How to Earn Cash, Refuel, and Repair

You reach a stop with fuel nearly gone, worn-out skills, and a trunk full of things that somehow aren't petrol. In Keep Driving, that is your cue to stay parked and fix the shortage that blocks your next road. Check cash, fuel, car durability, and energy before buying anything. Durability is your car's condition; energy pays for many actions, including work and some road skills.

Stops offer different services, and the map changes between trips. Check the services marked on your current map and use the businesses available here. A useful stop buys you room for the next unexpected passenger story.

Problem: Low Cash

Sell an unwanted item if a shop is available. Open its trading screen and point at an item in your car to inspect its sale value. With a mouse, move it from your inventory into the shop's inventory to sell it. This gives you cash and frees storage, but you lose the item. Start with valuables you have no use for or spare equipment. Keep supplies needed for the next road and items tied to an active passenger quest.

Take a job if work is available and you can cover its energy cost. Open the work or employment office menu. Compare each offer's Pay, Energy, and Hours. Work earns cash while spending energy and advancing time. Choose a job that covers your immediate service bill, with a plan to recover afterward. The largest payout can be a poor choice if it leaves you unable to pay the energy cost of your road skills.

If there is no work here, check an available cafe or pub's noticeboard for a task with a cash reward. Read its destination, required items, deadline, and completion conditions first. A delivery that needs another drive also costs travel time, fuel, and possibly inventory space. It will not solve an empty wallet immediately unless you can finish it with what you already have.

Before spending your earnings, set aside money for the fuel, repairs, and rest you still need. An optional car part can wait when buying it would leave you unable to pay for petrol. Use the offers and stock you can see, and reassess after each purchase.

Problem: Low Fuel

Enter an available gas station. You need enough cash to pay for the fuel you select.
Operate the pump and watch both the bill and fuel level. With a mouse, hold the pump nozzle to add fuel, then release it to stop. You can buy a partial fill.
Confirm payment with the green checkmark. The red X cancels the purchase. Check that your fuel level has increased before leaving.

A partial fill can preserve money for urgent repairs. A longer road calls for more fuel and room for losses during road events—the turn-based obstacles between stops. Inspect your next route before deciding how much to buy; a small top-up does not guarantee you will reach it.

If there is no station, inspect a carried jerrycan, a portable fuel container. A can with fuel remaining lets you add fuel without finding a pump, but using it spends that stored fuel. An empty can cannot help yet. To refill one at a station with a mouse, open your trunk; the pump's Refill button can open it for you. Right-click the can and choose Refill, then operate the pump and confirm payment with the checkmark. Carrying spare fuel costs cash and trunk space.

Problem: Damaged Car

Enter an available garage and open Repair. You need cash for the service you choose; repairs restore durability. Compare Budget Repair with Full Repair, using the prices and repair effects shown. Budget Repair restores less; Full Repair is the larger service. Choose enough protection for the road ahead while keeping money for fuel and rest. Check any time cost shown before confirming.

If you carry a Toolbox with uses remaining, inspect its description and use option as an alternative. It restores durability, but using it spends one of its limited uses. Compare the restoration and any displayed cost with the garage's offer. Using a carried toolbox can preserve cash when repairs and refueling compete for the same small wallet.

When there is no garage, use an eligible carried repair item if you have one. Otherwise, check the map for repair service and consider a shorter next leg. Do not set off toward an unknown garage with a car that cannot handle the road. If progress is blocked, assess the recovery choices displayed in your current situation. Asking for help is a practical part of the trip.

Problem: Depleted Energy or Skills

Separate low energy from exhausted skills. Skills are the abilities used during road events. Many have limited uses, and some also cost energy. Rest restores energy and replenishes skill uses; raising energy alone does not mean an exhausted skill is ready again.

Compare an available hostel with the car's Rest option. A hostel restores energy and skill uses in exchange for cash and time, so you need enough money for the stay. At a normal stop, click your car and select the pillow icon to rest in it. Car rest also restores energy and skill uses, but normally costs durability. Check the recovery, time, durability cost, and other effects shown before choosing. If you cannot spare the durability, repair first or choose another available place to sleep.

For a smaller energy shortage, inspect food or drink in your inventory or a shop. Choose an item whose description lists energy recovery, and read its other effects too. Buying it needs cash and space to carry it; using it spends the item or one of its uses. Only count on skill replenishment when the description explicitly includes it. After work or rest, check energy, remaining skill uses, and status effects—the temporary conditions affecting your driver—again.

Example: Stabilize a Struggling Trip

Suppose you arrive low on cash, fuel, durability, and energy. This stop has a shop, work, and a gas station, but no garage. Use this order, adjusting it to the costs shown:

Inspect before spending. Read the job costs, pump price, carried supplies, and rest options. Pick the next reachable stop you want to aim for.
Sell a spare valuable. Keep your fuel can, repair supplies, and quest items. Use the sale to cover the most urgent bill.
Recover enough energy to work. Use available rest or a suitable carried consumable. If car rest would consume durability you cannot spare, repair with your toolbox first or choose another offered rest option.
Complete one suitable job. Compare its pay with the fuel and recovery costs still ahead. If work is absent, use another sale or a task you can already complete.
Refuel and address the damage. Buy fuel for your chosen leg while keeping emergency cash. If a pump is absent, use a carried jerrycan with fuel remaining. Use your toolbox if needed. Without repair supplies, reassess whether a reachable stop with marked repair service is a sensible next move.
Prepare the road skills. Rest again if work has drained your energy or skills remain exhausted. Put encounter supplies in the glovebox—the storage used for items during road events—and verify your bars before leaving.

If you still cannot support the next leg, stay at the stop and reassess the available actions. The useful purchase is the one that prevents your next shortage. The shiny extra can join the summer trip once the car, tank, and driver are ready.

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