Benny's in Short: The Garage That Rebuilds Your Car
Benny's Original Motor Works is a single specialist garage in Strawberry, just south of the Olympic Freeway, and it works differently from every other mod shop in GTA Online. Los Santos Customs bolts parts onto the car you bring in. Benny's rebuilds it.
You arrive with an eligible standard car and pay a conversion fee. The car leaves as a different variant — a Custom version with its own name, its own look, and whole menus of modifications that exist nowhere else in the game.
The shop opened with the Lowriders update on 20 October 2015 and never really closed. Its catalogue has grown from six lowriders to 31 eligible vehicles, and it remains the home of hydraulics, wild interiors and the deepest cosmetic work in Los Santos.
Key Takeaways
- Benny's sits in Strawberry, south of the Olympic Freeway, and handles a fixed list of eligible cars rather than everything.
- Every Benny's car starts with a paid conversion that turns the standard model into its Custom variant.
- Conversions are the expensive step: examples run from GTA$390,000 for the Buccaneer Custom to GTA$904,000 for the Elegy Retro Custom.
- Only Benny's offers hydraulics, full custom interiors, engine-bay dressing, trunk sound systems and Benny's wheels.
- The catalogue now holds 31 vehicles: classic lowriders, performance conversions like the Sultan RS and Banshee 900R, and modern widebody builds.
- Converted cars are normal personal vehicles afterwards — stored, insured and sellable like anything else you own.
1. How a Benny's Conversion Works
Start with the base car. Benny's own in-game website, reached from the shortcut on your phone, lists every eligible model and sells them at the same prices as the regular dealer sites, so you always know which cars qualify before you spend anything.
Drive the standard car into the Strawberry garage and the first option on the menu is the conversion itself. Pay it, and the car is transformed on the spot: the name changes, the bodywork changes, and the exclusive categories unlock underneath the familiar ones.
There is no second visit needed and no rank requirement. The only gate is the price, and the only decision is whether the finished build is worth it to you — because the conversion fee alone can cost more than most complete cars.
2. Which Cars Qualify
The original six from the Lowriders update were the Albany Buccaneer, Vapid Chino, Albany Primo and Declasse Voodoo, plus two models new with the update itself, the Willard Faction and the Declasse Moonbeam van. All six were built for the full lowrider treatment.
Lowriders: Custom Classics followed in March 2016, adding the Vapid Slamvan Custom, the Dundreary Virgo Classic Custom and the outrageous Willard Faction Custom Donk, with the Vapid Minivan Custom and Declasse Sabre Turbo Custom arriving in the weeks after.
Later updates widened the idea beyond lowriders. The Karin Sultan RS and Bravado Banshee 900R were performance conversions, the Annis Elegy Retro Custom turned a GTA$95,000 coupe into a retro icon, and modern additions like the Obey 10F Widebody, Übermacht Sentinel Classic Widebody and Albany Manana Custom keep the list growing to its current 31 vehicles.
3. What It All Costs
The conversion is the headline cost, and at the time of writing the spread is wide. The Albany Buccaneer costs GTA$29,000 to buy and GTA$390,000 to convert. The Annis Elegy RH8 costs GTA$95,000, and its Retro Custom conversion is GTA$904,000 — GTA$999,000 all-in before a single extra part.
Other anchors: the Albany Manana Custom conversion is GTA$925,000, the Bravado Gauntlet Classic Custom is GTA$815,000, and the Faction Custom Donk is GTA$695,000. These are the game's standard prices before any weekly discounts, which do visit Benny's from time to time.
Then come the parts. Hydraulics, interiors, engine dressing, wheels and audio all bill separately, and a fully finished Benny's build regularly passes GTA$1,000,000 in modifications alone. Budget for the whole car, not the conversion, before you commit.
4. The Customization Only Benny's Offers
Hydraulics are the signature. Fit a pump setup and your lowrider can lift, drop and bounce, with stronger pumps bouncing higher — and once fitted, the car can be posed and hopped anywhere, which is half the point of owning one.
Interiors go far beyond a colour change. Benny's offers custom dials and dash designs, steering wheels, shift levers, seats and trim in velour, leather and patterns, dashboard ornaments, bobbleheads and rear-window plaques. Engine bays get covers and air filters, and trunks get speaker and subwoofer installations.
The outside gets its share too: exclusive liveries, Benny's own wheel designs, vanity plate options and plate holders. Custom plates are a wider topic — the GTA Online License Plate Creator guide explains how personal plates work across the whole game.
5. Lowrider Culture in the Game
Benny's arrived with work attached. The Lowriders update brought a set of contact missions for Lamar Davis, who is building his own lowrider crew and needs drivers — your first call from him sends you to Benny's itself, which is a neat introduction to the shop.
The culture is the real content, though. The same update let you open your car's doors, hood and trunk from the Interaction Menu, start the engine and light the neons while the stereo plays, turning any parking spot into a small car show.
That show-off tradition runs through the whole car scene now. Our GTA Online Themed Cars round-up covers the builds players create around themes, and a bouncing lowrider with its doors open is still the ancestor of all of them.
6. Benny's Beyond Lowriders
It is easy to file Benny's under nostalgia, but the performance conversions earn their keep. The Banshee 900R and Sultan RS were built as speed projects, and the Elegy Retro Custom remains one of the most loved all-round sports cars in the game years after its release.
The widebody conversions push the other way — visual transformations of modern cars, with track-style arches and interiors to match. Between the two directions, Benny's became the place where an ordinary car gets a second, more personal version of itself.
If you are weighing a Benny's build against a standard purchase, our Best Cars in GTA Online guide sets the wider buying picture by budget, with the Benny's favourites in their proper context.
7. Before You Spend: Practical Notes
Convert a car you already like driving. The conversion changes looks and menus far more than it changes the driving feel on the lowrider side, so a base car you enjoy is the right starting point.
Remember the converted car replaces the standard one in your garage — you do not keep both unless you buy a second base car. And when the build is done, it behaves like any personal vehicle: if you eventually sell it, the process is the same as How to Sell Cars in GTA Online describes, with the usual warning that you never recover the full build cost.
Finally, patience pays. Benny's conversions and parts appear in weekly event discounts across the year, so a build you are not in a hurry for can cost noticeably less if you wait for the right week.
8. A Sensible First Build
If this is your first Benny's car, start at the friendly end of the price list. The Buccaneer is the traditional first build for a reason: a GTA$29,000 base car, the joint-cheapest conversion on the classic lowrider side, and the full menu of hydraulics, interiors and audio waiting behind it.
Stage the spending. Pay the conversion first and live with the car for a few sessions, then add hydraulics, then the interior, then the dressing. You will enjoy each stage more, notice what the car actually needs, and avoid the classic mistake of a seven-figure build you are afraid to drive anywhere.
And drive it. A Benny's build earns its money back in attention at every meet and photo stop in Los Santos — a car that lives in a garage is the only genuinely wasted conversion in the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Benny's Original Motor Works?
In Strawberry, in south Los Santos, just south of the Olympic Freeway. It has its own wrench icon on the map, separate from the Los Santos Customs icons, and there is only one location.
How do I know which cars Benny's can modify?
Benny's in-game website, linked from a shortcut on your phone, lists every eligible vehicle and sells them at standard dealer prices. The full catalogue currently stands at 31 vehicles.
How much does a Benny's conversion cost?
It depends on the car. At the time of writing, the Buccaneer Custom conversion is GTA$390,000, the Faction Custom Donk is GTA$695,000, and the Elegy Retro Custom is GTA$904,000 — all on top of the base car's price, before parts and before any weekly discounts.
Can I convert a car I already own?
Yes. If the standard car is already in your garage, just drive it in and pay the conversion. Buying a second base car is only needed if you want to keep an unconverted version as well.
Can I undo a conversion?
No. The conversion permanently turns that car into its Custom variant. If you want the standard model again, you would need to buy another one.
What are hydraulics, and how do I make the car bounce?
Hydraulics are a Benny's suspension option for lowriders. Stronger pump setups bounce the car higher, and once fitted you use the car's hydraulic controls to lift, drop and hop it wherever you are parked.
Can Benny's cars also use Los Santos Customs?
Yes, for the standard categories. The Benny's-exclusive categories — interiors, hydraulics, engine-bay dressing, trunk audio and the rest — are only available at Benny's itself, which is why owners keep coming back to Strawberry.
Do Benny's upgrades make a car faster?
Some do. The Banshee 900R and Sultan RS conversions were performance projects, and widebody builds add their own tuning. The classic lowrider conversions are mainly cosmetic and cultural — the value is the build, not the lap time.
Is the Elegy Retro Custom worth it?
For many players, yes: GTA$999,000 all-in at standard prices buys one of the game's most characterful sports cars with a deep Benny's options list. It is a heart purchase rather than a lap-time purchase, and it has stayed popular for years.
Can I sell a Benny's car?
Yes. A converted car is a normal personal vehicle, so it sells through the usual mod-shop route. Expect the usual steep loss — the sale price never reflects what the conversion and parts cost you.
Wrapping Up
Benny's is where GTA Online keeps its personality. The conversion fee is steep and the parts are steeper, but nothing else in the game lets you build a car this personal — hydraulics bouncing, interior glowing, engine bay dressed and trunk full of speakers. Start with one car you love, budget for the whole build, and the Strawberry garage will do the rest.
