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Auto Repair Shop is a free car mechanic game about diagnosis. Cars pull into the car park with a complaint — squeals when braking, won’t start on cold mornings, runs hot in traffic — and behind each one is a short list of possible causes with their odds. You are the only mechanic. Every test takes your own time and rules causes out; every part you fit costs money whether it cures the car or not, and a wrong one leaves the fault still there. So the day is a string of small decisions: test again, or fit the likeliest part now? Eight working days add bays, bookings and tools — a code scanner, a multimeter, a pressure tester, a smoke machine, an alignment rig — across ten complaints and thirty-five faults, five of which can hide behind two different complaints. Stars are the day’s profit, measured with test mechanics. No download, no sign-up, and it plays on a phone.
How to play Auto Repair Shop
- Read the day’s card and press Open the shop. The clock runs from 8:00 to 16:00, about three and a half minutes of real time, and cars arrive through the day with a complaint.
- Tap a car waiting in the car park to bring it into a free bay. A customer left waiting too long drives off, so keep the bays moving.
- Pick a bay to see its workbench. On one side are the tests you own for that complaint, with the minutes each takes; on the other, the possible causes and how likely each one is.
- Run a test. It takes your time — you can only run one at once — and when it finishes, every cause that does not match what it found is struck out and the odds of the rest are shared out again. Each test says how far it could narrow the list; hover over it, or Tab to it, to see which causes it can tell apart.
- When you are sure, press Fit on a cause. The part is paid for there and then and the bay fits it while you test elsewhere. If it was the fault, the customer pays for the part plus 30% and the labour; if not, the money is gone and that cause is ruled out.
- At 16:00 the shop closes and unfinished jobs go unpaid. The day’s profit earns up to three stars, and one star opens the next day, which brings more bookings, a new tool or new complaints.
Tips
- Choose the test that splits the list most evenly for its minutes. A quick test that halves four causes is usually worth more than a long drive that pins one of them.
- A test marked “tells you nothing new” cannot change the list any more. Skip it — that is time the next car is waiting for.
- The likeliest cause is not a certainty. Fitting a 50% guess means paying for a wrong part half the time. A test costs only your minutes; a wrong part costs its price and the bay's time, and even a free one — a tyre pumped up, a stone taken out — ties the bay up while it is done.
- Cheap parts are the exception: when every cause left is a few dollars, a guess can be cheaper than a long test.
- Keep a car in every bay. Parts are fitted by the bay, not by you, so start a repair and walk straight to the next car’s tests.
- Watch the green bars in the car park. A red one is a customer about to drive off, and a car that drives off pays nothing.
- On the keyboard, 1 to 4 pick a bay and N brings in whoever is closest to driving off; Tab and Enter reach every test and part.
FAQ
Is this car mechanic game free?
Yes. Auto Repair Shop runs free in your browser with no download, no install and no account, on a computer, tablet or phone.
How do you diagnose a car?
Every complaint has a short list of possible causes, each with its odds. Tests you run rule causes out: when a test finishes, every cause that would have shown something different is struck out. When one cause is left — or one is likely enough to risk it — fit its part.
What happens if I fit the wrong part?
You pay for the part, the bay spends the labour fitting it, and the fault is still there. That cause is ruled out, so the list gets shorter — but you paid for the part and the bay's time, where a test would have cost only your own minutes. A few jobs, like pumping up a soft tyre, need no part at all and cost only the time. The customer only pays when the car is cured.
How do you earn money in Auto Repair Shop?
A cured car pays for its part plus 30% and for the labour at $90 an hour, rounded to five dollars. Tests are never billed, and a wrong part is money lost, so profit comes from getting to the right part with the least of your time and none of the wrong ones.
How do I get three stars?
Choose tests that narrow the list fastest, and work quickly. The star marks were measured with test mechanics: a quick one who always picks the most telling test for its minutes reaches three stars on at least four days in ten; one who runs every test in order, or thinks slowly, reaches two stars most days but three less often; one who fits the most common part without testing rarely reaches two; and one who fits parts at random loses money on most days.
What tools do you unlock?
Day one has hand tools only. The code scanner arrives on day two, a multimeter on day three, a pressure tester and a smoke machine on day four, and an alignment rig on day six. Each new tool adds tests, and sometimes a new kind of complaint that needs it.
Is this real car repair advice?
No. The faults, tests and prices are simplified for a game — plausible, but not a repair manual. If your own car squeals, rattles or runs hot, ask a qualified mechanic.
Is it the same day every time?
Work it again replays the same bookings with the same hidden faults, so you can try a better plan. New day deals different cars, complaints and faults.