TRADESMAN Deal to Dealer How to Repair Your Cart
Durability hits zero, bonuses disappear, and the repair button finally appears. Here is the whole process.
Your cart has a durability stat. When it reaches zero, the game shows red X marks over every bonus the cart provides — and those bonuses stop working. The repair button only appears after durability hits zero. This page explains the mechanic, the repair costs, and the current bug with broken carts.
How cart durability works
Every trip, every road fight, every overnight rest slowly wears the cart. The exact decay rate is not published, but the visual symptom is consistent: hover over the cart on the level screen and you will see a durability number such as 0/150. When the first number hits zero, you are broken.
A broken cart still moves. The wagon still travels between towns. The difference is that every bonus the cart provides — rest recovery, watch strength, overnight event resistance — shows a red X and contributes nothing. You are effectively driving a penalty box.
How to repair
The repair button only appears in the cart menu after durability drops to zero. There is no mid-wear repair option.
Steps:
- Open the cart menu and click on your cart to select it.
- Look for the repair cost. The game displays the resource cost on the same screen.
- Pay the resources to restore full durability.
For the basic starter cart, players have reported a repair cost of 10 wood plus 1 toolbox. Different cart tiers cost different resources — the exact amount is shown in your cart menu, so check there rather than relying on community reports for a specific number.
The broken-cart bug (known issue)
The developer confirmed on Steam that the current build has a bug: when a cart is broken, its penalties may not apply correctly. The cart gives zero bonuses but also does not enforce the negative modifiers that should come with a damaged vehicle. A fix is planned in a future patch, classified as “not critical.”
This means a broken cart is currently both weaker AND less punishing than it should be — but the zero-bonus state is real and should be repaired before any high-stakes run.
Quick diagnosis checklist
| Symptom | Meaning |
|---|---|
| All bonus stats show red X | Cart is broken (durability 0) |
Hover shows 0/150 or similar | Cart is broken |
| No repair button appears | Durability is not zero yet — keep playing |
Silver from difficult road fights
One player discovered while testing a repaired cart that silver occasionally drops from high-difficulty road encounters. Difficulty 15+ fights can yield silver pieces. Higher tier fights (difficulty 20+) did not produce silver for this player, but your results may vary. This is worth testing if you are farming silver for Silvermineham or general wealth.
Cart tiers and upgrade paths
The starter cart is a wooden box. Better carts need planks, ore, and tools hauled on purpose and assembled through the overnight rest menu. Each upgrade tier adds durability capacity and bonus stats. Upgrading before durability hits zero is more efficient than running a broken cart to a repair bench.
Full upgrade details: Carts. Animal haulers interact with cart tiers — a legendary hauler on a starter axle is still a starter axle. See Animals and Transport.
Relationship with overnight mechanics
A broken cart affects overnight rests. Better carts give better stamina recovery and sometimes extra watch power when you sleep. A broken cart gives neither. Set a watch even on a repaired cart — sleeping without one in dangerous camps still risks robbery. After the 20 April 2026 Wasteland patch, sleeping in Grampstead cannot rob you. Other camps still can.
Save your game by sleeping, not by leaving the application mid-session. Files live in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Tradesman\ with Steam Cloud on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common merchant questions.
Why do my cart bonuses all show red X marks?
Your cart durability has hit zero. The cart is broken and gives zero bonuses. Open the cart menu and pay the repair cost to restore full durability.
How much does repair cost?
The starter cart costs 10 wood plus 1 toolbox. Different cart tiers have different costs shown in your cart menu. There is no universal repair cost across all carts.
Can I repair before durability hits zero?
No. The repair button only appears after durability reaches zero. This is an intentional design choice by the developer.
What happens if I play with a broken cart?
You get zero of the cart's bonus stats. There is also a known bug where the penalties from a broken cart may not apply correctly — a fix is planned.