Potholes and poor roads are being blamed for high failure rates at some NCT centres.
A third of centres across the country have more cars fail than pass on their first go.
In one centre - Derrybeg in Donegal - 10 per cent of vehicles failed for "dangerous faults", more than twice the national average.
The pass rate at the Little Island centre in Cork at 58.7% is slightly higher compared to the pass rate at Blarney which stands at 56.3%
Transport commentator Conor Faughnan says getting your car passed can depend on where you live:
"If you look at counties like Donegal, Kerry, Mayo - counties that have a lot of road - cars that use those roads regularly are hitting potholes much more often than your city dwellers. And that actually shows up in the NCT stats. So when you throw your car into the NCT for your honest diagnostics, the NCT is able to tell you, your headlights are misaligned. So that's more likely happened to you in Donegal than in Dublin."
