Are these Vloggers just a scam? SOL or Shmee etc? (Vol 2)

[jon-]

djdest said:

What’s wrong with doing it on a track?
Oh yeah, that would cost money.
Why pay when you can thrash fk out of people’s cars for free on the main road? How silly of me

A slight sidenote, track testing is not cheap. You can't just book onto a public track day and hope to run a test and make a video, you need to hire the place out.

I'm definitely not bitter about this due to renting Cadwell park out for an evening (nearly £4k) and the BMW M2 lasting all of 5 laps. No data, no video, peoples money wasted.

[djdest]

As another side note, thrashing cars on public roads making videos isn’t ideal either

[jon-]

djdest said:

As another side note, thrashing cars on public roads making videos isn’t ideal either

I'm not condoning LLF's methods, and agree with you, just giving some insight with some of the issues youtubers have. When you're earning around £3k per 1m views, your ROI is always very poor.

[Davey S2]

Chestrockwell said:

playalistic said:

KillerHERTZ said:

Chestrockwell said:

Shmee having a 400k Ford GT and a 800k Senna on order and 2manycars picking up a million pound F12 TDF one week, Ordering 2 Pistas the week after, then ordering a Singer while having a Zagato vaquish on his drive and the Zagato shooting brake on order, can not comprehend the wealth, caught the last few pages of the LFA thread and will delve deeper to understand the wealth when I have time.

Looking at Shmee’s garage and 2manycars, both are normal looking down to earth blokes, is it a lottery win? Someone help me understand because I don’t get it!

Why do you care how they are financed?

"PistonHeads: How other people's cars are financed matters."

Why do I care? Why do people find it offensive when someone wonders how another individual is literally spending millions on pounds on cars?

I’ve seen a couple of shmees videos and I have him on Instagram and he doesn’t seem to have a job or do anything, he is as he says, living the super car dream and I didn’t think I wasn’t allowed to ask how he is doing all of that!

As for 2manycars, the same thing, the man is literally doing what I think of doing every time I see the jackpot for the Euro millions for 50 million, both are living the dream while sharing it with us which is great.

All I want to know is what they do?

Perfectly understandable and I've never understood why people go to such lengths to avoid answering. No one's expecting a full set of audited accounts but a simple 'I own a lot of rental properties / energy company / financial trader in the city / drug baron / people smuggler etc would do'

Some kid asked Andy74B on Instagram what he did to afford such great cars and he said 'get up at 5.30 every day'

Pretty sure my postman gets up at a similar time but he doesn't have an Aston Martin Valkyrie on order

[Davey S2]

e30m3Mark said:

Chestrockwell said:

playalistic said:

KillerHERTZ said:

Chestrockwell said:

Shmee having a 400k Ford GT and a 800k Senna on order and 2manycars picking up a million pound F12 TDF one week, Ordering 2 Pistas the week after, then ordering a Singer while having a Zagato vaquish on his drive and the Zagato shooting brake on order, can not comprehend the wealth, caught the last few pages of the LFA thread and will delve deeper to understand the wealth when I have time.

Looking at Shmee’s garage and 2manycars, both are normal looking down to earth blokes, is it a lottery win? Someone help me understand because I don’t get it!

Why do you care how they are financed?

"PistonHeads: How other people's cars are financed matters."

Why do I care? Why do people find it offensive when someone wonders how another individual is literally spending millions on pounds on cars?

I’ve seen a couple of shmees videos and I have him on Instagram and he doesn’t seem to have a job or do anything, he is as he says, living the super car dream and I didn’t think I wasn’t allowed to ask how he is doing all of that!

As for 2manycars, the same thing, the man is literally doing what I think of doing every time I see the jackpot for the Euro millions for 50 million, both are living the dream while sharing it with us which is great.

All I want to know is what they do?

Work.

Tim mentions how he got started a few pages back.

Bottom line is they put the hours in and have had some good fortune on the way.

That's a bit of a daft answer though isn't it.

Most people 'work' and 'put the hours in' but if your a hospital porter its unlikely to get you a fleet of supercars unless the 'good fortune along the way' includes a lottery win.

[Chestrockwell]

Davey S2 said:

Perfectly understandable and I've never understood why people go to such lengths to avoid answering. No one's expecting a full set of audited accounts but a simple 'I own a lot of rental properties / energy company / financial trader in the city / drug baron / people smuggler etc would do'

Some kid asked Andy74B on Instagram what he did to afford such great cars and he said 'get up at 5.30 every day'

Pretty sure my postman gets up at a similar time but he doesn't have an Aston Martin Valkyrie on order

Hahahah! It’s not like we’re asking for their net worth, nor are we asking of their wives bra size, just a simple ‘how the fk can you afford to run 7 super cars with 1.4 million worth of cars on order while driving around Europe with a camera in your face’

[e30m3Mark]

Davey S2 said:

e30m3Mark said:

Chestrockwell said:

playalistic said:

KillerHERTZ said:

Chestrockwell said:

Shmee having a 400k Ford GT and a 800k Senna on order and 2manycars picking up a million pound F12 TDF one week, Ordering 2 Pistas the week after, then ordering a Singer while having a Zagato vaquish on his drive and the Zagato shooting brake on order, can not comprehend the wealth, caught the last few pages of the LFA thread and will delve deeper to understand the wealth when I have time.

Looking at Shmee’s garage and 2manycars, both are normal looking down to earth blokes, is it a lottery win? Someone help me understand because I don’t get it!

Why do you care how they are financed?

"PistonHeads: How other people's cars are financed matters."

Why do I care? Why do people find it offensive when someone wonders how another individual is literally spending millions on pounds on cars?

I’ve seen a couple of shmees videos and I have him on Instagram and he doesn’t seem to have a job or do anything, he is as he says, living the super car dream and I didn’t think I wasn’t allowed to ask how he is doing all of that!

As for 2manycars, the same thing, the man is literally doing what I think of doing every time I see the jackpot for the Euro millions for 50 million, both are living the dream while sharing it with us which is great.

All I want to know is what they do?

Work.

Tim mentions how he got started a few pages back.

Bottom line is they put the hours in and have had some good fortune on the way.

That's a bit of a daft answer though isn't it.

Most people 'work' and 'put the hours in' but if your a hospital porter its unlikely to get you a fleet of supercars unless the 'good fortune along the way' includes a lottery win.

Did you even bother to look back? You'll see what work was involved but if you can't muster the willingness to do that, it's highly unlikely you have what it takes to earn the capital to make investments and / or launch your own businesses.

[anonymous-user]

Chestrockwell said:

Hahahah! It’s not like we’re asking for their net worth, nor are we asking of their wives bra size, just a simple ‘how the fk can you afford to run 7 super cars with 1.4 million worth of cars on order while driving around Europe with a camera in your face’

At the foundation of each of the big channels, the groundwork was done long in advance in most cases. It's no different to other high earning car enthusiasts or anyone at the top of their respective fields - build a business or a brand that earns enough, and can be run in a fashion that it doesn't need hands on input constantly, and then you can start to enjoy the fruits of that labour, and document it if you choose to.

While you might only see the 10-15 minutes of outputted video which may well portray a YouTuber's lifestyle as being a glamorous jet setting playboy, the reality couldn't be further from the truth. If you looked at the dates videos are uploaded, and the locations they're filmed, then factor in travel time, editing time and the quick turnaround between each, it becomes clearer how intense the work schedule is.

Fundamentally it comes down to making your line of work, work for you and allow you to enjoy the income it produces. Be it car sales, web development, app development, content creation, stocks & shares - there's an income stream built up over a period that allows sustained growth for the individual in financial terms that allows them to indulge and share in their purchases.

[Burwood]

Chestrockwell said:

Davey S2 said:

Perfectly understandable and I've never understood why people go to such lengths to avoid answering. No one's expecting a full set of audited accounts but a simple 'I own a lot of rental properties / energy company / financial trader in the city / drug baron / people smuggler etc would do'

Some kid asked Andy74B on Instagram what he did to afford such great cars and he said 'get up at 5.30 every day'

Pretty sure my postman gets up at a similar time but he doesn't have an Aston Martin Valkyrie on order

Hahahah! It’s not like we’re asking for their net worth, nor are we asking of their wives bra size, just a simple ‘how the fk can you afford to run 7 super cars with 1.4 million worth of cars on order while driving around Europe with a camera in your face’

By having 100m views per annum. YouTube, advertising revenue. Plus the value which comes with that influence on a whole lot of other mediums. Do you not get that. It’s a business and the cars are a big part of that. Pretty simple concept to understand. Think about it from a different angle. With 10m views per month, would a company selling a related car product not consider paying a YouTuber 20-30k to make a vlog.

[S11Steve]

It doesn't take much detective work at all to get a rough idea of the background of many of these people,

Some people do come from a good (others may say privileged) background, and have some family wealth, others have built up their own businesses, or sold their former business, some have property, some work with very big numbers and earn some similarly large commissions, some have a lump sum and good leverage on finance..

I think it was established early on in Vol 1 that although Youtube is certainly contributory to the financial success, you need to be in the millions of subscribers to earn the mega money, but it's also about the other opportunities that YT brings and how those opportunities can be monetized. This is where I think Tim has done very well for himself, and used YT as a springboard for the Shmee brand,

It has also been established that to get the big numbers on YT requires a LOT of hard work.

And a thick skin...

[Punio]

NFC 85 Vette said:

At the foundation of each of the big channels, the groundwork was done long in advance in most cases. It's no different to other high earning car enthusiasts or anyone at the top of their respective fields - build a business or a brand that earns enough, and can be run in a fashion that it doesn't need hands on input constantly, and then you can start to enjoy the fruits of that labour, and document it if you choose to.

While you might only see the 10-15 minutes of outputted video which may well portray a YouTuber's lifestyle as being a glamorous jet setting playboy, the reality couldn't be further from the truth. If you looked at the dates videos are uploaded, and the locations they're filmed, then factor in travel time, editing time and the quick turnaround between each, it becomes clearer how intense the work schedule is.

Fundamentally it comes down to making your line of work, work for you and allow you to enjoy the income it produces. Be it car sales, web development, app development, content creation, stocks & shares - there's an income stream built up over a period that allows sustained growth for the individual in financial terms that allows them to indulge and share in their purchases.

Spot on, I think this generally overlooked by most most viewers.

On a different topic. TGE has announced a SVJ. Top top car, I'm guessing owning the S and SV helped in getting a spot on the waiting list.

[Norbury90]

I wonder when any of the Youtubers last booked a beach holiday for a week and did no filming or any other work for those 7 days. I feel like that wouldn't be possible for them.

[Shnozz]

Norbury90 said:

I wonder when any of the Youtubers last booked a beach holiday for a week and did no filming or any other work for those 7 days. I feel like that wouldn't be possible for them.

You make it sound as though its only Youtubers to which that applies!!!

I would suspect that applies to 99% of people who run their own business, regardless of its nature.

[Davey S2]

e30m3Mark said:

Davey S2 said:

e30m3Mark said:

Chestrockwell said:

playalistic said:

KillerHERTZ said:

Chestrockwell said:

Shmee having a 400k Ford GT and a 800k Senna on order and 2manycars picking up a million pound F12 TDF one week, Ordering 2 Pistas the week after, then ordering a Singer while having a Zagato vaquish on his drive and the Zagato shooting brake on order, can not comprehend the wealth, caught the last few pages of the LFA thread and will delve deeper to understand the wealth when I have time.

Looking at Shmee’s garage and 2manycars, both are normal looking down to earth blokes, is it a lottery win? Someone help me understand because I don’t get it!

Why do you care how they are financed?

"PistonHeads: How other people's cars are financed matters."

Why do I care? Why do people find it offensive when someone wonders how another individual is literally spending millions on pounds on cars?

I’ve seen a couple of shmees videos and I have him on Instagram and he doesn’t seem to have a job or do anything, he is as he says, living the super car dream and I didn’t think I wasn’t allowed to ask how he is doing all of that!

As for 2manycars, the same thing, the man is literally doing what I think of doing every time I see the jackpot for the Euro millions for 50 million, both are living the dream while sharing it with us which is great.

All I want to know is what they do?

Work.

Tim mentions how he got started a few pages back.

Bottom line is they put the hours in and have had some good fortune on the way.

That's a bit of a daft answer though isn't it.

Most people 'work' and 'put the hours in' but if your a hospital porter its unlikely to get you a fleet of supercars unless the 'good fortune along the way' includes a lottery win.

Did you even bother to look back? You'll see what work was involved but if you can't muster the willingness to do that, it's highly unlikely you have what it takes to earn the capital to make investments and / or launch your own businesses.

Calm down Warren Buffet.

I already know what they both do. It was simply a reply to your very vague response.

[Meridius]

Do you reckon some of the vloggers get heavy discount on cars they buy/lease from manufacturers in return for the publicity? Or maybe some other deals where they are given cars to essentially borrow for some amount of time which works in favour of both the vloggers and the manufacturers? McLaren particularly seem very open to working with youtubers.

Or am I talking ste and the youtube exposure is just a drop in the ocean next to the actual regular customers for them?

[Escy]

Burwood said:

I’m baffled how he hasn’t been prosecuted by the police. It’s clear some of those speeds are just outrageous. 150mph? YouTube will surely de-monetise this sort of flagrant abuse. It gives young impressionable people, bad ideas.

Does it really? People driving fast on the roads is nothing new. I don't consider 150mph an outrageous speed on a public road either, providing the time and place is suitable (which maybe isn't the case in some LLF videos).

It's a tough position regarding Youtube. Do you want to hear someone talking about how fast a car is or see and hear it in action? LLF's audience want to see it.

My slight issue with LLF's driving is sometimes it's a bit much, i'm all for banging through the gears coming off a roundabout but sometimes he pushes a car through corners and it looks like he's barely hanging on. You can see the concern from owners (and he zooms in on them during the edit so it's obviously something he's aware of). It makes me feel like it's a matter of time before he gets it wrong. Going fast around corners isn't really translatable on video anyway so it doesn't add anything in the video but does make him look a bit of a danger to others.

[Beefmeister]

Meridius said:

Do you reckon some of the vloggers get heavy discount on cars they buy/lease from manufacturers in return for the publicity? Or maybe some other deals where they are given cars to essentially borrow for some amount of time which works in favour of both the vloggers and the manufacturers? McLaren particularly seem very open to working with youtubers.

Or am I talking ste and the youtube exposure is just a drop in the ocean next to the actual regular customers for them?

In my experience, no they don't get 'deals' to purchase from manufacturers, but sometimes they get long term loan cars like Shmee's BMW M5, Archie's RS4, Seb's Kia and Paul's new R8. Getting a free car for 6 months is pretty sweet and was previously the reserve of only the top magazines, so it shows the way the industry is going.

Now as for getting a good deal from Redline or Gravelwood, i'm sure they get a better deal than Joe Public due to the exposure they're bringing to the company, but that's very different to a manufacturer offering a discount.

[johnwilliams77]

Escy said:

Does it really? People driving fast on the roads is nothing new. I don't consider 150mph an outrageous speed on a public road either, providing the time and place is suitable (which maybe isn't the case in some LLF videos).

It's a tough position regarding Youtube. Do you want to hear someone talking about how fast a car is or see and hear it in action? LLF's audience want to see it.

My slight issue with LLF's driving is sometimes it's a bit much, i'm all for banging through the gears coming off a roundabout but sometimes he pushes a car through corners and it looks like he's barely hanging on. You can see the concern from owners (and he zooms in on them during the edit so it's obviously something he's aware of). It makes me feel like it's a matter of time before he gets it wrong. Going fast around corners isn't really translatable on video anyway so it doesn't add anything in the video but does make him look a bit of a danger to others.

The sooner it goes wrong the better (hopefully without hurting anyone) to make him realize how stupid he is being.

[Escy]

johnwilliams77 said:

The sooner it goes wrong the better (hopefully without hurting anyone) to make him realize how stupid he is being.

I think his content is good, just needs to reign it in a little.

[anonymous-user]

Escy said:

Does it really? People driving fast on the roads is nothing new. I don't consider 150mph an outrageous speed on a public road either, providing the time and place is suitable (which maybe isn't the case in some LLF videos).

It's a tough position regarding Youtube. Do you want to hear someone talking about how fast a car is or see and hear it in action? LLF's audience want to see it.

On a positive note, along with appeasing some youngsters who think that sort of speed on a UK road is 'sick', it makes the coroner's report easier to put together if it's all there on video...

I'd like to say driving like that is macho and cool, but I work in highways and we see enough fatalities from drivers running out of talent below the speed limit, let alone a driving god in a borrowed car travelling twice the NSL. If you have to drive that fast on a public road, take a trip to Germany?