Stevie's Car Thefts

Car Thefts is a side mission in Grand Theft Auto IV involving the theft of 30 road vehicles for Stevie.

Description
Stevie's Car Thefts are available after the player has opened up the Alderney Safehouse and completed Brucie's Car Thefts, Smackdown and No. 1. Niko Bellic will first receive a call from Brucie and, shortly afterwards, a text message from Brucie's friend Stevie. He needs some cars (30 total) that Niko Bellic will need to find across Liberty City and deliver to S&M Auto Sales. It is similar to Brucie's Exotic Exports (email cars), except the cars are always parked and are not indicated on the map or guarded by the owner. In addition, Stevie pays much more for these cars when they're in good condition than Brucie does. Just like stealing any car, if police witness a car theft, the player receives a one star wanted level. Occasionally the cars have alarms.

If the player finds the right vehicle, the game shows a message saying, "You've found the vehicle Stevie is looking for." The player then needs to drive the car to Stevie's garage in Bohan; no message is given about this destination in-game but the garage appears on the map so it may be manually entered into the GPS. Even though you have to smash a window to steal a car, all vehicles still are in perfect condition, so it is not necessary to visit a Pay 'n' Spray if driven carefully enough. Even with some additional damages, if they are minor (barely noticeable scratches, etc.), the vehicle is considered as in perfect condition by the garage, so you will receive the maximum price. Only serious damages (broken headlights, deformations, etc) will significantly reduce your prize, so if you don't want to lose some time it's not necessary to repair the vehicle for every single scratch. Strangely, minor scratches will increase the value.

The player can have the vehicles destroyed or keep the vehicles at the parking spaces, as the vehicle will be respawned at the original location as long as the vehicle is not delivered; in addition, the vehicles Stevie wants will only appear between the first contact with him to the last, and will not appear outside that time.

The condition of the vehicle determines how much money the player receives. Taking the car to a Pay 'n' Spray helps restore its value if the car is damaged. However, as there are no Pay 'n' Sprays in Bohan, it is difficult to reach the garage without damage unless you are using a console or a PC with a controller, giving you precise speed control, which a PC with a keyboard doesn't. Another way of repairing the vehicle is by parking the requested car in a safehouse parking space, then driving or running a block or two before returning.

If a player wishes to complete these thefts quickly, it is recommended either that they save the game repeatedly at the nearby safehouse in Bohan, or repeatedly use a Pay 'n' Spray until they receive a text. These methods advance the time, which means Stevie will send a text in a matter of minutes after delivering a vehicle, instead of hours. The player can view the amount of vehicles stolen under "Cars Sold to Stevie" in the Score section of the Stats in the pause menu.

The only incentive for storing the vehicles is their unique body colors, which are otherwise unavailable in other parts of the game; the vehicles are also otherwise similar in the range of accessories it may include; as is the case with the Rancher, Dukes and the DF8-90. Interestingly, the cars will not lose their unique colors even after resprays at Pay 'n' Spray, but motorbikes do lose their colors, which Stevie's garage might reject, in which case you'll have to retrieve another copy. Therefore, it is recommended that you carefully drive these bikes straight to the garage.

Once all 30 cars are delivered, the player can make some extra cash by bringing in any vehicle they want, at varying prices depending on model and condition, much like the original missions. In addition, these prices can reduce if the same model is regularly sold. Some of the most valuable cars that can be sold are the Infernus and Turismo $10,000, and the Super GT at $10,500.

The player also earns the achievement You Got The Message for delivering all 30 vehicles.

Post-completion vehicle values
This table shows the maximum value of any vehicle delivered after completing all requests.

External link

 * gta4onlineguide.com - List of vehicles for Stevie