Cars from this manufacturer are often found in workshops

Evaluation

This brand of car is very susceptible to repair

Repair shop, not the high street: Service providers analyze which brands require repairs most frequently. But the numbers are interesting.

Ford drivers have to go to the service station frequently – this is shown by the analysis of the Dutch company Actronics, which specializes in the reproduction of electronic vehicle components. In an analysis of more than 20,000 cases of its own repair shops and subsequent repairs performed by the company, Ford was the leader with a negative share of 27 percent. Volkswagen follows with 20 percent, Opel and Mercedes-Benz share third place with 11 percent each. Toyota and Kia were significantly more damage-free by one percent each. BMW is at four percent.

However, the data used for this research is not representative: it only includes cases from the Actronics customer base. The distribution is also unweighted, meaning brands with high market shares tend to appear more frequently in the statistics.

Therefore, this evaluation does not allow to draw any conclusions regarding the general reliability of each car brand – but rather their presence in the provider’s repair shop business. The evaluation also did not reveal which improvements were most necessary for which brands.

Regional differences are also apparent. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the company recorded a very high number of Ford repair cases (29 percent), this was due to dense city traffic and high passenger volumes. However, it is also likely that there are more Ford vehicles on the road due to the plant’s location nearby than in other areas. In Bavaria, where longer motorway journeys play a bigger role, Ford also leads with 26 percent, followed by Volkswagen with 23 percent.

In Hamburg, Volkswagen leads, and in Berlin, Saxony and Lower Saxony, Ford and Volkswagen also dominate the statistics. A distinction can be seen in Saarland: Peugeot is in third place there with ten percent – a mark that cannot be achieved nationally. It is conceivable that this has something to do with the increasingly frequent appearance of French brands due to their proximity to France.

Driving behavior also has an influence on the need for maintenance. Frequent short trips, long trips on the highway, or congested traffic can affect the lifespan of certain vehicle components. Regular maintenance is essential in this case to avoid major damage.