My GTA 5 Car Collection Got Wiped Twice

I had 42 custom cars in GTA 5 Online, all with rare mods, and Rockstar wiped them twice. The first time was a database error in 2025, the second was a ban for "unauthorized mods" even though I only used paint shops.

I lost a chrome Elegy Retro Custom with $1.2M in mods, a neon-green Toreador with missile lock-on, and a gold-plated Deluxo. Now I back up my garage data to a local SQLite database every week, even though Rockstar says it's "unnecessary".

If you have a big car collection, back it up. Rockstar's servers are unreliable, and you can't get your cars back once they're gone.