Auto Shops are a type of property that was added along with the Tuners update in July, 2021. They’re a pretty fun little property that can be pretty lucrative as well. Read on to learn everything you need to know about Auto Shops.

Contents:

Unlocking Auto Shops

Auto shops will not automatically be available to you. First you’ll need to go to the LS Car Meet and watch a few cutscenes. After you’ve met Sassanta you’ll be able to find Auto Shops on the Maze Bank Foreclosures website.

Auto Shop Locations

Like other properties, the auto shops are all the same on the inside, so the decision on which auto shop to buy should be based on location and price.

However, since they’re all just in the city, the location doesn’t make that much of a difference. If you have other businesses or an apartment close to one of the locations and want to cut down on driving time, fine. Otherwise our recommendation is simply to purchase the cheapest one and be done with it.

Here’s a list of all the Auto Shop locations and their price points:

  • Mission Row - GTA$ 1,670,000
  • Strawberry - GTA$ 1,705,000
  • Rancho - GTA$ 1,750,000
  • Burton - GTA$ 1,830,000
  • La Mesa - GTA$ 1,920,000

Auto Shop Upgrades

Again like most properties, there’s a lot of customization you can do with Auto Shops. However, none of it makes a difference for your earning potential with the business so we recommend skipping the customization.

There are some caveats to the above statement though, so if you’re not sure read through this list of customizations and see if any might be right for you:

Style

This is purely aesthetic, but if you have the cash might as well make your place look cool. Here are the options and their prices:

  • Flawless - GTA$ 265,000
  • Polished - GTA$ 275,000
  • Concrete Chic - GTA$ 285,000
  • Nostalgia Trip - GTA$ 325,000
  • Route 68 - GTA$ 340,000
  • Super Chibi - GTA$ 360,000
  • Wildstyle - GTA$ 425,000
  • Race and Chase - GTA$ 450,000

Tint

Again, this is simply aesthetic. The tint is the accent color used for things like railings in your shop. There are 9 colors to choose from and changing the tint costs GTA$ 187,500. Here’s a list of the colors:

  • Yellow (default color)
  • White
  • Black
  • Green
  • Orange
  • Red
  • Fuschia
  • Blue
  • Purple

Emblem

The emblem will be on the front of your shop as well as a few places inside like on your meeting table. Once again, there’s no reason to purchase these other than for aesthetics. Here are the options and their price points:

  • Hot Rod - GTA$ 25,000
  • Americana GTA$ 62,000
  • Euro - GTA$ 68,500
  • Modern - GTA$ 75,500
  • JPN - GTA$ 85,000
  • Wildstyle - GTA$ 94,500
  • Joystick - GTA$ 104,500

Staff

Staff can actually help you in gameplay. When you have a customer bring their car in to be customized you have the option to do it yourself or have a staff member do it. Then you can also have a staff member deliver the car when it’s finished, although you’ll get slightly less pay if you do.

  • Staff Member 1 - GTA$ 385,000
  • Staff Member 2 - GTA$ 385,000

Extras

The two extras are personal quarters and a car lift. The personal quarters are only useful if you want to spawn in your auto shop, or have a place to store weapons or change your clothes there.

The car lift makes it so you can be customizing two customer vehicles at the same time. However, it would take customizing quite a few vehicles in order to make back the money you spent.

  • Personal Quarters - GTA$ 340,000
  • Car Lift - GTA$ 650,000

Membership

This is if you haven’t already become a member of the LS Car Meet. It costs GTA$ 50,000 here or at the LSCM itself, so this is just a convenient place to do that if you haven’t already.

Auto Shop Setup Mission

After purchasing your auto shop you’ll have to complete an initial mission before gaining access to the other Contract Missions. To get started, visit your Auto Shop for the first time and watch the cutscene.

They’ll ask you to get Sessanta’s impounded car from the police station. You can start this mission via the white board up the stairs in your Auto Shop. Like other business-related missions, you’ll need to be registered as a VIP, CEO, or MC President.

The car will be guarded by several police officers. You’ll need to take them out and quickly get the car before reinforcements arrive. You’ll then need to lose your wanted level before heading back to the Auto Shop.

Although it doesn’t show at first, this mission is timed. Sessanta will let you know when you have only five minutes left.

Auto Shop Contract Missions

Once you complete the setup mission there will be another cutscene in which three contract missions are added to the white board in your Auto Shop. Each contract mission has three steps from setup to finale, and can be completed solo or with a team.

There are quite a few different contract missions available here, but you will only be able to choose from 3 at a time. Once you complete one, you'll get to see some others.

The Exotic Exports List

Once you complete your first contract mission you’ll unlock the Exotic Exports List. You can find it on a blackboard in your Auto Shop.

Similar to Simeon Export Requests, you simply have to steal a car from the list and delivery it to Sessanta’s partner at the docks.

However, there's a lot more earning potential here. You'll earn GTA$ 20,000 for each of the first 9 vehicles on the list, then GTA$ 120,00 for the 10th, totalling GTA$ 300,000. The list resets each day so this might be a good one to add to your daily grind.

There are 100 different locations the vehicles from this list can spawn, so it's just a matter of going through them methodically. You can find a lot more detail by checking out our article on How to Find All 10 Exotic Exports.

Legit Auto Shop Customer Business

Your Auto Shop also functions as a legit business, doing customization work on customer vehicles. Periodically you’ll receive a text from Sassanta letting you know there’s a new customer vehicle.

Simply head to your auto shop, customize the vehicle as per the checklist, then deliver it to the customer when it’s finished. You can also just customize it the way you see fit, ignoring the customer requests, and sometimes the customer will love it anyway and give you a bonus.

Both the customization step and the delivery step can be delegated to employees if you’d rather not do it yourself, but they don't usually do a very good job so the payout will be reduced. You just can't get good help these days.

You’ll usually make somewhere around GTA$ 20,000-30,000 per customization job. Not bad for a gig that doesn't break any rules. Plus if you're a decent driver you can usually complete these in about 5 minutes, which is faster than the VIP Missions with similar payouts.

Another bonus to completing the deliveries yourself is it's an excuse to cruise around Los Santos keeping an eye out for Exotic Exports.