What price for putting petrol in a diesel car?

HELPDESK:Answers to your motoring queries

From PK:

My father has been charged over €500 to fix our car after someone mistakenly filled our diesel car with petrol. Can that be right? I’ve looked on some online forums and they seem to suggest that it’s a pretty straightforward job.

First off, I think the “someone” involved should pay the bill. As to the cost, it’s not surprising given that the engine’s fuel system will most likely have to be removed, cleaned and reinstalled.

The problem is that in most modern diesel engines a little bit of fuel is sent by the pump, up to the engine, to assist the start-up. This frequently happens once the ignition key is inserted.

Petrol can damage the fuel pumps and can cause other problems if it gets into the engine. If it gets into the common rail system of modern diesel you are going to be looking at a far more expensive parts replacement.

Ultimately with that sort of bill it seems like the engine didn’t run and your father has been lucky. So, I suspect, has the “someone” who did it.

Over recent weeks we have been trying to ascertain the extent of issues with the National Car Test (NCT) following correspondence from readers citing concerns.

According to our colleague David Labanyi, a series of questions to the Road Safety Authority and the service operators Applus in relation to waiting times and the customer service obligations of the NCT have been met with a standard response referring to “commercial sensitivity”.

One of the issues we are trying to examine was whether there are problems accessing a test.

Pamela Duncan, in this paper, contacted all 46 NCT centres in early April seeking to book a test only to find that 34 centres were not offering any test dates within the six-week window available on nct.ie.

At the time however, Applus said the average waiting time was around three weeks and added that only one-third of available tests are made available through the website at any given time.

The remainder are held for taxi drivers, the motor trade and for those on a priority list with any surplus released two weeks before an available appointment. It is unclear why a motorist can only book a test date six weeks in advance.

When asked last week about access to test slots, a spokeswoman for Applus said there were ample test slots available and that those who needed to could apply for a priority test.

While she accepted that there was higher than normal demand she declined to provide details on the impact this had on access to a test.

The paucity of information being provided about the operation of a contracted State service provider raises some interesting questions. One of these is whether motorists, who face a legal requirement to hold a valid NCT certification, are entitled to transparency about test availability similar to that provided for driving tests.

Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2, or e-mail motorshelp@irishtimes.com