GTA Online Salvage Yard Robberies: Ultimate Money Guide (2025)

“When life gives you junkyards, rob them.” — Some deranged criminal economist

🏁 TL;DR for the Criminal Mind

• Buy a Salvage Yard and unlock the Chop Shop robberies.

• Each week, you get 3 robbery targets out of 5 possible. Check Our Weekly Grind to learn which.

• Do Scope → Planning Work → Robbery Tasks → Finale, then sell, scrap, or hold.

• Possible payout: $300k–500k+ depending on target and bonus tasks.

• Use Tow Truck missions + wall safe for extra income and reputation.

• Keep reputation high so your passive income doesn’t collapse.

• Don’t be afraid: public lobbies = risk, but also bonus.

What are Salvage Yard Robberies?

Salvage Yard Robberies are the Chop Shop DLC’s “heist-lite” mechanism: you buy a Salvage Yard, pick target cars, run a multi-step mission, and turn in vehicles or scrap for cash. It’s like the Heist DLCs sipped espresso and decided to go mobile.

Key facts:

• First introduced in The Chop Shop update (Dec 2023).

• You must own a Salvage Yard to unlock them.

• Each week, 3 random robberies from a pool of 5 are available.

• The target vehicles rotate weekly — you can’t always steal your favorite.

🎯 The Robbery Workflow (Your Heist Blueprint)

Here’s how you go from zero to stolen-supercar:

Planning Wall

At your Salvage Yard, Jamal gives you an interface to choose which of the 3 robberies you want. Once selected, you get:

• Scope Out phase: survey the area, gather intel. (only once per robbery)

• Planning Work: 2–3 missions (one optional) — hacking security, disabling alarms, etc.

• Robbery Tasks: 2–4 missions (one optional) to prep before final.

• Final Robbery / Heist: steal the car and either sell or scrap.

After heist is done, options:

• Sell to Yusuf at the Terminal (damage affects price)

• Scrap for parts (lower payout, safer)

• Hold the car (if it's “claimable” that week)

If you have multiple vehicles, you can carry and sell all in one go — but you need enough associates to transport.

💰 Money, Payouts & Value Ranges

• Typical heist payouts range $300,000 to $500,000, depending on the target and performance.

• Example vehicles / payouts this week: 

  • Vysser Neo (Gangbanger Robbery) — ~$395,000 (scrap ~$316,000)

  • Karin Everon (Duggan Robbery) — ~$335,000 (scrap ~$268,000)

  • Weeny Issi Rally (Podium Robbery) — ~$240,000 (scrap ~$192,000)

• Bonus Challenges: Complete optional tasks in the robbery for +$10,000 each, or +$20,000 extra if you do all.

• McTony Robbery is the big one — often considered the hardest, most expensive target.

⏱ Durations, Cooldowns & Time Efficiency

• Robberies generally take ≈45 minutes to 1 hour solo, depending on complexity.

• No global cooldown on the Salvage Yard robberies themselves — you can pick a different one as soon as the weekly reset.

• Tow Truck missions, part of Salvage Yard passive income, have a 2-minute cooldown between tows.

• If you have no Staff upgrade, salvaging parts takes 96 in-game minutes (2 in-game days). With Staff, it's halved to 48 minutes.

🏗️ Salvage Yard Upgrades & Passive Income

Beyond robberies, the yard has passive systems:

• Tow Truck Service: You can retrieve abandoned or broken-down cars on demand.

• Wall Safe / Reputation Income: Your yard has a “reputation” which fuels passive cash in a wall safe, up to ~$24,000/day at max reputation.

• Reputation decays if neglected. Reducing reputation means lower passive income.

🎯 Best Practices & Profit Maximization

1. Choose your weekly robberies wisely. Pick the highest-value target you can confidently complete.

2. Complete optional tasks — bonus money with relatively low extra risk.

3. Drive carefully on delivery. Damage reduces payout.

4. Scrap only when safe. If you suspect public lobby griefing or high risk, scrapping is safer but lower pay.

5. Improve Staff & upgrades — reduce salvage time, increase passive income, smoother ops.

6. Tow Truck missions — low effort, nice side income, helps reputation.

7. Collect from the wall safe daily — never let reputation sit idle.

8. Group up — with associates you can haul multiple vehicles at once, get bonus payout and reduce risk.

🎭 Funny Mistakes People Make (Don’t Be Them)

• Trying the McTony Robbery on day one, expecting it’s a coffee run. Spoiler: it’s a submarine heist à la Bond, except you’re drunk, underdressed, and the music track is missing.

• Scrapping a car that could have sold for more — because you panicked.

• Letting reputation decay because you “had nothing to steal” this week. Your wall safe shrinks faster than your dignity.

• Always choosing invite-only lobbies out of fear — yes, public gives risk, but also payout. Use backup, not cowardice.

📊 Quick Comparison: Robbery vs Passive Income

Method	Risk	Time	Reward
Weekly Robberies	High	45–60 min each	$300k–$500k+ per run
Tow Truck service	Low	5–10 min / mission + cooldown	~$30k–$60k per car
Wall Safe / Reputation	None	Passive (login)	Up to ~$24k/day

GTA Online Salvage Yard Robberies — FAQ

Q1: How do you start Salvage Yard Robberies? Buy a Salvage Yard via Maze Bank Foreclosures, then access the planning wall to select from 3 weekly robbery contracts.

Q2: How many robberies are available each week? Three, randomly chosen from a total pool of five possible heists (rotating weekly).

Q3: What’s the payout for Salvage Yard Robberies? Typically GTA$250,000–$400,000 per job depending on vehicle condition, with bonuses for optional objectives.

Q4: What’s better: selling or scrapping? Selling to Yusuf earns more, but scrapping is faster and safer in public lobbies.

Q5: Can I make passive income from the Salvage Yard? Yes. The Tow Truck service and wall safe provide steady side cash — up to around GTA$24,000 daily with full reputation.