Revealed: The NCT test centres where your car is most likely to fail

One NCT test centre in Ireland saw almost 60 per cent of cars fail their NCT, as just under half of the 1.5 million cars tested last year failed. 

Figures from the National Car Testing Service show that a total of 747,820 vehicles did not pass the full test, with the Cavan NCT Centre ranking top out of 50 NCT centres nationwide, with 59pc of vehicles failing there.

Derrybeg NCT Centre in Donegal had the second-highest amount of failures at 56pc. Centres in Navan and Ballina had a failure rate of 55pc each, while Clifden in Co Galway recorded the fifth-highest rate at 54pc.

Top 5 ‘Fail Dangerous’ areas by testing centre were Fonthill, Northpoint 2 (Exit 4 M50), Deansgrange, Greenhills (Exit 11 M50) and Cork-Little Island.
 
According to CarTakeBack.ie, the top reason for failures was steering and suspension, which accounted for almost 15% of failures. Lighting and electrical faults were a very close second, with fails for the slip slide test coming in third. The Side Slip Test simulates driving on a straight, flat road without touching the steering wheel. The test measures how many metres a vehicle would deviate to the left or right over a distance of 1km.

The most tested vehicle make in 2023 was Ford, with 171129 Ford models being put through their NCT. Of the 50% that failed, the majority did so on lighting and electrical defects.

The National Car Test (NCT) is a compulsory vehicle inspection programme in Ireland. Cars older than 10 years must undergo an annual inspection, while vehicles younger than 10 years must be inspected every 2 years.

The National Car Test helps to reduce the number of road accidents by identifying defects such as faulty brakes, worn tyres and defective headlight aim. The test also helps to improve air quality and protect the environment by reducing exhaust emissions.

You can view the pass success rates at your local NCT centre here