Rego due? How a mobile pink slip works

A mobile pink slip is the same safety inspection you’d get at a station, carried out at your home or work instead. A technician comes to the car, works through the Transport for NSW checks, and a pass goes to Transport for NSW electronically. You pay the same inspection fee, plus a call-out fee for the visit.

Who a mobile pink slip suits

It doesn’t suit everyone. If there’s an inspection station around the corner, you can take a morning off without much trouble and the car runs fine, driving it in will cost you less. We’d rather you knew that before you book with anyone.

Where a mobile inspection earns its call-out fee is when getting the car to a workshop is the hard part. That tends to be:

• people who work set hours and can’t lose half a day in a waiting room
• parents who’d have to bring the kids along, or plan the whole day around a drop-off
• households with two or three cars due around the same time
• businesses with work vehicles that need to stay on the road
• anyone whose rego has already run out and doesn’t want to drive the car to get it checked

If the rego lapsed recently, a pink slip is usually still what you need. Once it’s been expired for more than three months, the car needs a blue slip instead, which is a different inspection. Our sister business, Blue Slip Today (opens in a new tab), handles those.

Before you book

Start by checking we cover your area. Pink Slip Approach works across Cumberland and the rest of Sydney, from Berowra in the north to Waterfall in the south. You can check your suburb before you go any further. If it doesn’t come up in the search, we don’t cover it yet.

It is also worth knowing what the inspection covers before the technician arrives, so nothing on the day is a surprise. Our guide to what can fail a pink slip goes through the standards and where cars usually come unstuck. If the car is a year older than its last check, budget for the inspection plus something.

How booking works

Our online quote runs in four short steps.

1. Your details. Your name and phone number, the car or cars, and where the car will be. We come to your home or work.
2. What you need. A pink slip on its own, or with anything else the car is due for.
3. Your time. Pick a day and a time window that suits, and whether you need it done urgently.
4. Review and pay. You see the full price before you pay.

Once the request is in, we contact you to go through the details and confirm the appointment. We do same-day inspections, so if the rego runs out this week, say so.

Where the car needs to be

Tell us where the car will be parked when you book. The inspection includes checking underneath the car and testing the headlight aim, so the technician needs room to get around it. If the spot is unusual, like a tight apartment car park or a steep driveway, mention it in the notes so we know what to expect before we arrive.

What happens during the visit

The technician carries out the same safety check an inspection station would, against the same Transport for NSW standards. Only the location is different.

That means working through the whole car: tyres and wheels, brakes, steering and suspension, every light, the windscreen and wipers, seatbelts, the horn, mirrors, the exhaust, any oil leaks, rust in the parts that hold the car together, and the warning lights on the dash. How long it takes depends on the car and what turns up.

If it passes

The result goes to Transport for NSW electronically. There’s no paper slip to lose, and nothing for you to post or drop off.

From there, you renew your rego the usual way, through Service NSW online, in the app or at a service centre. You’ll also need your CTP insurance (the green slip) sorted, since that’s paid separately. The pink slip result is valid for six months, so you have time, but don’t leave it so long that you have to start again.

If it doesn’t pass

The technician will go through what failed and what needs fixing before the car can pass. You can’t renew rego until it’s fixed.

At a fixed inspection station, there’s a 14-day window: complete the repairs, bring the car back to the same station within 14 days, and there’s no second inspection fee. Because the whole point of a mobile inspection is that nobody drives anywhere, ask us how a reinspection would work for your car when you book. It’s worth asking any mobile provider before you need the answer.

How much does a mobile pink slip cost?

The NSW Government explains the difference in one line on its own safety check page: a mobile provider can come to you, the pink slip fee is the same, but a call-out fee may apply.

So the inspection is the same inspection. What the call-out pays for is everything before it starts: a technician, their equipment and a vehicle getting to your street, and the time spent driving between jobs across Sydney.

Our pink slip is $140 at your home or work, GST included. Additional charges apply on weekends and for jobs outside metropolitan Sydney. The pricing page lists our other services too.

Whether that is worth paying depends on what your time is worth. If there is an inspection station five minutes away and you have a free weekday morning, driving in is the cheaper choice and we would tell you the same over the phone. The quote form shows the price for your car, including the discount for doing two or more cars in the same visit.

Who we are

Pink Slip Approach is locally owned and has been running since 2024. Since then we’ve served more than 6,000 customers, and the business is a Local Business Awards 2026 winner for Cumberland City.

We mostly hear from people whose rego is due in a few days, or who have just noticed it’s already run out. If that’s you, book now and we’ll take it from there.