Cars more than eight years old will have to pass a roadworthiness test from next year in the first phase of a programme which will eventually include almost every vehicle in the State.
The National Car Test is being introduced under an EU directive that only cars deemed roadworthy in an official test should be allowed on the roads. An estimated 440,000 cars registered before 1992 will be involved initially.
From January 2000, Irish motorists who drive cars over eight years old will be advised two months before their road registration tax is due for renewal that they must present their cars for a test. Drivers who cannot produce a car test certificate showing that their cars have passed the test will be unable to tax their vehicles. Once taxed, cars will have to display a car test disc.
National Car Testing Service, which was awarded a contract last year by the Department of Environment and Local Government to conduct car-testing throughout the State for 10 years, said yesterday that the objective of the programme was to ensure that only safe cars were allowed on the roads and to reduce emissions of pollutant gases.
Cars first registered between 1992 and 96 will be tested in 2001. From 2002 all four-year-old cars and eligible older cars will be tested.
Forty-three test centres are to be set up throughout the State, involving 280 jobs. There will be at least one in every county, and four in Dublin. The drive-through test will cost £35 and will take half an hour.
"There are two possibilities," said Mr Richard Hoque, general manager of the testing service. "We will issue a pass certificate or a failure report. We would explain exactly why the car failed and what needs to be done." A re-test will cost £19.80 within two weeks of the original test. After two weeks, the re-test will cost £35.
The National Car Testing Service said its testing would be "completely independent of the garage and motor trades". Brakes and steering would be of obvious concern, but more than 50 individual elements in a car would be inspected in each test.
"Customers should have the car prepared in advance," said Mr Eugene Kirwin, director. Drivers would be encouraged to have their cars serviced before t he test, he said.
Asked about the likely affect of compulsory testing on the used-car market, Mr John Rogers, the service's information technology manager, said the experience elsewhere was that people would be willing to buy only certified cars. Mr Kirwin cited the example of Spain, where its parent company, Swiss-based Societe Generale de Surveillance, carried out similar testing. There, 1517 per cent of cars failed the first test and 33 per cent failed the re-test. This gave a "composite failure rate" of about 20 per cent. The equivalent rate in Ireland was likely to be higher because Irish cars had never been tested before.
The testing service said it would have an appeal process if drivers disputed its assessment. "We will offer them another test in another centre, which they must pay for. We will refund them if the car passes," said a spokeswoman.
