Since January 2000, testing of motor vehicles over five-years-old has been compulsory. Sandra O'Connell looks at how we are coping with this EU directive, and reviews its impact on the motoring public
If mandatory car testing had not been made compulsory by EU directive, it would arguably never have been introduced here at all.
As it was, we were the last EU member state to introduce it.
Considering the angst with which it was viewed here - remember all those scary press stories about the rural elderly being left stranded - what is most striking about the NCT is how quickly we've become accustomed to it.
In the first seven months of this year, 312,871 full tests and 140,879 retests were carried out by the NCTS (National Car Testing Service) at a cost to motorists of €48.40 per test and €27.20 for a retest.
Given the volume of cars moving through the testing system, this amounts to a great deal of money. But are we getting value for our euros?
Samantha Breen, spokeswoman for NCTS defends the cost, pointing out that the prices were set by the Department of the Environment. Moreover, a cap has been imposed on the testing company in relation to its profits.
The test process is also independently monitored by accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), and by the AA. Among other quality checks, PWC sends "phantom" cars to test centres around the State to ensure that service and standards are homogenised.
"We have to make sure everything is transparent and that the same car tested in any centre will get the same results," she explains.
According to Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association, complaints about the test have diminished markedly over time. In the early days these included incidences where motorists returned for a retest with the offending item fixed, only to be told that something else was wrong. There was also a problem in relation to test centres cancelling tests at short notice, something to which an early strike by NCT workers contributed.
Another source of disgruntlement to motorists was having their car fully serviced in advance of the NCT and yet still failing.
"This however may have been a positive aspect of the NCT in that it may have highlighted problems elsewhere in the motor industry."
All these issues have "tailed off as the NCT has kicked in" he says, pointing out that, by its nature, the Consumers Association tends not to hear from people who are happy with their experiences.
"Generally speaking, and just from talking to people, I find most are relatively pleased with the NCT because they are happy to know that their car is safe."
Pat Costello, chief executive of the National Safety Council, concurs. "We broadly welcome any initiative that we consider will contribute to road safety in Ireland," he says.
"There was a twofold objective in relation to the NCT, one being enhanced road safety and the other being environmental protection. The key issue for us was that it would see old bangers taken off the road as well as lower fuel consumption from cleaner engines."
The NCTS is currently undertaking research to gauge the impact of the testing programme on overall emissions.
Just what impact, if any, the NCT has had on road safety is harder to gauge. Pat Costello says: "Unless it is something obvious, such as a tyre blow out, the mechanical cause of accidents can be hard to discern."
In his experience, only 3 to 4 per cent of accidents are the result of mechanical failure: "However, anything that will help the road safety effort should be welcomed. The NCT has removed a lot of mechanically deficient cars from our roads, and has ensured that those cars remaining are serviced better."
Certain anomalies in relation to the NCT remain. All eligible cars must, for example, display an NCT disc on their windscreens.
Enforcement of this is the responsibility of the Garda Síochána. However, according to the Garda press office, gardaí do not check for NCT certificates per se. Rather, at routine Garda checks, they look for car tax and insurance certificates, just as they have always done.
Indeed, there are no figures available to show if anyone has ever been fined for not displaying their NCT certificate, despite the fact failure to do so is supposed to result in a fine of €444.
The NCT also has less of a bearing on insurance premiums than you might think. According to Martin Long of the Irish Insurance Federation, there has always been a condition in motor insurance policies requiring policyholders to maintain their vehicles in a roadworthy condition.
"If the defect resulting in failure to obtain an NCT