A Texas-based car expert revealed the top car brands he doesn’t see come into the shop for repairs very often. In his opinion, that means these are some of the more reliable on the road.
TikTok user Yonatan (@yon__atan) is a mechanic and technician at a car dealership in North Texas. He posts videos about cars to help consumers based on things he sees while at work. In a video posted earlier in the week, he lays out the top five car brands he doesn’t see very often when filing insurance claims.
“I see the same brands every day when I file claims,” he says to start the video. “So much so that I see almost the same models and model years over and over again. I’m going to try to name five that I don’t see every day, which is good, because not seeing these brands means that they are not in the shop broken down, getting claims called in. If they are broken down, there’s a very high chance that they are still under a manufacturer’s warranty, so the manufacturer’s taking care of it for the customer.”
Toyota/Lexus
The first is Toyota and Lexus, which he says are known for “outstanding” reliability, practicality, and simplicity. More recently, the Japanese automaker announced a recall of more than 100,000 Tundra and Lexus LX vehicles due to engine issues. Yonatan acknowledges this, but says, “They’ve recognized it pretty quickly.”
Volvo
Similarly, Yonatan doesn’t see a ton of Volvo come through the door. “You don’t see them in the shops much at all,” he says. “And they have a very good warranty. A very, very good certified pre-owned warranty. It’s almost in competition with nobody how much they stand by their products.” Additionally, when Volvo replaces a part, they also replace all the related components as well. “They replace it all,” he says. “They really want to make sure their products are up to their standard when it comes to longevity and reliability.”
Mazda
“It may surprise y’all, but Mazda. I don’t see Mazda’s that much,” he says. That’s not to say there aren’t issues with Mazda. He clarifies, “However, the 2.5 liters, four cylinders. They do have a defective cylinder head on some of the models. It’s within a certain VIN window. But what happens is the head will crack in certain spots due to just weak metallurgy, I guess, and it will allow coolant to leak out from the exterior. So it causes coolant leaks and it’s because the head is cracked. Other than that, Mazda is very under the radar, very low-key. They’re not in the claims center at all.”
EVs
The next category is a type of vehicle instead of a single brand: Electric vehicles. “So Tesla, even the Kia/Hyundai EVs, the Chevy Volts, and all that other [expletive],” Yonatan says. “You don’t see them in the shops that much.” He does see hybrids occasionally needing high-voltage battery replacement. “And our policies do cover those high-voltage batteries,” he says. “But I have not seen in the five years with this company any catastrophic failures with EVs. I’ve had to replace inverters here and there. Generators here and there. The electrically driven water pumps and stuff like that—very few and far in between. But as a whole, EVs—I don’t see a ton of them.”
BMW
This could’ve been a tie with Mercedes-Benz, but Yonatan says the edge is with BMW. “I really can’t remember the last five BMW claims that I’ve done,” he says. “They are very good, well-engineered cars. Expensive? Yes. Expensive to maintain? Yes. Expensive to up-keep? Yes. Parts expensive? Everything. And when they break down they do. I’m not gonna fault them for that. But I don’t see catastrophic failures, and when I do most of the time it’s going to be an M car and it’s going to be operator error in some way. Third or fourth owner jerking it around the parking lot and doing donuts and the differential blows up or something like that.”
Viewers weigh in
The video has amassed more than 34,000 views as of Thursday afternoon. In the comments, users thanked Yonatan for his advice and offered suggestions for other videos he might do.
One user wrote, “In Toyota we trust.”
A second user wrote, “Mazdas are so underrated!!! Love them so much!”
A third user wrote, “Do a video on your top 5 midsize SUVs as the family car!”
Another user said, “I just wanna note that this man account went from 705 followers to over 1,000 with like 2-3 days. That means we like ya bro.”
@yon__atan Replying to @VEVOR_USA #trending #trend #foryou #xybca #warranty #technician #dealership #mechanic #car #carsoftiktok #cartok #mechanicsoftiktok ♬ original sound – yonatan
Update 2:22pm CT, Sept. 4: In a comment to the Daily Dot, Yonatan wrote, “While I know my assessments wont please everyone, I really try my best to give thorough, concise professional opinions using my knowledge in this field. It feels good that so many people across the globe can resonate with that.”
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