If you are about to buy a new garage in Grand Theft Auto Online, you might want to hold off for now. Rather than buying a simple ten-car garage, you should take the leap and get an Auto Shop. It comes with enough room for ten cars, facilities to modify your vehicles, and a job board, so you can make some sweet profits easily.
In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about the Auto Shop, including all the locations, Auto Shop Contracts, and which upgrades you should consider getting to earn the most money.
Updated May 31 2023, by Bryony-Hope Green: With GTA 5 Online getting more business-focused content recently, we are updating this GTA Auto Shop guide to give you more understanding of how the Auto Shop works, how to unlock it, and the upgrades available. All the Los Santos Drug Wars and Los Santos Tuners updates to the Online mode are working to give you more variety in the gameplay available to you, while also being a great way to earn a lot of money fast. Purchasing businesses like the Auto Shop gives you great variety in contract missions, as well as expanding your contacts within San Andreas – which is always helpful whatever you are doing.
How To Unlock The Auto Shops
In order for you to be given the option to purchase an Auto Shop from Maze Bank Foreclosures, you must make a trip to the LS Car Meet.
To do this, you must find the group’s logo on your map (a yellow ‘LS’ in a circle) near La Mesa, and go to the warehouse they use as a base of operations.
Enter the warehouse, and you will be taken through a cutscene that introduces you to Mimi, the leader of the meet. Once the cutscene is over, you can purchase an Auto Shop on Maze Bank Foreclosures on your phone.
You will then be given the option to purchase a membership for $50,000, but this is a one-time payment that gives you access to a lot of vehicles at trade price.
This is optional but can be worth it if you want to deck out your Auto Shop garage with cars.
All Auto Shop Locations
All the Auto Shops are the same, so you don’t need to panic over which one to buy. There are five different locations all dotted around Los Santos, so you should focus on price over location if possible, as this will save you some cash to spend on upgrades for the Auto Shop.
However, it is worth trying to pick one that is nearby to some of your other businesses, so there is minimal travel distance between running jobs.
Mission Row Auto Shop
|
Standard Price |
Upgraded Price (Staff, Personal Quarters, and Car Lift) |
|---|---|
|
$1,670,000 |
$3,430,000 |
Strawberry Auto Shop
|
Standard Price |
Upgraded Price (Staff, Personal Quarters, and Car Lift) |
|---|---|
|
$1,705,000 |
$3,465,000 |
Rancho Auto Shop
|
Standard Price |
Upgraded Price (Staff, Personal Quarters, and Car Lift) |
|---|---|
|
$1,750,000 |
$3,510,000 |
Burton Auto Shop
|
Standard Price |
Upgraded Price (Staff, Personal Quarters, and Car Lift) |
|---|---|
|
$1,830,000 |
$3,590,000 |
La Mesa Auto Shop
|
Standard Price |
Upgraded Price (Staff, Personal Quarters, and Car Lift) |
|---|---|
|
$1,920,000 |
$3,680,000 |
Which Auto Shop Upgrades Should You Buy In GTA Online?
There are five optional upgrades that you must consider when buying an Auto Shop. These are not essential in running an Auto Shop, but having some upgrades can really be beneficial.
Style Upgrades
These are cosmetic customisations on how your Auto Shop will be decorated and will not affect the running of the business.
|
Style |
Additional Cost |
|---|---|
|
Standard |
FREE |
|
Flawless |
$265,000 |
|
Polished |
$275,000 |
|
Concrete Chic |
$285,000 |
|
Nostalgia Trip |
$325,000 |
|
Route 68 |
$340,000 |
|
Super Chibi |
$360,000 |
|
Wildstyle |
$425,000 |
|
Race and Chase |
$450,000 |
Tint Upgrades
These are another cosmetic customisation to decide what the prominent colour in the Auto Shop will be, and will not affect the running of the business.
|
Tint |
Additional Cost |
|---|---|
|
Yellow |
FREE |
|
White |
$187,500 |
|
Brown |
$187,500 |
|
Green |
$187,500 |
|
Orange |
$187,500 |
|
Red |
$187,500 |
|
Pink |
$187,500 |
|
Blue |
$187,500 |
|
Purple |
$187,500 |
Emblem Upgrades
Similarly to the Style and Tint, these are purely cosmetic, and allow you to choose which logo is shown around the Auto Shop. This again does not affect the running of the business.
|
Emblem |
Additional Cost |
|---|---|
|
Crew Emblem |
FREE |
|
Hot Rod |
$25,000 |
|
Americana |
$62,000 |
|
Euro |
$68,500 |
|
Modern |
$75,500 |
|
JPN |
$85,000 |
|
Wildstyle |
$94,500 |
|
Joystick |
$104,500 |
|
Crew Name |
$50,000 |
Staff Upgrades
There are two members of staff available for hire that will help increase profits for your Auto Shop. These staff members will deliver vehicles that you modify for clients, saving you time so that you can focus on other ventures.
Staff will take a cut of the profits when assigned to deliver a vehicle, so you will make money passively – but it won’t be the same amount as you would earn by delivering cars yourself.
If you can, it is worth investing in both members of staff, just so you can give yourself time to focus on other businesses if needed.
|
Staff |
Additional Cost |
|---|---|
|
Staff Member One |
$385,000 |
|
Staff Member Two |
$385,000 |
In this category, you can get Personal Quarters, which come with a wardrobe, gun locker, and bed. Having the Personal Quarters means you can spawn in the Auto Shop upon loading up the game.
You can also buy a second car lift to modify two cars at once.
Having the second lift is only useful if you have a second staff member because if two customers come in, you won’t be able to deliver both yourself.
|
Extras |
Additional Cost |
|---|---|
|
Personal Quarters |
$340,000 |
|
Car Lift |
$650,000 |
What Are Auto Shop Clients In GTA Online?
While doing other activities around San Andreas, you will occasionally receive texts letting you know that a client has delivered their car to your Auto Shop.
When this happens, you will find a car parked in your Auto Shop when you return. You must modify the car to the client’s specifications and then deliver the car back to them for a profit.
If you don’t want to spend time delivering cars, this is where your staff members come in. They will deliver any cars you modify, giving you more time to focus on contracts.
What Are Contracts In GTA Online?
The key part of the Auto Shop is the job board. This is where you can look at all the available Auto Shop contracts, which you can then complete to earn cash. Contracts are short missions that play out like a heist finale.
Depending on the contract, you will need to break into certain areas and either steal certain items or assassinate targets. There are six contracts available in total:
- The Bank Contract
- The Data Contract
- The Superdollar Contract
- The Prison Contract
- The Agency Contract
- The ECU Contract
There will be a random selection of three contracts available on the board at once. These update often, so if there is one that you don’t enjoy, it will eventually rotate out.
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