GTA 5 impound lot guide: How to get your impounded car back

GTA Online Impound Lot — (Image credit: Rockstar Games)

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Even the most seasoned GTA Online criminals aren't immune to the game's wanted system, and the long arm of the law can take your personal vehicle and lock it up at an impound lot if you're not careful.

When your car gets impounded in GTA Online, you're only given a small pop-up message telling you that you need to get it back from an impound lot. There's not a lot of info pointing you to the impound lot, though, and it's easy to find yourself asking "Dude, Where's My Car?"

How to get your impounded car back in GTA Online

If your personal vehicle is impounded by the police in Grand Theft Auto Online, you can get it back from the LSPD Auto Impound. There's a $250 fee to retrieve your car, but you can just hop the fence and steal it back if you don't feel like paying. Stealing the car will net you an instant two-star wanted level, so be ready for a chase.

You can also have your assistant retrieve your car for you if you register as a CEO. If you own an office, just make a phone call to your assistant and they'll bring the car to you for $1,000.

GTA Online impound lot location

You should see a white car icon representing your personal vehicle at the impound lot on the map. Just head over to it to find your car waiting for you behind bars.

If you're having a hard time finding it, you can plot a route straight to it from the interaction menu. Just hold the M key, select GPS Route, and then choose Personal Vehicle.

And if it's not showing up at all, then the impound lot is down the street to the southeast of the strip club and Hands-On Car Wash. It's just past the hospital. You'll see it on a corner by some railroad tracks—the imposing bars are hard to miss.

How to fix car your GTA car not spawning at the impound lot

Sometimes your personal vehicle won't be parked at the impound lot even though you saw a notification letting you know that the cops took it. Best case scenario, this is just a bug. Try restarting your game and finding a new GTA Online session to see if your personal vehicle shows up.

Worst case scenario, you waited too long. If you don't retrieve your impounded car soon enough, it'll be destroyed. If that happens to you, call Mors Mutual on your phone to file an insurance claim and get a replacement. It's an expensive mistake, but it happens to the best of us.

Diego has been writing about video games since 2018 for various outlets, specializing in live service games, shooters, and RPGs. A diehard fan of photo modes, his play time counters are inflated with dozens of hours messing around with transmog systems to create the perfect outfits. You can also catch him raiding in the critically acclaimed MMO Final Fantasy XIV, praying to the gacha gods in games like Honkai Star Rail, and being not very good at fighting games. Above all else, he's also still holding out hope that Ape Escape will return someday. Hopefully.

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