€2.26 Million a Week. And You’re Still Waiting Three Months for an NCT.
New accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office lay it out plainly. Applus Inspection Services Ireland — the Spanish-owned firm that holds the National Car Test contract — took in €117.67 million in revenue last year. That works out at just over €2.26 million every single week.
Pre-tax profits hit €7.06 million in 2025. Up 7% on the year before.
Meanwhile, 414,000 cars were overdue their NCT in May 2026. The average wait at several major centres ran past three months. And drivers who failed had to pay €40 for a re-test — up from €28, the first price rise since 2012.
Sound familiar? If you’re stuck in a queue right now, the NCT cancellation slot scanner watches every centre for you and sends an alert when an earlier slot opens up. Most cancellations appear 48 to 72 hours before the date. They go fast.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
Here’s what changed between 2024 and 2025 at Applus, according to their CRO filings published in May 2026.
| Metric | 2024 Financials | 2025 Financials |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | €103.22 million | €117.67 million (+14%) |
| Average Weekly Revenue | €1.98 million | €2.26 million |
| Pre-Tax Profit | €6.59 million | €7.06 million (+7%) |
| NCT Tests Completed | 1.73 million | 1.74 million |
| NCT Test Fee | €55 | €60 |
| Re-Test Fee | €28 | €40 (+43%) |
Revenue up 14%. Profit up 7%. Tests completed: up by exactly 10,000 — less than 1%. The price hike did the heavy lifting, not the throughput.
You’re Paying More. The Queue Isn’t Moving.
The NCT fee went from €55 to €60 on 1 January 2025. The re-test fee jumped from €28 to €40 — a 43% increase in one go. These were the first price changes since 2012.
Applus completed a record 1.74 million tests in 2025, just 10,000 more than the year before. Headcount grew by 12 people, from 843 to 855 across the entire network. Staff costs went up 3%.
The maths isn’t subtle. The firm generated an extra €14.45 million in revenue year on year, and passed on €1.5 million of that to staff. The rest landed in the profit column.
In 2024, Applus paid a €7 million dividend to its Spanish parent. In 2025, no dividend was paid — though the company’s shareholder funds stand at €9.23 million, with €1 million in cash.
Five New Centres. Somehow That’s Enough.
The RSA announced five new test centres for 2026. That’s the plan to clear a backlog of 414,000 overdue vehicles. Five. In a country with 47 existing centres that can’t keep up as it is.
For context: Applus brought in €117.67 million last year. Building an industrial test centre — ground, shed, lanes, equipment — comes in well under €5 million in most parts of Ireland. You could put up a decent facility in Limerick or Cork for roughly what Applus earns in a fortnight.
That’s not a conspiracy. It’s just arithmetic. And the directors’ own filings describe 2025 performance as “consistent with expectations given the current trading environment”. Grand. The trading environment is working out fine for Applus. Less so for the driver in Limerick waiting 11 weeks for a slot.
If you’re one of those drivers, the Limerick centre does get cancellations. Not many, and not predictably — but they’re there. An automated scanner catches them far better than hitting refresh at midnight.
The RSA Reform Question Nobody Answered
Earlier this year, two transport ministers rejected a plan to restructure the RSA — the body that awards and oversees the NCT contract. We covered why RSA reform was blocked in February 2026 and what it means for the backlog.
The short version: the contract with Applus runs for ten years. The firm re-tendered successfully in 2020. The RSA sets the test price, not Applus directly. So accountability is spread across two organisations, which makes it hard to point at either one and say “fix this”.
What’s clear from the CRO accounts is that the financial return on the NCT contract is solid and growing. What’s also clear is that the number of additional test lanes being added to the network doesn’t reflect that financial position.
There are 47 centres across Ireland. The full locations list shows which ones tend to have shorter queues — often the smaller towns rather than the M50 centres that get hammered every Monday morning.
What This Means for Your Next Booking
The price of your NCT isn’t going back down. The re-test fee at €40 is here to stay. And five new centres, whatever about 2026, won’t make a meaningful dent in the national backlog before summer.
The realistic options:
- Book early and book wide. Don’t just check your local centre. Drivers regularly travel 45 minutes across county lines to get a slot two weeks earlier.
- Watch for cancellations. The system is more dynamic than people realise. Slots appear and disappear daily, particularly Tuesday to Thursday mornings.
- Don’t wait until she’s overdue. Once you’re past your test date, your insurance company’s position on a claim gets complicated fast. The disc matters.
An NCT appointment bot can watch every centre simultaneously and alert you the moment an earlier slot appears. It won’t fix the backlog. But it gets you through the test before the situation gets worse.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the NCT re-test fee in 2026?
The standard NCT re-test fee in 2026 is €40, following an increase from €28 that came into effect on 1 January 2025. However, if your re-test is purely visual — meaning it doesn’t require use of brake rollers, emissions equipment, or other lane machinery — it may be carried out free of charge. You must complete the re-test within 21 days of the original failure date.
Why did the NCT price go up in 2025?
The Road Safety Authority increased the NCT fee from €55 to €60 and the re-test fee from €28 to €40 on 1 January 2025. It was the first price increase since 2012. According to Applus’s CRO accounts, the hike contributed to a 14% jump in company revenues that year, from €103.22 million to €117.67 million.
How do I find an earlier NCT appointment?
The most reliable method is to monitor cancellation slots across multiple centres, rather than just your nearest one. Slots tend to appear on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings when drivers who booked weeks out cancel or reschedule. Using an automated tool to watch the system saves you the manual refresh cycle and catches slots within minutes of them appearing.
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