022
NCT due at the end of May, logged on to have a look at appointments. None till August and been told to basically call them and monitor the website regularly to be able to get one. 🤔😂
— Avril Hayden 🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@AvvyEire) March 24, 2022
Labour TD Duncan Smith raised the issue in the Dáil last week, citing an example of one driver whose NCT is due in July, but who could only get an appointment in August, five months from now.
“Another constituent, whose NCT is due in coming weeks, cannot get a test until late August,” he said.
“He is a young learner driver who is paying extortionate insurance costs and is preparing to take his driving test in April. Those are two reasons this young man needs his NCT as soon as possible.
In recent days people in my office checked and the earliest date they could get a test was in July, but in Naas and not anywhere in Fingal or other areas of Dublin. That is three months away in another county. The earliest time for any test in Dublin was August or September.
Responding to Smith last week, Minister of State Joe O’Brien said cancellation figures include “very high levels of customer no-shows and late cancellations, undoubtedly as a result of Covid-19″.
This has led to an average lead time for an appointment of just under 21 days in this quarter to date, he said. Before the pandemic, the average waiting time was up to 12 days.
Speaking to The Journal, Duncan Smith described the delays as “unacceptable”.
“Where it really becomes a hot issue is people who need an NCT in order to continue driving lessons or to take up employment,” he said.
“There seems to be an uptick recently in people talking up employment and it’s becoming a major problem, people need transportation for work so it’s hugely frustrating for them. These people need a far shorter timeframe than what’s on offer.”
Smith said the priority list, which people can request to be added to if their NCT is approaching its expiration date, also appears to be “totally overwhelmed”.
On 23 March approximately 18,000 people were on the priority waiting list, with 32,500 full tests carried out each week – this means more than half of the tests carried out each week are in this urgent category.
Applus+, which runs the NCT service in Ireland, said has said will do its best to accommodate all customers on the priority list within 28 days of application. The company said it has had “significant staff absenteeism levels” at test centres due to the impact of Covid, as well as high levels of customer cancellations and no-shows.
Smith said some of the services directly run by the state, such as Revenue and the Passport service, which were also significantly impacted by backlogs during the pandemic, have managed to “recover more quickly”.
“When it comes to outsourced State service throwing out the Covid excuse and hoping people accept it, it’s unacceptable because there are other reasons this has happened,” he said. “They haven’t planned or hired early enough, or put in place adequate contingencies.”
In the Dáil last week, Minister of State Joe O’Brien said the NCTS had taken a number of steps to provide additional capacity at test centres in the immediate term, including offering overtime to staff and running a longer shift schedule than normal.
“This is in addition to ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of service delivery and recruit additional staff, including securing agreement from the RSA to develop a proposal for an alternative resourcing model to provide semi-skilled staff capacity to complete machine-led elements of the inspection process,” he said.
“This will be considered further in the coming months with a view to establishing a pilot scheme.”
The service has completed over 470,000 tests so far this year. Over the quarter, 13,500 tests were cancelled by the NCTS, while customers cancelled 32,500 tests.
In a statement, Applus+ said centres in Letterkenny and Drogheda are particularly challenged as they are undergoing refurbishment work to the customer waiting areas. This has led to reduced capacity at the centres.
However the company said Covid-related staff absenteeism and customer cancellations and no-shows are the main reason the increase in waiting list.
It said the NCTS releases appointment slots continually across all centres and many slots also become available through cancellations or rescheduling of appointments.
“Some customers may only find dates that are beyond the due date for their NCT. If a customer requires an appointment sooner than those available online, they should contact NCTS directly on (01) 4135992 or place themselves on the priority list online,” it said.
NCTS will do its best to accommodate all customers on the priority list within 28 days of application. As a result, any customer booking an NCT for their car, four weeks before its due date, will be able to have their car tested on time.
“Customers have the option of having their car tested up to 90 days in advance of their test due date without affecting the validity period of the certificate issued, which allows them to ensure a suitable test date at their preferred centre and avoid incurring the risk of delays during busy times.”
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Any chance they could just do predicted grades/results until this Covid thing goes away?! Would save a lot of hassle at the test centres!
@Joe Kennedy: very droll
So many companies blaming everything on Covid when it’s really just about saving money and bad management
@Ian James Burgess: government is doing exactly this for absolutely everything.
@Ian James Burgess: This is the problem with privatisation. It’s a great idea to reward party supporters by setting them up with a slice of state business but then they want to run things on a shoestring – low wages and little or no forward planning.
This vital service should be run by the state.
@Ian James Burgess: we’ll the vast majority of cancellations are done by the general public
@Ian James Burgess: covid it seems is an excuse for just about everything…..
@Willie Penwright: not sure about “vital service” but agree otherwise.
@Patrick O Connell: that’s as maybe, so they should have a system where you can turn up and take a slot when someone doesn’t show. They should also have a look at the Spanish system, in and out in 15 minutes as you drive the car through yourself.
@Ian James Burgess: they do, they put you on a priority list if you can’t get an appointment before the expiry of the cert and you’ll get one within 28days. This has happened to my wife last week and that’s how the phone call went. Also, as for the length of time, all cars differ but my wife’s car has never taken more than 20 mins to go through and it’s a well maintained 2006 convertible.
@Ian James Burgess: not is operated by a Spanish company
Grand stretch in the nct now
@Kieran Stafford: haha…..brilliant! :)
The back log in the NCT goes back before COVID. There was a period of down time during which the centres weren’t operating at full capacity due to concerns over the safety of their lifts. And rightly so. If memory serves me well, the Naas centre was just back up and running around St Patrick’s Day 2020 and then we went into pretty much nation wide lock down. Those first couple of weeks, we spent a few weeks figuring out who and what were essential services. As a mechanic, I can honestly say, from my own customer base, it seems they have never successfully caught up on the original back log. At least locally, because I’m dealing with it on a daily basis.
There should be a service level agreement for example if the 28 day free test rules apply then one should be entitled to drive with an expired NCT if one is booked before the current NCT expires. This does not open up to lots of unsafe cars but rather just extends the current valid NCT until a new test is obtained. It is wrong to pay tax and insurance and be unable to use a vehicle because of delays in renewing the NCT.
This country has gone to the dogs. And don’t blame the pandemic. COVID has become an easy card to play when nobody wants to take ownership.
@PJ Beatty: spot on
NCT. No car tested.
I thought I was covered- had the car booked for 1/4 when the nct was due and they cancelled it- with no bookings available till June.
If they think I’m not driving my car till then…..
@Dave Harris: but you won’t be insured. My sons
Insurance was due for renewal and because his NCT was out of date they wouldn’t renew until he did. He was blessed to get a cancellation appointment in Drogheda that day, if not it was a four month wait
@Marie Agnew: That’s strange because my NCT has been out of date in the past and I got my insurance renewed no hassle. Same with taxing the car.
@Dave Harris: not sure if that story is real or if we’re meant to respond “that’s a joke Dave” because of the date?!
@Dave Harris: Ours was cancelled the morning of the check. Ring the national NCT number (on their website). They put you on an emergency list and you’ll get an appointment within 2 weeks
I tried to book online 3 weeks ago, earliest available slot was end of July. Put myself on the cancellation list, got an email a week later with appointment for first week in April.
@Darren Matthews: Congratulations
@Burt Macklin: thank you.
Subcontract some of the DAA management in to help. Should be fine…
@Declan McArdle: brilliant
Log onto the nct site just after midnight. All cancelations show up on the site then. Booked my nct on saturday and got it done two days later. No problems.
Too long an article. Get the point after first few sentences
@Tony O Neill: is reading hard for you?
@Mary Fitzsimons: He was just giving his opinion Mary. Everyone is so negative these days.
Been trying to book my cars NCT at my local test centre. It’s due mid May, and the earliest date available from now is early July! It’s ridiculous!
Am I supposed to just not drive from my countryside home to work for several months,
or worse,
drive my car illegally without a teat after its due date?!
@Mick Woods: yerra just test it away yourself Mick…..1. Quick look under the hood. 2. Wheels rolling okay? 3. Does she bounce back a bit if you sit on the bonnet? 4. Any rattling noises? 5. Headlights facing forward….roughly, and indicators working? Any Gard stops you, just say “Look Gard, I’m no mechanic and I’ve no ramp or nothing, but that car has been tested and it’s perfect!”
@Mick Woods: Mine is due next month, first appointment could get online was August. Rang them I got an appointment but have to travel far away to get it. No choice as similar situ to you, countryside need it for work and no bus service.
It’s madness and someone needs to tell the garda that are stopping people saying the law is the law as well as I bet insurers will try use it to not pay claims.
Time to roll in an m.o.t service in garages
Live in a place that has no nct test and we are all grand thank you
So like we did during first lockdown I assume Govt will extend all certs by 3 months.
Print off a copy of your appointment date, just in case of any issues with the Gardai. Drive on, what’s the issue? It’s the states problem not yours. I have my test today after waiting 4mths. I couldn’t give a monkeys tbh. Plenty of other stuff to focus ones efforts on.
So right now NCT centres have the money paid for all appointments until July or further – cos u have to pay.
Whittling it done to 2 weeks would have negative effect on their business.
Better to have money only paid 2 weeks before appointment
@ConPhoto: you don’t pay in advance, your card is only charged on the day of the test.
I read this and went to book for my NCT which is due in October, earliest I could get was August, booked it for then, put card details in, usually they keep card and charge it when do test, no longer, payment is taken when booked
Similar delays up north. But PSNI and insurance companies have been directed by assembly to regard a valid appointment booking as ok and allow people to continue driving their vehicles.
Booked online and July was earliest appt, rang them and got on priority list, appt 1st week of April. Delays are a joke tho!
11000 by the ncts what were the other 25000 cancelled for?
Most importantly, are you insured if your nct is pending??
I tried before Christmas to book NCT, got a date for July 2022. Trawled the other centres and got one for February for Westport. It pays to look outside your area.
Website has been telling me it is too early to book. Booked anyways a few weeks ago. Got an appointment for Friday two hours away from where I live. Just got cancelled.
I’ll have to try and get a cancellation at test centres now or risk driving an my car with no NCT. Absolute shambles.
I have a 2017 car which is regularly serviced from the reputable car dealer I purchased it from and now needs an NCT. It does not need an NCT so perhaps all those owners like myself could be deleted from the list! Haha I don’t think so, it all about money!
Ah stop with the red top headlines. I booked a test for my dad a few weeks ago. Afterwards I rang and said I could take any last minute cancellation on a Monday I’m only 20 minutes away as its my day off. She scheduled me there and then for 2 weeks time on a Monday. Its the last minute cancellation that are causing delays. I’m sure Covid issues have their say too as well as the usual sick Leave and holiday time.
Mine is due in May, I booked it in January, and the closest I got was the day after expiry.
Whole country is in bits.
I have been sending emails to our local TDs and Councilors years ago about the waiting times and test centre locations but nothing has improved – it has only gone downhill. Nothing to do with Covid – that’s only the latest excuse. A system already terribly inefficient just made worse with Covid. 2 years in and no surpise it’s managed as unprofessionally as ever. The technicians on site do their best but it’s general management failure. Why don’t they simply go back to a 2 year test instead and problem solved?
I have been sending emails to our local TDs and Councilors around 3 years ago about the waiting times and availability of test center locations but nothing has improved – it has only gone downhill. Nothing to do with Covid – that’s only the latest excuse. A system already terribly inefficient just made worse with Covid. 2 years in and no surprise it’s managed as unprofessionally as ever. The technicians on site do their best but it’s a general management failure. I’m guessing profits are more important than customer service. The goals of the Applus+ public limited company probably do not correlate with the goals of the country and it’s driving people.
Why don’t they simply go back to a 2 year test instead and problem solved?
have your say