Patrol Car Key Location in Arc Raiders
The Patrol Car Key location in Arc Raiders: all four patrol cars across Blue Gate and Riven Tides, what is in the back, and which quest hands you one.
Category: Key & Keycard Locations ยท Updated 2026-08-02
Short answer
Where to find it and where to use it
Where the key drops. Like every door key in the game it comes from the shared loot pool, with no guaranteed container and no published drop rate. What makes this one different is that there is a place people actually report finding it, and it is next door to the cars.
The Checkpoint POI in the centre of Blue Gate is the spot. Guides walking players through the quest version point at the last Guard Post on the left side, the one with no cars parked outside it, and a set of yellow folders on the desk. Search the folders. The cars themselves are directly north of Checkpoint, in the large vehicle filled tunnel, so this is one of the few keys where the pickup and the door are a short walk apart.
Where the cars are. Four in the game, two per map.
| Map | Patrol car location |
|---|---|
| The Blue Gate | Traffic Tunnel, at the north tip outside the Maintenance Wing |
| The Blue Gate | Traffic Tunnel, south of the roof opening |
| Riven Tides | North west of Customs House, along the dirt road |
| Riven Tides | South east of Customs House, along the dirt road |
In the Traffic Tunnel you will pass several vehicles with their hatches already open. Those are scenery. The one you want has a closed back, and guides describe it as sitting next to some concrete dividers.
What it unlocks
One rear door on one car. The in game description does not overreach: it unlocks the rear door of a patrol car.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Weight | 0.25 |
| Value | 100 Coins |
| Maps | The Blue Gate, Riven Tides |
| Uses | One, consumed on the door |
What is inside
A car boot, so the volume is small. What it lacks in container count it makes up for in what those containers roll.
On the Armored Transports quest, the target car carries a Weapons Case in the back. That is where the community reports of rare weapons and modifications, the Osprey among them, come from. The wiki itself does not detail patrol car contents, so treat specific gun names as player reports rather than a loot table.
The honest summary: this is not a room, it is a boot. You open it, you take two or three things, you walk away. But those two or three things skew toward weapons, which makes it a better use of an uncommon key than the volume suggests.
Is it worth the detour
On Blue Gate, yes, because the geography does the work for you. The key is at Checkpoint in the map centre, the cars are directly north in the tunnel, and you were probably passing through anyway. That is a short, cheap loop.
On Riven Tides it is a harder sell. The cars sit out on the dirt road either side of Customs House, which means open ground, no cover worth the name, and a slow interaction with your back exposed while you go through the boot. Do it if you are already moving along that road. Do not cross the map for it.
The quest source, and why sources disagree
This is the one thing about the Patrol Car Key that is genuinely unsettled, so here is both versions.
- The wiki lists A Prime Specimen as a quest that rewards one Patrol Car Key.
- TheGamer and GameRant both tie the key to Armored Transports, a quest from Tian Wen, where you find a quest specific key in the yellow folders at Checkpoint and use it on the armoured car in the Traffic Tunnel.
Both can be true at once. A quest rewarding a key and a different quest having you find one in the world are not contradictory. What we will not do is pick one and present it as settled. If you are chasing a specific quest, check its own objective text.
How keys work in Arc Raiders
- Single use. Consumed the moment the rear door opens. One key, one car.
- Lost on death unless it is in your Safe Pocket, and it works directly from there.
- Locked containers reset between raids. Somebody else opening a patrol car this round does not lock you out next round.
- No fixed spawns and no published drop rates. Community reports point at Checkpoint, but the key is still a loot pool drop and other players' backpacks are a real source.
Other keys
On The Blue Gate: Blue Gate Cellar Key, Blue Gate Communication Tower Key, Blue Gate Village Key, Blue Gate Confiscation Room Key.
On Riven Tides: Riven Tides Crane House Keycard.
Not tied to a map: Raider Hatch Key.
Full list across every map: all Arc Raiders key locations. Map overviews: The Blue Gate, Riven Tides.
Frequently asked questions
- Where do you use the Patrol Car Key?
- On the rear door of a Patrol Car. There are four in the game: two on The Blue Gate inside the Traffic Tunnel, and two on Riven Tides, north west and south east of Customs House along the dirt road.
- Where do you find the Patrol Car Key?
- It is a random loot pool drop, but the reliable spot people report is the Checkpoint POI in the centre of Blue Gate, with the cars themselves directly north in the Traffic Tunnel. Guides point at the last Guard Post on the left with no cars outside it, and a set of yellow folders on the desk.
- Which quest gives you a Patrol Car Key?
- Sources conflict. The wiki lists A Prime Specimen as granting one. TheGamer and GameRant both tie the key to Armored Transports, a Tian Wen quest where you search yellow folders at Checkpoint. Treat the quest source as unsettled. Either way, players report the quest specific key cannot be re-searched once taken, so put it in your Safe Pocket immediately.
- What is inside a patrol car?
- Not much by volume, but it is a consistent weapon source. On the Armored Transports quest the target car has a Weapons Case in the back, which is where reports of rare weapons and mods like the Osprey come from.
- Does the map image show the Riven Tides patrol cars?
- No. The reticle marks the Blue Gate Checkpoint and Traffic Tunnel area only. Riven Tides has two more patrol cars along the dirt road either side of Customs House, and this crop does not show them.