Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 Equipment Guide: Best Equipment Ranked

Q: Why do the cars have names I do not recognise?

Licensing. The 72 base game cars are modelled on real vehicles but wear invented badges, so Bolt stands for Chevrolet, Salem for Ford, Ribbsan for Nissan, Sakura for Toyota, FMW for BMW and DC for AC. The Bolt Reptilia is a 1970 Corvette, the Salem Spectre is a 2013 Mustang and the Sakura Supa is a 1993 Supra. The licensed DLC packs are the exception and use real names, including a Nissan Fairlady, a GT-R R35, a Tesla Roadster and a Model 3.

Q: What should I buy first with my credits?

The 2,000 credit Engine Crane and the 1,500 credit parts Repair Table, in that order. Both are used on almost every job. The 500 credit Tablet and 750 credit Warehouse are cheap quality-of-life additions worth grabbing early. Hold off on the 15,000 credit Paintshop and 20,000 credit Dyno until the job queue actually demands them.

Q: How do I unlock the Junkyard and the barns?

The Junkyard opens at level 5, so completing story orders for experience is the fastest route to it. Barns work differently: each one needs a map, and maps drop randomly from the lootboxes awarded for finishing story orders. There is no way to buy a barn map, so story progress is the only supply.

Q: Is the Dyno worth 20,000 credits?

Only once you want tuning work. The Dyno measures horsepower and torque and is what makes tuning orders available in the first place, so without it that whole job category stays closed. For a garage running ordinary repair orders it is dead weight, which is why most players buy it last after the Test Path, Welder and Paintshop.

Q: How do I find a fault that does not show on any part?

Use the 10,000 credit Test Path. Suspension problems and wheel or headlight misalignment do not display as a condition percentage on any component, so examine mode will never surface them. Driving the car on the Test Path is the only diagnosis the game offers, and it doubles as the alignment tool once you have found the problem.

Complete Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 equipment guide. Every equipment option ranked with stats, best builds, and how to get them.

EarlyGuides Editorial Team

Researched and editorially reviewed. Updated August 12, 2026.

Red Dot Games released Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 through PlayWay on 11 August 2021 with 72 cars and more than 4,000 individual parts. You start with one lifter, a free repair bench and no money, and every piece of workshop equipment after that has a price: 2,000 credits for the Engine Crane, 5,000 for the Welder, 10,000 for the Test Path, 15,000 for the Paintshop and 20,000 for the Dyno. Base game cars carry fictional badges for licensing reasons, so the Bolt Reptilia is a 1970 Chevrolet Corvette, the Salem Spectre is a 2013 Ford Mustang and the Sakura Supa is a 1993 Toyota Supra. Only the licensed DLC packs, such as the Nissan and Electric Car sets, use real names.

Your choice of equipment defines your damage output and playstyle. This guide ranks every major option, explains what makes each one strong, and tells you which builds they pair best with.

Equipment Rankings

Equipment	Tier	Best For	Notes
Engine Crane	S	Full engine rebuilds, barn find restorations, any job touching the block	Costs 2,000 credits and lifts the whole engine block out of the bay so it can be stripped and rebuilt on the stand.
Welder	A	Rusted shells, barn finds, crash damage on auction cars	Costs 5,000 credits to install and 500 credits per use, and takes a damaged or rusted body shell back to 100 percent condition.
Paintshop	A	Finishing restorations, raising resale value before an auction listing	The 15,000 credit spray booth, and the second most expensive thing in the garage.
Test Path	B	Suspension diagnosis, wheel alignment, headlight alignment	Costs 10,000 credits and is the only tool that finds suspension faults, since those do not display as a part condition percentage.
Dyno	B	Performance tuning jobs, verifying gains after fitting upgraded parts	The 20,000 credit dynamometer.

S-Tier: Engine Crane

Costs 2,000 credits and lifts the whole engine block out of the bay so it can be stripped and rebuilt on the stand. Without it, engine work means fighting the bay geometry for every bolt, and full rebuilds are effectively off the table.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	S
Best For	Full engine rebuilds, barn find restorations, any job touching the block
Key Mechanic	Fictional badges on real cars
Recommended Build	Engine rebuild specialist

How to get it: Available from mid-game onward. See our walkthrough for the exact progression point.

Best builds using Engine Crane: Pairs naturally with Engine rebuild specialist thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: Welder

Costs 5,000 credits to install and 500 credits per use, and takes a damaged or rusted body shell back to 100 percent condition. Barn cars and rough auction buys both need it, and no amount of part replacement substitutes for it.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Rusted shells, barn finds, crash damage on auction cars
Key Mechanic	Examine mode and part condition
Recommended Build	Body and paint specialist

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using Welder: Pairs naturally with Body and paint specialist thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: Paintshop

The 15,000 credit spray booth, and the second most expensive thing in the garage. It repaints individual panels or the whole car and is the last step in a restoration, because paint applied before bodywork just gets damaged again.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Finishing restorations, raising resale value before an auction listing
Key Mechanic	Garage levels and equipment costs
Recommended Build	Suspension and alignment specialist

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using Paintshop: Pairs naturally with Suspension and alignment specialist thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: Test Path

Costs 10,000 credits and is the only tool that finds suspension faults, since those do not display as a part condition percentage. It also aligns wheels and headlights, which are both common fail points on customer orders.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Suspension diagnosis, wheel alignment, headlight alignment
Key Mechanic	Test Path and Dyno diagnostics
Recommended Build	Barn find restorer

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using Test Path: Pairs naturally with Barn find restorer thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: Dyno

The 20,000 credit dynamometer. It reads horsepower and torque and is the requirement for tuning orders to appear at all. Buy it once the rest of the garage is complete, not before, because it does nothing for ordinary repair work.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Performance tuning jobs, verifying gains after fitting upgraded parts
Key Mechanic	Barn maps and junkyard salvage
Recommended Build	Auction flipper

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using Dyno: Pairs naturally with Auction flipper thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

Equipment Progression Path

The order you should acquire equipment as you progress:

Starting gear → Enough to clear Garage
Welder → Your first real upgrade, available early
Paintshop → Mid-game upgrade with good scaling
Engine Crane → Best-in-slot, aim for this by late game
Upgrade to max → The power spike from max upgrades is enormous

Equipment Tips

Always upgrade your primary equipment before diversifying. One strong option beats three mediocre ones.
Match your equipment to your build's stat priorities for maximum scaling.
Examine before you unbolt. Every part shows a condition percentage in examine mode, and replacing parts sitting at 80 percent burns credits the customer will not reimburse.
Check our tier list for how equipment rankings affect overall build effectiveness.

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