Getting a pink slip in Sydney
The rules are the same from Penrith to the beaches, so the choice comes down to which station is close to the car and when it can fit you in. Look for the AIS sign out the front: stations have to display one listing the inspections they're authorised to do.
If the car fails, the rego can't be renewed until it's fixed. Take it back to the same station within 14 days and there's no second inspection fee. That's a good reason to use a station near home or work, so the return trip isn't across town.
What Sydney drivers run into
Moving to Sydney from interstate
A car brought in from another state or territory needs a blue slip, now officially an authorised unregistered vehicle inspection (AUVIS), before it can be registered in NSW. It's valid for 42 days from the inspection, so register the car soon after.
A car that's sat unregistered
Cars stored in a garage or left in the street while someone's away can drift past their rego. Once it's been expired for more than 3 months, a pink slip won't do: the car needs a blue slip.
Can't get the car there?
Mobile pink slip providers can inspect at your place, whether that's a driveway, an apartment car park or a work car park. The slip's fee doesn't change, but a call-out fee may apply, so ask before they come.
Slips with no inspection
Transport for NSW has audited 570 pink and blue slip providers since January 2026, cancelling 127 licences and suspending 84 operators over slips issued without anyone looking at the car. If a business offers a slip sight unseen, walk away.
Salt air and rust
Seventy surf beaches line Sydney's coast, and cars kept near them rust faster underneath. Have the underside looked at well before the slip is due, so a rust repair doesn't hold up the rego.
What we'd do
We'd get the pink slip in the first week the renewal notice arrives, at a station close to where the car lives. That leaves time to fix anything it finds and get back inside the 14 days, without the rego running out while you wait for parts.