From the lifting platform to the screen
When Serkan Kaya talks about cars, his eyes light up. When he talks about family, his voice softens. He has been a cooperation partner of TÜV NORD Mobilität in Berlin-Rudow since 2022 while also beng one of the faces of the national TV series “Sons of Neukölln”. His is a story which shows that success is rarely a coincidence but is usually the result of diligence, the right mindset and a reliable mainstay in life: the family.
Roots in Kreuzberg and Neukölln
Like his brother Engin, Serkan was born in Berlin. His parents came to Germany from Turkey in the 1980s, settling first in Kreuzberg before moving to Neukölln. “My father established a car dealership and, with it, his own livelihood in Germany with a lot of commitment and passion and no outside help,” says Serkan Kaya. Even as a child, the car workshop was both playground and school for him: With its smell of oil, engine noises and stacks of tyres, this was the environment where he learned not only how to ride a bike but also how vehicle technology works. His mother worked as a team leader at Siemens. Both are role models for Serkan and his brother to this day: “They showed us what it means to knuckle down and build something of your own that you can be proud of in spite of your lowly origins.”
My father established a car dealership and, with it, his own livelihood in Germany with a lot of commitment and passion and no outside help.
This attitude has shaped Serkan’s life and was to prove its worth when things got difficult for him. Because unlike his brother, he was anything but a model student. “I was expelled from school in 2008,” he says openly. But his mother in particular didn’t allow him to drift. After he had received three rejections from a training company for mechatronics, she urged him to try a fourth time. “To be honest, I’d lost the will to even go there,” Serkan recalls. “I thought about just saying they’d turned me down again. But then my ambition came to the rescue, that fighting spirit that I’d had when I’d trained in swimming as a child.” Even at that tender age he had trained six times a week, becoming Berlin champion at the age of ten and learning early on that perseverance pays off. “So, I went back to the training company again, with my heart in my mouth, but also with the firm resolve to make it this time.” And sure enough, on his fourth visit his application was finally accepted, and the next day the call came: he was in! After three and a half years, he completed his training as a mechatronics technician, adding valuable extra skills later with further training as a service technician and foreman. But this was far from the end of the road. His foreman’s certificate opened the door to study at the university of applied sciences in Berlin, laying the foundation for his later work as a test engineer.
Two paths, one drive
His older brother, on the other hand, began his career in the Kayas’ car business: Engin Kaya qualified as an industrial engineer and went on to start his own business as a motor vehicle appraiser back in 2010. “The first year was a real endurance test,” Serkan recalls. “It was a lot of work for little money, but really good training for life.” The brothers were supported every step of the way by their parents, who not only encouraged but also actively helped them out with organisational issues and building up their business as well as just being there for them in the background. “Our parents always had our backs,” says Serkan. “They taught us to take responsibility while keeping our feet firmly on the ground.” So it was that Serkan decided to take the path to becoming an officially recognised test engineer – as both a sensible complement to his brother’s appraisal business and a step towards self-employment.
But as well as spending his days under cars, Serkan is also at home in front of the camera: with his brother, he is one of the participants in the “Sons of Neukölln” documentary series, which was filmed at the beginning of 2025 and screened on ZDF, Germany’s second TV channel. A further season is currently being planned. The production company became aware of the brothers after Serkan went viral on social media with his authentic videos about everyday workshop goings-on and Berlin’s attitude to life – with over three million views and more than 64,000 likes. “Shooting with ZDF was full-on for about a month, with occasional twelve-hour days,” he recalls. After an accident at home in which he broke his nose, forcing him to take a break from filming and from his own family business for a week, the director simply decided there and then to include the scene in the script. “It was painful, but somehow also typical of my life: I fall down, pick myself up and carry on,” says Serkan.
Entrepreneur with heart – and hens
The series depicts the brothers as authentic Berlin entrepreneurs who get the most out of their everyday lives with passion, humour and social commitment. Many of our customers know us from TV, which is a nice advertisement, of course; but what’s more important is that they can see that we’re honest and keep our word.” Despite all the (media) attention, the most important thing for Serkan Kaya and his family is to keep their feet on the ground. “Without my family, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he says. His brother Engin is not only a colleague, but also his best friend. “We do almost everything together: we work and go to the gym, eat with our parents and meet up with all the friends we have in common. Being this close, even away from our daily work, is what makes us strong.”
The Kaya brothers have built up a genuine family business in Berlin-Rudow – right on their doorstep. The family’s home is only a few paces away from the test centre, so their commute to work could hardly be shorter. “Sometimes I just wander over with a cup of coffee in my hand for a brief moment of peace,” says Serkan with a laugh. But the brothers don’t have much time for contemplation, because their testing and appraisal business is going really well: demand is high, and customers are in many cases now coming not only from Neukölln, but from all over Berlin and even the surrounding area. “We could take on a lot more orders if we had the right staff,” says Serkan. But finding suitable skilled workers is difficult. “We attach great importance to having staff who are highly skilled but also fit into the team.” As well as finding suitable employees via social media, they are in close contact with schools, trade guilds and universities as well as being socially involved in their neighbourhood. They have already handed over 5,000 high visibility vests out to daycare centres and parents to make the district’s youngest inhabitants safer. And if you visit the Kayas, you will also meet the family hens which live in the garden.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about connecting on a human level,” says Serkan. “No matter how good our testers are, if they aren’t a good fit as people, the clients will stay away.” And it is perhaps exactly this that is the brothers’ recipe for success: with them, what you see is what you get, whether they’re in conversation with their customers or in front of the camera. What you see in the ZDF series hasn’t been invented for the camera – it’s real life, with all its rough edges and those moments in which they laugh about things, roll their sleeves up or simply carry on. “We want people to feel at ease with us, whether or not we’re being filmed,” says Serkan. “And if, after we’ve tested their car, they say they’ll come back, then that’s the biggest compliment we could wish for.”
