How to Sell Cars in GTA 5: Payouts, Limits and the $500K Cap

Short answer: you can’t sell cars in GTA 5 story mode. Selling is a GTA Online feature, and it works four different ways: dumping a stolen street car at Los Santos Customs, cashing out a car you own, filling Sessanta’s Exotic Exports list, or running the Import/Export business as a CEO. The second one got a lot less lucrative on May 14, 2026.

Every way to sell a car, compared

Can you sell cars in story mode?

No. In single player, Los Santos Customs repairs, resprays and upgrades, nothing more. The same four garages (Burton, La Mesa, the airport and Route 68 in Harmony) only turn into chop shops in GTA Online.

The closest thing to car money in story mode is owning the shop. After the mission Nervous Ron, Franklin can buy the Harmony branch for $349,000. It pays $1,600 a week and makes every mod free at that location, for Franklin only. Move Michael’s Tailgater or Trevor’s Bodhi near Franklin, switch to him and you can trick them out at no cost.

Selling a stolen car at Los Santos Customs

In GTA Online, drive any street car into a Los Santos Customs and pick Sell. In perfect condition, it pays 10% of the car’s retail price: a $30,000 sedan nets $3,000. You get one sale per in-game day, which is 48 real minutes.

Anything with a retail value above $100,000 is “too hot” unless you bought it yourself, and motorcycles have a lower ceiling. Two details veterans know:

• The cash goes to your wallet, not the bank. Personal vehicles with a tracker pay straight into your account.
• The pre-modified gang cars in south and east Los Santos sell for more. On PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC Enhanced, more modded NPC cars spawn around the map, and most fetch a premium. Active discounts on their parts lower the price.

Selling your own cars after the May 2026 nerf

Any car you bought sells at Los Santos Customs. Some, like the Deluxo, can also be sold from the vehicle workshop in a Mobile Operations Center or Avenger.

On May 14, 2026, Rockstar cut resale values to “clamp down on players who abuse vehicle resale exploits.” This is Reported (a Rockstar quote relayed by GTABase), and as far as we can tell the rules are still in effect:

• The sale value, which used to reach 60% of the purchase price, is now capped at $500,000 for every vehicle, including aircraft and weaponized rides.
• Mods return 10% of what you paid, down from 50%.
• Repeat sales are penalized: the second car pays 50% of its value, the third 10% (was 20%), the fourth 5% and every one after that 2.5% (was 5%).

In practice, a $2 million supercar that used to fetch $1.2 million now tops out at $500,000, and a second one sold right after pays only 50% of its sale value. The penalties used to reset after 18 hours. GTABase now says they last 7 real days, while Sportskeeda called that 7-day window temporary (May 14 to 20), so check the price in game. Our advice: sell your most valuable car first, then wait a week before the next one.

Exotic Exports: up to $300,000 a day

This is the best car money in the game for an Auto Shop owner. After your first Contract for Sessanta and KDJ, a blackboard on the shop’s mezzanine lists 10 cars. Find each one (a blue dot appears on the map once you get close), then drive it to the container at the docks.

Each delivery pays $20,000, and finishing all ten adds a $100,000 bonus. Stealing a listed car doesn’t trigger a wanted level, and you don’t need to repair it. The list resets every day at 6 a.m. UTC, which is 2 a.m. Eastern in summer and 1 a.m. in winter. Other players can spot and steal your car en route, so run it in a quiet lobby. Our Auto Shop guide covers the business itself.

Import/Export: the CEO route

Import/Export arrived on December 13, 2016. You need an Executive Office (you must be a CEO) and a Vehicle Warehouse, from $1,500,000 in La Mesa to $2,850,000 in Murrieta Heights. Source cars through SecuroServ on your Office computer, store up to 40 of them, then export. A top-range car pays up to $100,000.

It’s a bigger investment than Exotic Exports, but the cars aren’t tied to a daily list. If you’d rather tow cars for scrap money, the Salvage Yard guide is the other option, and our GTA Online money guide ranks it against heists and businesses.

Which method should you use?

Starting out with no businesses? Sell a decent stolen car every 48 minutes while you grind missions, and keep your personal vehicles. Own an Auto Shop? Clear the Exotic Exports list every day. Already a CEO? Import/Export pays the most per car. Selling the cars you bought is now a last resort: one sale, then wait. Need something fast to keep? Check our fastest cars in GTA Online before you buy.