Garages and impound

Parking

You can only park in a free bay inside a garage. Street parking isn't saved.

1. Drive into a free bay and stop.
2. Line the vehicle up with the bay. When [E] Park in bay shows, press E. You need to be the driver.
3. Anyone else in the vehicle gets 5 seconds to climb out.

Once parked, the vehicle stays in its bay as a real vehicle, locked to everyone, you included, until you take it out. Its damage, fuel and dirt are saved as they are, so parking doesn't repair anything.

Some garages say [E] Store at instead, because they keep vehicles in a list rather than in bays. A garage can also charge a parking fee; if it does, you're told the price.

Boats and aircraft

• Boats: drop anchor on open water to park. Use the anchor in the vehicle controls, or the Anchor option on the boat. Marinas don't have a park prompt.
• Planes and helicopters: inside a hangar or helipad area, press E to park in the nearest free spot. Plane hangars take planes only. Helicopters park at a helipad.

Taking a vehicle out

Walk up to your parked vehicle and hold E on [E] Hold to drive. It unlocks and you get the key. Getting in any other way won't work while it's parked.

The garage menu

Open the garage menu at the garage's ticket machine, attendant or [E] Open Garage marker. It shows where each of your vehicles is, and Locate marks one on your map.

A vehicle that's in a garage's list, not in a bay, needs Place in a bay first. It appears locked in a free bay, and you then walk up to it and drive it. If you don't collect it within 10 minutes, it goes back to the list.

When every bay is full, the garage may move the vehicle that has been parked longest into its list to make room. It only does this to vehicles parked for at least 72 hours, and their owner gets a message.

Moving vehicles from one garage to another isn't available.

After a restart

Parked vehicles come back in the same bay after a server restart.

Vehicles that were out in the city when the server went down are put back in the list at the garage they were last stored in, for free. Use Place in a bay to drive them again.

The 7-day rule

If neither you nor the last person who parked a vehicle has played for 7 days, the vehicle isn't put back in its bay at the next server start. It stays in that garage's list instead. Nothing is lost and there's no fee: use Place in a bay when you're back.

Job vehicles don't follow this rule. A boat left at anchor goes to its marina's list.

Lost and wrecked vehicles

• Lost: a vehicle that's out but can't be found in the city (for example after a crash) can be recovered at any garage of its type. Recovery is free.
• Wrecked: recovering a wreck clears it away and puts the vehicle back as it was last stored. It's free if the vehicle is insured. Otherwise it costs 10% of the vehicle's dealership price, or $2,000 if the dealership doesn't sell that model.

Recovered vehicles appear locked in a free bay at that garage.

Insurance

Take out insurance in the Insurance app on your phone. It's charged to your bank every day:

If a daily charge fails, the cover lapses. Nothing is refunded when you cancel. A wrecked vehicle can't be insured until you've recovered it.

Impound

Police can impound your vehicle, and so can a tow crew that police call. You get a message saying where it went and why.

There are two impound lots:

• Impound - Mission Row
• Impound - Sandy Shores

Getting it back

The officer sets the fee and can add a hold time. At the lot, your vehicle shows one of these:

• Ready: pay and take it.
• On hold: it can't be released until the hold ends.
• Police release: police have to release it.

Choose Pay & release and pay by bank or cash. Then either drive it off the lot or send it to a public garage.

A vehicle repossessed by the dealership can't be released at a lot. Speak to the dealership to buy it back.

House garages

If you own a house with a garage, you can park on the drive or store vehicles in the house garage from the Home section of the radial menu. A house garage holds 4 vehicles to start with.