Anyone who would like to be traveling, looting, and generally exploring within the confines of Project Zomboid would appreciate having their vehicle in tip-top shape. Despite having various occupations and traits around, if you want to be fixing up vehicles, you can, as it’s a learnable skill that has further implications when you decide to do anything large scale. The very survival of a multiplayer server not running out of supplies may arguably rest in the hands of this crucial trait, and with that being said, if you want to be the one volunteering to get their elbows dirty for some vehicular care, you’d better know how to level it as fast as possible.
While there are a lot of vehicles in the world, the methods as to how to interact with them are generally the same, with only a few intricacies to go around, which will also be explained here. The grind to be a high-level mechanic will be a long one, but not impossible given that you can repeat the same thing on the same vehicle after a while, but for those looking to level as soon as they can, here are a few useful ways to be able to get that motor in your veins going.
For this list, the list is made at the time of the games’ latest version (ver. 41.73 Steam) and is based on my experience in a friend-hosted multiplayer server, and the items listed are from the vanilla version of the game, meaning no mod items are included. The methods shown can be done every 24 in-game hours to gain XP and can be done in any order as long as your level permits. The list is ranked based on instant XP value gained.
5. Miscellaneous Parts Repairs
Why are Miscellaneous Parts Repairs Great?
For the most general of easy repair jobs any mechanic would do, doing a few of these small safety jobs would only take a single tool, as well as being able to do many functions with one move off of a single right-click on the following miscellaneous parts, ranked lowest to highest on the XP gain.
- Lightbulbs (Rear and Front)
- Radio
- Battery
- Windows
Regardless of the condition for all of these, it may only give you a bit of XP, but it’s a necessity if you want to stay alive by not slamming yourself into the next stop sign and dying. When you are done with all those, you can repeat this on as many cars as you can fix, but keep in mind you can only do this once per car, making this only viable for early game levels and small maintenance checks, but overall, not bad for the first day on your new profession.
How it Works:
- (Optional) Read a Mechanics book to increase XP gains
- Interact with the car via Vehicle Mechanics
- Have a screwdriver/wrench and chosen part to replace in your inventory
- Right-click the part you will uninstall/install
- Wait for the bar to finish, gaining XP
4. Tires
Why is Tires Great?
Your vehicles aren’t exactly going to be of any use for moving about without tires, and being able to change them is crucial to both your progress and your levels on the mechanics’ skill tree. These will singlehandedly be the easiest major component to change, giving easy XP per tire to your character, but only if you have XP boosts and the tools needed. A few tires you can find to fit your vehicle for XP are the following.
Tire Types (All Models) (Same XP gained):
- Value-Tires – Least Grip and Durability
- Standard Tires – Moderate Grip and Durability
- Performance Tires – Best Grip and Durability
To be able to change tires, you’ll need a Jack and a Lug Wrench, both of which you can find in garages, as well as the off chance to find them on vehicle trunks and crates in warehouses. You can technically mix and match tires, but I’d stay away from doing that as you’ll be given unpredictable degradation to tires and grip, making you feel unsure if your tire will burst after that sick drift you just pulled from the turn you passed. Like everything in this list, you may change your tires only once per day for XP gain, per car, but for general safety, I’d still recommend changing it to the best tires you can source.
How it Works:
- Grab gasoline from the Gas Station or siphon from a vehicle
- Inspect your vehicle of choice and gas up the vehicle using a gas can or refueling
- Look for a key first, normally found near the building it’s parked, the trunk, or the glove box
- In case it doesn’t have a key, hotwire by pressing V and do the mini-game to start it
- Drive through a zombie fast to instantly kill it, or run over multiple times for low speed
3. Brakes and Suspension
Why are Brakes and Suspension Great?
Two of the most important aspects of safety in a vehicle are suspension and brakes, and for Project Zomboid, it’s no exception, bringing stability to car control to your inputs when driving the zombie-infested roads. Like other things in the game, the Vehicle Mechanics window panel will be your way to removing and installing your new parts, giving ample XP for you alongside XP from other things that go with changing them, like the previously mentioned Tires. This is a more involved process so below are just a few things to keep in mind.
Suspension (All Models) (Same XP gained):
- Regular Suspension – Decent stability on bumps and turns
- Performance Suspension – Best stability on bumps and turns
Brakes (All Models) (Same XP gained):
- Old Brakes – Least stopping power
- Regular Suspension – Decent stopping power
- Performance Suspension – Best stopping power
Ultimately, regardless of the type of parts you install, they will give the same XP regardless of what you install, so all you need to do is install both these parts and the tires and be on your way, making you brake earlier, bump less, and for your mechanics skill, be more consistent with doing this over and over when needed.
How it Works:
- (Optional) Read a Mechanics book to increase XP gains
- Interact with the car via Vehicle Mechanics
- Have a jack, and lug wrench to remove the tires
- Use a wrench, and correct parts in your inventory to replace
- Right-click the part you will uninstall/install
- Wait for the bar to finish, gaining XP
2. Engine Parts
Why are Engine Parts Great?
With leveling being the focus of this list, you’ll need a minimum of Level 4 to be able to start fixing the engine on cars, and that isn’t including the other types like sports cars. As you level up, your percentage to fix cars will yield more repair percentage per spare engine parts, meaning a large inventory of spare engine parts is an absolute necessity for large-scale servers. This also applies to taking parts as well as you can take parts off of cars for as long as they still have a workable percentage left to take from.
Now, before you start taking and repairing the same car over and over, your yields will drastically decrease, which is there to prevent the abuse of the system, making your limited number of engine parts much more important if you happen to have as many cars as a manufacturer dealership. You’ll be doing this on a frequent, especially on the road, wherein a dead engine can be a dead you, and so each level from all of the other repairs listed above, also increases your usage efficiency, with a maxed out Level 10 Mechanic possibly doing 4% on a single spare engine part.
A trusty wrench and some scrapped engine parts are all worth the trouble when leveling up your Mechanic skill, knowing death is just waiting in the wings… or you know, an unfortunate road accident.
How it Works:
- (Optional) Read a Mechanics book to increase XP gains
- Interact with the car via Vehicle Mechanics
- Have a wrench and spare engine parts in your inventory
- Right-click and click the corresponding action to either take parts or repair
- Wait for the bar to finish, gaining XP
1. VHS Tapes
Why are VHS Tapes Great?
This is an absolute cheat code for getting those early to mid-levels down as this is what I describe as lazy leveling, taking up no skill or effort to do, other than just waiting around for the tape to finish. Having the VHS is both easy and hard in terms of using and finding respectively, given that it’s not the only VHS tape found in a VHS store, with a high chance of duplicates being ever present when store hopping throughout the game. If you want to easily level your Mechanics to be decent at vehicle management, look for these VHS tape names.
- Carzone Vol. 1
- Carzone Vol. 2
- Carzone Vol. 3
Easy to remember as the word ‘car’ is already in there, so, if you want my take to get the most out of the boosts in levels, you can further maximize it by reading a Mechanics Vol. book before you decide on playing a VHS tape to study upon. You can be about 2 and a half levels above when playing your first VHS, and for late-game, where it is exponentially harder to level, just about half bar for the higher levels. This, again, is a single-use XP gain, making when you use it, just as useful as having the vehicles to continue leveling your new found abilities to fix advanced stuff.
With that being said, that’s the most foolproof way of getting levels, whether you have an existing character or a new one after death. For as long as you have the tapes, you should quickly master being the auto king or queen of the apocalypse.
How it Works:
- Find any ‘Carzone’ VHS tapes in VHS stores
- (Optional) Read a Mechanics book to increase XP gains
- Turn on a functioning TV and put the VHS in by clicking and dragging
- Press play and wait for the dialogue to finish
