diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index f9c7f6086..f2d7a1224 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -66,8 +66,6 @@ freebsd_update_contigmem_mod
 # More information: https://github.com/spdk/spdk/issues/1693
 CC_TYPE=$(grep CC_TYPE mk/cc.mk)
 if hash lcov && ! [[ "$CC_TYPE" == *"clang"* ]]; then
-	# setup output dir for unittest.sh
-	export UT_COVERAGE=$out/ut_coverage
 	export LCOV_OPTS="
 		--rc lcov_branch_coverage=1
 		--rc lcov_function_coverage=1
diff --git a/test/unit/unittest.sh b/test/unit/unittest.sh
index 1777325e5..95c3a8417 100755
--- a/test/unit/unittest.sh
+++ b/test/unit/unittest.sh
@@ -180,8 +180,10 @@ else
 fi
 if [ "$cov_avail" = "yes" ]; then
 	# set unit test output dir if not specified in env var
-	if [ -z ${UT_COVERAGE+x} ]; then
+	if [[ -z $output_dir ]]; then
 		UT_COVERAGE="ut_coverage"
+	else
+		UT_COVERAGE=$output_dir/ut_coverage
 	fi
 	mkdir -p $UT_COVERAGE
 	export LCOV_OPTS="