Sell your car in Salt Lake City: running, dead or failed emissions
Whether or not it passed its last Salt Lake County emissions test, you can get a fast, honest offer on the car, and we pick it up free from anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley.
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After a failed Salt Lake County test
- 01Get the diagnosis in writing. The county tells owners to get a written estimate that includes the diagnosis and the recommended repairs. If it doesn’t look right, get a second technician’s opinion or call the Air Quality Bureau at 385-468-3837 (788 East Woodoak Lane, Murray, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
- 02Know the waiver bar. A waiver is the county’s last resort. It can let a failing car be registered for that year, and each one is decided case by case. You need all four: a failed test with two or more trouble codes, a diagnostic test from a licensed repair shop, at least $450 of recommended emissions repairs done by a licensed shop, and a second failed test with at least one of the original codes gone. Tampered or smoking cars don’t qualify.
- 03Or sell it as it is. You don’t need to fix it first. Describe the failure, the winter rust and the miles as they are, and the as-is number you’re quoted is the number that holds. The truck comes to you, and payment happens at the handoff, not after.
Where we pick up around Salt Lake City
Free pickup covers the whole Salt Lake Valley: downtown (84101), Rose Park (84116) and Sugar House in the city, and West Valley City, Millcreek, Murray and Sandy beyond it.
Snow on pickup day? Salt Lake City plows emergency routes first, busy streets second and neighborhood streets last, and its goal is to clear snow and ice within 36 hours after a storm. Pickups keep running through winter. A big storm can shift a pickup window by a day, and a shoveled driveway or a clear stretch of curb is all the truck needs.
When the county test is due, and what a fail means
Here the test belongs to the Salt Lake County Health Department: its Vehicle Emissions Program licenses the independent stations that do the testing. For 2026, its table lists a test as required for 2022 and 2024 models and for every model year from 2020 back to 1968. Cars from 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2026 skip this year, and 1967 and older are exempt.
A car that fails can’t be registered in Salt Lake County until it is repaired, retested and passes. Whether that repair is worth paying for is the real decision, and the steps below set the county’s route next to selling the car as it is.
Cash for your car in Salt Lake City
Two sets of city rules apply to junk cars in Salt Lake City that sit on private property. The city’s Good Neighbor Guide says no parking on lawns, and that yards are not to be used as storage. Civil Enforcement lists inoperable vehicles on a property and parking on unpaved surfaces among the common violations it investigates. Most of the time it acts only when someone reports a concern, and only on private property. If that’s why you’re looking for cash for cars in Salt Lake City, ask for an offer on the car as it sits. If it’s beyond repair, sell it as a junk car.
Not sure it's beyond repair? Selling a car with engine problems covers a blown engine or head gasket, and selling a car with a bad transmission covers one that slips or has no reverse; both set the repair bill against selling the car as it is.
Salt Lake City’s clocks on a parked car
- •48 hours in one place — a vehicle shouldn’t sit on a public street longer than that, and moving it to another spot on the same side of the street doesn’t reset the timer (City Ordinances 12.56.520 and 12.56.525, SLC MyStreet).
- •Three months of expired registration — the car can be ticketed the day after registration runs out, and it could be towed once it has been expired more than three months (City Ordinance 12.56.040, SLC MyStreet).
- •40 days on old tickets — if a car was impounded over two or more citations more than 40 days old, every citation over 40 days old has to be paid before it’s released (SLC impounded vehicles).
Asked by Salt Lake City sellers
What should I know about pickup from a downtown garage or meter?
For a garage, tell us the clearance when you book. At a City meter, plan around the limits: $3.50 an hour, two hours per spot from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and four hours from 6 to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. City meters are free on Sundays.
My car was towed or booted in Salt Lake City. Where do I start?
Call Urban Services, which runs the city’s parking enforcement and its contracted towing and impound, at (801) 535-6628, or non-emergency police at (801) 799-3000. If the car was impounded, Utah’s Impound Vehicle Search shows which lot has it, or you can call the Impound Desk at (801) 974-2430. To get a boot off, pay all the related parking citations, then call City Collections at (801) 535-7100, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Will Salt Lake City police do a VIN inspection?
No. SLCPD sends city residents and businesses who need a DMV-requested VIN inspection to DMV Enforcement at (801) 297-2600, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where do Salt Lake City residents go for title work?
The Utah DMV, the Tax Commission’s Motor Vehicle Division, lists two offices in Salt Lake County, and neither is in the city: Taylorsville DMV at 4315 S 2700 W, Suite 1200, and South Valley DMV at 14555 South Minuteman Drive in Draper. Both keep weekday hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and serve appointments first, with limited walk-ins after 4 p.m. Any DMV office in the state will serve you, whatever county you live in.
For the title, the plates and the sold report, go to selling a car in Utah.