Motorists faced with six-month wait for NCT appointment
Waits Nct Showing Test Six Trying Book Months Of Centres Or Their Find To Online More Drivers
Motorists looking to book their NCT online are facing the same issues that have dogged the service in recent months, with testing centres still showing waits of six months or more.
Anecdotal evidence has emerged online in recent days, with motorists complaining that when they go online to book a test in their local area, they find it could be July or August before they get a slot.
A cursory glance at the National Car Testing Service (NCTS) today showed that the next available date offered online for Cork's Blarney centre is June 26, while for Little Island it is June 30, Charleville on June 28, Macroom on July 7, Skibbereen on June 19, and Youghal on July 18.
Worried motorists have queried whether having no valid NCT certificate affects their insurance policy or whether they will be stopped by gardaí.
Gardaí have said that if a motorist is detected driving a vehicle without a valid NCT cert and can provide proof of a scheduled test date, a garda "will take this evidence into consideration", while insurance representative body Insurance Ireland has said that its members will be "pragmatic and understanding in their approach" to the current delays at the NCTS.
A spokesperson for Applus, the firm that runs the NCTS on behalf of the Road Safety Authority, insisted that the delays online were not as long as motorists feared if they instead put themselves on a "priority list".
"Some customers who go online may only see appointments for mid-2023, however, if they require an earlier appointment than those available online, we are asking them to go online and place themselves on the priority list.
"The option to add your vehicle to the priority list can be found during the booking process," said the spokesperson.
"The vast majority of customers who use the priority list receive an appointment within four weeks," they said.
According to Applus' figures, the average number of days between the point of request for an appointment and the actual appointment date is currently around 25 days for Blarney, 27 for Little Island, 22 for Charleville, 24 for Macroom, 22 for Skibbereen, and 26 for Youghal.
Last summer, the RSA blamed the long online delays on a struggle to recruit staff, a dearth of new car sales, and a Covid-19 backlog.
Applus said that the NCTS had recruited more than 70 vehicle inspectors last year, while a further 50 started in the last week of 2022.
"These inspectors will help deal with the demand for NCT appointments caused by the long impact of Covid and the natural attrition of staff in the service," said the spokesperson.
"We are currently advertising for the recruitment of qualified vehicle inspectors to work on various shifts nationwide and we hope to commence training of these vehicle inspectors on January 23."
Last month, then minister of state at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, told the Dáil that she and Minister Eamon Ryan were "very aware of the challenges" and that she had met with the RSA "to convey the seriousness of this matter".
She said that in light of the labour shortages in this sector across the EU, Government departments were working together "to amend the employment permits regulations and allow up to 100 qualified non-EU personnel to be recruited as needed".
A pilot scheme is forthcoming to allow some automated testing in a bid to speed up the process, she said.