ARC Raiders Trials are the single most reliable progression loop in the game right now — and they're where some of the best blueprints quietly drop. With Search Cars rotating in as the next weekly task, this is your window to prep before it goes live so you can clear all three stars in your first session instead of fumbling the route. Here's the full playbook: how the Trial system actually scores you, what Search Cars asks for, the best maps and kit to farm it, and the reward math on whether 3-starring is worth your time.
Quick answer (TLDR): Search Cars is the next weekly Trial coming to ARC Raiders — you score Trial points by searching vehicles (cars/wrecks) topside, then banking the score by extracting. To 3-star it you need 4,000 points on that single Trial, earned across as many runs as you need (only your best banked score counts). Route through car-dense exterior zones, search every vehicle, and extract before you risk the run. Exact points-per-car for this rotation aren't public yet — plan around the 1,000 / 2,500 / 4,000 star milestones.
What is the ARC Raiders Search Cars Trial?
Search Cars is a weekly Trial that tasks you with searching vehicles — the cars, vans, and wrecks scattered across the surface — for Trial points. It's currently listed as the upcoming rotation, not this week's active set, which means you have time to learn the route before the timer starts and other Raiders are still figuring it out.
The objective is simple in principle: drop topside, find vehicles, search each one, and rack up points. The catch is the same as every Trial in ARC Raiders — none of those points count until you safely extract. Die topside and that run's progress is gone. So Search Cars is less about raw searching and more about searching efficiently and getting out clean.
Because Embark hasn't published the exact points-per-car value for this rotation yet, treat any "X points per car" figure floating around as unconfirmed. What we do know is how the Trial system scores and rewards you — and that's enough to plan a 3-star route right now.
How do ARC Raiders Trials actually work?
Trials are weekly score-based challenges issued from Speranza. Per the official ARC Raiders Trials briefing: "Each week you'll be issued a series of tasks to complete, to assist the good people of Speranza." You get five Trials per week, and Search Cars will be one of them when it rotates in.
Each Trial has three score milestones. Straight from ARC Raiders official: "Challenge rewards are earned by accumulating 1000, 2500, and 4000 points on any single Trial, marked by a star, one-to-three." So the star math is fixed:
| Stars | Points needed | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| ★ 1 star | 1,000 points | Uncommon reward crate |
| ★★ 2 stars | 2,500 points | Rare reward crate |
| ★★★ 3 stars | 4,000 points | Epic reward crate |
The most important rule — and the one new Raiders lose runs to — is that points only bank when you extract. Official wording: "Progress must be made in a single raid — dying results in not only the loss of your gear, but also all your accumulated progress in that raid." You don't have to hit 4,000 in one run, though. Your best banked score per Trial is what's saved; a bad run never lowers a score you already locked in. You chip toward 4,000 across multiple extractions.
On top of the crates, Trials feed a competitive ladder. Official: "Each week you'll be pitted against a pool of 100 Raiders, each vying for promotion to the next rank... Fail to contribute sufficiently and you'll be demoted back into the rank-and-file rookies." Your total score across all five weekly Trials sets your standing in that 100-player division, and at season's end your final rank pays out unique cosmetics.
A few hard facts to anchor your planning:
- Trials reset weekly (Monday), with a fresh five-task set each cycle.
- We're in Trials Season 4 (the seasonal Expedition structure runs in ~62-day cycles).
- Reward crates scale Uncommon → Rare → Epic with each star.
- 3-star Trials are a known source of weapon blueprints — the Bobcat SMG blueprint, for example, drops at a high rate from 3-star Weekly Trials.
That last point is why Search Cars is worth more than it looks: searching cars is low-skill, but the 3-star Epic crate and blueprint chance are real loot.
What Trials are live right now vs Search Cars?
Since Search Cars is upcoming, here's the current active set so you know what's live while you prep (these rotate out when Search Cars rotates in):
- Damage Snitches — deal damage to Snitch recon drones.
- Damage ground-based ARC enemies (Stella Montis) — chip the ground roster on the endgame map.
- Damage Bastions — pour damage into the armored Bastion walkers.
- Open ARC Probes — score per probe opened.
- Heavy Fuze Grenade damage — deal damage with a Heavy Fuze Grenade.
Notice the pattern: most weeks lean on combat Trials that demand decent gear and risk. Search Cars is a rare low-combat Trial — you mostly need to move and loot, not win fights. That makes it one of the friendliest 3-star weeks for newer Raiders, which is exactly why prepping the route pays off.
How do you 3-star the Search Cars Trial fast?
The whole game is points-per-minute-survived. Here's the route logic:
- Pick one Trial and route around it. Don't try to clear all five Trials in a single raid — commit the run to Search Cars and ignore detours. Repeat the run until you beat your previous best and push toward 4,000.
- Favor big exterior maps with roads and parking. Cars cluster where roads, checkpoints, lots, and settlement edges are — so the open surface maps with vehicle traffic give you the densest search targets. Confirm the heaviest car pockets on your map of choice in your first scouting run, then run that loop on repeat.
- Search on the move, never camp. Hit every vehicle along a loop rather than backtracking. Each searched car is points in the bank only if you live — so a steady forward loop toward an extract beats a greedy back-and-forth.
- Path toward an extract, not away from one. Build the loop so your last few cars sit near an extraction point. The second you're in comfortable score range, leave. Banked points you can't lose beat ten more cars you might.
- Use the rotation timing. Other Raiders breach and aggro ARC early in a session — let them. Searching the outskirts first and saving contested interior/checkpoint pockets for later means the lobby has thinned by the time you arrive.
Because dying wipes the run, the meta isn't "search the most cars" — it's "search a solid batch and extract repeatedly." Three clean 1,300-point runs beats one greedy 4,000-point attempt that dies at the exit.
What's the best kit for a Search Cars run?
Search Cars is a looting Trial, so survivability and stealth beat firepower. You're not here to win PvP — you're here to bank points and leave. The community consensus for low-stakes looting runs applies perfectly:
- Run a free or cheap kit. There's no reason to bring a 100k loadout to a searching Trial where the goal is to extract, not to brawl. A free kit keeps your loss-on-death near zero, so you can run the loop aggressively without fear.
- Protect a safe pocket. Even a Light shield with no augment gives you a basic safe pocket, so anything good you pull from a car (blueprints, rare parts) survives a bad fight.
- Pack stims. Searching topside is movement-heavy and you'll cross open ground — stamina and heals matter more than damage. Veteran Raiders flag car-search weeks as stim-heavy, so load up on Adrenaline/stims over extra ammo.
- Stay light and quiet. Lower weight = faster repositioning between vehicles and quicker breaks to cover when an ARC patrol or a rat shows up.
The throughline: bring nothing you'd cry about losing, prioritize mobility and heals, and treat every fight as optional. A searching Trial rewards the Raider who avoids the firefight, not the one who wins it.
Is 3-starring the Search Cars Trial worth it?
Short answer: yes, especially this week. Three reasons:
- The Epic crate. Hitting 4,000 points unlocks the Epic reward crate — the best of the three tiers — for a Trial that barely asks you to fight.
- Blueprint odds. 3-star Weekly Trials are a proven blueprint source (the Bobcat SMG blueprint, among others, drops from them at a high rate). A low-combat searching Trial is the cheapest possible path to a 3-star blueprint roll.
- Division score. Your Search Cars total feeds your standing in the 100-Raider division, which decides your end-of-season cosmetic payout. Easy points here lift your whole weekly rank.
The only real cost is time — searching cars is slow and repetitive. If you'd rather skip the grind and jump straight to the rewards and rank, that's exactly what a Trials carry is for.
Skip the grind — let timesaver.gg bank the points for you:
>
- ARC Raiders Trials & Carry — all services — fast 3-star Trial completion, leveling, and rank carries · trusted & secure
- ARC Raiders Blueprints — from $0.99 — 60+ blueprints · unlock rare weapons · fast delivery
- ARC Raiders Materials — from $0.02 — all rarities · instant delivery
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Search Cars Trial in ARC Raiders? Search Cars is an upcoming weekly Trial where you score points by searching vehicles (cars and wrecks) on the surface maps. Like every Trial, the points only count once you extract — die topside and that run's progress is lost. Reach 1,000 / 2,500 / 4,000 points to earn one, two, and three stars.
How many points do you need to 3-star Search Cars? You need 4,000 points on the Search Cars Trial specifically to earn all three stars and the Epic reward crate. You don't have to hit it in one run — only your best banked score counts, so you can build toward 4,000 across multiple extractions.
How many points is each car worth in the Search Cars Trial? Embark hasn't published the exact points-per-car value for this rotation yet, so ignore any unconfirmed "X points per car" claims. Plan around the star milestones (1,000 / 2,500 / 4,000) and search every vehicle on your loop until you clear them.
What's the best map for the Search Cars Trial? Favor the large exterior surface maps with roads, checkpoints, and parking areas — that's where vehicles cluster. Scout the densest car pockets on your first run, then loop that path repeatedly, always pathing toward an extract.
Do Trial points reset if I die in ARC Raiders? Only that run's in-progress points are lost when you die — your previously banked best score for each Trial is safe. That's why you should extract early and often rather than greed for a single huge run.
Are ARC Raiders Trials worth doing? Yes. Trials hand out Uncommon, Rare, and Epic reward crates plus weapon blueprints (3-star Trials are a known blueprint source), and your total Trial score sets your division rank and end-of-season cosmetics. Search Cars in particular is a low-combat, high-value week.
