Car buying is more than the eye-watering number associated with the initial purchase. It’s insurance, fuel, depreciation, and, of course, maintenance. That’s why it’s important to know if your wheels of choice are going to cost you big time in repair and maintenance expenses. Luckily, an experienced mechanic shared the average repair orders for mainstream car brands with one clear (and pricey) list-topper. 

An experienced mechanic shares the priciest car brands to maintain and repair on video

Royalty Auto Service sees all sorts of cars come through the shop. As a result, the mechanics at the Georgia shop have an idea of the priciest car brands to maintain. And they’ve got the data to back things up. That’s how one of the experienced mechanics at the shop landed on the most expensive car brand to repair and maintain: Jaguar.

No, it’s not BMW. It’s not even the notorious Land Rover, but rather its close sibling. According to one of the experienced wrenches at Royalty Auto Service, the average repair order at Royalty Auto Service for Jaguar vehicles was over $1,500 in the last two years.

He says the brand is prone to a laundry list of issues, like oil leaks, electrical gremlins, engine problems, and suspension issues. As a result, the repair orders skew to the spendy. It also puts Jaguar just ahead of Land Rover in the No. 2 spot and BMW in the No. 4 spot. RAM trucks made up his pick for the third-priciest marque, and Volkswagen rounded out the list of five car brands. 

Of course, there are some caveats to the seasoned mechanic’s findings. For starters, he says several times in the video that his conclusions were based on the repair orders at Royalty Auto Service. The data might be different for other shops and specialty services.

Then there’s the million-dollar elephant in the room. These are accessible, mainstream brands. However, the mechanic doesn’t include Porsche, an automaker with high enough volume to warrant some consideration. 

Now, I don’t know how many Porsches they see at Royalty Auto Service, but Kelley Blue Book ranked Porsche No. 2 among the most expensive car brands to maintain in a survey last year. On average, survey takers reported that owning a Porsche cost them around $14,090 in maintenance expenses over 10 years. It should be mentioned that Land Rover still took the top spot with an eye-watering $19,250 over the same timeframe. Check out the video below!