James Galvin

I originally failed because my two front seatbelts weren’t springing back properly. The mechanic at the NCT centre (in Blarney) told me this was a safety issue. Slightly irritating, as I knew that this isn’t a safety issue because the belts work fine, its just that when you get into the car you have to give a slight tug before they retract. Still, I was happy to get away that easily, surely its just a minor task to fix or replace two seatbelts in a ‘98 Mitsubishi Colt? I asked him where to go locally to get the job done, and he advised me to get some secondhand seatbelts from a scrapyard. Very common car, bog standard seatbelts. I had no idea there would be so much hassle and expense.

My first stop was some parts dealer on the Old Mallow Road, near Whitechurch and thus many miles from civilisation. A mosaic of slimy hubcaps displayed on a rotting fence indicated that this was the place I was looking for. A mangy German Shepard guarded the rust-covered petrol pumps. This place was unbelievable, it should be an anti-tourist attraction. Straight out of a Stephen King novel, all it lacked was the old blind man sitting on a rocking chair fondling his toothless daughter. When I managed to find somebody, I was informed via a series of agressive grunts that my seatbelts were not currently in stock.

I phoned Pouladuff and whoever else was in the phonebook, but the same story everywhere: nothing to fit a ‘98 Colt. I had no choice but to get onto the Mitsubishi dealers, but their four week minimum wait means I would miss my re-test (must be done within a month).

I’ll skip ahead a couple of hassle-filled weeks to where I am €237 poorer, over half of that down to labour as the mechanics had to take the car apart and perform minor surgery in order to fit my newly acquired economy seatbelts that are not designed for my car.

I don’t mind spending money on the car when its necessary, but there were a couple of things that irritated me about this whole thing.

1. The seatbelts were exactly like this two years ago when I first bought this car, and there was no mention of the issue in that NCT test (in Little Island).
2. I have spoken to a few people who had the same problem in their own cars, but passed their NCT’s.
3. When I was doing the visual test at the NCT centre this time around, I asked the mechanic what the story was… he said sometimes they fail for it, sometimes they don’t. So it may or may not be a safety issue, depending on what mood they’re in.
4. And now I’m driving around, with ugly, cheap, no-brand belts that aren’t even supposed to fit into this car, while my tried and trusted Mitsubishi seatbelts are at home in a heap.

I have my cert now, but whats really annoying is that after seeing the guy who did the visual test, I know a strategically placed €50 would surely have done the trick.

To conclude on a lighter note, all this talk of scrapyards has reminded me Snudge. (Glaswegian humour)