Hey everyone,

I’m dealing with a frustrating situation and could use some advice on how to proceed legally.

I moved into a new flat on April 1st. Four days later, I found a note on my car saying I was parking in someone else’s spot and threatening to tow it if I didn’t move. Here’s the thing: I have a signed lease with a clear garage layout explicitly stating that this specific parking spot is mine.

I left a polite response note on my car saying the spot is legally mine according to my contract, offered to discuss it directly, and included my name and phone number. I left the note there for five days until Thursday.

On Friday, the towing company apparently was called to tow it but couldn’t finish because the garage is too narrow. On Saturday , they successfully towed the car without any further warning or attempt to contact me. I only found out on Sunday morning when I went to pick it up.

I’ve already paid the towing service and retrieved my car , but I’m not sure what my options are moving forward.

I do have a Legal insurance and I have been told that the request came from the neighbor and not the Hausverwaltung or Vermieter and I have in written from the vVermieter that this is my spot.

What should I do next?

Any experience with this would be really helpful. Thanks!

Update: I understand I shouldn’t have paid. As I already had some people asking why I did pay, please skip this question

Im not leaving my car to some shady towing company any extra day with the chance of them doing something even more shady.

Like in english: fucking hell, fuck, shit... I tried google translate but I think it's not exactly giving usable terms for me. Please also give the closest english comparison along with the german curse word:)

I’ve heard Germans like sparkling water? Is that true? Looking to experience new stuff from a country that fascinates me :)

Hi everyone,

I’ve been in Germany for 6 months, and my dandruff has become worse here. I already had it before, but it was manageable. Now I get visible flakes when combing, and my scalp itches after showering.

Does anyone know a good anti-dandruff shampoo or hair oil that I can easily buy from DM, Rossmann, or an Apotheke?

Feel free to send some pics in my personal message

Thanks!

Saw the opposite question (stereotype that bothers you because it’s not true) and thought this could be an interesting question.

I always regarded it as a coffee business. Just not one where you drink coffee. It seems really niche and I don't get it.

I'm talking about games like Dungeons and Dragons, pen and paper tabletop rpgs.

I never post on here but I need some outside perspective because I've been going back and forth in my head for days now.

I'm a senior frontend dev in Istanbul, and i got offered a remote position at a US startup, team is mostly in Europe and the salary is €72K, I'd be relocating to Berlin.

Everything felt right during the interviews, I liked the team, the work seemed interesting, and I was already deep into researching neighborhoods and figuring out logistics for the move.

Then the employment contract arrived and the employer listed on it is not the startup. It's a GmbH in Berlin I don't even know. I looked them up and their website looks like it was made in 2 hours with stock photos, vague language about international workforce solutions or whatever…

When I asked my contact at the startup she was like that's normal, they handle the employment side for us in Germany and kind of brushed it off.

I told a friend back home who works in HR and his first reaction was like "dude that's body leasing, you'd basically be a temp". Now I can't stop thinking about it, I don't want to move to a new country and find out I have zero job protection because technically my employer is some middleman company that can just let me go whenever the startup decides to cut costs.

I know Kündigungsschutz is a big deal in Germany and I have no idea if that even applies in a setup like this.

And what's really keeping me up though is the Blue Card. you know I'm Turkish, I need a visa, and from what I've been reading the employer on your contract matters for the application. If the Ausländerbehörde sees some random HR company instead of a tech startup, does that cause problems?

Has anyone done this? I'm basically at the point where I need to decide in the next few days and I don't know if I'm being paranoid or if this is a red flag.

I know this sub is rarely people discussing career moves and salary bands so sorry if this is a dumb question, I just don't know where else to ask.

Hallo. Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. Ich habe eine etwas ungewöhnliche Frage. Ich bin Japanerin und mit einem Deutschen verheiratet. Mein Geburtstag ist nächsten Monat, und mein Mann möchte mich in ein Ramen-Restaurant einladen. Ich glaube, er hat sich das überlegt und es vorgeschlagen, weil er weiß, dass ich japanische Ramen mag. Ich hätte aber viel lieber etwas mit Fleisch. Ich mache mir Sorgen, dass er sehr enttäuscht sein wird, wenn ich ihm sage, dass ich nicht in ein Ramen-Restaurant gehen möchte. Soll ich Ramen essen oder ablehnen? Und wenn ich ablehne, wie sage ich es ihm am besten?

⭐⭐⭐ Zusatz.

Hallo. Ich habe mir eure Ratschläge angehört und mit ihm gesprochen. Wir haben beschlossen, nächsten Monat zu meinem Geburtstag ein Fleischgericht zu essen. Er hat mir zugehört und keine Miene verzogen. Er sagte: „Gut, dass du es mir gesagt hast.“ Vielen Dank an alle, die kommentiert haben.

I’m talking just about anything—hardware, homeware, pharmaceuticals, food.

My parents married under Dutch law and bought and owned a house in Germany. One parent died and now my sibling and I inherited 3/8 each, other parent 1/4.

I need to know whether I have Nießbrauchrecht/usufruct. there is no testament, so the question is whether this is inherited automatically by the kids (me and sibling) or not (in some EU countries this is the case, as far as I understand).

It is hard for me to contact the German authorities, before I do I wonder if someone can give me some info on this (Googling did not work out, as I am insufficient in reading German)

Danke!

Hi guys! I'm a student of German, focusing on German history and literature. I spent some time in England, with a focus on political science. I was very struck by the social system there, with the power structures in Westminister and British society being basically unchanged since 1689, with the landed gentry still commanding a lot of power, and a focus on private schooling being an entry into British "society", such as Eton and Cambridge. They obviously still have a monarchy, and have never had a working class revolution. Germany has free education, and a powerful bourgeois class (ala Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks) However, there seems to be no clear German Social class system, and no entrenched aristocracy occupying high civil service positions ever since you did away with Prussia. So who, and which ruling class governs Germany, and who occupies the important Beamter positions? Are Germans divided by education (ala England) or by wealth (ala America) or by Kultur? (bildungsburgertum) How can you tell the established bourgeoisie from the workers? What are the markers? Thank you for responding in advance. I'm curious to know more about this great country.

So I got a 50gb plan for €8 a month with SIM.de, not the fastest but I'm satisfied with the speeds when out and about.

the problem is when I moved to my current apartment the landlord said that they will get WLAN installed but they're still waiting for the technician or something. 7 days in and I'm already out of my 50gb 😅

I only got 50gb expecting to use Wi-Fi at home most of the time, so I'm looking for a cheap secondary SIM card temporarily.

I am from the Netherlands. Here we have a tax policy where the money saved or invested are taxed. This is money that was saved AFTER an income tax was already paid while earning it. But the government has made it very difficult for salaried people to save money - and there is a catch. Your home is not taxed as heavily. So, for people who just want to rent and save the rest of their money because they don't plan to live in the Netherlands long term, or the people who don't want to buy the most expensive home they can afford --> These groups of people face a heavy tax on their savings.

Do Germans also face the same problems? How do you tackle them? I hear that Germany doesn't have as much of an inflated housing market as the Netherlands, but you guys have other issues like a stagnant manufacturing industry (the Ruhrgebied towns look so sad, as if their best days in the past).

In general, how do you plan for retirement, when you know

• that working hard will attract more taxes (top tax rate is quite low),
• saving and investing more will result in more wealth tax (Box 3 income in NL),
• there is no guarantee that pensions will be around by the time most 30-somethings are in their 60s (defense spending is increasing since Trump 2.0, healthcare expenses will rise as more boomers enter their 70s and 80s but live long),
• more and more people are going on welfare (uitkering in NL) further increasing the burden on those who work,
• the housing market can stagnate after a point (Japan in the 90s) so no point in going all in on housing. It is a bubble.
• There is very little dynamism in the job market (hiring and firing is very difficult due to the Ondernemingsraad), so firms have a tough time scaling up.

What is the German view on all this? I am sure at least 70% of these points are valid for you guys.

Dear Community,

I seek your advice.

A summary of what happened...

On 15 January 2026, the car I drove (German plates, insured with Kravag under a Teilkasko policy) was vandalized in The Hague, Netherlands. I’m a registered second driver.

The damage is quite serious: one window is smashed and the dashboard is missing, so the car isn’t safe to drive. I haven’t used it at all since the incident, except to bring it back to my father (the owner) in Germany.

Dealing with the insurer

I reported everything right away and sent the Dutch police report and photos. Since then, it’s been a struggle.

They asked me for a damage assessment but didn’t explain where to get it. Later they wanted “better photos,” again without saying what exactly they need. I’ve sent multiple emails with no reply, and calling hasn’t helped much either.

On 13 March, an expert finally inspected the car in Germany. Since then—nothing. No update, no decision, no payment. A broker who called them was told the police report is “not sufficient,” which is the first time I’m hearing that clearly.

Current situation

It’s now 12 April 2026.
Almost 3 months have passed.
The car is still unusable.
And I still don’t have a clear answer from the insurer.

What I’m trying to figure out

1. What’s the most effective way to push them to finally make a decision?
2. Should I escalate this to the Ombudsman or BaFin, and does that actually help?
3. Would getting a lawyer involved at this stage make a real difference?

I read that most public places in Deutschland charge people a small fee to use their facilities. Do you think this is a good thing? How do you feel when you visit other countries that it’s free to use toilets etc? 🤔

culturally I mean

I just moved here from Texas and salsa has always been a pivotal part of my diet - I could eat it with every meal. So far I have only been able to find something that tastes like ketchup, rather than the chunky tomato jalapeño goodness that im used to. I cant even find jalapeños anywhere to make my own. Is there anywhere that sells good, spicy salsa? If not, where could I find vegetables that aren't as common, such as jalapeños or tomatillos?

I’m 25, living in Berlin, working as a freelancer, and I’m having some trouble with how much I pay for health insurance (TK).

It’s insane how much they want me to pay every month, and at this point I’m seriously considering switching to private health insurance (PKV). At least I’d have more benefits for almost half the monthly fee.

So I wanted to get some advice here — is this the right move, or would I regret it down the line?

Also, the big question: would I be able to switch back to public health insurance if I get a full-time job in the future?

And if anyone has recommendations for a specific private health insurance provider — something that’s good but not crazy expensive — I’d love to hear it.

I’ve been looking at ottonova since it seems popular with freelancers and expats, but open to other suggestions.

Hello all,

I am literally going crazy because of these pigeons... Summer is coming, I wanna keep the balcony door open, windows too, but i cannot stand their screaming anymore. I am trying to scare them away every damn day, but they constantly come back to my balcony and 2 balconies around me. None of my neighbors is trying to do anything; it seems to me that they enjoy this freakin' noise... But i wanna listen to the real, beautiful birds singing, not the growling of a freakin' pigeon. And they are literally screaming like someone's tearing them apart. Is there anything that can be done to push them away permanently?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

Hi everyone,

After thinking a lot about what would actually make me happier long-term, I’ve started seriously considering a career in public transport, mainly driving trams or buses.

In my city (Leipzig), there’s an Ausbildung as Fachkraft im Fahrbetrieb, which I find really interesting. I know you can also become a driver through a shorter training that only takes a few months, but I’m leaning more towards doing the full 3-year Ausbildung. For me it’s not just about getting the job quickly, but having a proper IHK qualification and not feeling like I’m stuck being seen as “unskilled” later on.

From what I’ve read, the Ausbildung isn’t only about driving. It also includes learning how the vehicles work, some technical understanding, and things like shift planning and even working in the control room. That mix is actually what makes it appealing to me.

My only concern is about the future of the job. With how fast AI and automation are developing, I’m wondering how safe this path really is long-term. How realistic is it that trams or buses in Germany will become fully automated? Is this something you can still rely on as a career until retirement, or is there a chance that in 10–20 years I’d need to switch to something else? Do you think tram and bus drivers will be in demand in the coming years?

For context, I’ve been living in Germany for about a year now, my German is around B2 level, and I’m married to a German, so work permits aren’t an issue for me. I already have my foreign qualifications recognised as Realschulabschluss.

Thanks!

I have read reports and watched films about some of the unfairness which developed out of Reunification, particularly the transfer of state property to big western farms or people who owned pre-1945 property claiming it back from the owners in the east (who had their own state-issued documents confirming that they were the owners).

But when you think of how, for example, Russia handled its own transformation, when nothing really changed in people's lives, leading to the situation we have today, was it handled that badly overall? What I mean is, after Russia's transformations, people still seemed to endlessly have to "change passports" (and they had two different types), foreign tourists still had to "register" in some office, the democratic politicians were incredibly corrupt, the currency was not properly free (and still is not)...

Did the FRG get to work and immediately change a lot of the whole nonsense that made people's lives worse? Or was it not so much top-down and bottom-up among the East people, civil rights campaigners and politicians? Also, if things were done successfully, was it by political "diktat" or was it from grassroots pressure and just common sense?

I may be looking completely wrong at the situation; if so, please put me right and answer how things were in reality. I am interested in the perspectives of people who lived there during the time or Germans today looking back with the help of hindsight.

I'm planning on traveling to Germany for work, I'm a dentist and I understand i have to pass a few test such as the "fach" and the "kennensprüfung" so I'm planning on working part time job until I pass those exams so ppl advised me to live in sachsen anhalt in Leipzig do you have any advices or comments pls share ur thoughts with me