Man Comes In With German Car. Then A Mechanic Reveals If They're Actually Harder To Work On: 'Audis Are Like This Too'

"But German engineering, that’s the bad guy, right?"

Customer Claims It’s Hard To Work On German Cars

Photo by: Unsplash.com

Madeleine Wagner

By: Madeleine Wagner

Mar 19, at 4:00pm ET

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There has always been a lot of discourse around the so-called difficulty of working on German vehicles. In particular, BMWs get a lot of guff. But one Florida mechanic and shop owner is going on the record, saying it’s not just the Germans.

In a Facebook Reel that’s gotten over 515,000 views, Jamiesgarageofficial says, "I’ve gotten so many comments about how German engineering is so dumb, blah, blah, blah. Well, guess what? I’ve started three general repair shops, called Elite Auto and Tire, and now we’re working on all makes and models."

‘Check This Out’

The camera then cuts from the view of Jamie walking through the shop to a close-up of the rear brake rotors on a Hyundai. The shop is replacing pads and rotors. Though the pads have been "no big deal" to replace, the rotors have proven to be another beast entirely.

He states that the labor guide for the rotor replacement calls for an "extra point two" hours to replace the rotors. "Which normally isn’t a big deal," he says, as he taps the bracket he’ll need to remove.

However, the bolt at the bottom (and the reverse side of the bracket) is behind where the control arm attaches. So you have to remove a nut and bolt from the control arm to gain access to the bracket.

But that’s not the hard part. As Jamie rotates the camera around, he indicates that once the bolt is on its way out, it will inevitably hit the strut. So the strut has to be loosened to get the control arm bolt out, so you can access the bracket bolt.

"But German engineering, that’s the bad guy, right?" quips the mechanic.

All The Experts Weigh In

One person in the comments section gives a little context to this. "Older Audis are like this too. I’m pretty sure that’s who Hyundai copies it from," says Louis Frino.

While Lalo Valdez offers some advice, "Just have to back it out and it’s enough space for the caliper to drop."

As does Alejandro Garcia: "No you don’t!! First remove the rotor bolt then start loosening up the caliper big bolts with a 3/8 breaker bar while pushing it towards you and it will come out all together with the rotor."

Why Are Some Vehicles So Hard To Work On?

There’s been growing legislation around the seemingly increased difficulty of working on everything from appliances to vehicles. In 2024, the state of California became one of several states that introduced a "Right to Repair Act."

This law stipulates that for products manufactured on or after July 21, 2021, "manufacturers of electronic and/or appliance products provide documentation, parts, and tools to owners, service and repair facilities, and service dealers so they can diagnose, maintain, or repair the products."

As of this writing, all 50 states have filed some version of a right-to-repair bill, and seven states have passed such legislation since 2020.

But that doesn’t answer the why. Why are products (vehicles in this case) increasingly hard to work on? Reddit has theories that range from proprietary systems to increasingly complex computer systems. Combined with efforts to make cars more fuel efficient and therefore "greener," the systems themselves have gotten smaller and snugger.

Because while that 1993 red Ford Bronco with a white racing stripe might’ve been a dream to work on, it also only got about 12 miles per gallon.

Which Contemporary Vehicles Are Easy To Work On?

If you’re the type of person who prefers to work on your own car, U.S. News has a list of 11 vehicles worth considering. Several Nissans make the list, as do a couple of Chevies and the Jeep Wrangler. Surprisingly, the very sleek Mazda MX-5 Miata also makes the list.

At the top? The 2025 Kia Soul, which was also singled out by the site as the "top pick for the subcompact SUV class."

What do you think?

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So while some cars might be getting more challenging to work on, there are a few out there that are accessible, even if that means buying a few specialty tools and perhaps doing a bit of reverse engineering.

Motor1 reached out to Jamiesgarageofficial via Facebook direct message and with a comment on his post. We’ll update this if he gets back to us.

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