Harald Schmidt gives away his Jaguar: "Couldn't get it through the TÜV anymore"

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Harald Schmidt gives away his Jaguar: "Couldn't get it through the TÜV anymore".

Harald Schmidt (69) is making good on it: the entertainer has parted ways with his Jaguar – a car he had previously described, according to an RTL report, with full pride as "an eight-cylinder combustion beast, a dream." Rather than footing the bill for an expensive repair, he simply gave the car away to a tinkerer. The reason: the car simply couldn't pass the TÜV (Germany's mandatory vehicle inspection) anymore.

What Schmidt means by "minor ailments"

Asked about a possible repair, Schmidt gives an honest, deadpan answer – right in the tone of his stage act:

"I gave it to a tinkerer, because it just couldn't be gotten through the TÜV anymore. I would have financed another repair, but now the little ailments started kicking in."

What exactly he means by the little ailments, he leaves open. It could be the health side-effects of 69 years, it could be a lack of motivation to wrestle with an old combustion engine – or simply both. What's clear: his Jaguar, once his "dream," is done as far as he's concerned. A new general inspection, a workshop bill – he skips all of that now.

Public transport instead of a private car – eavesdropping program included

Schmidt says he no longer needs the car at all. He gets by without a private vehicle and, by his own account, mostly takes the bus and train around the city. He particularly loves secretly listening in on other people's conversations during his trips, as he reveals to RTL. A motivation that fits his style as an entertainer – anyone who builds gags out of everyday life draws precisely from those moments between doors closing and stop announcements. Material for future appearances now comes free of charge from complete strangers in the next seat.

A farewell without sentimentality

Those who know Schmidt know: sentimentality is not his trade. He accompanies the farewell from his once-beloved "dream" car with his trademark understatement. What remains is one fewer eight-cylinder on German roads and an entertainer who will henceforth find his material between stops and termini – entirely without workshop costs and TÜV stress. For Schmidt, it sounds like a trade he's happy to make.

The statements come from an RTL report picked up by Promiflash on October 19, 2026.