No more cupcakes for Clio...

I've rethought the whole 'do-it-yourself' scenario when it comes to the mechanics of my car. I may have been feeling brave and up for learning all about the anatomy of an automobile but I've decided it's just not worth it! Give me some paint to watch dry any day but ask me about any car-related problem and you may put on your little sneakers and run. Run fast!

Here I was thinking I was great, washing my car all by myself, paying all my car finances, booking clio-patra in for her health check ups and taking her for her NCT. Well, if I could turn back time! If you read my previous blog post on cupcakes and carborators, you'll know my little car failed her NCT test. Fair enough, I'd left the crack on the front bumper... half hoping it would heal itself up / half hoping the NCT man might not notice, but no such luck. I just hadn't anticipated her failing for a fist full of issues!

So off I sent my brother up to the garage (the DIY thing had already worn off) and they fixed some engine part that was listed on the NCT result form despite the mechanics thinking it was just fine. Having only a 30-day grace period to retake the test, I trailed back up once again to the Fonthill testing centre only to fail yet again! And to make matters worse, she failed on the exact same faults. My little brother (extremely handy to have - would recommend) asked the NCT tester man to point out the exact engine faults and off he went storming up to the garage to have a nice big row. But alas, the mechanics - being the knowledgeable engine types that they are trained to be - had actually fixed the right problems, the NCT centre had written the wrong name of the engine part on the original forms.

After a lengthy phone conversation between my brother and the NCT can't-help desk, where he got absolutely nowhere, I resentfully booked a third test and went back to sit in the now very familiar waiting room while I painstakingly watched Clio being poked and prodded for the seventeenth time. When she made it through the other side I marched up to the desk where a young chap said, "bad news". "Oh no", I didn't pass did I?" poor innocent me said, jokingly. "No, you failed". That man was seriously lucky he went home without a black eye!

Despite the garage having tested the emissions and passing them with flying colours, somehow the NCT centre had managed to fail the same exaust less than 24 hours later. I'll plant a bloody tree if they're really that worried! So, with one day left to my grace period, over €600 spent on tests and needless visits to the garage, I ran to my NCT-less car wondering if my face was wet from the rain or the tears for my rapidly depleting bank account...

On booking another test, I then discovered I would have to wait almost 2 months before another date would be free to take another test. I'm hoping Clio doesn't develop any symptoms in that time!

Next time my NCT is due I'm thinking I'd rather chance the points on my license thank you very much! :(