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One of the best businesses to ever come to GTA Online was the auto shop property. This type of business not only allows you to modify clients’ cars to make money, but you can use it as the planning location for a variety of high-stakes heists! It’s one of my personal favorite businesses in the game, and I know many will agree with me.
If you’re one of the players who have yet to buy into this business, chances are you don’t know which location is the best to buy for your auto shop in GTA Online. There are quite a few to go over, but luckily for you, we’ve ranked each and every one from good to best so you can make the right choice.
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Auto Shops Explained + Overview
Before we dive into our ranking, let’s start out by giving a brief overview of what auto shops are and how they work. Auto shops are an in-game business in GTA V that has three different aspects: modifying and delivering cars, participating in “exotic exports,” and pulling off heists.
Every now and then, customers will drop off cars for you to modify according to their instructions. You can then deliver them yourself (at the risk of getting attacked by other players), or order your staff to deliver them (if you have the right upgrade).
Exotic exports is where you’re given a list of cars (shown on a board upstairs) that can be found on the map in free roam. You can then steal them and deliver them to the docks of Los Santos for a reward!
Lastly, there are the heists. You can find a planning board upstairs which displays three different heists for you to choose from at once. You’ll have to do two setup missions before doing a finale. These are a lot of fun and they can be completed much faster than the regular heists of the game. For many people, this is the best aspect of the business, and I think I have to agree with them.
Every Auto Shop, Ranked From Good to Best
With all that out of the way, let’s get right into this ranking! There are a total of five different auto shop locations for you to buy, and all of them are located in Los Santos. Before buying, you’ll want to consider things such as where the location is relative to your other businesses, as well as what your budget is and what business activities you want to do.
5/5
Rancho
First on our list, we have the auto shop located at Rancho. This one is being sold for a total price of $1,750,000. It’s a pretty poor location, which means that doing heists from this spot is not ideal. This is definitely the worst auto shop based solely on where it’s located in the city. It’s right in the middle in terms of how expensive it is, so that doesn’t help its case at all.
Despite its southern location, however, it is pretty close to the highway. This means that while you are still pretty far from a lot of your destinations, you can get to and from this place fairly fast. Personally, I don’t think it really saves it from its position in last place, but the highway access does alleviate some of its problems. If you’re going to buy this spot, make sure you get the staff upgrades so they can do the deliveries for you.
I’ve heard some people on the forms say it’s worth getting if you have access to a hangar in LSIA, but even then I don’t think this is worth buying. Getting a hangar at the Los Santos airport isn’t really worth it to begin with when the locations at the military base are so much better. This spot is positioned in a (usually) unpopulated location. Because of this lack of other players, it is good if you don’t want to get griefed by others while you are hanging around here.
4/5
Strawberry
Up next on our list for every auto shop in GTA Online ranked, we have the Strawberry auto shop! This auto shop property will cost players exactly $1,705,000 to buy. It’s the second cheapest in the game, so it’s perfect if you’re on a budget. Another nice thing is that this location is free if you own Twitch Prime and have it linked to your Social Club account! Considering it costs almost two million bucks, this is a really great deal.
It’s in a pretty good location — a very central part of the map, just to the south of Downtown Los Santos. Because of its close proximity to the Union Depository building, this is a good location if you’re looking to grind the Union Depository Heist. This is worth doing as it’s the most profitable heist you can do with the auto shop property, paying a whopping $300,000 on completion!
There are some other heists in the game that take place to the north of the city, such as the ECU Job, which takes place outside of Los Santos and in Blaine County. So just keep in mind it’s a give-and-take with this location. I also really like this location as it’s very close to Benny’s. This means that you can take any rides you have stored in your auto shop there for some high-end upgrades. Lastly, this is a pretty okay spot to do vehicle deliveries from due to its central location in the city.
3/5
Mission Row
Taking spot number three on our ranking, we have the auto shop located in Mission Row! This is one that I don’t see very many players picking up, which is a shame, as it’s a pretty decent location. It can be purchased for a total price tag of $1,670,000. This makes it the least expensive auto shop in the game, so it’s perfect if you’re interested in saving some money.
It’s also good if you’re interested in grinding the Union Depository heist. When you do the finale, you’ll spawn just outside your auto shop. This means that you can quickly get to the location from this spot. If you only had the choice of grinding one auto shop heist, you should definitely do the Union Depository Job!
Due to its centralized location in the city, it isn’t too far away from other important businesses. If you happen to own an office in Downtown Los Santos, this is a good one to pick up due to its close proximity. There’s also an arcade and a warehouse not too far to the northeast of this site. Due to the previously mentioned low price combined with the location, this auto shop is pretty good if you are a new player who is trying to get into grinding in GTA Online as soon as you possibly can.
2/5
La Mesa
For our next best location, we have the La Mesa auto shop. This business can be purchased for a price of $1,920,000. This makes it the most expensive auto shop property in the game. The in-game description advertises it as being right next to the highway. This sounds great, but it’s not like there is an on-ramp right next to the shop or anything. You’ll still need to drive around for a bit before you can actually get onto the highway itself, which can be a pain.
The location as a whole is pretty solid, being in a good spot to do the Lost Contract heist. I would recommend picking this one up if you happen to own the arcade — it’s literally on the same street and just a few buildings down! There is also a cargo warehouse on the same street. This makes a great location if you’re a money grinder who owns these two other properties.
If you have your spawn location set to the casino, you can drive down from there to here, as it’s very close by. This means you can do your daily spin when you first log in and then stop by this auto shop to do some of the heists. To summarize, this is a great spot for money grinders who want something next to their other businesses, as this is one of the best locations for those who own or are planning on getting all the properties they can.
1/5
Burton
Coming in at spot number one, the best auto shop in GTA Online is the Burton location! It will cost you exactly $1,830,000, which makes it the second most expensive location in the game. Burton is a really great place to purchase an auto shop for a few different reasons. For starters, it is near a lot of the other businesses in Downtown Vinewood. I happen to own the arcade, nightclub, and MC clubhouse in this area. So keeping tabs on all of my businesses is very, very easy for me to do.
Secondly, it’s in a very centralized location in Los Santos. This makes it really good for all business aspects, especially the heists. When you start a heist from your auto shop, you always spawn right outside the property. This means that with a centralized location, you can get to just about any heist location on the map quick as a breeze.
Last but not least, it happens to be a great location for delivering vehicles to customers. If you don’t plan on having your employees deliver vehicles for you, this is a good location to buy. It usually doesn’t take too long to hop in one of your client’s cars and deliver it to them without getting blown up by other players. The drop-off spots are usually pretty close to the Burton location.
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