Pay 'n' Spray is a spray shop/garage in which vehicles can be mended, repainted and have the engine repaired. It serves three main functions: to repair a vehicle, to change the paint color, and subsequently allow the player to lose wanted levels. The Pay 'n' Spray has been featured in all Grand Theft Auto games except GTA 2 (However, in GTA 2 there are Max Paynt garages and the two garage types' functions are almost the same). Pay 'n' Spray does not appear in GTA V, and is instead replaced by Los Santos Customs.
Vehicle Repair
Driving a damaged vehicle into a Pay 'n' Spray will repair any body damage the vehicle has incurred, and will result in a re-spray of a different color, with a few exceptions. However, emergency vehicles cannot be driven into a Pay 'n' Spray, as the player receives some variation of the message, "WHOA! I don't touch anything THAT hot!" or "No way man! I don't touch those!” The only exceptions are the VCPD Cheetah in GTA Vice City, and the FBI Car in GTA III, which is re-sprayed from black (pursuit version) to gray (road block version). In addition, bicycles weren’t allowed in Pay 'n' Spray, prompting the message, "I don't do toys!"
Wanted Level Reduction
Pay 'n' Spray allows the player to rapidly lose any wanted level. Visiting a Pay 'n' Spray after incurring a wanted level results in a gradual reduction in police attention. During this probationary time period (where wanted stars flash), if any crimes are committed in view of a police officer, the full wanted level will be immediately reinstated. In GTA IV and GTA: CW, the player can only enter a Pay n' Spray when they are out of sight of the police.
Cost
In all games, respraying an undamaged or lightly damaged vehicle is often free of charge, while respraying significantly damaged vehicle costs money. Additionally, when the player is taught how to use Pay 'n' Spray in introductory missions, the visit would be free of cost. Since GTA III, respraying a repaired vehicle or a near-healthy vehicle will not cost the player any money to respray the vehicle.
- GTA 1: Cost is relative to vehicle damage and/or wanted level
- GTA III: $1,000
- GTA Vice City: $100
- GTA San Andreas: $100 (Dating Michelle Cannes grants Carl Johnson free use of her auto repair shop).
- GTA Liberty City Stories: $100
- GTA Vice City Stories: $100 (if the Civil Asset Forfeiture Impound has been completed, the Pay 'n' Spray cost is free.)
- GTA IV: $100
- GTA Chinatown Wars: $200
Colors
The paint shop has a wide range of colors available, but the player may not choose which color the vehicle is been re-sprayed. In certain cases, particularly with special vehicles, the color will not change, but the police will no longer recognize the vehicle as if it had. In GTA San Andreas, custom paint jobs received from mod garages will not be removed. In GTA IV, the color is determined by the player's "favorite car color", as shown in the game stats.
Right after the vehicle is repaired, the player can receive a re-spray free in GTA Vice City, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories. If the player drives the repaired car out and back into Pay n Spray, the car receives a re-spray, and the message shows up, "Respray is complimentary" or "Hope you like the new color."
Time
From the 3D Universe games, the respray and subsequent repair of a vehicle is near instant. However, from the HD Universe games, it will advance time by three hours, except in multiplayer, where it is free and immediate, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (where it only takes two in-game hours) . It should be noted that if the player has arranged an activity with a friend or asking a girlfriend, going to a Pay 'n' Spray will result in missing the activity/date.
Locations
GTA 1
- San Andreas:
- West Glen Wood
- South West Marina
- Sout East Sunview
- East Telephone Hill
- Central Woodside
- Vice City (the shops are been known as Al's Paint Shop):
- South Banana Grove
- South West Felicity
- North East Greek Heights (unmarked on maps)
- South West Little Dominica
- North Vice Shores
GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories
GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories
- Ocean Beach
- Vice Point
- Viceport
- Little Haiti
- Little Havana (inside the Sunshine Autos garage, called Spray'n'go).
GTA San Andreas
- Los Santos
- San Fierro
- Las Venturas
- Redsands East
- The Camel's Toe (unmarked, not accessible in PC and Xbox versions, or 2nd versions of PS2.)
- Red County
- Tierra Robada
- Bone County
GTA IV + Episodes from Liberty City
- West Way, Purgatory, Algonquin
- Gibson St, Outlook, Broker
- Frankfort Ave, Northwood, Algonquin
- Hardtrack Ave, Port Tudor, Alderney (Axel's Pay 'N' Spray)
- Panhandle Rd, Leftwood, Alderney (Axel's Pay 'N' Spray)
GTA Chinatown Wars
- Chase Point, Bohan
- Hove Beach, Broker
- Willis, Dukes
- Northwood, Algonquin
- Westminster, Algonquin
- Fishmarket South, Algonquin
Trivia
- Pay 'n' Spray could be a take of the phrase "Spray and Pray", which is a common expression of a execution-style killing or a full on merciless gun battle.
- If a Sea Sparrow is flown into a Pay 'n' Spray in the original PS2 version of GTA Vice City, wheels will be added to to the pontoons. The only garage big enough to fit such aircraft is the spray'n'go in the Sunshine Autos complex.
- In GTA 1, various cars, when taken to a Pay 'n' Spray in either Liberty City or Vice City, will be resprayed into unique colors that don't feature on AI driven versions of the car.
- To restore a closed Pay 'n' Spray in GTA San Andreas in Las Venturas on PC, go to data\maps\vegas folder, open vegasE.ide file with Notepad, found the 8957, vgsEspdr01, vgsegarage, 150, 128 line and replace 128 with 2176. Be aware, its use can lead to problems with sound. Make sure you have a back up for the original file.
- During the GTA IV multiplayer, the Pay 'n' Spray can be used free every single time. Using it doesn't subtract money from your online character, nor does it advance time by three hours. In addition, it will make you lose your wanted level and does change the car's colors.
- The entrance of the Pay 'n' Spray in Idlewood, Los Santos is located just in front of a ramp that leads into Los Santos' storm drain. Often if the player drives too fast and jumps on the ramp, the car will go straight into the shop.
- The ladder variant of the Fire Truck has been enabled to use the Pay 'n' Spray allowing the player to repair the vehicle.
- In GTA Chinatown Wars, if you enter the Pay 'n' Spray with a bike and hit the wall inside it, eventually falling from it, the bike will disappear, and Huang will come out on foot.
- In GTA IV, a special white-and-red version of a Coquette can be found rarely if the player resprays any Coquette (except the one for Stevie's Car Thefts).
- Buses are unable to enter Pay 'n' Sprays because of their size, however, in GTA IV, there are Two Pay 'n' Sprays that the Buses actually can use. The First being the one in Outlook, Broker. The Second in Leftwood, Alderney. However, there are no other colors other than the original green/white paintjob the Bus initially came in.
- Driving a beater variant of the Vigero, Sabre, or Emperor into a Pay N' Spray in GTA IV will result in a unique message; "This is the best I can do with this wreck". The vehicle will still be resprayed, but will still look and perform like a beater (i.e. a beater Vigero will NOT change to a regular well-kept Vigero after a trip to the Pay N' Spray. Modding the game's Pay N' Spray using a custom script, however, can allow this to happen, resulting in a much more realistic Pay N' Spray experience.)
- Despite being a law enforcement vehicle, the "policew" in TBoGT can use the Pay N' Spray, but will not be resprayed. Also, the game treats it like a normal car, when technically it should have the "This is the best I can do with this wreck" quote. However, this might have happened if the vehicle was normally obtainable, and not deleted.
- There's a glitch in GTA: San Andreas on where the pedestrian becomes invincible, to make this glitch happen you need to beat a ped and make sure he/she will try to fight back, and then drive to the pay 'n' spray and the ped will follow you inside the paint garage and then when the garage opens the ped will become lifeless but he/she will continue trying to kill you.
- Driving in any cars that are flipped over into the garage will cause the game to freeze.
- In a GTA V preview during May 2, 2013, it has been confirmed that the Pay 'n' Spray had been cut and replaced with the Los Santos Customs. It is however occasionally mentioned on Lifeinvader on the Los Santos Customs page.