Over half of cars fail NCT

Linda McGrory

Some 2,646 cars tested in the first six months of this year were declared by NCT inspectors as "dangerously unroadworthy".

And it emerged more cars failed than passed in that period.

NCT service operator Applus examined 754,192 vehicles between January and June. It is estimated testing figures, for the first time, will top 1.5m this year. So far this year, 381,822 cars — 50.6% — initially failed the test.

Among the 371,299 vehicles subjected to a re-test, just over 91% passed. A total of 32,363 failed a second time while 446 of the re-tested vehicles were also deemed unfit to drive.

Cars going through the test this year are 2010, 2008, 2006, and vehicles 10 years and older. The figures for 2014 continue a year-on- year trend of rising numbers as motorists hold on to older cars.

Nearly 500,000 more cars were put through the NCT last year compared to the height of the boom seven years ago.

Meanwhile, new car sales, so far this year, surpassed the entire number of acquisitions for the whole of 2013.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry revealed, up to yesterday, 74,911 new cars had been sold, a 28% rise on the same period last year. One week into the new 142 registration period, 9,207 were sold, an increase of 79% on 2013.

Society director general Alan Nolan said July was on target to be the busiest for car sales in many years.

“The second year of the July plate change has seen customers, both business and retail, become more comfortable with the dual plate concept,” he said.

“In fact, the first day of the 142 plate was the best day for car sales in six years, since before the recession. We still need to see this improvement in context, though. It is still potentially fragile and, even with the growth we have seen, we are still likely to finish around 60% of the pre-recession market.”