“I Need To Stop!” Hoovie’s Garage Breaks Silence on Getting Scammed, Losing Money, & Starting Over

There was a point where I'm driving a Bugatti Veyron and I have less than $1,000 in my bank account, [music] literally. >> Welcome to Hooie's Garage, the dumbest automotive channel in all of YouTube. >> So, do you think then your viewers like seeing you in financial distress? >> Yes. >> To buy this thing, I did have to sell a couple of my cars. >> I [music] think people love to think, "Wow, I am not as dumb as this guy." Like, like, okay, at least I'm not that [music] stupid. >> Turn it off. Put it right. That's all the fuel. >> How many cars have you sold [music] to pay your taxes? >> I don't know. It's usually like six to 20 to sell to pay tax to me. How bad it is. >> Is literally every single penny just going into cars? >> I'm not that bright. [music] What can I do next to make myself, you know, flail my arms? Look at me. I'm buying a Bugatti. You know, cuz that's what everybody was doing. And I thought I needed to chase that to [music] continue to get the views, to continue to get the growth. And the Bugatti was just it it was just dumb. I got myself a Bugatti Veyron and then got [music] myself in tax trouble. It's been 10 years, man. What do I have left to prove? What do I need to accomplish? Why do I need to chase Javar into his level of insanity? >> Still going to be a lot of water in it. Yep. >> This is the the pit woman at the turning point of just like I can't I can't operate [music] like this anymore. Hoo's Garage, the dumbest automotive channel on YouTube. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. >> Thank you. I am so surprised to be back. >> Well, we've been told you sell supercars to pay your taxes. >> Yeah. Yes. I saw all of Doug Miro's episode and yeah, bit of Tvar's. So, yes, I see why you wanted me to come so quickly to speak. But let's talk about you guys for a second because it's been three years since I've been here. >> Yeah. >> Unbelievable growth. Mr. Beast, Mr. Wonderful, the guy that spanked Marty Supreme, you know, Timothy Shalamé, the guy that spanked Charlamé. You guys have it on the podcast. Even like Mr. Looks Maxing. I watched all that. Like I want to do the chin thing now. You know, get all, you know. So, >> you actually have a good chin. >> No, you have the chin, man. Come on. >> No, you have the chin. >> Well, well, you can compare chins later, but it's all so riveting. I feel like you all are young enough to like know what you know, younger people want to know. Also, you have so much life experience and you just know things that you know the questions to ask. So, it's like the perfect mix of like not some old blowhard, but also someone that's that's wise. And I it's I usually don't miss. So, thank you guys so much for your content. >> We got to know how many cars have you sold to pay your taxes. >> It's every year, man. I don't I don't know. It's usually like a six to 20 to sell to pay tax to me. How bad it is. Last year was definitely the worst by a lot. It was because of a big mistake that I made over a Bugatti Veyron. >> And how big was that mistake? >> Uh so, uh I structured it as a lease. It was a $14,570 car payment. And in order to make the deal happen, I traded in my Lamborghini Countach. I had that car for four years. And I bought that along with a Diablo. It was the best car deal I ever made. I paid $250,000 for both cars. Diablo VT Roadster and Countage is about what this guy paid for it about 10 years ago. And he just wanted to get rid of it quickly. Coincidentally, I think to pay taxes. So, I wrote that check. I sold the VT Roadster for 300 after spending some money fixing it. and I had a free countage. So when I sold it, it was a zero. I sold it for 500 grand or whatever. And with the lease, I couldn't just roll it in. The down payment has to go year to year to year to year. So I had to pay the full gain on the Countage and then only write off one year of it because I structured the Veyron as a lease. And then my accountant said, "Oh, hey, you owe $500,000 in taxes this year along with other things." So that was that was that was 2020, you know, March 20 March 15th, 2025 when he said that, you know, and uh >> so you know what's interesting? I believe for long-term capital gains, I believe cars count as collectibles, right? And there there's a slight tax variation that you pay a little bit more being a car when you make money on it. >> That's Yeah. So it because I had it over for a few years so it was like long-term capital gains, I think. So I was okay there. But it was just that I had zero money cuz I traded it all in and then had to pay the the gains on it. Even though now it's nice because I sold the the Count or sold the Veyron and then got the 300SL Goldwing, but I did a collateral swap. So it's the same lease. So, um, now I get that $100,000 every year now for the next four years. [clears throat] So, >> how much did you buy the Bugatti for? >> The Bugatti was like 135, something like that. $1,350,000. Cuz I thought I needed to be like, you know, keep it up with the Joneses cuz everybody's on YouTube like next leveling. What can I do next to make myself, you know, flail my arms. Look at me. I'm buying a Bugatti, you know, cuz that's what everybody was doing. And I thought I needed to chase that to continue to get the views, to continue to get the growth. And the Bugatti was just it it was just dumb. It it alienated my audience so much that was used to me buying hoopties, used to me buying junk, you know, and aspiring to make them nice again. Something that was cool 20 years ago that is now down on it luck and I try and bring it back and sometimes succeed, sometimes fail. The Bugatti Veyron is it was never not cool. It's never down on its luck. It's it's it's >> So you bought So the Bugatti was like a reliable car for you. Well, no, but it's not something that's like someone per say, okay, you can buy a Lotus Aspree V8 for 30 $40,000, but should you? But it's like, yeah, you can buy a Bugatti for $1 million, $350,000. Here's what it's like to own. That's not how I built my brand, my audience, and all that stuff. And I kept going uh up and up as I became more successful in YouTube, buying these more higher stakes cars. And it was the same return. it. If I buy a $5,000 car, if I buy a million dollar car, they both had the same potential in use. And it just it made no sense from a financial standpoint other than just me wanting to flex and I didn't need a flex anymore. >> So, you spent $1.35 million on this Bugatti, right? >> Yes. Well, it was trading in the the Countach. So, there was there's, you know, it's a little bit of horse trading negotiating there. So, it's a little complicated. In my head, it felt like that's what I paid for it. >> What did you get out of it? >> So, I traded more or less straight across. I got a 599 in there just to help with the down payment, but about a million and a half because that's the the going is what I paid for it. So >> So you traded again. >> So you did well. >> Yeah, I did fine. I I did fine, but >> And you made money on the content as well. >> I did make money on the content. It's, you know, a lot of the videos got over a million views, but it and it definitely worked. But the problem with it was I had had it for 10 months and the guy with it was buying it from me, very generous. He traded a lot of Bugattis and he wanted to inspect it naturally before he purchased it. So, it got shipped up to Connecticut. They inspected the car. It was leaking oil. It was leaking coolant. It was leaking transmission fluid. And they want another eight hours of diagnos diagnosis, about $3,000 to look at the transmission. Probably need to be resealed. Probably staring down the barrel of a $200,000 repair bill on the car. And he still took it mercifully >> at the same Did he try to negotiate the price with you? He knew that I was in I was [clears throat] in bad shape and like I like either cuz I was trying to sell the car out, right? And I actually actually called back the dealer that had sold me the car and said, "Hey, I need out of this like I'll take I'll take a little hit and like just just you know, do you what do you want?" He just ghosted me. He didn't want the car. Totally. Just didn't even reply my text. Not even nice enough to say like, "Hey, you know, probably not. I have too much inventory or some other excuse or whatever." Just ghosted me. So Ed Bolian was nice enough to actually set up this deal because he knew that my ultimate dream car is a 300 cell going and he also knew that his friend Matt Ivo the cultivate collector had just gotten one out of a state that didn't run. So it was it it worked out and the guy loves Veyrons. So he had I think he has three or four Veyrons in inventory right now. >> So how much does it cost to inspect a Bugatti? >> $5,000 for a good one. >> How long does it take? >> About Yeah. 8 10 hours something like that. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Well that's like what? Nearly $1,000. That's like $500 an hour. >> Mhm. >> Is it like a specialist? It's not just any mechanic. >> They have Yeah, it is at the Bugatti dealership and they do have to peel off a lot of stuff to see. So, back wheels have to come off to get all the under body panels and everything off to really look at the car. And honestly, I didn't know that it was leaking because all those underbody panels just catch all of it. So, then when they take it off, they take it down. I never saw a drop on my garage floor. It was always running great. And then they take it down, take a picture of that drip pan, and it's like a a collage, like an abstract art painting of of fluids. And yeah, not good. >> What I don't understand is how you didn't end up having the cash to pay your taxes because at the same point, you must be making some pretty good money on YouTube and is literally every single penny just going into cars. I'm not that bright. This this problem. So, I had a really bad year before that because I got carried away with a home renovation. I bought this old farmhouse in Kansas and I wanted a few acres to be able to put up a steel building and it's zone agricultural and I wanted to be like I saw Strad man in his videos in his house and how far overblown you guys talked about it in depth with his podcast. I was like >> I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be the smart guy and buy the house already and then it's going to be zoned properly where I can put up a cheap agricultural kind of metal building and just finish it out inside and not spend a whole lot. And then I decided I'll renovate the house a little bit. And then I ended up basically doubling the square footage and it just it snowballed into house property for $800,000 and then wrote checks for a million dollars in the home renovations in the building. The building actually about $420 $30,000 all in for 6,000 foot building, heated, air conditioned, insulated, it was beautiful. But the house I'd never done a home renovation before and these people just oh I think they all got together for beers afterwards. all the subcontractors contract and were just laughing at ripping me off. It was it was so bad. >> You think they saw the YouTube channel? They saw the Bugatti and they're like, "Oh, we could just charge whatever because this guy has like 30 cars." >> I didn't. So, he I he came out and I said, "Hey, I'm not wanting to spend more than $300,000. If it's around 300 grand, then I'm just not going to do it." It's like, "Yeah, it should be fine." And it turned into $700,000 and another $200,000 in landscaping and things. It It just It just went into >> $200,000 on landscaping. Well, it was the pond and different things and like the concrete driveways and stuff and and yeah, it's it snowballed, man. It was >> How did you not catch this when you were going in and like quoting this out? >> So, it got the the stuff hit the fan about July. I was 6 months into it. The house is all torn apart like most people find out. And then so they were adding on to the house a new wing and we were actually taking the existing garage and making it into a master bedroom. So, it's existing square footage. We just needed a little living room sort of to connect it to where it made sense for the layout. And so that was the new addition. And they were redoing a lot of the roof to make all the pitches and things work. And it wasn't that much. You know, maybe covering 3,000 ft of roof, but it's a little different cuz the house is sort of old and it's metal on the sides and vinyl on top. And I got a $100,000 bill for that. >> The the contractor, it was somebody they'd worked with a lot and it was somebody that I sort of knew, friend of a friend or whatever. and they didn't bid it out and I didn't know because I wasn't paying attention. >> Did you fight it at all? Like, hey, how'd this get to be $100,000? >> It turned into a it turned into a a fight, but it was kind of like he wanted to sit me down and show me how much everything cost and like how he only made 10 or 15 grand on it and was like very offended. And so, it may he may have been right, but then a lot of the times when people get really angry and offended usually then they're just trying to get you to go away. And I was smoked anyway. What am I going to do? Like the job was done. I didn't get it quoted out beforehand. I thought that was the job of my contractor to do and like let me know. And he just said, >> you had a general contractor, not a subcontractor. General contractor is supposed to talk with the subs and get bids to make sure stuff gets done within the budget. >> And I I wasn't paying attention and I didn't know. I hadn't done this before. So, he just called the roof guy that he knows and said, "Hey, we need to fix this roof here." And he did it. And >> didn't you tell your general contractor the budget though? >> Yeah, that's we talked about it. >> But then what happened with him? Because that sounds like it's kind of his fault. Like that's his purp. You could go direct to sub, right? or you use a general contractor to make sure it gets done properly on the timeline and then also at effective cost. >> The house is all torn apart and I get the roof bill in and I'm already at $300,000 and the inside of the house is studs. So, what do I do? Like this guy's started. He's got to finish it. I, you know, it's it's it's a tale as old as time. Like, you guys are smart. You do real estate and all this stuff, but a lot of people are in these similar situations where where this this happens to them. And I thought, you know, I thought I was smart enough to avoid it and not get screwed. you think with someone with a, you know, little bit of a public persona where you wouldn't do that. And I also think that this guy was a bit older and I don't think that he realized how much some things were costing now as far as the changes with things. So because it was it was sort of a friend of a friend again that had done some work for I think my dad in the past like a patio thing. So like I I knew that he did good work and the quality work was great, but obviously things went way out of control. >> And now that you have your dream home, was it worth it? I am just now getting used to not looking at something and thinking I got screwed there. I got screwed there. There was one chandelier in the master bedroom where uh Restoration Hardware >> accidentally priced it at $600 when it should have been $6,000. And I hit the buy button on it and I was like, is this thing actually going to show up? And it did. So that's the one great victory of the house in the master bedroom. Every night I can look up at that chandelier and just go, I got him there. And that's that's about that's about all I got. Otherwise, I just look at all this like, "Oh my god, this about just ruined me." >> So, help me understand exactly what's going on then because you couldn't afford your taxes, so you had to sell a bunch of cars. >> Mhm. >> But you're still buying cars, which you could argue are assets. >> I have to. >> So, you have to because that's the content. That's Huie's Garage. If I run out of things to talk about my existing cars, I buy another car. >> You have like 30 cars. >> Yeah. But you run out of things to do. And once again, YouTube has changed so much to where you can't just do a little bit, you know, like a check engine light comes on and you say, "Oh, that has a oxygen sensor code. Let's go get a pizza." Like, you have there has to be a lot happening in a video to compete with with the level of content, the quality that's been raised in the last 5 years of YouTube where it has to be a pretty significant event when you post. And I'm sort of a twice a week, a weekly video type of thing. So now for me to keep up, there has to be a lot. It can't just be the buy and everything's wrong and then, you know, fixing things and checking in on like it all sort of has to be roped in to where it's 30 minutes of really compelling content now for it to compete with with this new generation of stuff. >> So, do you think then your viewers like seeing you in financial distress? >> Yes. Yes. Bad is good and good is good. That's the wonderful thing about me is if I get a good car and it all works out fine, the video is not too exciting. I get really excited about the car. This is amazing. What a deal. All that stuff, great. But then that's one video where I get something really terrible like most recently this Lotus Aspree V8 where the seller didn't mention anything when it was on bring a trailer and then sold later at auction where the transmission is crunching and and all these issues. I know like okay this car sucks and people are going to love that this car sucks and me having to go through and suffer through making this thing work again. I know that it's going to be compelling content. So really I win either way. But how much of that is purely watching you in misery when something happens and the audience is just like enamored by that? >> I think people love to see think wow I am not as dumb as this guy like like okay I at least I'm not that stupid and so and I just I just like playing into that like why would he do it again? Why would he buy this side on scene at auction do it again like again? Really this turd and then they like okay my problems aren't so bad. I think I think that there's a bit of that. What's the most that you've lost on a car? >> Well, Doug was nice to end the video of my most recent one when he was on interviewing where I let a car go for apparently $40,000 short. So, for recapping those didn't see it. So, Doug told a story about he really wanted this custom Cadillac Elder Rod that GM built and I had bought it from an auction for I think 12 or $13,000 and made all the custom stuff working in the door poppers. It was like shaved and channeled really cool like an old school custom old school custom hot rod but u modern Cadillac in Elorado from about 98 99 or whatever. It has sold three times in the last 15 years for around 13 $15,000. It had no title because GM actually commissioned this car and it was custom and they didn't want people driving on public roads for liability reasons. So they sold on a bill of sale can't be driven on public roads. So I figured it's worth $135,000. A friend of mine who's a car dealer got this dream Escalade that I've always wanted. It's a unicorn to find one with very low miles and all this stuff. I'm Escalade nut. And he proposed to trade with a bunch of other cars. And he valued it at about the 13 $15,000 that I bought it for. Had into it. Made sense. Okay, get rid of it. It sold a bunch of times. I had uncovered all this cool history about the car and made videos and things and and made it all work and it was neat in that aspect. And then he put it on Bring a Trailer and sold it for $50,000 after the trade. >> Immediately after the trade. Did nothing to it. took pictures, put on bring a trailer, two total nut jobs, bid it up to 50 grand. Wow. And Doug was so mad at me because I had mentioned maybe selling it on Cars and Bids, and he really wanted to do a video on it, but the car was on a bill of sale, and I never thought I'd bring that much money. And this guy thought it was cool and really wanted it, and I I didn't have the money. Like, I didn't want to buy another car, so trading made sense cuz like, okay, get rid of two to get one. Like, okay, this makes sense. And turned out I had left $40,000 on the table. But you never know because it was just too like from from like 15 grand to 50 it was two complete whack jobs this thing up. >> Was that just random chance? >> Random chance. Yes. But you can't help but just >> two guys just two guys just wanted the car equally as bad. That's that's the fun part about these auctions. And like I've worked for Barrett Jackson collector car auction for six years now and you just don't know with two people in a room that have had a bit to drink with unlimited money and you just see things that you never would think are possible and this has happened to be on an online auction where this happened. So, but obviously I kick myself because of that. >> So, do you think that's the market value of the car or was that a fluke that just two guys just had an ego and was like, "Well, I'm going to out this truck over there." >> Yeah. this boomer, he'll die or he'll want to sell and get bored in a couple years and he'll sell for 15 grand again. Like it's it's, you know, it's just it makes no sense. Although, really quick, now that it's the new year, a lot of people finally feel ready to start their own business. But what winds up holding a lot of people back isn't necessarily the idea. It's all the paperwork. Like a lot of people say, "Oh, just go and start an LLC." But very few people explain exactly what that means and how to do it correctly. And that's exactly why we've partnered with Busy to sponsor this podcast because I've used them myself. And I got to say, I could not believe how easy it was. Setting up my LLC literally took less than 10 minutes, and I just knew everything was getting filed properly and professionally, which made getting it filed way less intimidating. Busy has helped over a million people start their own business. And what really sets them apart is just how easy they make it. There's no confusing paperwork or legal terms. You just fill out a short form and then Bizzy handles the rest so that you could focus on actually starting and growing your own business. Plus, one of the best things they actually do for you is including your first year of registered agent service for free with every business formation. And they don't just set you up and then leave. Busy gives you all of the tools and services that your business needs to stay running throughout the entire year. This way, you have support way long after the initial filing. So, don't wait. Make 2026 the year you finally start your own business. Just go to busy.com/ic to get started. That is b i ze.comic with the link also down below in the description. busy.comic. >> But was that the most then that you've ever lost on a car? >> I'm trying to think. That's I mean that's the one that sticks in my head a lot recently. Um but yeah, there there's never been ones that are more than 20 $30,000. I don't think so. And depreciation things. I try not to be that dumb. There's a lot of$5 or $10,000 losses but not nothing extremely crazy. Then technically your portfolio is literally just cars. So when you have spare money, you buy a car and you hope even if it just stays the same. It's like a forced savings account, right? If it goes up in value, that's great because your investment had gains over time. And if it goes down, it's like, okay, fine. Usually it's maybe $5,000 loss. So actually financially, you're kind of doing the right thing >> for me. I think kind of >> it's content though. >> Everything is content. Like every car has an ROI. to spend 50K on it, you could probably make back a certain percentage of it. >> It's just not clearcut, you know, like a lot of people would see this, oh, clearcut, he's doing the wrong thing. But in this case, I think that there's a little bit more nuance to what's going on. >> Yeah, it makes sense because if I put the money in stock market or whatever or different kind of investments, I don't make videos or content on that. So, the cars sit there and they're pretty stable in in value relatively. And I have sponsors that are paying every video sponsored that pays $10 to $15,000 for me a video. And then there's the AdSense and all that stuff. So it makes sense from that point. And yeah, if I lose 10 or 20% on the car, they're most of them are not expensive cars. So we're talking on a $50,000 car, five or 10 grand at the most. So it it makes sense if I get three to five videos out of it, then obviously it makes sense as a business. But it's still when you take out the YouTube business side of it, it's just a car collector just buying broken cars and and screwing up. On the surface, it looks a lot dumber obviously. >> But you said before that you actually have an addiction buying cars. You said you had hoarding tendencies. >> Yes. Yes. Because I was a car dealer before this. So I was so bad as a car dealer because I wanted to keep all the good stuff. It was like a drug dealer like just doing a mountain of like like Tony Montana just you know instead of selling it. And that's what I was doing instead of selling cars and making money that way. So it made a lot more sense for the YouTube perspective. So when I closed up my car dealership and went into a totally different business and and then started writing and doing videos on the side and that all blew up and it was it's been the same thing that I was doing before. So it wasn't it wasn't that different. I just started documenting it and it turned out to be a like a genre defining thing that is my mark on the world. Hooves Garage is the guy who bought the cheap exotics or car that was once cool that's now really cheap and trying to bring it back and now it's it's a very copy and tired formula at this point. But I'm yeah you I'm still doing it 10 years later cuz I don't know what else to do. But how serious is this as an addiction that you can't help but keep buying cars? Because you were talking recently recently about Barrett Jackson >> and how they'll pay you. >> Doug was so mean. >> They'll pay you to go and speak and narrate Barrett Jackson, but then you just spend the money back on the auction. >> They're making money off of you. I never thought about it like that before until Doug laid it out in his his podcast very clearly, which is so nice that he still cares so much about me to spend half of his podcast with you guys talking about me being an idiot, which is wonderful that my daddy cares, but I Yeah, that's I never thought about it that way. I So, when I got hired for Barrett Jackson six years ago, they had just made a transition on networks. They had moved over to the FYI and the History Channel. And my TV show was briefly on the History Channel for one season before it transferred over to Motor Trend. So I was known there and they hired me and they offered like they they wanted to bring in their own talent like a lot of people on a new network like we want to bring in some of our own people. So new young people. Oh, we know this guy from the show. Let's hire him. They offered me $500 a day to come do Barrett Jackson for the first time, which not not a lot considering I mean for television and for where I was at, you know, as far as social media cloud. I mean, it's a lot of people would would kill to make $500 a day, obviously, but but in that world, it it wasn't it didn't make a lot of sense. But I really wanted the experience. I'd never done live television before, so I said yes. I I think I asked for a little bit more, but then said yes when they kind of like just like this is it, like try it or not. And I just dreamed of this was my dream job. I wanted to be on TV. I didn't know YouTube was a thing. I'm a bit on the older side, so I'm turning 40 this year. So, I'm still sort of like in that old school like TV's cool. And so, my parents are like, "Oh, he has he does TV. He has a real job versus a YouTuber." Like, not somebody that that actually working. They're just like putting a camera in their face and goofing off, you know? So, I'm sort of on the edge of that generation of of looking at it. So, I I thought it was neat. And I'd watched the Speed Channel coverage of it, the Speed Channel when I was a kid, and Barrett Jackson was the first to do it in like 98 to go on there. And I was glued to it. I was fascinated by it. I begged my dad to go uh in person to the auction the first time in 2004. I was 16 years old. Were you guys even born yet? >> Barely. >> Jack wasn't. I was born 6 years old. >> Okay. I I just dreamed of going and it was the first time I had ever saw a 300 SL going in person. That was the most beautiful car I ever seen. That was an incredible event. I watched these guys on TV forever. Knew how the show works. Knew how they talked. Knew how they kind of go back and forth talking about the facts, doing their commentary and things. So to get the phone call to come do this job, I was I was just so over the moon excited that that that was that was the motivation. And they'd known me before. So it wasn't it wasn't like they let's give this junkie some money at the casino like Doug Demiro said, you know, let's have this guy and give him like $2,000 credit at the casino and watch him hang himself into $200,000 in debt. Like there was there was a there was some legitimate connection there. And it was definitely a dream job. And it's it's evolved to where um now I'm up on the block for Super Saturday last week and we sold a Gold Wing for $2.6 million. When I was a kid that basically that same Gold Wing sold for $200,000. So it's it's really neat to to be a part of it now. Yeah. >> So they paid you say $15 or so hundreds that first time you did it? >> First time. Yeah. >> And then how much did you spend at the auction? >> Oh that first I didn't buy anything at the first couple of auctions. I don't think it took a while for me to get comfortable because I was really focused on like doing this well. I had never done live TV before. So right now like to have a podcast I wasn't naturally good at this either because in YouTube you can screw up, you can jump cut, you can start over, you know, you could you kind of joke about a little bit where you sometimes mess up and say, "Hey Graham, it's guys here." You know, like like in YouTube you like you goof up and you can really cover it up very easily. You guys edit your podcast a little bit to the stuttering too when somebody kind of just blanks out. So, but with with Bear Jackson, it's live. So, my first time, we're wearing masks. It's 2020 and you can't see my mouth. You can't see him speaking. And I take a deep breath right before I go on air. Okay, go. I take this deep inhale. The mask goes in into my throat. I'm choking. It's This is my first time on live television. And I'm like choking on a mask. And then that same day, we're walking around a car and I'm talking about what's cool about this car. And then I forget my train of thought. And I blank for three, five seconds eternity. And I come back on. And then the tech guys come out and they take my microphone. I was like, "What are you doing?" Well, you dropped out for like 5 seconds, so we think there's something wrong with your microphone. So, we're going to check everything, test everything. So, I didn't tell them cuz they couldn't see my mouth moving. They didn't know. They thought it was just the microphone that dropped out. That I had just brain farted for 5 seconds and like completely lost my train of thought and just just like stared at the camera blankly. So in in that in that five or six years I've come a long way and and learned a lot and it's made me better on YouTube as far as editing myself and things like I can go a little longer and not there's like a there's like a 30 secondond wall before where I like okay I forgot what I'm saying what am I going to say next and then go from that even with YouTube like starting out I would print off a piece of paper about this long and read down the paper and you could see it in my early videos where all of a sudden like my ey line's getting lower and lower and lower as I'm reading and then I reached the end and and then it jump cuts, you know, the next thing because I tape the next thing on and sometimes the wind would catch it like a sail and no like blow my camera over and just smash it, you know. So, it's it's helped a lot. [snorts] >> So, do you identify more as a car owner or as someone who likes to fix problems? >> I am a definitely a car owner, collector, enthusiast, more passionate and the the the it's a champagne taste on a beer budget. It's always been like that for me where I've always wanted to have these cars, but I'm very happy with the crappy versions of them and just, you know, having, I guess, quantity over quality, but and it's definitely an addiction, too, where I feel like, you know, I'm like, okay, what's okay, I haven't bought a car in a week. Like, let's just, you know, let's let's see what's out there on the marketplace. And and it definitely a thing as well. >> What does it feel like when you buy a car like that? When you have that itch and then you just buy something? >> It's a junkie. It's full out junk, but it's also it's always exciting and it's it's a neverending well of content. So, I started doing this 10 years ago. Those cars that were brand new 10 years ago are now turning into total junk. New like it takes a shorter amount of time for modern cars to turn into junk with all the electronics, the hybrid stuff, the turbo stuff, and it's just not built as well to where all this stuff that it take 20 years old for a car toart fall apart is now taking, you know, 5 or 10 years. So, it's it's this it's this endless well of especially modern European stuff that just falls apart so quick and it's like and depreciates so hard that like oh my god this was this was a $200,000 car 10 years ago and now it's 10 and it barely moves. It's like this is incredible that it just just that it's so exciting to me to figure out what's going on with it and then and the process and like just getting into why these things are are just falling apart and and like let's can we save this one? Like maybe we can bring it back and maybe we can bring this one back and make it usable again and it it works out most of the time. Yeah. >> How much is the satisfaction of fixing something up though? >> It is. So I'm not a wrench. That's the other part where like I have the car wizard. I have, you know, different things of different people to use for different things and I just sort of document it, which is so much easier. >> And I, you know, I have some technical knowhow and a lot of experience to where like I understand what the problems are and I understand what the parts are. I understand how to do it, but I'm just not that hands-on. And it's I'm much better tasked at like breathing down the mechanic's neck, filming, which is annoying for a lot of mechanics, and talking about it, and then understanding from a layman standpoint like how this works and explaining it in a way that they understand and the process and all that stuff. If you're a wrench in doing the work like like to Varish, it is so hard to not only do the work that's hard, but then have to document and stop and move the cameras and talk about and everything. And it just it it triples the time it takes to do something or more. it it just makes it so much more difficult. And then you're also thinking about the the YouTube aspect of it and the story aspect of it rather than fixing the car. And that's why, you know, Freddy is 3 years into his P1 because it's it's such a the scope of the project's so insane, but then also having to document it and then, you know, meaningfully move things along and add a budget. It's it's very difficult. What's the easiest and the hardest car to work on? Well, um I would feel like my 2005 Cadillac Escalade is my daily driver in Arizona and I have one in Kansas as well. It's just such a simple, easy thing and it's the right amount of age where it has modern electronics to make it easy to diagnose, you know, unlike an old car where you're like trying to figure out the carburetor and the points and like different things. It's like a check engine lights come on, replace the crank sensor. The crank sensor takes, you know, you have to take the intake off, but it takes an hour. Like it's all very straightforward, very easy. was still engineered to a point where it's all very accessible. >> And um I go back to like '8s Mercedes diesels. That was the first car I ever bought with my own money for 2500 bucks. And it's just all mechanical. It's like Legos for grown-ups. And once again, they engineered the things to last forever and to be serviceable. So like an 85 Mercedes diesel, like everything's reachable. Everything's easy. Like there's there's no like gotchas where you have to take a whole nose of the car off to reach, you know, to take a belt off like on a modern Audi or whatever. As far as like difficult ones, hard to imagine anything more difficult than a Bugatti. um just because and it comes down to I think dealer support and how much they're willing to let people access the software to fix and program these cars and that the modern cars the new stuff where the dealers are keeping that all close to the vest where the right to repair is a very important thing that people are talking about where dealers keep the software the programming all that stuff to themselves and don't let the normal consumer be able to buy a module and program it. So, for example, like my Bentley Conell GT, it's an Audi Volkswagen $50 airbag module. We tried a bunch of different ones. We couldn't get it to work. We couldn't get as a program because Audi Volkswagen keeps it. Bentley keeps the programming. $3,000 for the same part from Bentley, just with different programming to work in the Bentley Cont. And there was no workaround. There was nothing we could do to figure it out. And that's where I think it gets really annoying. It's is the right to repair. Freddy's dealing with it right now with with McLaren's and stuff and and Matt Armstrong recently where Bugatti doesn't want to to give up parts on cars and things and take it outside of their service bay. So that was the other part of the Bugatti where it's like >> I can't really fix it. Like some parts match up but I can't really fix it myself and with independence because they just they just don't want to share the intelligence of how to do it. >> Is it just about money? I think it's about money and then also also the control of it and they want the cars fixed to a certain spec and a certain degree in these high performance cars and they don't want people like me cobbling them together and keeping them going especially you know the liability of building a car that goes 250 m an hour um so you know like $60,000 for tires on the Bugatti Veyron insane it's it's nuts they need to be some material cost on that >> not much but it's just because of the mounting there's only two machines in the world that can mount them to these tires Ed Bully talked about this, you know, a lot and it's just it just it's it's just because it's so scarce and they decided to make it a wheel specific to Veyron and they didn't make it they just didn't make it easy. That's where this the Chiron improved a lot where they made it a lot more serviceable in that aspect where there's not 12 different drain points to do an oil change where you have to take the car half apart to just do an oil change. That's why it cost $15,000 on the payron. So they they learned a little bit but they're still they're just not independent mechanic friendly. But then even even Ford's getting harder with that. Like even even mainstream manufacturers are figuring out like, hey, why do we give up the keys to the castle when we can just force people to come to the dealer to fix the cars, which is going to suck when they get old and cheap and kids are trying to keep them going? It's going to it's going to be terrible. >> Are they making cars more or less reliable? >> I would say less reliable. And it's it's it's all down to just the highrung four-cylinder engines that they're putting in cars to get the most efficiency and more power. and they just don't care about the longevity of it. And then also trying to get out as few warranty repairs as possible and to make the initial warranty as far as the cost of regular maintenance as low as possible. All they care about is when they sell the car, is it showing on consumer reports as reliable and is it showing as low maintenance? So, they don't care to say it needs 15,000 mi oil changes. They don't they don't care that that things are not built well to last. They just want to make sure it lasts through the warranty and they're and they're really not caring about how easy it is to work on any that kind of stuff. So, it's their motivation uh to just not do that anymore obviously for a lot of other reasons. Obviously, they want people buying more cars. >> And what causes a car to lose so much value? Like you're talking about these cars that are like 200 grand that you can now get at like 30. Why do certain cars lose so much? I I think it's just the things are getting so dated so quickly when it comes to software on cars and things that the early infotainment cars like the original BMW iDrive system is just so clunky and you get in it now and you're trying to go just just change the stereo from FM to satellite or your iPod or whatever. I'm getting old now it's see it's all mixing around so I'm saying things like that but it's it's so clunky and it evolves so quickly and even Tesla you know they they try and upgrade. It's nice that Tesla upgrades the cars. Like with my 2017 Model X, they were able to update the cameras and everything and make it to where normal FSD works in it. So, it's nice. But most manufacturers don't care. The cars just they age so quickly because of the software and also because of how complicated they are and the serviceability costs are just just insane. 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You'll also get VIP perks like upgrades, resort credits, and late checkout, giving you and your clients access to these crazy elevated travel experiences that regular travelers just don't have access to. So, now is the perfect time to turn your love for travel into a fulfilling business with Fora. Become a Fora adviser today at foratravel.com/iced coffee or click the link below in the description. That is fatravel.com/icop and be sure to tell them that we sent you once again tell you at foratravel.com/ ice coffee link down below. Thank you so much to Fora for sponsoring this episode. How many cars have you bought and sold in your life? >> I don't know. Well, the car dealership it makes it complicated but it's it's over a thousand. >> You've bought over a thousand cars. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Easily. Yeah. So, you've probably sold like 900 and >> Yeah, pretty close to a thousand. Yeah, somewhere like that. Yeah, >> that's You probably sold 500 then, right? >> I know. If I had 500 cars, man, that'd be something. But no, I I tend to keep 20 or 30 at a time just just with me. But before that, I had the car dealership, so I was turning, you know, a few hundred cars a year for for years. So, yeah, there's there's a lot of cars. Is it sometimes slightly maybe like a a negative thing in your life to be such a car fanatic? Because I have another friend that has a similar thing, a massive car purchasing addiction and they just want to get the newest and nicest and best thing and it kind of puts you on a bit of a hamster wheel cuz nicer cars are always being made. Old cars that are extremely expensive consistently go up in value espec especially as of late. And so it just like it's just like this thing that you're constantly chasing in life. And if you could want it just a little bit less, maybe that could add some some peace to the life. I am so grateful for people like your friends that buy the cars new and take that hit. So at least I'm not as dumb as that to like constantly chase the new thing and need that and and taking these massive depreciation hits. But I I have bought some new cars recently like the new Corvette Z06. I bought that and sold it very quickly before those started appreciating. Like I sold it for 50,000 over sticker. New GT500. I took that brand new. Sold it for a little over. It's Tesla Cybertruck. I was the first one of those. Get those. I sold that for 10 or $15,000 over sticker before they just completely blew. So I like I I knew like if I could get it and make videos and get out of it before they took a big hit. But I've always been okay with losing money on fixing them and not on depreciation as much. That's where I've always operated at, I guess. So, you love your addiction? >> Yeah. I don't I don't see anything really honestly that wrong with it. Especially now if I wasn't doing YouTube and before it was obviously a problem. The YouTube enabled it and that I'm very grateful. Very grateful. So, if a normal person did what you did, they would go bankrupt. >> Right. And that's I am a horrible influence. Horrible. And people tell me stories. They come up, oh, I bought this car because of you. I'm like, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. It's Yeah. I I feel bad. Have you made money on all of the cars you've owned? >> No. Well, overall, obviously, I've made some money. Um, >> like generally speaking, if you were to collect the entire cost that you've spent buying a,000 cars and then the amount that you've gained selling a,000 and the current value of your car portfolio, if you will. >> I would say it's yeah, probably up about I don't know, everybody looked like a hero during COVID, you know, where everything was going up in value. So, like everything I bought, and I think this is where a lot of YouTubers got in trouble, including me, where it's just like you were unstoppable because every exotic you bought, you could own it for 6 months or a year and it would gain 20 30% in in value in that time. It just seemed like the party was never going to stop. Of course, it was going to at some point. And I think a lot of people got caught in in that. And but overall, I think I I think I'm I'm pretty close to even or maybe a little ahead. >> What's the most you've ever made on a car? >> The the Countage deal for sure. >> Okay. that yeah you walked into $500,000. >> Yeah. The I mean the car at the time probably each of them were worth about 200 to$250 and I bought that on the last day of 2020. So the timing was excellent for rapid incredible depreciation or appreciation on the count. >> You're so used to saying depreciation going up in value. You're like that doesn't compute. >> Incredible appreciation on that car and SLS AMG. Great appreciation on that car. Uh but then there's ones like the SLR McLaren sort of, you know, the previous generation hyper. I own that car for from 2022 and just sold it uh a few months ago and sold it for what I paid for it. So that like that you think that McLaren would be something special and I bought it really well. I thought it was only 2,000 mi on it, but it just they they never moved. >> Why? Cuz I think that car is undervalued. It's so special. You never see them. >> It's iconic. >> People think that the service costs on that car are astronomical. And if they take it to the Mercedes dealer, they're right. So, for example, Nick, the guy I sold it to, he was a friend of Doug Demiro. >> He had the alternator fail when he drove it to Arizona for Arizona Car Week and he needed it fixed quickly. He took it to the Mercedes dealer. They said, "Sure, that'll be $13,000. It's the same alternator on every other Mercedes. It's not that hard to reach. There's this big SLR tax at the dealer for no reason." So, he takes it to an internet shop and I think it's fixed for under two grand. The brakes, yes, the brakes are $50,000. They're they're ceramic brakes. They're very expensive. They never wear out. I have a Porsche Panamera with ceramic brakes, 115,000 mi. They're fine as long as you don't track the crap out of them. But most of these SLRs are low mileage. You never have to worry about the brakes. So, a lot of this stuff, it it just it doesn't make any sense. So, that's that's the negative p perception. Also, the fact that it's a slushbox automatic and not a gated man manual like a Carrera GT. Uh that that definitely I think held it back a little bit. So, the perception of that like kind of weird. And the looks have always been a little polarizing on that car. I feel like I think it's gorgeous. >> It looked like an SLK. That was the one thing I felt that held it back. >> Yes. Yes. They did, you know, they did that race car Formula 1 nose on it that looks a little phallic and then they made the mistake of putting it on the SLK which made it look, you know, even more ridiculous. And I think that definitely hurt. >> So, as someone who's owned a thousand cars >> Okay. Yeah. >> What is the recipe for making sure your car doesn't depreciate a ton? Oh, I mean it's just buying one that's already depreciated. But it's it's it's it's a no-win scenario for the most part because you're either going to pay the car payment and and the depreciation, all that stuff, or you're going to buy it cheap and basically have a car payment in at least something nice and expensive with the maintenance. I mean, anybody can buy a 20-y old Toyota Camry and not lose money and then just keep it going. But, I mean, if you're getting something cool and interesting, it's it's one or the other. It's either maintenance or depreciation. Just take your pick. But also in terms of adding miles on it, Graham was saying, you know, he bought his Ford GT at how many miles? >> 7500. >> 7500 miles. And he's horrified at making >> Can't go over 10,000 miles. You can't do it. You can't do it. >> Because apparently as soon as you do that, you immediately lose a bunch of value. >> 400 right now to probably what? 350. >> No, it's going to go from 485, 475 down to probably 425. >> What color is it? white with blue stripes. Okay. And red calipers 475. >> We sold a yellow car just turned to 10,000 miles for 440. >> So the yellow is the rarer color at Barrett Jackson. >> Sells for less than the white. >> Yeah. >> Every color has their own little price. >> Mhm. >> So then what other tips and tricks aside from like breaking a certain mile number do you have >> to not lose a bunch of >> Well, I mean it's just it's just buying it at at the flattest of the curve, which is usually, you know, 10 or 15 years in. And it's something that was really cool and desirable. It's something that was magazine covers that everybody was talking about that's now 10 or 15 years old that's at at the bottom of the curve which I think the Ford GT at one point that was what fiveish years ago. Of course there was a time where a Ford GT was $150,000 so under MSRP but as far as the the flattest point there was still a point where you get them for under $200,000 for a minute like maybe it was six or seven years ago now right before 2020. I remember like Strad man and I were looking at the same one that he bought in in in Hawaii and I was like I'm going to hit the button on that and then then it was gone. I was like oh crap and it end up being James who bought it. You know I got the SLS instead and obviously it would have been way better to go with the Ford GT but the SLS did fine. So I think I think there's a certain age mark where it's 10 to 15 years old something that people thought were really cool. So you could take for example like a even not something expensive like a like a Mazda speed Miata from 2005 where they put a turbo on a Miata from the factory special body kit and all that stuff and they have been 10 to $15,000 cars for a while now. It there's there's no chance of that car ever depreciating because there's a little bit of more limited production and run and they haven't done it really ever again. So there's a lot of things like that where it's like wow this is this is a cool car that they made during this time that you can seek out. So, if you want to get a really cool car that ideally could appreciate, but hopefully also just stay flat, definitely not depreciate at 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, and a million, what would that look like? >> I see I don't play I don't play that game that much as far as what what wouldn't depreciate. So, 25 I feel like some of these analogs, the the last sort of manual cars that they still make that that don't really make anymore, I think it's pretty safe to get something with a manual transmission. a lot of a lot of Corvettes and some of the cooler Mustangs and stuff where there's around 25 grand right now that >> that would definitely work. Like a C5 Z06 might be tough to get around 25. That' probably be a great one to get. I 25 should be doable on that one still. C6 it wouldn't be able to do it. Uh 50 grand I feel like right now what I just got was the AMG GTS and it's a great car. >> Incredible car. So, I don't feel sad about selling my $300,000 SLR or my $200,000 SLS AMG cuz I got this. It's the same platform as the SLS for 50 grand for 500 horsepower dual clutch. It's beautiful. It's It's stunning. Yeah. The doors don't go up all cool like my SLS and SLR, but it's so amazing for 50 grand. And there's nothing that's going to be a $50,000 driving experience for for less. I feel like it there's no way it'd be less than 50. Nobody's going to ever say that that basically AMG's purpose-built supercar is going to be a a 30 $20,000 car. It's it's impossible. There's it's not going to happen. Um but then you go up to 75. >> No, it could be like between 100 and 300. >> 100 to 300 I think. Yeah, you could still once again the the the gated cars, a gated Gallardo, a gated R8, something that's still analog, that's still serviceable, that's not into that hybrid tech and all that stuff where I feel like there's going to be a big rejection of that as they age. And and you're seeing the trickle down of what once was, you know, uh the hypercar holy trinity, the McLaren P1, the Porsche 98 Spider, and the Ferrari LaFerrari getting down into the normal Porsches now or hybrids. The 911 Turbo is going to be a hybrid now. the normal the Ferraris like the SF90 $700,000 car that's depreciated 300 grand in a couple years. All this hybrid tech that people are rejecting and then when they're 10 years old on a normal Ferrari you're going to spend 100 grand on a battery replacement. People are going to reject that >> $100,000 on a battery. >> It's it's $200 or $300,000 to do a lot Ferrari to $300,000 to do it on P1. >> How much of that is the the cost of the battery? >> They charge six figures for the battery. It's the labor is still expensive, but they charge an unbelievable amount of money. You have to take it to like Ferrari or McLaren to fix it. You can't take it to an independent who could tinker with it and mess with the software. >> Yeah. It's not like a Prius or, you know, all that stuff where you can rebuild the cells or like the Tesla Roadster where you can rebuild the cells and balance them back out and all that stuff. So, and they upgraded as well. So, like they're going to be stuck with that. So, I feel like people are going to go like I want the days where like I can just change the oil on this thing and fix, you know, change spark plugs and still go like and so these last Audi R8s that are still somewhat analog. They don't have to be manuals, but as far as just just not that crazy level of technology to where it's still, you know, a normal uh independent dealer scan tool can access it and still keep it going reasonably. I think that there'll be a big appreciation for those. >> How many cars have you regretted selling? You know, it's tough because I do regret a lot of it, but unfortunately, I'm not wealthy enough like Jaylen was garage where I had outside income of of something else, you know, doing the tie show for 20, 30 years or whatever to where I can keep the things. So, if I need to recycle and do fresh content, I have to I have to sell. So, I would love to keep the SLS SLR, the Countach. Oh my god, that Countach that was I had the Countach for four years, which is a long time for me because I loved it so much. And you know, Doug Deir says it's his favorite car. I I agree with it, but I had to like, okay, I'd done everything. I had done a video on that car in a year, and it's like it's sitting there. It's it's half a million dollars. Like, I could put it into something and and have a whole new wave of content. So, unfortunately, I have to move things along. Um, even though So, I guess that doesn't make me quite a degenerate like as you know, an addict cuz I thought cuz I like I know I need to keep the keep my the hamster on the wheel as far as going with that. >> But your portfolio, your net worth year-over-year is still growing, right? It's not growing. >> I lost [gasps] I lost a lot. I lost half of my net worth. Um and and just just with some some mistakes financially and things where the typical stuff where people get they get this hubris like the party's never going to stop and you just and just personal decisions and different things where Yeah. Obviously, we talked about the home renovation and some other bad moves business-wise and people take advantage of you and things and yeah, I lost I lost millions, man. Yeah, I did. >> What's your advice for people watching this to make sure they don't fall into the same issues? >> Oh, it's I I think I sort of talked about with with me it was trying to level up and do the next thing. So, I had to do the big house. I had to do all the cool crazy things that everybody else on YouTube was doing. I I never thought I'd be that the Hollywood guy that loses it all, you know? So, I I didn't lose it all. Obviously, I'm still doing fine, but I made the this the stupid mistakes >> for sure. >> Do you own any stocks? >> No. I mean, a little like a mutual fund that I haven't put any money in in years, and it's I mean, it's less less than $50,000. It's grown, right? >> Less than 50 grand probably. >> But you watch it grow over time, right? >> I haven't actually looked at my this mutual fund. >> Does it exist? Come to think of it. Stanley. And I think like I I haven't like even opened up the envelopes to see how much money is in it when they send statements in a while. >> Yeah. >> You know what I'm thinking? We got to create an email. Hooie needs help. >> Don't do this. You did this for.com. We did it for me, too. We have a Graham needs help 12. >> No. >> Cuz here here's my idea. I was thinking how great it would be to create a bring a trailer of hoopties because I know bring a trailer their their threshold is pretty high. Cars and bids is like unique cars. I want to see hoopties. I want to see cars that like might not be running. >> I wouldn't compete with my daddy. >> I don't want to compete with my daddy. >> Loves that idea. >> He's not doing hoopties though. >> Oh, you don't want to do hoopties? Cuz nobody would disclose honestly how bad hoopties are. But a lot of people don't know. Oh, they either they lie either out of omission or ignorance or they're actually it's malicious. That's when I buy a car, they what's wrong with it? They list the things that they know, but then there's so much they don't know. So, there's no a hooptie thing there. There's a that's a no-win scenario because like you you don't really know. >> How often are people lying when they're selling a car? >> They're all lying, but like some of it >> some I mean, some of it's by ignorance. So, they don't know that they're lying, especially on an old 20-year-old Lotus or something like that. So, like when I bought this Lotus at at Barrett Jackson, there's some things that are kind of shady. So, on Bring a Trailer, he disclosed that the car didn't have a roof, which is kind of important. Uh, but with Barrett Jackson, when he put it up, he didn't disclose it cuz you're supposed to disclose things are wrong, but not having a roof sort of ambiguous. And instead he he put a piece of Lexan, wrapped it really nice in a blanket and taped it up and then put this in the property room as roof so it shows that it comes with a roof. And he did crudely make a roof out of Lexan like just cut it out. But there's nothing to there's nothing to secure it. It's a piece of plastic. But but the like the one two transmission crunch that when I posted the video, people are smart enough to go to bring his trailer, find the old listing, find the guy's handle, and then just start blowing this guy up, tagging him. Hey, you're shady. You're terrible. Like, how could you not disclose these things like you're a crook? I could honestly believe that the guy didn't know that the transmission was screwed in this car because it takes 15 or 20 minutes of driving for it to warm up and that one two shift becomes a so he didn't know but he also didn't care enough to drive the car any kind of distance or know to really get to know the car's issues. >> How do you know he didn't know? I I could believe that it's possible like if let's say a dealership has a hundred cars. They're not going to be able to go and drive every single one for a couple of hours and figure out every single issue with the car. So they they can't like and a mechanic can inspect it. They don't have a crystal ball to look inside the transmission and know that the synchros are shot. You have to go drive the car like really put some serious driving in it to really know a lot of these problems. So I can you you can sort of the same time like since the roof thing was kind of shady. I'm wondering how much he knew and he said like in the start of video on bring a trailer the airbag light goes off. It never goes off. So I it might be a combination of just not caring and a little bit of malice. But but either way like every seller lies unless unless they are just totally nuts and go get the car, you know, fully inspected before they sell it and or something, you know, very new. See, I like the guys and you you you could tell usually because they post on Bring a Trailer and every little nick that I would never even notice, they mention it, >> right? >> And they put like a penny or a dime next to like this little nick that's on the back kind of like on the under part and they're like, "There's a little scratch right there." Yes. >> Or this little scratch. Like people exist like that. >> Yes. with with dealers that really care and then then they you know bring a trailer and others have really like preferred dealers with like they they have an extra thing you know and cars and bids has regular dealers that you know but a lot of them just buy the car at the auction and there is always a reason especially on something cool. Why did this person trade it into CarMax? Why would somebody take a like a 2010 million GT and trade it in a CarMax? That's obviously there's something wrong. like you could go take it on Facebook Marketplace and and sell it or you know there's so many other options where you you take the quick wholesale money. Some people are lazy and obviously they don't they don't care. They're that rich. But most of the time if they're trading in a car, especially in this day and age where people are kind of strapped financially, there is a reason and then the cars get dumped at auction and then there's there's a multiple degrees of separation where the person who traded in knows what's wrong but then the selling dealer doesn't know and then it goes to auction and that dealer doesn't know. So it filters through a couple people and they just you don't know until you buy the car and start driving it. So, like I don't usually get mad at people when I get seriously scammed. There's some where I've gotten like deservedly just blast the people cuz I mean it's obvious that they were being really shady and I know sometimes when I bought the cars they're like, "Oh shit." Cuz they know it's going to be on YouTube and I'm going to be talking about it and and some of them are smart enough to like not even respond to me when they figure out that it's me because they don't they don't want to uh get involved in that. But >> but have you ever recouped anything from someone that you put on blast? >> No. Um, so there was one time that Bring a Trailer actually refunded all their buy fee to me. That was nice of a Bring a Trailer. And it was on a Plymouth Superbird, 1970. This guy had two Superbirds. And this one was a Hemi Superbird. Very rare, but it was a shady one where it had been wrecked at some point. It was a partial rebody and it had a modern Hemi in it. It was built for SEMA. It turns out the car was never drivable. It was one of those cars that was built for SEMA and never worked. And so this guy had his driver Superbird and then he dumped this one and the suspension was too low. It had a rake on it. So for the sail, he jacked the suspension up, but then didn't uh it didn't work. So it was like solid. So you drive down the road and like the wheels would leave the ground because there was no suspension going down the road. You drove it 5 miles immediately overheated. It did. The car didn't work. The basically they had basically decorated the radiator to the point where air wouldn't flow through it and work. So this car never ever worked and this guy there there's so many other things. The wiring was a mess. None of this stuff. And so when I won, I called him up and I said, "Hey, I want to drive this car home. Like it'd be really cool store for me to drive it back from Chicago or wherever it was back to Kansas." He's like, "Man, I don't think you want to do that cuz like the Hemi, the racing Hemi that's in it, it's it's pretty crazy and it only gets like 5 miles to the gallon. Like you'd be with a small tank, you'd be stopping for gas every 50 miles. You don't want to do that. [sighs] Come on. Whatever." So, the car shows up and it's such a disaster. It's like so many things that just aren't disclosed. It is so painfully obvious, but it's a SEMA show car, so it looks beautiful that the photos looks beautiful. The components are beautiful. It's just all stuff that was just dropped in and slapped together for for a show car. And he completely head in the sand, buried, broke all contact, didn't care. He just got to he got to dump the car. It It was >> Why did you have to Why did you have to buy it? >> $130,000. Couldn't you just show up, see the car, and say, "I'm not buying that." >> I wired it, and the car was shipped to me. So, I he already had the money. It was shipped to me. >> So, he told you a story, and then you believed the story about the five mile. >> I believed the disclosure on on bring a trailer. So, he said, "Don't ship it cuz it's really hard to drive like like it's it's a crazy racing engine, all that stuff. It gets back." So, so I believed him. I sent him the money and he shipped it to me. I think it was $115,000 is what I paid for it. But, >> did he get banned off Bring a Trailer? He did get banned and then bring a trailer gave me back the $5,000 fee, but he did not give me any money back. >> Well, why is there no repercussion for lying? >> What am I if I He's in another state. What What am I going to do suing the guy? Like, it's it's not it's there's no point. >> What did you do with the car? >> So, I fixed it. So, we we fixed the cooling system. We fixed the suspension. We got everything working. We got the wiring sorted out as much as we could. We got I had to reune, redyno the car to where it actually accelerated in a normal fashion, all that stuff. And then at the same time, Hemi Superbirds blew up. There was there was at Bear Jackson, there was one guy. He was 80 years old. And he bit up one to $500,000. And then he was so mad that he didn't buy the next one. He said, "I'm buying the next one no matter what and let everybody know." And it got bit up to 600 $700,000. And then he decided to jump the bid. 300 grand. Said 1 million bucks. set a record for a Hemi Superbird. Oh my god. Like just one guy single-handedly took this Timmy Superird market from $200 or $300,000 to a million dollars. And then um so obviously I was like, "Okay, time to sell mine." I took it to the next auction [snorts] and I couldn't quite get it ready cuz the hubs were different. So I couldn't put the stock wheels back on it. And mine was a partial rebody so it had been modified and all that stuff. So, I had I think I sold it for 130 140 something like that and hadn't spent that much fixing it. So, I actually made a profit, but I also single-handedly crashed the Hemi Superbird market cuz then after that they didn't bring the money. And this guy happened to just die recently. He died like 2 years ago and his family was selling the estate and sold that Hemi Superbird that he bought for a million bucks and it sold for like $300,000. >> Like this one guy single-handedly like just just blew up the market. Crazy. It sounds like the car market could be easily manipulated. And so what's to stop somebody? What's to stop me from listing my Tesla Roadster? >> Have Jack bit, you know, bid the thing up to like $300,000. >> And then, you know, we we do Jack and I do a deal, but it shows that it sold for $300,000 and now all these cars are worth way more because one sold. >> It happens all the time. Not at bring not at Barrett Jackson where I work for because Barrett Jackson is 100% no reserve auction. So, and you don't see much of this. People like to say, "Oh, there's money laundering when something goes crazy." That's not the thing. The other auctions where there's a reserve, >> then the people know what the reserve is. So, they'll they'll set an unrealistic reserve. And then they can bid it up to that comfort level. And then, oh, reserve not met at $700,000 on the Tesla Roadster. Oh, what a shame. And then a couple months later, the car pops up for sale. Oh, it's for sale for $600,000, but I saw I got bit up to seven. This is a deal. I better buy it. These people should have taken the money. like, "Wow, what a deal." And so, obviously, >> there's some of that going on. Um, yeah, obviously you if you want to start doing it, go ahead. I mean, it's it's it's pretty obvious. Yeah. >> Now, I've noticed February is a time where things generally slow down a little bit. It reminds us to look after ourselves and the people close to us, especially at home during the moments that really matter the most. And that's exactly why we are so excited to be sponsored by Cozy Earth. Their mission is super simple. It's to make everyday life better by turning simple things like sleep and downtime into something you really look forward to. 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Would you be willing to make any compromises in your current life? maybe to spend a little less money, buy a few less cars in order to save and invest more money. >> So, I talked about like my money problems are are everything is fine. I things are behind me. I didn't I didn't bottom out, but there there was a point where I'm driving a Bugatti Veyron and I have less than $1,000 in my bank account. Literally, like literally. And I'm thinking I have to get a car loan on something to pay my bills. Like that. That's how tight things got cuz every month I was putting away every dollar I had to pay back these taxes to get caught up cuz obviously I'd love to pay and be caught up on April 15th. I wasn't able to pay any quarterlys that year before that because of the home renovations going so out of control instead of that money I was putting away to pay quarterlies. It was going into the house. So that's where it got so like up 500 grand for 20 pay 2025. So every time I had October I I had to you know I had to pay it. So like I was giving myself no margin whatsoever and had Bugatti Veyron at the same time. >> You know what does that make you technically the poorest Bugatti owner on the planet. >> Yes. I I made that joke all the time. I was the world's poorest Bugatti or the worst world's poorest 300 cell Goldwing owner. So that's why I was like, "Okay, I need to get out of this Bugatti." And and that was the thing is like I made this deal on the Bugatti in November of 2024 and then my tax thing hit. Like I got through the home renovations and thought, "Okay, I'm done. I'm good." And then like let's let's I'm used to spending all this money every month. Like I'm comfortably able to like spend 100 grand a month. Let's let's continue this theme and keep let's just keep the party. Like what an idiot. What an So I got the Bugatti Vader on and and obviously then the tax thing popped up and I had no cushion because I had a $15,000 car payment. I had an $8,000 mortgage now and 20,000 a year property taxes and 8,000 a month mortgage and all that and all these other expenses that that were just like before that I had a reasonable mortgage and all this disposable income to spend on cars and that's all I did and I just I took my overhead to this in like 10x my overhead for stupid. It was so stupid. >> How do you deal with the stress of that? >> Just not well. Yeah. I had a it was it happened very recently where I had a bad week. I had a really bad week with the 300SL going. I just come back from a trip and it was supposed to be kind of a recharged trip and it was with family and kids and with the kids, you know, you're you're kind of you have to do things for the kids so it's not as relaxing. You playing in the pool, it's fun to play with your kids and all that stuff, but but you're not like chilling and reading a book and just watching the waves and all that stuff. And then and then there's all the flights back and the flights are really long ways back with two connections, you know? It's so you're you're exhausted from travel. We get home, the wife wants to take down Christmas right away and I'm a dummy and right before Christmas, I put my 300 cell Gold Wing in my living room with the doors up and did an unwrapping cuz it just come to Kansas and all that stuff >> and I'm just so burned out from from just all the December cuz December is the busiest month for or the biggest month for ad revenue, ad rates, all that stuff. So, I had to put up so much content there and all these sponsor obligations. And then I took a week off, which was really hard for me to do. And I had so much things I need to do, but then the car had to get out of the living room so we could take down the Christmas tree and all that stuff. So, I just wasn't thinking. And I went and just pushed the car out with the doors open and it caught my house and almost ripped the door off of this $2 million 300 cell goal. And it's just because I have such I'm so tired and brain fogged and burned out. These aren't the kind of mistakes that I normally make. Like I I make stupid mistakes on YouTube in a haha laugh, but not stuff like that. And it's just total brain fart, brain fog, just so stupid. So stupid. And then that same week, I I get home and I'm I I pick up the kids after a really hard long workday and I'm so brain fogged and April had just left my wife for a trip and she took my laptop charger and I needed to get going on editing. Um the other laptop charger was was in the back shop and all that stuff. So I went to get I let the dog out and then forgot came back in and the dog ran around to catch me cuz he never goes to that side of the house and I came inside. I plugged in my laptop. I started going and I went, "Oh, the dog went out. The dog's not his normal spot." He had come around and I saw in the cameras. He came around to me. It's very excited to see me. Daddy's outside. Comes to the door right as I slam the door in his face. I never saw I never saw him. But then he's on that side of the house right by the road. And he wanders out in the road and gets hit. He's killed. >> He's killed. >> Be serious. >> Killed. So, and I come out. I can't find him. He's not his normal spots. I know there's like a The wolf's got the coyote's got a goose over. So, I think maybe he's going over there sniffing that dead goose or whatever. What's left of the goose? He's not there. I'm like, "Oh crap." I have to go out in the car and find him. And I go out and I pull to the end of the driveway that this this thing that just loved me, worshiped me. >> Oh my gosh. >> All because like I've got to get editing. I got to get all this stuff. I got to like got kids the food. All that stuff. And normally I'm such good at multitasking, so good at like like like and careful and and like I felt like I've I lost half of my my brain function. Like I I feel brain fog. I feel this lower operation of my brain cuz I've been just foot on the gas for so long going so hard. And that was like obviously devastating. Just devastating. But then at the same time I'm just like this is reset. I talked about it like I I had said it before in a previous video like that this this this reset's happening and I need to I need to take it easier and that was the whole point of selling the Bugatti and and just trying to make things easier on myself rather than like I have to do this or I lose everything like I I didn't have a cushion and I I just realized like okay we're resetting where this this this is this is the the pivotal moment the turning point of just like I can't I can't operate like this anymore. And so I you're seeing the new me. I I mean this this is the So I did Barrett Jackson. I like I couldn't stop. So the dog unfortunately got hit and then I had to go the next few days and go do Barrett Jackson. It was >> How do you keep it together? Something like that. >> I had but I just had to do it. So I did Barrett Jackson and you know so that's very grueling. It's 5 days of television. The last two days are >> 10 hours each. So, I'm doing uh 20 hours of live television in 34 hours or something like that because there's like a there's like a 14 hour break in between and you're 10 hours non-stop television and you have to think of something to say on every single car. And the last day on Saturday, the main announcer, the main my main co-host loses his voice and I have to kind of not almost quarterback the thing, but there's other guys that do a great job, but it made me a lot more work for me and no break for 10 hours. So then like okay I need to reset. So then like I get a invitation to go speak in California and it involves Google and AAA. It's an amazing opportunity to meet Google executives I never met before and some things and it's a really cool opportunity. So I could I had to say yes to that but that meant home for two days on a plane again. And then you text me up and say hey you got to come on this podcast especially after doing Doug Demiro. I'm home three days I have to do it again. This is this is the last of that whistle stop tour of of me like >> like Doug Demiro talked about it so well about about him being able to take his foot off the gas focus on family and just and how yes he did that so hard for so long but but you just can't forever and I I am at that point now where I' I've made some moves and made some steps and everything everything is good now like an immediate weight like I know how to get through all this stuff but I already know like things are things are so good and and everything's so amazing at home with my kids with with April. It's just so incredible to have like a a new outlet for my YouTube as far as doing a second channel with with my my wife April Rose who has a you know big media background. We we met working at Barrett Jackson and all that stuff. So that like the pieces are there for this amazing wonderful life and it just requires me to not be as frantic and for me to simplify things at least 30%. And it's so doable and I and so this this is you're seeing the the the >> page turn right now, right? So >> Well, we really appreciate you coming on the show. I had no idea that it was in the middle of such a chaotic. >> No, I mean it's No, I I really wanted to do it, especially Doug. like you know it's like [laughter] man like you know Doug you know you were talking about something else other than other than me and it's like okay I got to find up some revenge Doug Demiro stories you know since he's decided to just really uh tell a huie story so I got I got one what's the story >> I got one so my first time ever meeting Doug Demiro you know that Doug's a little little offthe-wall and and like a little unfiltered you know as far as like you know his takes especially when the cameras are off and like his he'll he'll he'll say zany things and like like almost like Seinf Feldian kind of observations with a little bit of that kind of stuff. So his behavior is somewhat that on YouTube, but then in person joking around with his friends. He's it's a it's a next level of observations like we were having dinner and he's like commenting on the dinner and the weird things about it, the quirks and features of dinner and stuff. So I had worked with him for I don't know six months or a year. I had followed him from Jalopnik over to Autotrader. I begged him to hire me at AutoTrader and I sent him a cold email and and he was kind enough to get me on to to write with him on Auto Trader at the time. I hadn't really done many YouTube videos yet, but we're 6 months or a year in and I'm in New York for something and I know he's in Philadelphia, which is relatively close. And he said, "Let's meet up in Princeton, New Jersey and have dinner." So I' I'd drive down. I had a rental car. I think uh like I was making fun of a Mercedes CLA rental car, sort of like what I do today, rent something on Turo or whatever. and Ontario, you can make fun of someone else's car cuz you're renting it versus like having to take a dealership's car and say nice things about all that stuff. So, we meet in Princeton, New Jersey, and I'm with my girlfriend at the time. And the first thing out of Doug's mouth, he's like, "You know, to gay men, you are very handsome." I had this gay friend that thinks you are the most attractive car YouTuber on the planet. And if you are single and interested in men, he would date you in an instant. Are you single and interested in men? My girlfriend's sitting right here like with me and like >> did he he knew that you were in the relationship or >> Yes. Like this is his opener to like like his icebreaker with me. We're first meeting and then and then he through the night, you know, he's like, "Oh, you know, I bet just making little jokes about this gay man thinking I'm so beautiful that he's friends with and and just and little Inyundo was there and things like that like this is very odd. Like this this is very strange." Obviously, we're having great car conversations, all that stuff, but he's so fixated on his gay friend that it finds me hot and and then so then we get and we leave and and my girlfriend at the time like that was really weird and it actually made her like uncomfortable cuz like hello, I'm sitting here. I exist and like he at le he he says two times that he mentioned it. It was at least four, five time where he like where he would circle back to it as a joke. And I'm playing along and maybe I exit on a little bit. I was like, "Aha," you know, so like, "Okay, that's nice." You know, but I don't remember exactly. But for whatever reason, that was my first encounter in person with Doug Demiro and it's a working relationship where he's kind of my boss. So, it was a very odd it's very odd. It Yeah. Obviously, we we you know, we're we're close and we get along and text and all that stuff. So, when he started telling these stories about me, I was like, "Okay." And I texted him. I said, "I'm doing the revenge story like and I'm doing this." And he's so there. I got it out. I got you back, Doug. Jeez. Didn't he used to pretend to be a wealthy buyer on Ferrari chat? >> That was before I knew him. That was before I knew him. But yeah, he didn't have any cars and he's like in high school or or college or whatever and pretended to be have every single rare Ferrari allocation and talk about what it was like to own them and drive them and all that stuff. That was before I knew him. I'm I was a fan of his from Jalopnik and loved his riding and wanted to sort of emulate him because I was sort of doing similar things but at a cheaper level. Well, back to when he was doing like the CarMax Range Rover that really put him on the map. you know, I bought a Range Rover for less than a CarMax warranty and then tried to fix it. So, I was I was doing it on his vein uh for articles for writing it and wasn't doing videos at the time. So he was the one who encouraged me to do YouTube videos along with my articles and that that was the that was the explosion point for me uh was was sort of writing Doug's uh coattails with that and being encouraged by that because I was getting paid for the article and so I doing a video along with it made sense and that that that's what gave me like the discipline to >> write two articles a week and then I would just do a video talking about whatever I said in the article like about my own cars or something else and that's how my YouTube channel started. So I have Doug to thank for that. But you did mention that you've made some changes that have immediately rewarded you with a higher quality of life. What were those changes you did? >> I sold some things to where I have a bit of a cushion and that that helped. Um but it it's just a matter of like now I can I've gotten through all these obligations that I said that I was going to do >> like show up to this wonderful podcast which I would love to do anyway. So, um, but but then now that I'm through with all these obligations, I know like, okay, I've gotten myself through the home renovation, through the taxes, through the dumb through all the dumb stuff that I did. I've gotten myself through all of it. I've come out. I've survived and now it's it's back to building up a war chest, doing some responsible things. I don't need a help 12@gmail.com or something like that, but I just I I'm there's going to be a cushion there, and then there's going to be an ability to say no. There's not going to be me selling six brand deals in a month or eight brand deals to where I know I have to make eight videos and hustle to to do that. And I don't need to say yes to every single travel opportunity and be on 20 flights in in 30 days, which you guys are tough on that too. I I can imagine with your podcast a lot of traveling and meeting with people. That's what you have to do. But man, airlines are just so soul sucking and that like I I think I had my first ever thought I was having a heart attack, but I think it was a nervous breakdown on a flight because I bought the Gold Wing and I had a film crew to film this Goldwing thing and the flight was delayed and I was going to miss the film crew that I already paid for and miss this opportunity with the car all blown apart like a thousand pieces and the people at the classic center were waiting for me to get this car together in three days to where I could go to a rally and because I'm stuck in this plane because the catering didn't show up on this thing and it missed a connection or whatever and it's just like I don't need to I don't need to do that to myself. So, and then and then just just being just just just slowing down. Also, getting like lab work done and things. >> Um, and I think all the stress um definitely lowered my testosterone a lot as they say like when it releases a bunch of cortisol lowers your testosterone and that gives you the brain fog and all that stuff and like things are just harder and droopy and all that stuff. So, like I hadn't seen a doctor in years as far just just just to like get me checked out. I I'm healthy. I'm reasonably fit, but I like the the brain fog and the tiredness, the fatigue and everything and then just making these stupid mistakes and and the impatience and it's just it's just just slowing down and I have all the pieces of an of a wonderful life and there's so much to appreciate. there's compared to where I was, you know, just so everything's in place for things to be amazing and it's time to start enjoying it and that that that it's just like a a a switch flip, you know. >> It absolutely does start with the mentality though, too. Like the mentality is the first thing to change that will actually make a real impact in your life. And you know what that reminded me of >> is I would find it difficult >> for me to find myself in that same position because I have so many people in my life that tell me no. Like if I'm going to do something that's like, hey, like I'm going to exhaust myself. My mom will be like, don't burn the candle at both ends. I'll be like, Graham, [clears throat] should I do this? He's like, no. Or I'll even say, hey, I'm going to do this. And Graham just says, no, don't do that. He won't be like, oh, interesting. Why? People will just straight up tell me no. >> Jack got I mean, I remember this. You got upset when you wanted to walk a 100 miles or it was like walking from Vegas to LA >> and you were excited about it and I was like, Jack, that's a that's a bad idea. Don't do that. That's dumb. Why would you do that? I shot it down. I didn't even give a word of encouragement. Not a single like, "Oh, that's interesting. Why would you want to do that?" Nothing. I just >> Yeah. >> Well, guess what? I did that. >> He did it. >> I did it and I loved it. So, like that was one of the things where I stuck to my guns. But a lot of the times like I do have people in my life where if I say something, they're like, "Absolutely not." And I think that that helps. And I don't know if you have people that you're receptive to some sort of criticism. Like if you have a best friend that's like, "Hey, I noticed you've been a little bit like why don't you go see a doctor? Why don't you No, I mean that marrying April has been an amazing support system for all that and since she comes from the the this level of, you know, entertainment and media and all that stuff and all the things that she's accomplished in her life, uh she understands and gets it. So that that helps a lot. But I think a lot of it was also me just wanting to not decline as far as the views, wanting to stay relevant, wanting to continue to grow. And it's been 10 years, man. like what what what do I have left to prove? What do I need to accomplish? Why do I need to to chase Tvar into his level of insanity? Or you try and keep up with Matt Armstrong if it's rebuilding an exotic every single week, you know, like what? Like I they can continue to do that for as long as they want and eventually and you know, of course, they're exploding and doing incredible right now. And it's it's their moment in the sun. Why? Why can't I just I can't I don't have to be that guy all the time forever. It it just it's not necessary. And they're chasing clout and chasing all that. I I put way too much focus on on basically staying relevant and and still having clout. It it it doesn't matter. >> So, have you made this change already or is this like the last thing you're doing before making the change? >> This is That's why I said this is sort of the last stop and then I just decided that I'm going to limit myself and and keep myself like focus on the videos like that are going to make me happy and put out videos that I want to put out rather than ones like okay I have to get a video out because I have this sponsored for this this and this. So the ones that I really like that have been with me for a long time I'll I'll stick with them. The the ones that are a little edgy and like oh man do I really want to say yes to that? I haven't done too many of those. It's just the sheer quantity of it. >> It's really, really, really hard to turn that off. I've told myself the same thing so many times and I get a little better at it, but then some opportunity comes up and I'm like, well, I can't say no to that. I know. >> And then I do it and then something else comes up that's equally as good. I'm like, well, I can't say no to that. And then another thing and then all of a sudden I'm like, well, I would be dumb not to do these things cuz what else am I going to do otherwise? And then I just load up. >> Yeah. But for YouTube, for me with the car stuff, because because there's other YouTubers that are doing so much more now in in their content, it's it's much longer. It's not 10 or 15 minutes videos for for car YouTube. It is 30, 45 minute videos where you're doing so much in one video. And it's >> I have to get these out for the sponsors. I have to cut it off here before there's like a good payoff before like, okay, we know everything that's wrong. Let's try and fix one thing or, you know, >> but that you can negotiate in. >> It's not the placement. is I have to post six videos a month and so I have to get this video out and I can't delay it. I can't like if I if I don't so I have to like okay it's going to take a week for this part to come in. I can't delay the video because I have the sponsor obligation. So, I have to get the video out. Even though it's like, okay, this isn't like, and especially with cars that nothing ever really goes to plan and things can go sideways and it doesn't work out. Like, you have a plan to do this today with this car and it doesn't go right, but you you want to persevere. And that's where, you know, Tvar Freddy, he goes 3 months without posting because he knows when I post it needs to be an event and people will tune in cuz oh my god, Tvar has posted a video. It's an update on his P1. It's not going to be him sitting and and just pulling his thumb. He's going to do something real and I need to do that. But also, it just I also want to do something that I enjoy. And if it's if it's six sponsors or seven, eight sponsors, [sighs and gasps] like then I'm like racking my brain. Oh my god, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? versus like the the creativity, the organic like of of just like letting opportunities present themselves and letting cool things rather than rather than having to just create it or, you know, clickbait or whatever to just get people to tune in to watch me standing in my garage flailing talking about like here's my collection and here's everything that's broken this month and like I I want it to be how it was before where it was it was it was real, but also I know I have to do more in the videos to to do well. So would an added level of like financial comfortability be of like use to you like an improvement to your life? >> Yeah, it would. And that's that's the other part where I need to do that. And now that I've gotten all these big obstacles out of the way, now I I still have that level of income. And let's say I have it for two years. Let's say I have it for 5 years. Now is the time to make a plan and and be smart and just not feel stressed about that and living on the edge. And there's so many channels that operate that way. And that's how I mean, you guys have interviewed Mr. Beast and he has no money in his account. Obviously there's a bit obviously he's a he's a billionaire on paper but he like he's happy to spend every dime that he makes next leveling his content and that's how he built up so fast and the Mr. Beastification of YouTube that's what everybody else had to do and I just felt like I needed to keep up and then at the same time I made some bad decisions uh financially that I thought you know I have another bucket and it just didn't work. So >> So what's your plan then to get more financially comfortable? well, not do any more stupid stuff for the starting point. But I I think it's just now I'm at the point where I can start putting away. >> But here's the thing, though. It doesn't seem like you're making dumb decisions in the m like every thing that you've talked about seems smart. It seems like the right choice on paper. It just something happened along the way that like made it go sideways. Well, no, that the the leveling up of of cars that that Veyron at that because you got to think when I had that Veyron and and before it, I had three Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, uh SLR, SLS at the same time. I was I was carrying heavy on that. And then rather than sell them at the very beginning when things started to get weird, I started financing and and I had four car loans or something at once and then did did the lease which was wonderful but the Gold Wing was too soon. It was my ultimate dream car but it became stressful um because the timing of it. I I needed to get out of the Veyron. I couldn't find any buyer for the Veyron but the Gold Wing was like my ultimate dream car. So it was like at least I'm stretching to do like the car that I've wanted my entire life. but it didn't run and it needed $100,000 in work that I had to pay. So that was that was the other final just like get that done. So >> didn't didn't you get really lucky though with the Gold Wing with values just going through the roof. >> Yes. Yes. So when I sell that car when I sell that car I that's the car where like is my end all be all dream car and then everybody's like are you going to keep that forever and I say I don't know. I kind of like the Countach that was my more realistic dream car of mine. I grew up with that poster on the wall, the Lamborghini Countach poster. It was actually my dad's poster from college. And I thought, you know, man, I got it. I got But then we're four years in. I hadn't driven the car maybe three times in 6 months. So, what am I doing? I I don't need to I don't need to keep this. I don't need it. Um, so I feel like the Gold Wing, there'll be all these amazing opportunities to do all the things I ever dreamed about with the Gold Wing. Mercedes Classic has been so incredible. Mercedes brand itself as far as them being on board with a YouTuber that's not 80 years old loving these cars and and you getting into it and that they see the value of that. So they've invited me out to the millia put the car on a plane to come out and do the thousand mile race in Italy this revival and then I can go afterwards and drive it, you know, through through the Italian Riviera and pull up to the Monaco casino and all that stuff like the things I've dreamed of doing my entire life. Once I've done everything with that car, will I keep it? That's the thing. I don't know. I feel like I feel like there'll be a point where like, okay, I'll sell this and then have relief and just be and just be okay and content and content with like the photos and the memories that I had the car. I don't need to I don't need to hang on to it forever. >> You could retire with that car at the rate the values are climbing. What do you think you'd be able to sell it for? >> Well, I almost ripped the door off of it. [laughter] So, it's in the body shop right now. That's the thing. That that car that sold for $2.6 million was really really nice. And we sold one that was a fresh restoration 2 years ago for three and a half. Not an alloy body car. This one had sat for 10 years. It got revived relatively easily. Um with a paint job, this thing would be really This thing already was pretty nice, but it's been 40 years since it had a paint job, but it was a really nice restoration on a really nice car to begin with. With a paint job and some bright work, maybe a hundred grand, it would be a $2 million car easily. Maybe 2.2. It's numbers matching everything, all that stuff. So yeah, I'm sitting in it pretty good, but and I could sell it right now and make some money. But >> I do think now that I have it, I should do the I should experience the things with it now that I have it. That wasn't the goal to I wanted to get out of the Veyron and have some some comfort and some cushion and things. But this is this deal worked and I'm going to I'm going to do it and enjoy myself and and be really happy. But also the the thought of having seven figures in the in my account sounds like really nice to just >> I have been so tempted. There are these replicas of the 300 SL. It's the Tony I I forget the last name. >> We're going to put it on screen here. These cars sell for about 250. My gosh, it is a one. It seems to me like a one one of the thing. >> I couldn't do it. Yeah. Well, it's not the it's not the right engine. They use a modern Mercedes inline six in it, which made sense of the time when they were building it, and it's the same horsepower and stuff, but no, it's it's it's not the same. I I've driven enough the cars like it is a very special. >> How is it different? >> Well, it's just the drivetrain's different. It it doesn't have that same direct injection 240 horsepower. It's it's a inline 6 Mercedes from the 80s or 90s engine that they use in them. And it's a great engine. And I've had it in E320s and and things like that, but it's it's not it's not the same. It there's there's enough modernization to where it's not the same >> because it's just reliable though where you get >> Yeah. But you know, I mean that's that's the thing about that car. It's the original supercar. So people say Lamborghini is the original supercar. 300 cell going. It was originally a race car and a guy named Max Hoffman, he's an American told Mercedes like if you build this car like Sterling Moss set the record in the millime and all that stuff un unbeaten record until they shut it down the race cuz it was too dangerous. if you build this car for production, I would sell every single one you make in the US. And he was right. They they made the production car with the gold wing doors, even though that made no sense practicalitywise. And you know, every Hollywood A-listister, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, like like this was the car. Like, oh my god. Not only was it gorgeous, but it was the fastest car in the world. And and it still drives modern cuz this is a tubular chassis with, you know, somewhat modern suspension. you know, it's properly fast because it's 240 horsepower, but also very lightweight. So, it nothing drives like that car from that period. Nothing even close. You have to go decades newer to get a driving experience like that as far as the tubular chassis and how tight it is and and the transmission to be able to drive a car from the ' 50s and just row the gears like it like your Ford GT. Like, you can't do that in old cars, but that car you can. >> How much in value do you think you're going to lose driving a,000 miles? >> Zero. That's the thing. I haven't done the paint job yet. So, I scraped the door and like almost rip the door off and damaged it and all that stuff. I could have turned it into insurance and had a full repaint done and the car would have been gone for 6 months or whatever and that would have made a lot more sense for me to do, but then I'd be terrified to drive it. >> Couldn't you just do PPF on the entire car? >> You could, but the car already has because of 30 years of some use, it has dings, it has scratches, it has a few painted imperfections and things. So, I can drive it anywhere, get a few more scratches, a few more rock chips, all that stuff. giggle, laugh all the way. Mileage doesn't matter on that car. It's probably already turned over once. Nobody really cares. Like there's there's no like this 300 cell going only has 5,000 original miles because it's almost impossible to know cuz it's only a five-digit odometer. So it really literally mention that in cars. Like there's very few where they say this thing's documented low mileage car. That's not a thing with antique cars cuz and also when they restore it full nut and bolt, they reset the odometers anyway on these cars. They put them back to zero. So that's that's not a thing like with Ford GTS and modern uh supercars and things where mileage is everything. It's not the same with with these old stuff. So since it has a little bit of patina on already, I can drive it. I can do all these things with it and then when I'm done, make it the one of the nicest gold wings on the planet and then I can do the show circuit. I can sell it. >> Do you think they're a good investment? Let's just say you could find one today at today's market value and your plan is to hold it 10 years. >> You could say that. But there's also is there enough people our age and younger that are going to appreciate a 300 cell going right now? Like I did the going rally and I was the youngest person there that wasn't an owner by 30 years. They they're all the owners are much older and are they going to still appreciate that car? There is some younger people coming in. There's a lot of cool events like the Colorado Grand and the California meal uh like you know thousand mile rallies that you have to have a car that's that's pre50 some 1950 something to participate in. And it's it's a really neat thing that younger people are getting more involved with and also younger people are enjoying analog cars and things. So there's going to be always 300 cell gold wing is always going to be an icon. But is it going to be it's not it it's already old and it's not $10 million unless it's all body. So it's not like it's going to go that way unless obviously inflation you know $10 million car is a a million dollar car is what it feels like you know now. So I I don't think so. I think there's a lot smarter cars to buy in the modern era that like we've seen recently with with numbers on F40s and F-50s and Enzo and things where it's gotten so crazy that that the smarter money would be in something a few decades newer obviously in the 80s or 90s but >> it's not a it's not the worst place to park money. >> So what do you think is a good buy right now as an investment? [gasps] >> I I like I I don't really think like Doug Demiro and that kind of stuff where since I saw he did some great ones and all that stuff. I I don't really think like that. Um, because I've always just wanted to buy a car to to tell a story and not lose my butt on. So, it's not something that I'm constantly thinking about like, ooh, if I get this now, like it'll be something that goes way up. I know that's like you you eat, live, breathe, that's all you think about. And it's not I think about it like, is this going to tell a story? And am I going to lose my butt on it? And I try not to do that. like the Ferrari 430 Scooteria seems to be one where it's >> uh [clears throat] that we're starting to see little blips of oneself for a lot more than than the current $400 $450,000 that like I think we're in the last few breaths of that. The 360 challenge has already gone to crazy levels. So the 430s are starting to follow like the 458 specialisms all that stuff have already gone crazy. So this is that that may be a little pocket there. I think the early Gallardo Superleggeras >> very limited production. They're also very harsh cars in their e-gearss. Um, now that you can do conversions and stuff maybe a little better, but um, yeah, the gated Gallardos are definitely a thing. The R8 V10 gated cars are so comfortable and so good that that's something you'll never get again. So that that any any of that those older analog supercars are definitely safe at least. Um, for sure. So, how do you like the Lotus Aspree that you just purchased? >> Well, I I have the Elise and the Aspree right now. So, the uh the Elise was easy because it's the Toyota drivetrain to go through and sort it out. The the Aspree V8 we're going to go and take it to the Wizard inspection and all that stuff, but I've already reached out to a couple of shops to try and find the trans someone who would rebuild the transmission and fix that synchro and they haven't replied yet. So, this is one of those cars where the parts availability and the support is just there's a lot of enthusiasts out there that are keeping them going. There's definitely some parts, but there it's not like the I need to research a lot more. And I'm sure the answers are there and to figure things out, but right now it's a little scary because it's just not obvious to me because I haven't done anything with it yet. The car drives amazing. I mean, it's twin turbo flat plane crank V8. Uh 350 horsepower. They originally supposed to be 500 horsepower, but they got the transmissions from Renault and they just couldn't take the power. Obviously, mine's crunching, so they're that's the weak point of them, but and and the looks are just insane. They're insane. And that's a car that's I got for $40,000. And the exact same car, the highest sale point I'm bringing a trailer was one for 3,000 mi for 220. So obviously I'm sitting pretty good. And we talked about that guy getting scammed, scamming me, and all that stuff. He [clears throat] bought it for 45 and then I got it for 40 and then he had to pay the fees. So he lost 8 10 grand on the car. So I like I know he he lost money on on top of that. So I I'm I'm sitting in it very well. if if it can get sorted out, if if I can get that transmission crunch to go away, if I can find a roof panel and fix all the other stuff up, it would probably be a car that I make some money on. Uh but that's obviously an an if. I don't I don't know yet. >> So, what car brands are consistently unreliable? >> Oo. Uh it's it's weird cuz I don't think there's any brand that there's always one that a model that's that's an exception to the rule and everybody's kind of up and down right now. Uh, you know, Lotus obviously was was horrible for the unreliability and then they went with Toyota engines and completely changed their image. So, I'm trying to think of of a brand that's just consistently bad. You know, there's all this stuff with, I guess, Koise right now >> with, you know, with with the serviceability and and James obviously documented his journey and some other, you know, big YouTubers talking about the the toughness with that. That's a level of of money and car that I don't live in or understand, but it seems like that's a really tough world to live in. The Veyrons are pretty reliable. It's just the service cost. They didn't make it very serviceable for things, but it's not something that's going to leave you on the side of the road. Um, but you know, every automaker has its up and down. So, like right now, Ford's doing pretty good and Chevy's doing terrible because they had those 62 V8s that had uh engine problems. And like every single GM 6.2 2 liter V8 right now is is just a ticking time bomb from 2014 to now. And it's they did a recall and they extended the warranty and changed the oil weights, all that stuff to try and fix it, but it's just a band-aid until they redesigned the engine. So, total junk right now. Whereas Ford was pretty good. But then 10 years ago, Ford had an incredibly defective engine with their main trucks, the 5.4 L V8. They had cam phasers and things and those were blowing up 100,000 mi. So, it's always like it just they kind of trade off in like oopsie uh as far as mistakes. Um but I guess BMW would be one where they consistently figure out a way to engineer something that just just is a hand grenade and when they solve that issue then they accidentally come up with another hand grenade. And it's like such a >> Why are some brands like Toyota just consistently like knocking it out of the park and they're so reliable but like someone else's blown it was about Yeah, Toyota's another one. >> This is new to me. Toyota switched from the V8s in their trucks and big SUVs to twin turbo V6s and they had to recall every single one of them. I think they replaced 100,000 engines. >> Wow. >> In in these trucks because it's this new thing of going from an old school gas guzzling V8 that pollutes to highrung twin turbo four-cylinder, six-cylinder, all that stuff. putting it in these big trucks and then the new changing the totally changing everything and then this highrung twin turbo V6 with with weak parts that are getting boosted now with with you know 15 20 pounds of boost and they just they can't handle it and boom. So now even Toyotas are not what they used to be. No. And a lot of them are hybrids. the new uh like the new uh 4Runner or the Land Cruiser. The new Land Cruiser is now base as a hybrid and it's you don't want an off-road hybrid, you know, four-wheel drive vehicle like on the trail. Like it's just it's it's purely just to get the miles per gallon higher. >> A lot of it. Yeah. Because there were federal mandates to get the MPG higher. And it's not just the US. It's all over the world as far as building a product that meets these mandates for the European Union for other thing going electric and having these mandates where you have to be a certain MPG and certain electric and all that stuff. So they're they're struggling with that and and also it's yeah it's just what consumers are wanting fuel efficiency and power and obviously smaller packaging it makes sense to have a smaller engine and cheaper to build I imagine in that sense but it's so complicated like I don't know if they're winning or not cuz obviously the prices on cars have just skyrocketed as well cuz it's one thing in in the 80s you bought an old mobile you know cutless for 10,000 bucks 8,000 bucks and it lasted you 10 years throw throw it away, whatever. It rusted apart. But now it's just $80,000 for, you know, a normal fulls size truck and and they don't make it 100,000 mi. It's It's insane. So, what car brand do you think is criminally underrated? >> I feel like Cadillac is one that is just lowkey crushing it right now with their products as far as like the new electric stuff. The Lyric, they made actually something that's just beautiful. Normally, electric cars are people buying them. Yeah, they're actually selling well. really >> selling well very surprisingly well. You would not expect Cadillac to be lowkey like out selling so many other electric brands with with the Lyric and the Opique and then they made the the Escalade EV out of that platform where the Hummer EV was already there and then the Chevy Silverado EV. Cadillac took that platform and actually made a really bougie SUV that's electric that people actually want and they're actually selling some of it. And then they're still making legitimate performance sedans too that you can still get with manual transmission and all that stuff. So they're they're catering to enthusiasts more than BMW and Mercedes now offering, you know, twin turbo V8 manual transmission cars and people like a Cadillac old man brand which they've been fighting for 30 years now and I feel like they've finally made it finally made it and also low-key turned things around where you see reports are like oh Cadillac's having big growth each quarter. >> It's interesting because we brought this up to Doug and we asked him who were even buying cars from Cadillac Buick Buick. Buick, not so much >> from Lincoln, from Chrysler. Like, who wants a new car? And they're like, "Okay, I'm going straight to the Acura dealership." >> Oh, Acura sells decently well. They sell. They have a few cars. >> Why an Acura instead of anything else? >> Well, here's the thing. So, Acura shares a platform with Cadillac. The Lyric, they have a Cadillac Honda, whatever it is. It's some sort of Honda like not Odyssey or something like that, but it's it's the same platform built in America along with the Chevy Blazer EV and the Cadillac L and Acura has the same thing. They can't sell them. The the Cadillac's doing better the three even though it's the basically the same car underneath. So once again, Cadillac I'm very surprised and it's not just my bias because I I have like an 05 Cadillac Escalade and all that stuff, but that's like the the baller car for that period, you know? So, but what about a Buick? Buick, they messed up big time. like they they tried to do a revival with the Grand National in the 80s having that one cool kind of Darth Vader car and then they never really built a car since then because they went frontwheel drive that platform and they never built something that catered to enthusiasts and now it's just like a budget brand but it's not because it's more expensive than Chevy. >> So who's buying? I've literally never met someone who's like I just got a new car a Buick. >> It's a value prospect where like they literally are selling a car from China or they were I think they deposit because of the the tariffs and stuff. They had like a luxurious looking pretty thing that was built in China for 20 something thousand a crossover. So people were buying that but but Buick they definitely it was crazy that they dropped Pontiac but kept Buick. It was it was because it sold well in China and and Buick was a big brand in China so they weren't going to drop that band but but brand but Pontiac was was such a cool enthusiast. >> I like the Pontiac. >> We were like we thought Grand Ams were cool when we were kids. The G the G6 even though it was a junky car based on the Cobalt the G6 was cool. you know, that's that's where they they messed up. >> So, what car company are you extremely bearish on, and you just think they're going to fail? >> I don't I don't think anything's going to fail globally, but as far as pulling out of the United States, Volvo, um, they keep selling it and they keep changing hands to people that keep losing money. Aston Martin's another one where there's always seems to be some kind of billionaire that wants to own a car company that that buys uh Aston Martin and just wants to bail it out and and lose a bunch of money and then the next person buys it and loses a bunch of money. Lamborghini was one of those brands where it just kept changing hands to people that were just losing their butts and finally got absorbed into Volkswagen Audi and finally turned a profit. But Aston Martin's one of those brands where like it just doesn't work in the US. it's too expensive and the depreciation is just so extreme that they can't get rid of those cars. Maserati is another one where it's really tough because they were getting Ferrari derived engines and they were designed by Pin and Firina and now they don't get Ferrari engines anymore because Ferrari's building an SUV and and you know more you know consumer cars so they don't want to help Maserati anymore. So that those could all I could I don't see them like disappearing but I see them like pulling out of the US. Fiskar Ocean was the last big one. I suppose it was just recently. But there's all those little startups, those electric car startups. Obviously, there's one that comes and goes all the time. But >> is there any car company that you think just shouldn't exist? >> Trying to think. I mean, Mitsubishi right now makes no sense. >> Like why does why does it not make sense? It doesn't make any sense because they have I think what two cars that people don't want as far as like the Outlander that's an SUV that gets beaten in every segment as far as like people that like like Honda Toyota build this car for the same money and it's a much better product but for a Japanese car and then their Mirage which I think they finally quit making. It's it's a company that that's only like why are they even trying to sell in the US? It's kind of like Suzuki pulled out of the US cuz they just >> like why why keep trying? Like there's no point like our products don't resonate with an American audience. We mostly build little cars for for countries that you know like need small cars to like because they're third world countries or whatever. So they just don't have the product lineup that Americans need. So why continue selling in the US? Why why keep trying? >> If you want to get a car with zero ongoing maintenance, what car should you get? >> It probably be Teslas. I guess it would be really easy to just keep going. There like a like a used Model 3. I feel like it'd be really easy to just because it doesn't have the air suspension problems. It doesn't have the weird door handles, all that stuff. So, that that's probably one where it's pretty easy. What do you think? >> I would say a Tesla. Yeah. What do you think of people that drive Teslas? >> Doesn't bother me at all. I've had them all. I've had Cybertruck. I've had Model Plaid. I have the Model X now. I don't I don't They're interesting things to me as far as technology. >> I think you need a Tesla Roadster. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> In fact, if you want to buy one, I might know someone. Yeah. >> Yeah. You know, I'm a junkie, but it's that one's too nice. It's not the cheapest one. It's not had any bad things happen. I guess you've already fixed all the problems, so what's the point, right? So, uh, but yeah, the Roadster is definitely interesting. It's it's would I wouldn't mind buying a hoop and trying to bring it back for sure. >> Which car stereotypes are absolutely true? >> I don't know if it's a brand stereotype, but definitely like the type. I feel like at least in Kansas the brod dozer types as far as the lifted trucks and the squatted trucks that Muscle and Diesel makes fun of where it is a a definite like look at me kind of thing at the cost of safety and p practicality. It's definitely an individual that's that's not like obviously if they're willing to sacrifice like st the stability in the ride of their car with a noisy tires and like a a rough ride and having to climb out of a ladder and all that stuff just for attention. It's usually that type of person is is is pretty a little rough to deal with at least in in my experience. >> Now, one thing I'm I'm curious about, what are you seeing at auctions right now? Are prices going up on certain cars? >> So, Barrett Jackson, six years now at Barrett Jackson, we just had the the big Scottsdale. So, they do four auctions a year. January is the biggest one. They have almost 2,000 cars selling, no reserve. This is the only auction where all the cars are no reserve. There's sometimes a few exceptions when something's worth millions of dollars, they'll put a reserve on it. But unlike any other auction in the country, if it sells for a dollar, if it sells for a million dollars, you don't know. So the the crazy part is that a normal Corvette, so like a blue chip investor 63 Corvette split window with the factory fuel injection, three $400,000. You take that car, you rip out all those guts, you put in a modern LS, you put in a roadster top chassis, you put in a beautiful modern custom interior, all the modern conveniences to where it runs, drives, stops like a new car, but looks like a 63 Corvette. It is 6 $800,000. >> Wow. So now we live in a world where the customs, the restoods bring more than these blue chip collectible of the of the exact same car where 10 years ago you never would have imagined that a custom car would be anything. You like people are building custom cars to their taste and it's like ooh they're LS swapping it. That's kind of gross. But now it's it's a whole industry of these guys spending their entire year of their lives building one car to bring to Barrett Jackson where the detail is just off the charts. And there's even been one this guy named Jeff Hayes where got he got a million dollars for a 63 Corvette custom. Nothing special. It was a car that probably you know started life like the frame was rusted and the engine was not numbers matching. probably something he bought for like 2030 grand as a shell and built it into this thing that the components itself probably cost him, you know, $200,000 at the most. But obviously the craftsmanship, the hours he put into it, unbelievable. Takes it to sell and and gets a million bucks. And you just it's just unbelievable what what people are paying for to have that old school retro look and experience, but it doesn't drive like one. And that that's that's been the biggest trend change in the collector car market as far as with Barrett Jackson. How often is it that people try to sell stolen cars? >> Oh, um it's not not too much of that honestly, at least at these collector auctions because they do a lot of due dilig diligence and things. And also on the uh on the collector cars, they have experts that come in at least at Barrett Jackson and some of these things. And there's there's an expert for Mopar. His name is Dave Weiss. And he comes in and he'll look at say my Hemi Superbird when I sold it a few years ago. And he'll check not just the VIN number and the engine number, all that stuff, but he's going to check all the hidden places and make sure all the stuff lines up cuz you can VIN swap, especially on the collector cars, you just cut it off and put another one on. You can do all these things. And and a lot of people will do this because, you know, like there's so many Hemi Superirds that exist. So if you can find one that was crashed and the VIN no longer exists, but then you take one and like swap the VINs and things. So there was shady stuff that went on years ago. But now with these panel of experts coming in, and that's one of the great things about Barry Jackson, some of these other auctions, there's a lot more due diligence as far as really getting into and inspecting. Like he literally crawled in the trunk of my car and was looking up the parcel shelf and making sure that that number matched what he Superb bird was and everything. So, it's very fascinating in that sense to see that versus, you know, buying online and there's not that level of inspection usually. >> So, what's the chance right now that you're driving a stolen car? >> I mean, pretty low at this point. It's it's really sad with older cars when you buy them and you hear the stories of somebody buying this car that's fresh restored, then they go and register in a different state and it comes back as stolen when they inspect it and find a different VIN and then this person paid the money and the car's taken away and it's returned to this rifle owner 30, 40 years later. Um, but a lot of states have have changed and in Kansas was one of them where they now the states talk to each other. So they'll do a VIN search when you register a car from out of state and they'll check to make sure it's not listed as as stolen or the anything's different in a bunch of different states. So it's not as big of an issue as it used to be. Um, like I'm from Kansas and it used to be a thing where you could get around and get some shady title stuff done and now it's Oklahoma I think that was still you were able to do it for a while but I think they finally closed that stuff up. What about the car you're driving right now? >> Oh, so the Turo rentals. So that Yeah, that's an fun part because you could still >> That sounded too good of a deal. Like it's worried some to me even like when you said when when you said that you rented a Ferrari 488 for 3 days for $800 with a like a newer account on Turo and I was like what? >> So I always look for stuff like that on Turo to to do reviews on the second channel while we travel because it makes sense to [clears throat] write off the rental and also make a video and make money and all that stuff. So, I tend to look for the deals and a lot of times when you you're new to Turo and you don't have any reviews yet, you set it for a lower price to where you can get the rentals and the positive reviews and all that stuff. And I feel like that's what this is. So, it has a temporary tag on it that's expired now by two weeks. And they told me at the beginning, hey, we don't have the title yet. So, we're still on the expired tag. >> That sounds shady cuz titles are given so quickly >> in in Nevada. I don't know. in Kansas. In Nevada, what I did, cuz I accidentally registered one of my cars like on the day it it expired, and they just give you a print out immediately, like as soon as you pay, they say, "Here's a PDF that you could print out of your current registration and and your all your stuff. There you go." And then we'll mail it to you. And it's usually a few days. >> Wow. So sometimes >> you have a PDF print out like >> Well, yeah, I have the registration. So they they registered it. So I have that. It's in there. They just haven't or they got No, they bought it from the dealership. So, I have the temporary the dealer they bought it from from another state, I think. I don't I don't know what's going on. It's It's Yeah, it's it's definitely weird. I've done some where I get a Turo and it has like in California just the dealer plate on the back and and no registration. So, it's like one guy was using his dealer inventory on Turo until he sold it, I think. I hope it wasn't stolen. But that's that's the thing with rentals where >> Yeah, they can steal a car from a dealer lot or something like that. And there was one recently in Arizona that had 20 30 stolen cars that he was putting out on Turo. And he was every single one of them was wrapped and and just color changed with a wrap or something like that to where obviously like that's my car on Turo. So they would they would modify it enough to where it didn't look obviously like a stolen car. But obviously eventually they figured out and and broke up a huge uh theft ring there, which is interesting because usually on the exotic cars they just take them down to Mexico and the the cartel guys drive them around. So, it was weird that somebody was actually keeping them in the US and renting them on Turo because that's more the issue with exotic and stolen cars right now is I need my Bugatti, my G63, my nice car shipped from this place to this place and you put it out on a dispatch to get picked up on this brokerage called Central Dispatch and the person that picks it up is a scammer, takes it, hauls it to Mexico, the car never shows up at its destination and by the time you know something's wrong. It's already gotten out of the country. So that that's the huge issue right now as far as with car theft is it is in shipping and dealer selling a car to deliver to a customer and it disappears somewhere between there and ends up in Mexico and there's a you know a cartel member like posting on Instagram with with your Rolls-Royce Cullinin that you were supposed to get in Florida. You know that that's that's a huge epidemic right now. >> So I've seen on Facebook these incredible deals on cars but then in the description it'll say I don't have a title but we'll do a [clears throat] bill of sale. Mhm. >> And I remember screenshotting this incredible Mercedes EQS >> and it was like fully loaded. I think it was even like a 580 >> and they wanted like 20 grand for the car. Yes. >> And it was a sketchy guy who like was wearing one of those face mask sort of things where you just see like the slits of the eyes but then it's like covered like you're skiing almost. >> Newer account. >> What's the scam in that? You buy the car, but like how does anyone get around that >> with that one? I feel like it's a car like the EQS was $110,000 car. I bought one for $34,000 used, depreciated. It's just three or four years old. The depreciation unreal. So, the the people that got stuck owning those cars are so far upside down that they they wanted to get stolen. They they they purposely have it stolen. either that or a lot of times they will sell the car for as much as they can get with no title and they're already screwed anyway. So then then you know then the car's gone. It's it's it's rather than getting it repoed and getting collection there then obviously they have the car stolen by some different means and they can they can collect on insurance that way. With with people that have gap insurance there was the old joke if you were a car dealer and somebody was way upside down so they owed 10 or 20 grand more than their car is worth. You'd say, you know, you're not going to get hurt. If you drive into a tree at about 30 m hour and you aim for the front ride of the car, then it definitely totals it out and you get insurance and you have gap insurance that pays the negative equity and then you can get a new car. So, that was that was one thing where you is that actually people do that. >> Ton of that. Yeah. Ton of that. Especially the flood one is the most common. If there is if there is a flooded area, all kind of cars get showed up and parked there so they can get flooded and collected insurance and get done. And in Florida, it is it is like a national pastime to like where's the hurricane going to hit? Let's park it on the street. You know, that that's that is a thing. Thousand%. >> Cuz I've seen photos of these like really nice cars just in the middle of like the water or like something happens and I'm usually thinking, "Oh man, that's unfortunate." So, you're saying that they're they're looking forward to these opportunities? >> Yeah. Who street parks their Ferrari on, you know, on the coast when a hurricane is coming? Like, no. Like, nobody does that. >> Here's another one. I've seen people have videoed some of these cars, sports cars, driving through like 3 ft of water. >> Yes. >> And I'm thinking, "Oh man, they must be stuck." >> Yes. >> That could be insurance of like, "Hey, I >> don't realize how deep it is. Oh it's 4 feet. The car is kind of ruined. I drive out of this thing. Oh man." >> Yep. If you have a Ferrari SF90 that you paid $700,000 for and you got cap insurance or an agreed value insurance and there's a flood somewhere and you're $300,000 upside down, you're going to do it. The most famous one is the Bugatti Veyron that went to the lake. It's like the original viral video. You remember seeing it where the guy said it was a seagull and he just happened to be getting filmed by people going, "Oh my god, that's a Bugatti Veyron." And it just splashes into the ocean. It's one of the most famous insurance frauds ever. And this guy went to jail briefly for it cuz he then he he just got a little tight on money and he just wanted to collect insurance on his Bugatti and >> happened to be in Florida. I think that it was no it was Galveston, Texas. It was still Florida adjacent close enough and this guy just splashed it in there. So it it is rampant. It's also frustrating because insurance rates on cars are so high now. And I I feel like there's there's a lot of fraud with that where that that's definitely a factor in in why insurance is is pretty expensive. Now, >> if you wanted to completely obliterate your personal finances, which cars would you buy? >> Uh well, I guess yeah, every single new modern Ferrari and all that stuff. any basically yeah going brand new hard with a new Maybach or a new Rolls-Royce Cullin in um yeah any any of the McLarens you know all the all the McLarens ones that are just unbelievable appreciation Aston Martins getting a $250,000 Aston Martin SUV and see it go down to like 80 in two years it's crazy so do the wealthiest people then buy these Aston Martins since they can stomach the depreciation or are the wealthiest people just buying like the the pulling in and like the ridiculously expensive cars like the or a million-dollar car even. >> Yeah. They're either so rich that they don't care or they're leasing them. And I think that's where where you know that it's a certain level. And obviously to sell cars, they're overly allowing on the lease and even these manufacturers don't even realize how bad they're they're losing their butts on on you know the residual value of the cars. So they turn up in the lease returns with this massive depreciation. You hope like someone who did a $120,000 Mercedes EQS like we were talking about. >> If they leased it, they were okay. But if they bought it, they were smoked. They just totally smoked. And it's so funny cuz it's the same price as an S-Class. And this is the electric S-Class. The normal S-Class goes down to about 60. These went down to 30. And you know, it's the electric car. It's It's crazy >> because it doesn't look like an S-Class. That's it. Just looks like a weird kind of Prius Mercedes mashup. >> And the build quality isn't there. That was the other thing about me owning this car that was $120,000. Worth the same as a normal Mercedes S-Class, which is the standard of the world for build quality. and I go and close the door, the the door panel is loose and wiggly and my car with cylinder warranty. So I took it to the Mercedes dealer and said, "Hey, is this supposed to be right?" And they're like, "Yeah, unfortunately that's a characteristic of the EQS where your door handle is loose and makes crunchy noises." Okay, that that's just that's not Mercedes quality. And so that that was the other issue I feel like with the car. >> We have some rapid fire questions. So the first answer that comes to mind, >> let us know. Okay. Which car has the most smiles per gallon? >> Miata. >> What's the best car ever made? >> 300 cell Golding. >> What's the worst car ever made? >> Do you go? >> What's the best daily driver? >> 2005 Cadillac Escalade. >> What is the most Republican car? >> 2005 Cadillac. No, [laughter] not really. Um, yeah. Ford Raptors probably. Yeah, big big V8 trucks. >> And what's the most liberal car? >> Most liberal car, the Prius. >> Unlimited money. dream car. >> I did it. 300 is still going. >> That is truly it. Unlimited money. >> End all be all. Dream car is always obviously I'd love to have a car and then sell it for, you know, $10 million, but but there's nothing >> even more than the McLaren F1. >> The McLaren F1 is an incredible machine. I This is not something that I dreamed to own. I mean, it's it's so difficult to own and operate that car. The people that have it as far as the like two techs in the world that fly around and fix it with a computer from 30 years ago. It's uh Yeah. You might be the only car YouTuber to ever say that that you you did it. >> Yeah. I just the 300 cell goal wing was that was that was it for me. So I I've done it. Yeah. >> Would you quit YouTube for $10 million post test? >> Yes. >> You didn't even think about it. >> Mhm. >> Yes. Yep. I I've I think what I've achieved I'm proud of it. I'm happy. I understand the ones that have gone out on top and not had this decline and you know or you know become irrelevant. The Batman theme is always thought in my head, you know, where you you you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain. And I've seen a little bit of that as I've gotten bigger and bought all the fancy cars and getting a little bougie and and fancier for my audience and seeing them not react well to it. And like you in the end you want you want your content to resonate with your audience and and find it interesting and and I definitely alienated a lot of my core audience by by going that fancy and uh yeah I I feel like I could if someone said you get $10 million post tax at the end of the year and so you have this year to just do your best work like that would be a very freeing thing. I would I would love to that would be I would be okay. What is your least favorite part about your job? >> Unlike a lot of other YouTubers, since I'm turning 40 this year, I've worked a lot of other jobs. I I worked like real jobs. Before this, I was literally flipping burgers. I was teaching people how to flip burgers and opening Freddy's frozen custard stores. I was in operations for fast food. And that is so hard. That is so much work. Working as a car dealer, a car salesman, that is a constant grind. You are constantly on. you're constantly thinking about, you know, sale, making a sale, following up with customers, and all that stuff. Like, it's there's there there's every job is is hard. So, like, yes, YouTube is hard, but compared to the things that I've done with my life before, it it's it's so much easier. Like, the the kids that came up on TikTok and like had YouTube and had no job before that, they they they don't understand like how hard the real world is for people. And that's that's the other part where like I was when I realized I was alienating my audience where like I'm complaining about the repair cost on something that's so ridiculous that they'd never imagine to have like, "Oh, wo is me. I can't fix my Bugatti. Oh no." Where they're like, "I can't make rent next month. Like this isn't entertaining to me. This guy's upset about his Bugatti and his car payments and all this stuff cuz he's cuz he's over overextended himself and like I'm barely making a paycheck to paycheck right now. So, I totally understand, you know, where my audience was coming from, where where I was I was making some people mad at me. What would you say is the secret to a good life? >> The first the having that foundation of of a stable home and happy kids and not settling. Um, that's where like what I have now, I appreciate so much. I appreciate my wife and and my kids and that dog. like man that dog was unbelievable amazing you know so like just yes you want all these things you want all these shiny things and you see people on YouTube wanting like having all this stuff that you don't have and it just I it's frustrating but but that you don't need to focus on it like that finding the right person that works and not settling for something less than that with with your personal life and and settling for you you know focusing on work and and all the other stuff that just doesn't matter versus having, you know, a a stable, happy home to come home to and just just someone that that just loves you deeply and unconditionally and as as many people as you can gather that are in your camp like that is just so important. >> So, here we have a tier list of car YouTubers. >> Oh, I like this. >> So, we're trying to farm some drama here. >> I want some harsh takes. I want to see a couple people in that F tier. >> Yes. So, yeah. Nobody is is bold enough to go like this person sucks, >> man. I Okay, so you B is for build. He is amazing and you know the adversity he's going through with his cancer and all that stuff. I would put him right here. He does a lot more JDM stuff for me. So like like the kind of stuff that I'm not into, but but the builds is similar to what I do as far as like this this hopeless thing that he's gone through and rebuilt and it's very interesting there. Cletus, I am not into the, you know, American street racing stuff as much and uh obviously incredible empire building there and uh don't follow NASCAR quite as much. So like um but I love that he has like a character and a personality. So I should probably do this a little faster. I'm going to put him there just because like I love his personality, his character, the content just isn't where I'm at. DD. So, I would put them probably at a Yeah, I put them up at an A cuz I love that they actually use the cars and beat the heck out of them. The confrontational stuff I'm not that into. So, when like when they get in fight with the cops and all that stuff like that, like that's sort of not my thing. But I just love like the ownership experience of of the stuff. But I the the confrontational things like that that kind of clickbait aspect of it. >> It's it's good. It's good stuff. Be is good, right? I mean, are we maybe being a little harsh? >> She's fine. No, be be harsh. >> Be is good. Yeah. Be be harsh. Yeah. >> James Pumphrey is no longer with Donut when he left. I'm putting Donut down there because they got brought bought out by private equity and you could tell that these people are just getting forced and like foot on the gas and really hard like I do and they brought in a whole new swath of people and it was like a casting call for actors and there's some there was some great stuff back years ago before all this happened and private equity came in and properly ruined that channel. There's still there's still there's some bright spots. Maybe that's a little harsh, but I >> We need some Fs. >> I I put him down. I have no idea who this guy is. >> Who's >> That's Doug. That's Doug Vargo. >> I have no idea. >> So, he does this series. I explain the same thing to Doug Demiro, but I think Doug had actually recognized him. He's the guy that flipping cars until I can afford my dream car. >> Okay. >> He's he does that series. It's like every video is getting like half a million views. >> That's great. I mean, I >> It's great content. You should look at that. >> There's other YouTubers that have done that before. There's there's other other ones that but obviously he's he's successful. I see that he has the hair that the kids like, you know, a little bit of that broccoli head stuff that definitely helps. So that's that's going to >> Maybe you could bring back that haircut. >> That the broccoli hair is definitely fascinating. I had I had the Bieber do 20 years ago. So that I don't know who he is. So should I put an F like or should I just give him a Okay. So I don't know. Ed Bolan. Mr. Ed Bolan. I would put him up here. Well, uh, somewhere in between these two, I would put Ed Bullan cuz, you know, he needs to he needs to do different things with Vinwicki. I feel like as far as, uh, and he knows this. He knows that that to take Vinwicki to the next level, he needs to chase those guests and and a lot of big car guys and things, take a show on the road, go to California, do all these things. Well, he's like me that also is content with his family life and what he has that he doesn't need to go to California and chase celebrities and set up a satellite studio there and a bunch of travel and stuff. So, he's very content with with where his life is >> and his stories are great and I but I just obviously he is not going to like the the crazy level. So, a I haven't put anybody way up there yet. Me at this point in my life, I think in the last couple of years I've probably gone down to here. Uh, maybe maybe Cletus. I don't know. >> Oh, come on. >> I think I think that I got away from myself a little bit and I I I would love to get myself back up to this place. There was a period of time where I was on top of the world, but I think I think right now I'm probably here in the living long enough to see yourself become a villain. I think so. And I I'm trying to work myself out of that and also not seeing myself as a total villain. So, um, Shmei Shmei is so consistent. So, so consistent. I mean, I put him up here, but he hasn't done anything insane huge. Um, man, but a YouTuber specking out a Ford GT, new Ford GT 5 years ago, like a YouTuber being able to do that, that was so amazing. >> But as far as like on top of the world right now, Steve Hamilton, I feel like, you know, it's a tool to promote his business. So, is that not really a YouTuber? cool stuff that he's sharing and all this stuff and really enjoys the cars and all that stuff, but but it feels like uh like I need to like do this to sell things. I put him I put him here. I put him here. Stradman Stradman's still up there. He's still like grinding super hard. And the thing that he's accomplished lately as far as like rebuilding an F12, Michael Jordan's F12, B Jordan's F12 in his garage and >> and all this stuff like he is still killing it. And his dad's truck, all that stuff recently. I I love it. Totally love it. Supercar Blondie. Very commercial now. A lot of people, a big team around it. So, it's not Am I doing this too slow? I'm sorry. I'm actually thinking about it. >> Yeah, I put him I put her with me cuz Yeah, it's it's it's about the same. Freddy, obviously, he needs to post a lot more. He He's killing it. If he could if he could get a couple of people at that with that email needs help 12gmail.com. if he had someone help him manage the business and then someone help him where like to be consistent with the the wrenching and all that stuff, he'd be up there. So, right now, I'd put him here. TJ Hunt is all tuner drifting stuff. I don't I don't really like I it's all it's all interesting, but it's just not in my world. Parker, I know Parker well. Um, you know, Parker obviously had his things similar to me where I feel like, you know, like he had a little crisis and he's dealt with it and he's come back and he's still really happy and positive and all that stuff. So, I' I'd put him there with me probably right now. Whistling Diesel, [sighs] I want to put him up here, but I also don't know if he's self-aware enough to realize like the position that he is in. I I would love like we've talked you guys talked about this with Doug how much it would be amazing for you guys to go through and dissect him and really get into him and and like if we know if this is a character this whistle and diesel is a character like where he's this ego and this bravado and all this stuff but is he in real life not >> but that's the mystery of it that's why so many people want I think if he revealed anything either way I don't think it would help him >> I think that he could be [clears throat] it feels like the success has gone to his head a little bit and it it's been harder to watch versus a couple of years ago where like he's destroying a car and clearly doesn't care and it's so funny and and just like he just clearly doesn't care about his audience or anything else and and obviously loves like making the trolls and the people even angrier at him and feeding into that hate and it was so good. But now like I feel like he's gotten to so big in his britches that there might be a little bit of ego there but I could be totally totally wrong. Where's Doug? Daddy. I know. Well, we This is the same tier list that we've used for previous videos and so like we just kind of >> Oh, just imagine these >> daddy I would put in >> A minus to B probably probably because obviously like his his content like it had to be more focused for cars and bids and now he has people that he has to answer to and all that stuff and put out more content and do more videos that maybe he wouldn't do because the car is being sold on Cars and Bids. So that dings him a little bit but obviously I'd still put him in a A. Who who would you say are the Mount Rushmore of car YouTubers? >> Mount Rushmore. >> Four that paved the way. >> The four that paved the way. So it would be Doug Demiro, obviously. It would be >> Saab Kyle04, I think. So he's going around and doing little walkound videos with cars and all that stuff. So he's Jay Leno's garage definitely as far as somebody having a collection and sharing it to that level that he does. that that is definitely a Mount Rush forward and also legitimizing YouTube like Jayen was on this with his collection showing his cars he's not doing obviously he had his TV show after that but um and the fourth one h the fourth one who's been around forever the >> Strat yeah I think Stratman Solomand quit and like he had >> yeah but he made that whole supercar thing he was the one that got that Pagani delivered and that was a groundbreaking video on YouTube >> he did But I think Stradman would be the fourth one because he was the first guy to say like Lamborghini Gallardo at 20 years old. That type of thing and that like a kid stretching with his YouTube money to get into super cars. >> I feel like he sort of like was the pioneer of >> him and him and Vehicle Virgin both bought around the same time, but I feel like Stradman was the one that went from that to like Veyron and all that stuff during that period. So he's he's probably the best known one to to do it now that that's still around. So that that would be my four for sure. Thank you so much for coming on the Ice Coffee Hour, guys. His life is extremely busy right now and yet he still carved out time to come on this podcast. So, we are endlessly, of course, grateful. Thank you so much for coming on the show. We're excited to go get some food after this. And to all the viewers out there, thank you so so so much. We could not do this without you, of course. So, we are endlessly grateful. Big thank you also to our members who get these videos a little early without any uh sensors, without any sponsors, no ads, no nothing. Big thank you to that. Uh really appreciate and I'm responding to all the comments. So you get me responding to you right now. Do you want the email? Do you want Hooie needs help? You don't need help. He doesn't need help. >> I don't need help. >> I don't have staff. I tried having some people. It doesn't work. I just I like being me. >> You were the only car YouTuber that does not need help. >> Not I [laughter] guess not. I do. But no. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Not that type of No. No. >> Thank you guys so much for watching. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Until next time. See you.