Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc???????

[Shmee]

KHK said:

A bit OT but I was wonder what happens to all the supercars/luxury cars reviewers test out? Do the manufactures sell them to car brokers and end up on used car lots or are the vehicles destroyed?

They are normally either going down one of two routes.

I think most regularly when cars that are used on press events, say these new Bentaygas, they then return to base to be freshened up before heading for the dealer circuit. That gets them continued to be used for salesperson familiarisation as well as invited customer or perspective customer drives. From there they'll often his an auction between dealers before they are then onto the used market with some being held back for the manufacturer to keep on a longer term fleet, possibly in different countries.

The other is when they are so new that it's test vehicles that must be destroyed after. I've noticed this a few times but it's not very frequent, normally you'll see mention of a prototype in the documentation somewhere.

[jon-]

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

[Andrew[MG]]

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

https://www.duedil.com/company/gb/08409531/ldn-mus...

[S11Steve]

Andrew[MG] said:

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

https://www.duedil.com/company/gb/08409531/ldn-mus...

I know the accounts only tell half the story, but those numbers really do not correlate with the lifestyle of the 4 founders.
The income from elsewhere must be substantial/creditworthy enough to fund the fleet.

[monthefish]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Get to the effin point. It really is brain rotting, cringey stuff.....and why I stay away from the British youtubers......apart from Mr Metcalfe. He genuinely is interesting.

Yes, this is exactly my view (which maybe makes me sound like an old fart, but I'm really not )

Henry Catchpole on 'Carfection' is definitely worth watching also (I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago via this thread)

[monthefish]

Andrew[MG] said:

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

Yes, on a number of occasions. He stresses that he isn't a banker though.

[DomesticM]

monthefish said:

Yes, this is exactly my view (which maybe makes me sound like an old fart, but I'm really not )

Henry Catchpole on 'Carfection' is definitely worth watching also (I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago via this thread)

Henry Catchpole, Chris Harris, Jethro Bovingdon and Harry Metcalfe I could watch all day. Actual in depth knowledge about the mechanical side of things and how the car drives. Beats the SOL, STG and TGE videos where they haven’t got a single clue.

[Plug Life]

Danxr46 said:

Yeah I kinda guessed ....cough knew.... just thought I’d clarify a few things that people still didn’t know lol.

Thanks for the clarification, finally I can get some sleep at night.

[Shnozz]

Danxr46 said:

Butter Face said:

Danxr46 said:

Shmee I’m sure used to have a successful business and his funding came from there. Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there and Archie Hamilton racing was a racing driver in Le Mans and other various European series. SOL has been successful from the beginning making vids since 2006 I believe and since growing in success more things come in like sponsorship etc. Not scammers but there is backgrounds to themselves so although it may appear that they have this life and can just go get any car and it’s because of YouTube etc alone then it isn’t. It’s just that they don’t shout out about it and explain in detail everything they have done

You’d think after 459 (short style anyway) pages we might already know all this..... maybe.

Yeah I kinda guessed ....cough knew.... just thought I’d clarify a few things that people still didn’t know lol.

And yet you got it all entirely wrong.

Shmee never spoke of former businesses sold. He ran a mobile phone shop for a while but wasn't exactly Charles Dunstone. At least he seems open enough with his background not to tell porkies and he has grown his own channel organically with little doubt.

TGE a London banker? A gym owner? Perhaps a bank owner? Works in a bank and is 1 of a few people that run a supplements company. LDNM seems to be doing ok, and fair play to all involved, but your facts are wide of the mark.

Archie Hamilton having the source of funds from being a successful racing driver? Is this for real? Yes, a success in creating a net deficit of hundreds of thousands a year instead of an income.

You'll be telling us Seb has a series of online businesses working in parallel with him next. Magic beans? Come get 'em.

[camshafted]

monthefish said:

Andrew[MG] said:

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

Yes, on a number of occasions. He stresses that he isn't a banker though.

He calls himself a banker at Companies House.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/LrK3Ty...

He must have more than 24 hours in a day to work full-time, do the whole vlogging thing and run LDNM. Fair play.

[thatguy11]

jon- said:

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

I remember this incident well, it really turned into an awful mess.

[Yipper]

camshafted said:

monthefish said:

Andrew[MG] said:

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

Yes, on a number of occasions. He stresses that he isn't a banker though.

He calls himself a banker at Companies House.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/LrK3Ty...

He must have more than 24 hours in a day to work full-time, do the whole vlogging thing and run LDNM. Fair play.

LDNM did revenues of £1-1.5m in 2017.

Even assuming a huge net profit margin of 20%, that only gives £300k split between the 4 owners. So, less than £100k each, at best.

It's likely that they're using the cashflow to get debt or leases and that is how they are buying the cars.

If he gets £50-100k from LDNM + £50-100k from London bank admin + £20-50k from YT and elsewhere, that is still a reasonably good salary for someone in his early 30s.

Good luck to the dude. He is part of creating a successful small business, which is more than >90% of people have ever done.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-ldn-m...

[Shnozz]

Yipper said:

LDNM did revenues of £1-1.5m in 2017.

Even assuming a huge net profit margin of 20%, that only gives £300k split between the 4 owners. So, less than £100k each, at best.

It's likely that they're using the cashflow to get debt or leases and that is how they are buying the cars.

If he gets £50-100k from LDNM + £50-100k from London bank admin + £20-50k from YT and elsewhere, that is still a reasonably good salary for someone in his early 30s.

Good luck to the dude. He is part of creating a successful small business, which is more than >90% of people have ever done.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-ldn-m...

FWIW I commend him for his success. My response was more in amusement at the certainty with which DanXYZ69 "corrected" everyone in this thread with such certainty that Shmee had sold a business(es), TGE was a banker and a gym owner, and Archie Hamilton made his money in motor racing.

They have all done well and have leveraged the youtube thing to their favour. However, the opaque (at best) approach to the finances/backgrounds clearly still works on the naive.

[roystinho]

thatguy11 said:

jon- said:

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

I remember this incident well, it really turned into an awful mess.

Was just about to reference this too. Was a terrible situation to watch unfold

[p1stonhead]

roystinho said:

thatguy11 said:

jon- said:

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

I remember this incident well, it really turned into an awful mess.

Was just about to reference this too. Was a terrible situation to watch unfold

This seems like an insane judgement!

[InitialDave]

I believe he did say "yeah, my driving broke it", in writing, which may not have helped matters much.

[Digga]

p1stonhead said:

roystinho said:

thatguy11 said:

jon- said:

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

I remember this incident well, it really turned into an awful mess.

Was just about to reference this too. Was a terrible situation to watch unfold

This seems like an insane judgement!

If you look at the comments on the Petrolicious Facebook page after their recent article on Piper and his cars, you can see what others think; pretty much they agree. Whatever the truth of the matter, it's definitely done him no good. Won a battle, lost a war for sure.

[p1stonhead]

Digga said:

p1stonhead said:

roystinho said:

thatguy11 said:

jon- said:

Danny, be really careful regarding other people's cars and insurance. They're all keen for you to drive them until something breaks, then it's court time.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/sports-...

One of the nicest guys in the industry, such a messy situation

I remember this incident well, it really turned into an awful mess.

Was just about to reference this too. Was a terrible situation to watch unfold

This seems like an insane judgement!

If you look at the comments on the Petrolicious Facebook page after their recent article on Piper and his cars, you can see what others think; pretty much they agree. Whatever the truth of the matter, it's definitely done him no good. Won a battle, lost a war for sure.

Would a journo (either freelance or through a publication) not be insured for such a thing?

I think I remember Harris saying he paid an astronomical sum to get insured on one car or another and likewise with Catchpole possibly in an F1?

[Dynamic Space Wizard]

camshafted said:

monthefish said:

Andrew[MG] said:

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

Yes, on a number of occasions. He stresses that he isn't a banker though.

He calls himself a banker at Companies House.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/LrK3Ty...

He must have more than 24 hours in a day to work full-time, do the whole vlogging thing and run LDNM. Fair play.

I've heard a lot of people calling him a merchant banker.

[Digga]

Dynamic Space Wizard said:

camshafted said:

monthefish said:

Andrew[MG] said:

NickCQ said:

Danxr46 said:

Tge ldn is a London banker and also fitness gym owner so is successful there

Don’t make me laugh! TGE appears to do some kind of mid level admin job at whatever bank it is that he works at. He’s got far too much free time to be one of the few people still earning decent money in a London bank.

Has he ever said that he works for a bank?

Yes, on a number of occasions. He stresses that he isn't a banker though.

He calls himself a banker at Companies House.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/LrK3Ty...

He must have more than 24 hours in a day to work full-time, do the whole vlogging thing and run LDNM. Fair play.

I've heard a lot of people calling him a merchant banker.

I thought those hand gestures were something to do with product endorsement for a well known brand of instant coffee.