GTA Online Auto Shop Contracts (2026): Every Payout Ranked & Why the Nerfs Missed Them

Title Update 1.73 rearranged the entire GTA Online economy on July 14, 2026. Cayo Perico target values came down, thirteen heists and contact missions were rebuilt around a once-per-week bonus, and r/gtaonline has spent three weeks arguing about whether grinding is dead. One money method was not on Rockstar's list at all: the Auto Shop Robbery Contracts.

That omission is the point. While the Casino Heist, the Doomsday acts and Cayo Perico all now pay you properly once a week and then drop off a cliff, the eight Auto Shop contracts pay the same amount on your first run and your fifteenth. This is the full breakdown — every contract payout, the 10% cut nobody mentions, the real GTA$-per-hour, and whether a GTA$1,670,000 property is still worth buying three and a half months out from GTA 6.

Quick answer: how much do Auto Shop Contracts pay in 2026?

TL;DR — There are eight Robbery Contracts. Seven pay GTA$170,000–GTA$185,000; the Union Depository Contract pays GTA$300,000 solo and up to GTA$375,000 with four players. KDJ and Sessanta take a 10% cut, so the leader banks GTA$153,000–GTA$337,500, with associates paid GTA$50,000–GTA$65,000 each. Only three of the eight sit on the job board at a time and they rotate. Auto Shops cost GTA$1,670,000–GTA$1,920,000, and the shop stacks two more income streams on top: Exotic Exports (GTA$300,000 per real-life day) and customer car jobs (GTA$20,000–GTA$30,000 each). Critically, Auto Shop Contracts were not included in Title Update 1.73's weekly-bonus rework, so their payouts do not decay on repeat runs. If you'd rather own the shop today than grind for it, a GTA 5 money top-up covers the purchase outright.

Here's the roadmap:

• Every contract payout — all eight, ranked, before and after the cut
• What 1.73 actually changed — and why contracts dodged it
• The real GTA$ per hour — contracts vs. Exotic Exports vs. customer cars
• Which Auto Shop to buy — all five prices and what actually matters
• The upgrades worth paying for — and the ones that do nothing
• The GTA$1.6M "Union Depository" posts — why you should not chase them

What do all eight Auto Shop Contracts pay?

You unlock the job board by buying an Auto Shop, completing Setup: Impounded Car for Sessanta, then examining the Contracts board on the mezzanine. From then on the board shows three of the eight contracts at a time, rotating at random — KDJ texts you when it refreshes (GTA Wiki: Contracts)).

Every contract is a mini-heist: two freemode Planning Work missions, then a finale. All eight are fully soloable, and you must be registered as a VIP, CEO or MC President to start one.

Contract	Advertised payout	Leader's take (after the 10% cut)
The Union Depository Contract	GTA$300,000 – GTA$375,000	GTA$270,000 – GTA$337,500
The Superdollar Deal	GTA$185,000	GTA$166,500
The Agency Deal	GTA$182,000	GTA$163,800
The Lost Contract	GTA$180,000	GTA$162,000
The Bank Contract	GTA$178,000	GTA$160,200
The Prison Contract	GTA$175,000	GTA$157,500
The E.C.U Job	GTA$172,000	GTA$154,800
The Data Contract	GTA$170,000	GTA$153,000

The cut is the number most guides skip. The GTA Wiki lists the leader's actual banked reward as GTA$153,000 to GTA$337,500 — which is exactly 90% of GTA$170,000 and 90% of GTA$375,000. That confirms KDJ and Sessanta shave a flat 10% off the advertised figure on every contract, including the Union Depository. Associates are paid separately out of Rockstar's pocket, at GTA$50,000–GTA$65,000 each, so bringing friends costs you nothing.

The Union Depository Contract is the outlier by a mile: it pays roughly 1.6× the next-best contract solo, and up to 2.0× with a full crew. If it's on your board, run it. If it isn't, run whatever is on there — completing contracts is what cycles the board.

What the contracts actually ask you to do

The finales are far more varied than most business grinds. The Bank Contract has you rob the vaults of six Fleeca branches across Los Santos and Blaine County after planting alarm-blocking devices at each one. The Superdollar Deal is a military convoy ambush for counterfeit printing plates. The Prison Contract is an infiltration of Bolingbroke Penitentiary. The E.C.U Job puts you on top of a moving freight train.

Two rules apply to all of them. First, only Tuner Race Class vehicles are allowed in finales — if you don't own one, you can select Sessanta's Tailgater S, and crew members can pick a custom Tailgater S too. Second, you pick one of three fixed loadouts, exactly like the Casino and Cayo finales:

• Sharpshooter — Heavy Sniper Mk II (suppressed, 360 rounds), Heavy Pistol, Mini SMG, 5 Sticky Bombs
• Hustler — Bullpup Rifle Mk II (1,800 rounds), Pistol, Machine Pistol, 5 Pipe Bombs
• Heavyweight — Pump Shotgun Mk II (480 shells), Pistol .50, suppressed Micro SMG, 5 Grenades

Hustler is the default pick for solo runs — 1,800 rounds of Bullpup ammo covers every contract that turns loud.

Why did Title Update 1.73 leave Auto Shop Contracts alone?

This is the part that changes the maths for 2026. Rockstar's own patch notes describe the new system in plain language:

"The following Contact Missions and Heists now have a weekly completion bonus, increasing GTA$ rewards for all players if the host has not yet completed the associated Finale in the current weekly period. Subsequent GTA$ rewards will be reduced if the host completes the same activity again in the current weekly period."

— Rockstar Games, GTAV Title Update 1.73 Notes (July 14, 2026)

The list that follows covers thirteen activities: Cluckin' Bell Farm Raid, KnoWay Out, all five Original Heists, the Titan Job, Don't Fuck With Dre, the Diamond Casino Heist finale, and all three Doomsday Heist acts. Rockstar also confirmed that "further adjustments have been made to The Cayo Perico Heist Primary and Secondary Target values", and that Cayo's target refresh now follows the same weekly cadence.

Auto Shop Robbery Contracts appear nowhere in that section. Neither do Exotic Exports or customer car jobs. Practically, that means:

• A contract pays the same GTA$153,000–GTA$337,500 on run one and run ten in the same week.
• There is no Thursday reset to plan around.
• Your ceiling is limited by mission length and the board rotation, not by a weekly counter.

For anyone who grinds in long sessions rather than one weekly circuit, that's now a structural advantage. It's also why the current week's bonuses — 2X GTA$ on your first weekly completion of The Fleeca Job and The Pacific Standard Job, live until August 5, 2026 — are a one-and-done supplement, not a grind. Our Kortz Center vs Cayo Perico payout comparison covers how the newer heists land under the same rules.

What is the real GTA$ per hour from an Auto Shop?

An Auto Shop is three income streams, not one, and the other two are where the hourly rate actually comes from.

Exotic Exports unlocks after your first completed contract and is the most underrated daily routine in the game. A blackboard on the mezzanine lists 10 vehicles; you steal each one and deliver it to the container at the Terminal docks. Each pays GTA$20,000, and clearing all ten adds a GTA$100,000 completion bonus — GTA$300,000 per day, plus 50 LS Car Meet reputation per car. The list resets globally at 6:00 AM UTC every real-time day, and the cars spawn across 100 possible locations drawn from two sets of 50, so the routes are learnable.

Customer car jobs are the third stream. Sessanta texts you when a client vehicle arrives; you repair and modify it to a checklist, then drive it back. Payouts run GTA$20,000 (low range), GTA$25,000 (medium) and GTA$30,000 (high), with a satisfaction bonus or penalty of GTA$2,500 or GTA$5,000 on top depending on whether you added modifications the customer liked. Your mod costs are refunded on delivery. You can hand delivery to hired staff — but any damage they cause is deducted, so drive it yourself.

Stacking the three, with realistic mission times:

Activity	Net payout	Typical time	Approx. GTA$/hour
Union Depository Contract (solo)	GTA$270,000	25–35 min	~GTA$460,000–650,000
Standard contract (avg. GTA$177k)	~GTA$159,700	20–30 min	~GTA$320,000–480,000
Exotic Exports, full list of 10	GTA$300,000	35–50 min	~GTA$360,000–510,000
Customer car job	GTA$20,000–35,000	~5 min	filler between jobs

Times are player-averaged estimates for a practised solo run, not Rockstar figures; your route knowledge moves them significantly.

The honest read: a focused Auto Shop session lands in the GTA$350,000–500,000 per hour band. That is not the best number in GTA Online — the Kortz Center Heist and a first-of-the-week Casino run both beat it on a single run. But it is repeatable indefinitely, it needs no crew, no public lobby and no weekly reset, and it does not collapse on the second run. Compare it against the current field in our best businesses in GTA Online ranking.

Note one running cost: the Auto Shop charges a GTA$250 daily fee, which is negligible against those numbers.

Which Auto Shop should you buy, and is it worth it?

All five Auto Shops are identical inside — the same missions, the same board, the same payouts. You are buying a location and a price tag, nothing else.

Auto Shop	Price	Why you'd pick it
Mission Row	GTA$1,670,000	Cheapest; central, next to the police station
Strawberry	GTA$1,705,000	Central-south, quick freeway access
Rancho	GTA$1,750,000	Closest to the LS Car Meet
Burton	GTA$1,830,000	Most central overall, good main-road links
La Mesa	GTA$1,920,000	Instant highway access for deliveries

Mission Row at GTA$1,670,000 is the correct default. You are saving GTA$250,000 over La Mesa for a difference of a few seconds of driving, and that saving is close to a full Union Depository run.

Payback maths: at roughly GTA$400,000/hour blended, Mission Row repays itself in about four hours of focused play. Add the ten-car garage, the in-shop mod bay with a 5% discount on all modifications, and free Crew and classic paint jobs, and it is one of the least regrettable purchases in the game — including for players who never touch the contracts.

Which upgrades actually matter?

Most of the Auto Shop upgrade menu is decoration. Styles (GTA$250,000–GTA$450,000 across nine interiors), tint (GTA$187,500) and emblems (GTA$25,000–GTA$104,500) change nothing about income.

Three are worth considering:

• Car Lift — GTA$650,000. The only upgrade with a genuine income effect. It adds a second customer vehicle bay, so two client cars can sit in the shop at once and new ones arrive more often. Worth it if you plan to keep the shop long-term.
• Personal Quarters — GTA$340,000. No income effect, but you can spawn directly at the shop and store weapons and outfits there. Convenience, and it saves real time across hundreds of sessions.
• Staff — GTA$385,000 each, up to two. They handle customization and delivery for you, but drive carelessly and any damage is deducted from your payment. Buy for convenience, never for profit.

Skip the LS Car Meet membership if you only want the business — you need to visit the Car Meet once to unlock Auto Shops on Maze Bank Foreclosures, but the GTA$50,000 membership itself has no effect on Auto Shop income.

The Contract Abilities most players never unlock

If you do build LS Car Meet reputation, contracts get noticeably easier. Four Contract Abilities unlock by LSCM rep level and cost GTA$5,000 each per use, called from the interaction menu during a finale:

• Quick Fix (Level 10) — spawns a repair Mule; park beside it to restore vehicle health mid-mission
• Diversion (Level 15) — spawns an NPC Banshee that pulls police away from you
• Setup (Level 25) — two Sultan RSs with armed NPCs ambush pursuing police on the road ahead
• Wingman (Level 30) — an armed NPC Banshee that will join your car and defend from the passenger seat

For solo Union Depository runs, Quick Fix and Setup are the two that convert failed getaways into completed ones. Levelling LSCM rep is passive if you're delivering Exotic Exports anyway — that's 50 rep per car, 500 per full daily list. Players who want the ranks without the grind can use a GTA 5 account boost.

Should you chase the GTA$1.6M Union Depository payouts on Reddit?

No — and this matters enough to be its own section.

There is a recurring r/gtaonline thread claiming the Union Depository Contract paid out GTA$1.6 million in a single run, more than four times its documented value. The replies in that thread tell you exactly what it is: players openly worrying that Rockstar would patch it, one describing GTA$12 million banked, another reporting that Rockstar had begun removing money from accounts. That is the signature of a payout exploit, not a method.

The documented Union Depository payout is GTA$300,000 solo, GTA$375,000 with four players, before the 10% cut. Anything advertised well above that is an exploit, and GTA Online's history of exploit clawbacks — money removed, accounts suspended, occasionally reset — is long and consistent. Three and a half months out from GTA 6's November 19, 2026 launch, with progress and cash carry-over still an open question we've covered in our GTA Online to GTA 6 carry-over guide, risking a suspension for a one-off payout is a bad trade.

Skip the grind, keep the account clean

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- GTA 5 Money — fast & safe — top up your cash without exploits or ban risk

- GTA 5 Account Boost — levels, RP and LS Car Meet unlocks handled

- GTA 5 Modded Cars — rare rides delivered to your garage

- All GTA 5 services

The efficient Auto Shop routine

Putting it together, the highest-value hour in an Auto Shop looks like this:

• Check the board first. If the Union Depository Contract is one of your three, start it immediately — it's worth over GTA$100,000 more than the next-best contract.
• Run Exotic Exports while contract preps cool down. The list refreshes at 6:00 AM UTC daily, so it's a guaranteed GTA$300,000 you should never leave on the table.
• Clear customer cars on the way past. Deliver them yourself, add at least one modification of your own for the satisfaction bonus, and never let a car sit in the bay blocking the next one.
• Rotate contracts rather than repeating one. Completed contracts go on cooldown, and cycling the board is how the Union Depository comes back around.
• Bring one friend for the Union Depository. Your cut doesn't shrink — associates are paid separately at GTA$50,000–GTA$65,000 — and a second player carries more gold.

Three and a half months before GTA 6, the Auto Shop is a strange kind of bargain: a GTA$1.67M business that repays itself in an afternoon, and the only major money method Rockstar's 2026 economy rebalance didn't touch.

FAQ

How much do Auto Shop Contracts pay in GTA Online? Seven of the eight contracts pay GTA$170,000–GTA$185,000, and the Union Depository Contract pays GTA$300,000 solo or up to GTA$375,000 with four players. KDJ and Sessanta take a 10% cut, so the leader banks GTA$153,000–GTA$337,500. Associates are paid separately at GTA$50,000–GTA$65,000 each.

Which Auto Shop contract pays the most? The Union Depository Contract, by a wide margin — GTA$300,000 solo, rising to GTA$375,000 with a full four-player crew. That's roughly 1.6× the next-best contract, The Superdollar Deal at GTA$185,000.

Were Auto Shop Contracts nerfed in Title Update 1.73? No. Rockstar's 1.73 economy update applied a weekly-completion-bonus system to thirteen named heists and contact missions and reduced Cayo Perico target values. Auto Shop Robbery Contracts, Exotic Exports and customer car jobs are not on that list, so their payouts do not decay on repeat runs within a week.

Can you do Auto Shop Contracts solo? Yes — all eight are fully soloable, including the Union Depository Contract. You need to be registered as a VIP, CEO or MC President to launch one, but you do not need a public lobby or a crew. Bringing a second player is optional and doesn't reduce your take.

Is the Auto Shop worth buying in 2026? Yes, if you play actively. At GTA$1,670,000 for Mission Row it repays itself in roughly four hours of focused play across contracts, Exotic Exports and customer cars, and you also get a ten-car garage, a mod shop with a 5% discount, and free Crew and classic paint jobs. There's no passive safe income, so it rewards grinding rather than idling.

Which Auto Shop location is best? All five are identical inside, so buy on price and convenience. Mission Row is the cheapest at GTA$1,670,000, Rancho is closest to the LS Car Meet, Burton is the most central, and La Mesa has the fastest highway access at GTA$1,920,000.

How much do Exotic Exports pay per day? GTA$20,000 per vehicle for ten vehicles, plus a GTA$100,000 bonus for completing the full list — GTA$300,000 per real-life day. The board resets globally at 6:00 AM UTC and the cars spawn across 100 possible locations.