Could some Youtube car vloggers be in insane auto loans?

"LJ909" (lj909) 01/18/2018 at 13:02 • Filed to: None

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I watch Youtube car volggers here and there, but not too much. Youtube volggers as a whole tend to annoy me. But I wonder how many of them afford the vehicles they do aside from the revenues they get from Youtube. One channel caught my eye. JMC Rides.

He has 20 thousand subscribers and looks to live on the east coast. He has a broish lifted Wrangler Rubicon and he just recently traded his Stingray Z06 for a Hellcat Widebody. I guess people wondered how much he paid on them and he went over it in this video from November:

To sum up: hes kind of crazy. He states that he traded the Z06 for the Hellcat and that the Z06 had 21 grand in equity (it was a 2017 C6) and he applied it all towards the Hellcat. He pays 680 a month for 96 months on the Hellcat but apparently he has decent credit because he managed to get 3% APR. He also stated that he always does 96 month loans on his cars because it gives him “breathing room”. I dont buy it. Is he crazy? Or do you guys think him and a lot of other car vloggers either cant afford their cars or have crazy bad loans themselves?

For Sweden > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:23

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They use the Vehicle Virgins method: start rich.

LJ909 > For Sweden 01/18/2018 at 13:27

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The same method that people that really dont know anything about cars do but want to go for show.

TDIGuy > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:28

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96 months is CRAZY. If you need breathing room you are WAY beyond your means. This is why we keep seeing posts about the car loan bubble.

https://jalopnik.com/how-subprime-car-loans-are-ruining-lives-and-repeating-1796893288

LJ909 > TDIGuy 01/18/2018 at 13:30

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Exactly. 96 months only makes those cars sort of affordable monthly. If it was a regular 60 month loan, that Hellcat would be well over a grand a month.

MonkeePuzzle > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:31

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I gotta assume they see it as a big investment gamble. Keep trading out cars for the newest and hottest so they can get views and build their brand. All in the hopes of one day turning it into a legitimate revnue stream that can then pay off all those horrific loans with straight cash.

I’m betting the plan doens’t work out for 99% of vloggers.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:32

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I didn’t watch the video to see how much he rolled the mods into the loan, but I think I can conservatively say that he’s paying more in interest over the life of the loan than I paid for my current car.

adamftw > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:35

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He lives on LI. If you think his auto loans are crazy, ask about our property taxes!

LJ909 > MonkeePuzzle 01/18/2018 at 13:36

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If that is the case (which I assume it is), thats one of the stupidest ways they could go about this. Taking out shit loans in the HOPE that their “brand” gets off the ground. Its a risk not worth taking.

LJ909 > Aaron M - MasoFiST 01/18/2018 at 13:38

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Stupidity. And his channel isnt even that big.

LJ909 > adamftw 01/18/2018 at 13:39

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I just got through looking up LI property taxes. He has to be in some kind of financial trouble between the cars and property tax, assuming he owns his house.

Future next gen S2000 owner > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:42

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Tax write off as a “business” expense.

diplodicus > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:51

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If that’s really what he’s trying to do, couldn’t he set up an LLC in the name of the youtube channel, then buy the cars with a loan to the LLC. Then when everything falls apart the LLC declares bankruptcy but his personal credit score is unaffected. Disclaimer I don’t know shit about LLCs other then what LLC stands for.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Future next gen S2000 owner 01/18/2018 at 13:54

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Treating it as a business expense is the only reasonable answer here. If he were leasing the car and filming 100% of the time, then 100% of his lease payments would deductible as a business expense. Since he says he purchased the car, only the interest payments would be deductible as a business expense. In both cases, the depreciation on the car would be deductible.

MonkeePuzzle > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:57

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agreed. it’s ALMOST like they dont put much thought into it. ALMOST like they have a slightly lower level of intelligence, ALMOST like they are basically a youtube comment personified.

BeaterGT > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 13:59

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I know some of the Euro-based auto vloggers couldn’t keep up with their loans as Youtube traffic started winding down. I must admit it’s entertaining watching them realize the difference between affording a car and affording a car payment.

LJ909 > diplodicus 01/18/2018 at 14:04

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No. I believe there is some type of law against this.

LJ909 > BeaterGT 01/18/2018 at 14:06

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Yea I get a kick out of that too. The realization that maybe getting into debt in the hope that enough people care enough about your life to watch your videos on the hope that it will pay off in the end.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > diplodicus 01/18/2018 at 14:10

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You could do this if you had a real business entity with assets and value separate and apart from your own against which you could take out the loan, but a bank is going to require a personal guarantee on any and all amounts loaned to an entity with no assets for collateral, so he’d be on the hook either way.

Future next gen S2000 owner > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/18/2018 at 14:12

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I think that is the key holding all this together.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney 01/18/2018 at 14:36

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You’d be surprised what a bank will do. A friend of mine owns a dirt business. Until just last year, most of the business assets were a couple of really old dump trucks, two tractors (think 18-wheeler) with a couple of flat beds, an old bulldozer, and an old skid-steer (aka Bobcat). In 2017 he added a brand new dozer and skid steer with a number of attachments. Over $350,000 in new equipment, all procured with a 15-minute call to the dealer. He was shocked that it took less time to borrow more money than he spent on his house.

razorbeamteam > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 14:45

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I assume everyone with a nice car is in a lot of debt. There’s no other way.

I make a pretty decent living, split my expenses with my girlfriend, have no kids and cant imagine being able to afford any decent new car really.

Alfalfa > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 14:49

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Well, a local car vlogger here may be in hot water for insurance fraud after his i8 was vandalised and Delorean caught fire within a year of each other. So there’s that...

https://jalopnik.com/why-people-are-asking-questions-about-that-bizarre-vira-1821888602

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 14:53

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broish lifted Wrangler Rubicon

Ish?

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/18/2018 at 14:54

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It’s way easier to repo a bull dozer and a skid steer than it is a house.

TheRealBicycleBuck > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 01/18/2018 at 14:58

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Nope. E quipment can be easily hidden at a remote job site or even on his own property (90+ acres). Houses just require a sheriff and a court order for an eviction.

LJ909 > Alfalfa 01/18/2018 at 15:01

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Dumbass. I bet he was in deep water because of both of those vehicles. Its almost blatant insurance fraud.

LJ909 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/18/2018 at 15:02

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True. Its bro as hell.

Vicente Esteve > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 15:04

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I can’t comprehend how can people live this comfortable whilst in debt. I really want to see what happens when Youtube starts lowering the rate of money/views and these vloggers have to perform a plan b.

LJ909 > Vicente Esteve 01/18/2018 at 15:06

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I’m waiting on that day too. A lot of these people have completely put their all into Youtube (i.e. quit their jobs). Very few keep their regular jobs while doing this on the side.

Vicente Esteve > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 15:10

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What I can’t fathom is how they are comfortable filming every single damn aspect of their lives. I couldn’t expose my family or my SO to the masses of sick lunatics on youtube.

I am also waiting for the day when they have a family and having a youtube channel is just awkward.

syaieya > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 15:39

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Man I cant even comprehend how Tavarish and Doug do what they do, much less some of these other fools.

Theres so little love for each car, its just a way to get people to react.

Im just gonna keep my nose to the grindstone and hope one of these guys doesnt blow too much money on another dream car of mine and set the market ablaze again before i get my chance

LJ909 > syaieya 01/18/2018 at 15:50

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I think Doug actually works aisde from writing for Autotrader. Taverish explained it once how he could afford the cars he does but it just left me with more questions.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/18/2018 at 15:58

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Not that uncommon with construction equipment, and he had a fundamental thing youtubers don’t: an operating business presumably with cashflow of some amount

nermal > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 15:58

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A 96 month loan @ 3%? My initial response:

According to my math, that’s financing about $58k. So, that means that he paid $79k for the Hellcat. A quick price check shows that being about right for a widebody version.

I also found out thru my exceptional googling skills that you can get a 96 month loan @ 3.24% through some credit unions. Interest rates have gone up in the past 6 months, so him getting this done @ 3% is actually quite believable. That’s nuts.

Link to credit union:

https://www.mynefcu.org/loans/auto-loans

LJ909 > nermal 01/18/2018 at 16:02

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Believable but not worth it at all. Even at 3%.

Under_Score > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 16:39

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He doesn’t even have that many subs to be doing this type of stuff. At least most of the YouTubers with cool cars have millions of subscribers.

His Stigness > LJ909 01/18/2018 at 18:53

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96 months gives him breathing room.

Pro tip: if you need “breathing room” then you can’t afford the car and shouldn’t buy it.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > LJ909 01/19/2018 at 00:05

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well one dumb vlogger may be facing prison time.

ploc56 > LJ909 03/02/2018 at 21:37

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Youtuber Will Motivation explains why it makes sense to finance a supercar instead of buying in cash, he got a 2018 Lamborghini Huracan loan himself....and as he explain is a good bussiness....