The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people recognize. It's known for its unique shape and powerful performance, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
EV conversion is when you take a car that normally runs on gas and change it so it runs on electricity instead. This usually means putting in electric motors and batteries.
An internal combustion engine is a kind of engine that makes cars go by burning fuel inside it. Most cars use this type of engine, which creates power from small explosions.
Car
Porsche GT3
The Porsche GT3 is a special version of the Porsche 911 sports car that is designed for racing and high performance. It has a powerful engine and features that make it great for driving on a racetrack.
Metzger is a name associated with a type of engine used in some Porsche cars, especially the GT3. These engines are known for being very strong and reliable.
A repo auction is where cars that people couldn't pay for are sold off to get some money back. You can sometimes find good deals on cars at these auctions.
Shaughnessy Overland Express is a company that helps move expensive cars safely. They take special care of the vehicles and make sure they are well protected during transport.
The Chevrolet Express is a big van that can carry a lot of stuff or people. It's often used by businesses for deliveries or transporting groups. People like it because it's practical and can handle heavy loads.
Tariffs are extra costs added to products brought into a country from abroad. When it comes to cars, these costs can make imported vehicles more expensive for buyers.
Imports are items, like cars, that come from other countries. When you buy a car from another country, there might be extra costs that make it more expensive.
The average new car price is how much people usually pay for a new car. It's been going up a lot lately, which can make buying a new car more expensive.
The average payment is how much people usually pay each month for their car loans. It's important because it shows how affordable or expensive cars are for buyers.
A surge in demand means that a lot more people want to buy something, like cars. When more people want to buy cars, prices can go up because there aren't enough cars for everyone.
GM stands for General Motors, a big company that makes many different types of cars and trucks. They are one of the largest car manufacturers in the world.
Classic cars are older cars that people collect because they are special or unique. They can be worth a lot of money, and their value can change based on how many people want them and the economy.
The exchange rate tells you how much money you need to trade from one type of money to another. For example, if you're buying a car from another country, it helps you know how much it will cost in your own money.
An enthusiast is someone who really loves and is passionate about something. In the context of cars, it means a person who enjoys collecting or working on cars as a hobby.
A value proposition is what makes a product worth buying. It explains why someone should choose that product instead of others, often highlighting its benefits and features.
The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that can handle rough terrains and is great for outdoor adventures. It was brought back in 2021 after being gone for many years, and people got really excited about it, sometimes paying more than what it was originally sold for. It's popular because it's fun to drive and looks cool.
Supply and demand is a basic economic idea that explains how prices are set. If lots of people want to buy something but there isn't enough of it, the price goes up. If there's too much of something and not enough buyers, the price goes down.
Car
Tesla
Tesla is a company that makes electric cars, which run on batteries instead of gasoline. They are known for their advanced technology and features like autopilot.
CPO means Certified Pre-Owned. It's a term for used cars that have been checked and approved by the dealer, often coming with a warranty to give buyers extra peace of mind.
A warranty is a guarantee that the car will be fixed for free if something goes wrong within a certain time or mileage. It helps protect you from unexpected repair costs.
The Porsche 944 is a sporty car made by Porsche that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. It has a good balance and is fun to drive, which is why many people like it.
The BMW M3 is a fast and sporty car that is part of the BMW 3 Series family. It's designed for people who love to drive and want a car that feels powerful and fun on the road. Many car fans admire it for its speed and handling.
The Porsche Boxster is a small, sporty car that is fun to drive and has a cool design. It’s known for being a good choice if you want a Porsche but don’t want to spend as much as on bigger models. People love it for how it handles on the road.
The Ford Taurus is a large car that is comfortable and has plenty of space for passengers. It used to be very popular in the U.S. and is known for being a good family car. People often talk about it because of its long history and how it has changed over time.
The Nissan Murano is a roomy SUV that's good for families and people who need extra space. It has a unique look and is known for being comfortable to drive. Many like it for its smooth ride and modern features.
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that drives like a sports car but has more space for passengers and cargo. It's popular because it combines luxury with the ability to handle different types of driving. Many people like it for its powerful engine and comfortable ride.
The Hyundai Accent is a small, affordable car that is great for getting around town. It's known for being easy on gas and is a good choice for people who want a reliable vehicle without spending too much money. Many first-time buyers like it for its practicality.
The Nissan Altima is a comfortable car that is great for everyday use, like commuting to work or running errands. It has a good amount of space inside and is known for being reliable and fuel-efficient. Many people choose it because it's practical and easy to drive.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a classic sports car that is known for being fast and stylish. It's a symbol of American car culture and is loved for its powerful engine and cool looks. Many people admire it for how it performs on the road.
The Ford Mustang is a famous American car known for being powerful and stylish. It has been around for a long time and is loved by many for its speed and cool design. People often talk about it because it represents fun driving and American car culture.
The GMC Yukon Denali is a fancy version of a large SUV that has a lot of nice features and a powerful engine. It's great for families and people who want a comfortable ride.
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people like because it's reliable and saves gas. It's available in different styles like a four-door sedan or a two-door coupe.
The Chevrolet Traverse is a medium-sized SUV that has a lot of room for passengers and luggage. It's a good option for families who need space.
LIVE
Welcome back to Switchcast Season 6. Coming near the end of this season, I'm your host
Doug Tabott here with my co-host Tyler Sanders and also Ethan Huffnagle, the International
Executive Producer. Ethan, I'm sorry, you are not and also you are never an afterthought.
You are just behind the scenes.
Switchcast is a podcast where we know what we're talking about despite evidence to the
contrary. We only talk about cars, definitely no politics unless they're somehow related
to cars, which seem to be intertwined. In fact, yet again tonight we're going to talk
about tariffs and how they are affecting the car market because it is always changing.
Let's see, what is our warm-up lap? I know what our warm-up lap is. Why am I asking questions?
I don't know. If you enjoy this podcast and you have less questions than I do, please like,
share, and subscribe. It all helps out with the algorithms and maybe somebody else might enjoy
it even more than you and they will thank you for referring to them, their new favorite podcast
and you'll become an even better friend. Oh, I love it. Unless you have too many friends
and then send it to somebody if you think they won't like it or they'll binge it so
much that they won't call you anymore. I don't know. I guess there is many hours of
switchcast at this point. There is a lot of archival evidence that could be used against
us in the future. Okay, now we'll get to our warm-up lap. First, I want to announce we are having
a special now annual Christmas live stream with the All-Star Cast, the All-Stars of the Switchcast
Cast, Monday, December 22nd at 6.30 p.m. Eastern. That'll be on YouTube and on Patreon. Speaking
of Patreon, we want to thank our patrons who pay a little bit extra of dollars to get a lot
extra of content, exclusive content behind the scenes, live interaction with us every Tuesday
that we film, bonus content, and yes, they'll be on with us for Christmas, but you can too.
The link to sign up for Patreon is patreon.com slash switchcast, or if you're dyslexic,
we can also, you can also sign up at switchcast.com.live, switchcast.live slash Patreon. Either way,
it'll get you there. Just bring your credit card. Our Patreon topic tonight is a good one.
Our producer, Ethan, came up with it. The psychology of roadside police encounters,
tips and tricks, myths, things to do, things to not do. Don't run, that's the first one,
but we've got some real ones from insiders, not police officers, sorry, not that inside.
Anyway, that should be a good discussion topic. What is fueling this podcast, Tyler?
Well, I think to start out, we've got some delicious Elmer T. Lee bourbon,
courtesy of our technical advisor, Mr. Dan Doucette.
Yes. That was very good, Dan. You're brilliant. Get the pour on, Mike.
Yes. Let's go. I need a little more. Wonderful. All right. I am drinking cheap red wine at the
moment. White wine, cheap white wine even worse. We are very different people in this moment, Doug.
Oh, it smells delicious. Oh my goodness. Let's see. In the news this week,
or social media news, oh man, post isn't available. How much of this stuff? This is a
second article we have tonight that has been pulled down. It's just too controversial.
It's too hot. Anyway, somebody converted an air-cooled Porsche 911 to EV, to a battery-powered car,
which I think is stealing the soul of that car. I'm not against all EV conversions. I think some
of them are actually really good ideas, but not an air-cooled Porsche, but the battery or the wiring
caught on fire. And I've got to go off memory here because the video has been taken down.
I think it burned for 22 hours, or maybe I'm conflating that with a different article.
So I found it on Florida scanner, the central Florida scanner Facebook group,
and I don't think they say in here, I'm just skimming. No, I am conflating it with a parody
article. That's what it was about a Tesla that burned for 22 hours. But anyway, I will say 12
units had to respond to this fire. Really? Insanity, and there's just billowing black smoke,
and there's like all these different guys getting in the rear. It's where the, I guess, EV
power, whatever caught fire happened in the rear. Yes. That's too bad. It's not saying that internal
talking too fast, internal combustion cars can't catch on fire, and they do. I mean, technically
they're powered by lots of little fires. Yes, that is also correct. And a big tank of flammable
liquid. However, I just, classic car enthusiasts and purists feel somehow justified when something
like this happened, as if the god of automobiles struck this Porsche with lightning. Especially
like an air cool, like why? Just speaking of lightning struck portions, the GT3 that got
struck by lightning, I was bidding on it on the IAAI salvage auction, and they continually didn't
get how much they wanted. So it just kept re-auctioning, and it's no longer on their site. So I don't
know where it went. Oh, yes. TBD, further GT3 TBD. Further research to be done. Do we think it went
to a YouTuber who's going to make a bombastic title? Oh my god, I've got a lightning struck GT3.
It would make a good title, and YouTubers need content. So I sent it to a few of the
big time YouTubers I know, and it wasn't, I don't know, quite salacious enough for them.
Well, because it's a GT3 with a Metzger, it's going to just keep running. Just put a new ECU in it,
it'll be fine. Probably, probably. Let's see, we love to follow up on things that we've discussed,
and recently, well, many, many times we have discussed
texting and driving. But recently specifically, we were talking about a bunch of emergency vehicles
that have gotten hit. But near our house, so we have two lane roads everywhere around our house,
and this happened like within a mile of our house a couple weeks ago, somebody allegedly,
but reportedly under the influence, crossed the center line and caused a pretty bad head on
collision. One victim was a pregnant mother, she was less than seven months pregnant, and she gave
birth to her kid the next day, which is very not good, and can lead to a lot of potential
lifelong health issues for the kid. So yeah, that's not a good time.
The comments on the Facebook post, unfortunately, we're full of people saying that people should
slow down, one person said they should stop tailgating. That definitely is what caused this
scenario. Right, and it's amazing that people just can't seem to grasp how a car would cross
the center line. One insurance claims processor in the comments even chimed in with her expertise
that the majority of her claims for these types of accidents are people swerving to avoid deer.
Now look, there are a lot of deer around where we live. I see them all because I got eyeballs out
because I don't want to get hit. I have not once seen another person have to swerve.
Especially into oncoming traffic. Yes, if anything, I would just slam on the brakes and
carry steady on because I'd rather hit a deer than a car. I think everybody would.
Come on lady, that is what they are telling you because they don't want to somehow get in trouble
for texting because texting is an offense, it's a driving offense swerving to avoid a deer isn't.
Who swerves to avoid a soft stationary object that's up on pegs for legs
and they can't sue you, the deer can't sue you in order, but who swerves to do that in order
they hit a hard object that's traveling the same speed in the opposite direction thereby
doubling the force of the impact and one that's full of people who could be injured and might sue
you. There's a reason that texting and distracted driving is not listed as the majority of the
cause of actions is because nobody will own up to it. They all lie. And everybody does it.
Every single time I see someone on the road make a maneuver or do something that I'm like,
well, that's weird or oh, or they may be inebriated or like what's going on,
it's because they're staring at their dang phone. Stop. We also want to follow up on
estate sales. We talked about whether or not estate sale auctions were a good or bad place to
buy a car. And we referenced wholesale ish repo auctions. But one transaction in particular
was sent to me by a good friend, John, and it is a 2015 911 GT3. And it was right here in Ohio,
but it was on govdeals.com, a liquidity services marketplace. It was a repo GT3.
And I wanted to see how this transaction compared to what you could buy on the open market.
And sure enough, wait a minute. I thought it sold. Last time I checked, this car had sold
for $129,000 plus fees for a 19,000 mile 15 GT3. And I was going to say, wow, that's
like pretty high money. That's not a great deal. But now it looks like it's open again.
And it closes on December 10. And it's up to $101,500 and the reserve is met.
So I, well, I guess we're going to find out. Well, nine people are viewing it right now, Doug.
Well, eight other people. Seven. Six, my mom is looking at it too.
Okay, well, that's strange because it definitely said reserve was met and it sold. So I don't know
why there's a Q&A further down the page that says the buyer defaulted. So they had to relist it.
How ironic that a buyer defaulted on a repo auction.
I'd say GovDeals is dangerous if you're just slightly, you know, lightly toasted, as Ethan
would say. You can find some real interesting things like all of the weird aircraft or like
airport vehicles, all the little like stubby trucks and like baggage carriers and weird stuff.
You can get those cheap. And if I was, if I made a lot more money and drank a lot more,
I'd probably have a fleet of random airport vehicles. I just want to drive, I want to work
at an airport for like a week just to drive the little stubby trucks. Just hang out with Mark
Spence and let you drive some stuff. National Guard equipment. Well, I guess we'll have to
our eye on that GT3, but yeah, I don't know if it'll go for a deal like we discussed, probably not.
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How tariffs are affecting the car market? I want to talk about this in two different ways.
One, new cars and two, classic cars because we definitely want to talk about imports of cars
because that is more directly affected by the tariffs because it's a one-to-one
thing. If you buy a car in Europe and you want to bring it in yourself, you pay the 15% tariff
versus with the manufacturers. Different ones are absorbing it or passing a portion of the
cost along. A lot of manufacturers only are having their costs driven up slightly because
they might manufacture the car in the US but they're paying more tariffs on a lot of the parts or
whatever combination. Looking at a few different articles here from, let's see, the Wall Street
Journal, finance.yahoo.com and NAIDA, which is the National Independent Auto Dealers Association.
We're referencing all of them there. The big takeaway is that fourth quarter sales for new
cars are going to be way down. They were already down in October. The November sales numbers are
coming out. Well, they will probably be announced right about the time that this podcast goes live,
but they're expected to be down about 8% to 9%, which is a massive, massive number. Obviously,
EVs are way down this quarter because the tax incentives ended for them. There's a big surge
in EV sales right before the incentives ended and then they just fell off the map.
Well, and I also think I might be getting ahead of myself here, but we also had a rush
to buy vehicles before these tariffs were put into place that probably reached forward and
ate up some of the demand that would have otherwise existed. And it didn't because
the numbers were very strong through the third quarter for all the manufacturers.
And according to the Wall Street Journal, 2025 was predicted to be a banner year,
fueled by tax cuts, and we were supposed to have an annual sales increase overall
for the third straight year. And up until the fourth quarter, we did. But it seems like the
tariff pressure finally is hitting people along with the increased prices. Manufacturers have been
bumping up their sticker prices even before the tariffs and people's average loan payments
have been going up and up and up. So essentially, we have the highest average new car price we've
seen in America for new cars and used cars, just like everything is up.
Well, so that average payment, this is a wild statistic, so I wanted to make sure I looked
it up and it was accurate. Is it $750 a month? On average, that is insanity.
That's new and used cars, correct? Because I believe new cars are above 800.
I think just might be both. I have heard over 800.
Yeah, that is new and used. You're correct.
Yeah, that's even worse. I know. I know. So we're seeing downward pressure partly due to
tariffs, partly due just to overall pricing. The surge in demand during the COVID and slightly
post-COVID era drove manufacturers to ramp up their pricing and they're not now decreasing
the pricing. It's there to stay and a lot of them are able to initially absorb the tariffs because
of their margins, but manufacturers, most manufacturers are taking a big hit in terms of
profitability, but it's not just the overseas manufacturers. Both Ford and GM are down this
quarter. General Motors did quite well this year gaining a ton of market share. Their
U.S. market share is up to 17%, which may be partly due to tariffs. So we have
an article from West Coast Shipping that's talking about the numbers of vehicles being imported
from European manufacturers and those are all down significantly year over year. So of course,
when you have less cars being imported, that opens up for American manufacturers to pick
up some of that slack. But of course, a lot of European and Japanese car makers are
manufacturing here also. Isn't it like Toyota or Honda or something that has a big plant in the
Carolinas and it's like all of those are essentially American cars if you consider where
they're built? Toyota has the majority, I want to say it's like 80% of their cars,
but it's more than 50% of their cars for the U.S. market are built in the U.S.
Yeah, that just makes business sense. If you need to sell that many vehicles,
shipping all of those from overseas is going to be a lot more difficult,
say might as well make them here. Let's see here, but let's look at the numbers of cars coming over
and that's something to that's a good takeaway as well. So from January 1st to October 31st,
2025, according to West Coast Shipping, the container data from 14 key origin countries shows over
12,000 cars imported compared with 33,000 in the same period of 2024. So you're looking at
just over one third of cars coming into the country versus a year ago. Most of that have been the
newer imports. So Korea is way, way down, Italy is way down, Italy's total volume is down roughly
22%, but Ferrari, who's been kicking butt in their financials, beating all the high-end European
car manufacturers is beating them again in terms of the number of cars coming into the U.S.
Let's see, 4,540 cars arrive from Italy in the first 10 months of 2025. It was the largest single
source of containerized car imports to the U.S. Nearly all of this volume is new Ferrari product.
Whoa, yeah, yeah. Japan fell from about 14,000 cars in 2024 to 4380 in 2025.
Subaru and Asuzu volumes shrank and more mainstream models shifted away from containers.
South Korea dropped from 4,600 to just 376 cars. China effectively disappeared from the data.
5,300 cars in 2024, mostly new GM vehicles to 96 units. So, I mean, this is what Trump wanted,
right? Yeah. He wanted cars to not be imported. He wanted manufacturing to bump up in the U.S.
Now, what surprised me is the number of collector and classic vehicles coming over
did not drop that much. It did drop some, but very small percentages and not even from every
country. Spain, Germany, they decreased from 1,200 to just over 1,000. United Kingdom,
they decreased. The Netherlands, they increased by like two. Australia, they increased, but that's
such a small thing. I think instead of 15 cars, there's 20, but I'm kidding, but it's a very,
very small blip on the graph. I personally expected the numbers on classic cars to drop
a lot more than that because you're literally paying a one-for-one amount. And the cars that
I've looked at in Europe at buying, I won't buy them anymore because I look at the tariff
and the exchange rate that combined double whammy. It used to be almost even with the euro
the dollar did. The numbers just can't make sense anymore.
So if you look at the type of folks who would be buying a car to import that is classic or
otherwise enthusiast based, those kinds of folks who would be in the position to do that anyway
are still in the position, most likely, even with the increased cost. So if it's something
that they want, if it is a specific model or a specific spec or trim or whatever,
that's the only way you can get it. So they're probably still going to do it in just stomach
the additional cost. You don't want to do that because you look at the value proposition,
but if you had more money than cents, you probably don't care. More dollars than cents.
Okay, but I would think it would still shrink. The other thing that I thought would happen
is that the market in Europe would be affected significantly for the classic cars because
the majority of their buyers or it seems like a big portion of their buyers are in the US.
Their market hasn't. Their asking prices are still very, very strong. So it's not like it's
like coming out in the wash for US buyers. They're just paying a lot more, but the cars
are still coming over. So that one baffled me. What I do think is interesting related to that
is the market in the UK seems to be down, but we don't want to import their cars.
It's a normally Americans wouldn't want to import those cars if we could get a left-hand drive
version. We're talking about overall or classic cars because you know Jaguars in the UK.
I was talking about classic cars though, and I specifically have been exposed to some of this
when I was looking for GT3s. They're significantly cheaper over there, and it seemed a lot of
things are, but you were buying right-hand drive potentially driven in climate bad weather cars
that like just, I don't know the market. It's a smaller market than for left-hand drive cars
that Americans would want to import more. The exchange rate also went way in their favor just
in the last six months. So I think that may be affecting it the most. But back to new cars,
talking about how unaffordable they are. We're talking about payments, talking about the increased
MSRP and the slump in sales. Now a lot of articles attribute it to the tariffs,
and Congress actually, there's a Senate committee meeting to hold a hearing on automobile
affordability because they're seeing this crisis of sales slumping, new cars not selling as much,
and of course, well not of course, Ted Cruz, a Republican called this hearing,
pedal to the policy, the views of the American auto industry on the upcoming surface transportation,
reauthorization, lots of big words. Anyway, executives for four car makers, General Motors,
Stellantis, Tesla, and Ford have been invited to serve as complainants. I mean witnesses,
the executives are not going to go there to complain about how their sales down and say
that the government has to fix it. That never, ever happened. That's not a thing. No, it's
definitely a thing. They're going to lobby the government to do something about it to,
I don't know, give incentives or something. But I have a problem with this.
The biggest problem is the concept of, hey, I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
I think this is not a government problem. This is a people problem. People choose to buy cars
that are way too expensive. People choose to do 18 year payments. People choose to do a 10%,
15% interest rate. Okay, maybe they don't have an option because they're a credit score or whatever.
But automobiles are still affordable. You can buy a $10,000 used car, Dave Ramsey.
You can put off your purchase like nobody forced people to go out and pay over sticker for Broncos
in 2021. People just had this fervor of, oh my gosh, I can't get it. So I'm going to pay too much.
And the manufacturers and the dealers all got freaking rich off of that
enthusiasm. And now they're complaining to the government, oh, people can't afford cars because
their payments are too high and they're upside down in them and sticker prices are too high.
Okay, well, we reap what we sow both from a manufacturer perspective and from a consumer
perspective. So it bothers me that the government is trying to fix this problem
when this is really just a private market thing and it's really a consumer responsibility thing.
The manufacturers can't raise a sticker price if we're not paying it. Supply and demand works.
So if consumers just say, no, we can't afford it, we're not going to buy it,
and prices will go down. Well, and it seems, this might be me actually putting on a thin tinfoil hat,
that in the scenarios I've paid attention to, so if there's something I'm missing,
please let us know in the comments so I can get educated. I'm not trying to be an expert.
The government likes to get involved in cars when people aren't buying new cars.
We talk a lot about laws at the state level and the federal level that really benefit
buying new cars and are really focused on new cars for our car-focused society.
I wonder if Bernie Marino is in this committee, Mr. New Cardiola turned U.S. Senator.
I think they don't want used cars that are better on your pocketbook, that are better
on the environment, that are better, yada, yada, yada, to be the solution.
Because it's to the point where I was looking up some articles while you were
kind of talking through some stuff, and it seems that the Senate Democrats and Republicans,
per an article on Axios, are bringing up vehicle safety requirements as the reason
that cars are so expensive for features like automatic braking and lane keep assist. Those
are the things making cars expensive, they say. And I don't know if that's true or not,
actually. I have no idea. No, no, no. Sorry. I'm scrolling down this article. There's this
heartwarming story of Mr. Zudo, a 35-year-old from Idaho who needed a new car after his older
Acura was totaled in an accident, which I'm sure he got an insurance claim for the amount of that
vehicle so he could have bought another older Acura with that exact dollar amount, but he didn't.
He and his wife have a newer Tesla but wanted a reliable and reasonably spacious second car
that could hold up on long road trips. And the Tesla, blah, blah, blah. She's a doctor. He stays
home, but he followed with DRED, the news reports about ever climbing vehicle prices and he
approached the car buying process ready to do battle, blah, blah, blah. You didn't need to buy
a new car. You can't complain about it. You have another newer expensive car.
Nobody feels badly for you. I don't anyway. No, I don't. Truthfully, and I'm not the market for
this and that's fine, I don't understand unless you plan to spec a car or literally run it into
the ground over like multiple, like probably 20 years why you would buy a new car. You know, even
when we were getting a car for my fiance, I was trying to, that's what she is. It's a newer car.
We got a CPO. There were reasons that we wanted to make sure it had a warranty and yada, yada,
yada, because I don't have cars with warranties. We saved almost 10 grand off of the price of
a new car. So yes, it wasn't as frugal as buying a cheaper 10 or 15 year old used car,
but there's also you don't have to buy a new car even if you want a newer car.
You can save so much money. Yes, and that's what a lot of these articles say. Used car sales are
up. Used cars are booming and we're experiencing that as well. People are buying used cars.
But no, oh my gosh, the new car dealers aren't making enough money even though they
friggin took advantage of everybody the last few years with COVID and I'm blaming COVID,
but that's what they all blame. So it's just an easy target. You can't just have a down year and
be okay with a down year. No, we need to have a congressional hearing on how to fix this.
I'm pretty sure there is a lot of many other things that I would prefer that those
dear public servants focus on. I don't think this is it. Yep. Speaking of negotiating,
because you typically negotiate when you buy a new car, you get some real
expert negotiators often if you're selling anything that dealers see it all the time,
especially on Facebook Marketplace. And our shrew negotiator segment likes to highlight,
dare I say, make fun of those people who are extra special in their negotiations. This one
is from a friend and past guest and fellow sleazy used car dealer. And he got this message from
somebody who is trying to negotiate the price down. They first asked if the car would still be
there in the spring to which Kent responded, no, I don't think so. And then the would be buyer said,
we get that all the time. You told me a long time ago when I was thinking I wanted a 944
before I got I thought better of myself, you had one. And I was like, well, if it's still here
in the spring, I might buy it. You're like, are you going to pay me for storage? And it was such
a perfect response. I loved it. So then he goes, this is special. I don't know about spending
over 10k on a car though, because then the IRS gets involved. And I know you won't take 10k.
So and plus it's going to cost me, I probably have to drive there and I'd have to drive two vehicles
back plus the weather is getting bad. Maybe it's still be available in the spring.
I would have to see the car in person and test drive it first see. I'd ask if you could ship it
to me so I could see it and test drive it and decide then then I do 12. But I don't want to
sound ridiculous again. Too late. You sound ridiculous for a 10 to $12,000 car. Well, apparently
the IRS doesn't get involved if you ship the car to him and he pays 12. I don't understand where
that is. This like the, you know, the, oh, the government doesn't know if you take out, you
know, $4,999 in your bank account, but they know if you, but it's only cash. It's just this $10,000
thing. People think that you can't carry $10,000 across state lines. You can't write a check for
more than 10,000, all this crazy stuff I've heard. And it's not true. To be fair, when I've
have worked with you guys, the lovely folks at switch cars, including yourself, I didn't realize
I could write a personal check for the amounts of money that I've like written for cars. That just
seems insane to me, but it works. I don't know. It's what the check is for. That's what the check is for.
The Sheffield brand was recently revived by Jake Turkbus, an owner of an original Sheffield
All Sport Diver. He received from his parents in 1970, when he was just 11, beginning his love
of watches. As an adult, Jay used his extensive expertise in product development and marketing
to revive the brand that started it all. He set out to develop watches with a high level of quality
and specification at a value price. His first effort and a successful one on July of 2023
was the debut of the Sheffield All Sport Diver one. It had the kind of build and movement that
much more expensive watches use, and his debut price of $108 was equivalent to the $13 his
parents paid in 1970. Since that debut, Sheffield has expanded to a wider range of
automatics and chronos, many designed around vintage Sheffield dials of the 60s. The Sheffield
well of clever and unique design remains his inspiration, as well as maintaining the goal
of high quality, very affordable range of automatic and quartz watches. Sheffield watches
value on merit, not just price. I love mine, so get yours at SheffieldWatches.com and be sure
to mention you found them on Switchcast. It's been too long since we've covered a scam,
and our friend John Sabo sent us one this week that was a dealer that was a fake dealer
that was using other dealer's pictures, and the address came back to some
nothing in Arizona. It was just a rundown building. I was like, wow, that's pretty low-hanging fruit.
We'll cover that one, but it was just like every other fake dealer site scam I've seen before.
I think they get creative or something. Well, they did. They did. This is the best one I found.
This one popped up on Facebook yesterday, I believe on the Wholesale Car Club website,
a guy said, this site is fake. I know because they stole the photos of my car from my bring-a-trailer
auction. Oh, so we know it's a fake spoiler alert. This is a scam, but let's start from the beginning
and go through our process to determine whether or not it's a scam. This is a good one.
GEDbrokerage.com, as in I got my GED because I couldn't graduate regularly.
So, first thing, I checked the website and I ran the Who Is. The website has a phone number
listed there. They have an address, 185 Parkwood Drive, Spartanburg, South Carolina 29301,
contact at GEDbrokerage.com, not like GEDbrokerage at Yahoo or whatever.
Yeah, hours of operation, a nice, fairly nice website.
Honestly, this website feels not terribly scammy.
Yeah, kind of like almost up to par of SEMDEC designing one.
So, I checked the Who Is. The domain registration comes back to the address listed on the website.
It does. It's not a private registration. Okay, good start. I plugged in the LLC
in South Carolina, expecting to find absolutely nothing. Well, no, GEDbrokerage LLC comes back
as a valid company that was registered in 2015 with a certificate of good standing.
Rhonda Anderson is the registered agent and the address is the same as what's on the website.
So, so far, so good. However, when you look a little further, GEDbrokerage is a transport broker
registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Now, I want to back up. What is
GEDbrokerage? GEDbrokerage, if you go to that website, if you haven't already, it is a bring a
trailer knockoff. It's not your typical dealer cars for sale site. It is an auction website
where they have repo auctions for high end and classic cars, equipment, heavy equipment, RVs
and boats. And I guess not all repossessions on there, but that's one of the things they highlight,
maybe for the SEO. Okay, so GEDbrokerage is LLC is registered as a transport broker.
Also at that address, Get Er Done Transport LLC was registered there under a Matt Anderson.
Remember Rhonda Anderson is the registered agent for the GEDbrokerage. That company,
the Get Er Done Transport LLC was dissolved in 2015, hence came GED, much shorter, went from
transporting to brokering, became more efficient, even with the use of letters in the name.
The address itself comes back to a mobile home at the end of a dirt road. Now, it is possible,
but not plausible, that a bring a trailer competitor would be based there. However,
the property is much more consistent with the transport broker as, well, you can't spell broker
without broke. Let's see, according to property records, it last sold for $3,500 in 2023, which
is less than the opening bid of nearly all the cars on there. However, the current owner is
still listed as Matt E. Anderson, the one who formed the LLC there in 2010. So we've got a
little bit of conflicting information there. Regardless, all of this, other than it being
a location that's not highly likely for a operation of this size, everything kind of checks out.
So let's review the site. Well, not kind of checks out, it's a transport brokerage. So
not everything checks out. I don't want to get ahead of you, but I'm seeing some weird stuff
right now. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I'm so locked in. So there's lots of cars, tractors, etc. for sale.
It's a nicely designed site. They even have car facts reports for the listings. So that's definitely
a step up from other scammers. There's lots of guarantees on the website, including, quote,
trusted partners like Chase Bank and B of A. They have some incredible promises,
like six month warranties included with all the purchases, free delivery within 500 miles,
a return policy with a full refund, everything that you would never get from a real auction
company. And therein is one of the red flags, because if it's too good to be true, if they're
speaking of making people feel secure, did you get the pop up on their website that says,
yes, you go look at like Google the reviews or like whatever. I did. Did you go look at those?
I did. This is insane. And so it is, it redirects you to Google with a specific search string. So
there's no like company for GED brokerage with reviews. And you get a bunch of websites that
all have a very consistent naming style. Yes. That are allegedly forum posts from 2023. Yes.
And it doesn't feel real. I went to the internet archive and it doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist. Uh-huh. You would think the internet archive has to have something if there
was a forum post in 2023, that domain must have something that's been crawled. And I've checked
like two and they don't exist. So I thought, I thought that those forums, because they have
actual users with the number of posts and how long they've been members and stuff, I was like,
okay, well, maybe this is such a high level scam that they created forums and created users and had
AI posts and stuff like that. No, there's no, they're all dead links on the floor. So the page
that you pull up is the only page you can see everything else you click on. It just gives you
a pound sign in the URL. It doesn't go anywhere. Like all of the names are in like three parts.
It's the something club, the something circle, the something posse, like the a description,
and then a grouping of some kind. Right. Also, if you read the posts on those forums, they're all
people typing in perfect English with great punctuation and grammar. And I'm like, nobody
does that. And a lot of them have like numbered points. But they're all, it's all SEO friendly.
It keeps on referencing GED brokerage. They all look the same. It's crazy how fake it looks.
But if you do a quick glance, you're just like, Oh my gosh, all these people are sharing their
wonderful experiences with GED brokerage. So if you search the who is domain name for any of them,
you ready for this? They come back to Reykjavik, Iceland,
not just to any address, but to the phallic cafe. Oh, whoa.
Housed within the phallological museum. What? Yes. Do you know why it's called that?
Why is it called that? It's literally known as the penis museum.
This is like Penn Island, or is it like a real thing? No, it's a real thing. They didn't build it,
though. They erected it. All right, Doug, I'm going to search this on your on your internet.
I'm dead serious. So if you search the address in Google, though, for the registrant for these
domain names of the forums that are claiming reviews of GED brokerage, it comes back with
the most interesting article titled some of the web's sketchiest sites share an address in Iceland.
A Reykjavik building that houses a penis museum and an H&M is also the virtual home to an array
of perpetrators of identity theft, ransomware, and disinformation. Another article, this in
the People's Gazette of Nigeria, which is heavy irony that they're covering a place known to house
scammers. Nigeria, come on. Thordor Thordeson, the museum's chief operating officer, expressed
bewilderment at the building's links to nefarious activity online. He says, we are a penis museum,
yes, he said, but we are a serious penis museum. Does that mean they're just really impressive?
There's no silly penises here.
Okay, back to GED. I am also noticing that, and this isn't something that would be like a good
way to determine a scam, but all of these fake websites have an SSL certificate that was generated
on like the same day. Which is so bizarre, because I was like, how did they get certs?
These are all showing up with a little lock on your browser that says like, this is legit and
this is verified, and they've all been generated at like the same time. Yes, all of their listings
as well. This is an old trick. They're stolen from other auction sites. So for those of you
watching online, we'll put up a couple samples, but they just stole the photos from cars and bids,
from bring a trailer and just recreated the listings on their sites. But they have actual
countdown, actual bids. So you might think like, okay, what's the harm in just bidding?
Well, their links for their social medias would go to the site, but not actually to an account.
Correct. And if you click the Facebook one, it goes to try to like, you're making a Facebook
post about GED brokerage. Yes. So what's their angle, right? If they're scamming,
how are they scamming? Because most scam dealers are trying to either get people to give them
deposits or the full amount using people's fear against them of missing out on a, oh,
this might be too good to be true, but it's such a great deal. And giving people that sense of urgency
to the point that they ignore their usual red flags. And we've covered this in the past of
people actually doing this going, well, it felt wrong, but this one, however, Tyler, you can
weigh in on this because you're the internet expert, Ethan as well. I think the angle here,
given the article about identity theft and ransomware from, you know, people at this
penis museum here, I think this site is stealing people's information because in order to register
for an account, you must download the bidder agreement and put your personal information
on it, including your driver's license number, sign it and send back the bidder agreement in
addition to entering an email address and password that you want to use for their site. And how many
people reuse their passwords for everything? Oh, everybody, I don't. Well, okay, you work for,
but a lot of people do. So I think that's the angle. And even like being on the site, having it open,
I'm like, they're probably stealing my information right now. That's why I did download, I didn't
download, I printed to PDF their bidder agreement. That was it. I hope you didn't like open that.
There could be some malware. Yeah, full legal name, residential address, city, state, zip code,
primary phone, email address, driver's license, number, state of issue, and expiration. Like
everything. Yeah, except your social security number, signature date, but then they have your
signature. They want you to like scan it back to them, not a DocuSign digital signature.
I know. Genius. Now, I was going to call them because they have a phone number and people say
like somebody answered it. But I don't think it's going to be fun messing with them. And
I don't know if I want to mess with somebody trying to steal my identity because they might be doing
voice cloning. Yeah, or then they've got your number and then you say your name and then they've
got like you could like fish yourself, social engineer yourself. Right. So I think we're going
to do one of the lower level scammers that's just trying to steal your money and we're going to call
them and mess with them. Oh man, this is you know, the less advanced Russian scammers as opposed to
the Icelandic the penis scam. You know, if I had more time, I could have written some incredible
jokes that go with that. But you know, man, I am so glad that I came into this without any
background knowledge because just unfolding as you're like is watching this unfold in front of
my eyes as you're talking was amazing. What a diabolical. Yeah, really, really. Well, if you
got any good, good puns, you can leave them in the comments. I'm not going to make them. We're
going to go to our ever popular plate to sample game. Stay safe out there, people. Watch your
information. If it seems too good to be true, it is and definitely so in this case. And I'm
closing the tab real quick now because you know, I don't know, maybe they're listening.
Yeah, I got some of my cookies, but that's all they're getting. He did get some of my cookies
should have used a VPN. Anyway, plate to sample is a game brought to us by soul and spine. If you
are crooked, they will set you straight. Yeah, your car needs an alignment. You may not know it
or feel it because it still drives straight, but your tires are getting worn unevenly. That's kind
of how your body works as well, at least according to Dr. Hoover. And you may not realize that you're
out of alignment, but your body is compensating for things that it doesn't know it's compensating for
and then wearing other things. So it's worth it to go see Dr. Hoover at soul and spine to make sure
you're all straight. Plate to sample is a game where we name off a vanity plate read off a vanity
plate that's actually on a car. And the other person has to guess the stereotype, see if they can
determine what kind of car it is based on what the driver is trying to say about themselves
or their car. Ever popular, we get so many submissions. We are thankful for them all. We
can't keep up with them all. We try to pick the best ones. And here are the ones from this week.
Tyler, do you want to start? Let's go. All right. So I've got earn Zvay,
which if read a different way says you're in Zvay.
A Porsche. No. Is it a German car? Yes. That likes to drive fast in the left lane. Yes. That seems like
Audi S4 energy to me. Very close. Very close. That is BMW M3 energy, V46 energy actually.
Apparently. Did they do it backwards? So if they have the front plate on supposedly,
you can see it in your rear view mirror. All right, we're going to start out with this one,
which I spotted myself. The number four, the word fish, four fish.
Four fish. What kind of name is related to like fish food? Is that four fish? I mean,
it could be a bass boat. I mean, I get is this like a truck, some like Ford truck that tows a boat?
Nope. Is it like, I don't know what this sounds like a guy who probably drives a Lincoln. Nope.
It's a Porsche 718 Boxster S. Why don't I know? I don't get it. The only thing like four, it has
four cylinders. Four. I don't get it. I don't get it. That's so weird. But I knew you wouldn't
either. And that's why I used it. All right. I'm going to need to get a bit more rude with
my selections here because this next one's a layup, but I like it. Showdown. Ford Taurus S.H.O.
Yes. It's like the first gen, I think. Yeah. So they're good. It's like, it's a good one.
But is that a 1991 S.H.O. Plus? I don't with the lightweight hood. I don't know what that means.
Well, I mean, I know what it means, but I don't want to tell mirrors and lower body cladding and
a little bulge in the hood. And it's not a metal hood. And, you know, if you're an S.H.O.
nerd, that's the one you got to have. I only have a photo of most of the butt of this car.
Okay. Well, I'd be able to tell. Oh, sure. Okay. For you, Massachusetts plate classy. This one's
submitted to us by Chase Macintosh. Thank you, Chase. Oh, yeah. Classy. Classy, classy, classy.
Um, this is somebody that thinks they're classy. This is a Nissan Murano. No,
Ethan chicken is head over there. I just realized you. That was a perfect.
I'm just going to save you. It's a Porsche Cayenne. Well, that's, that still works.
Face black. That's what I, that's what I thought. Next up for you, Doug. Yoke. Y-O-L-K. Yoke.
A Koenigsegg. No. Do you see what I did there?
Oh, egg Yoke Koenigsegg there. The egg train of thought is in the right. Is it a car shaped
like an egg, like a Hyundai accent and a hatchback? No, parts of the car are shaped like an egg.
I mean, every rear view mirror on the planet is shaped like an egg. So that doesn't help me.
This is a yellow 996. Yeah. Yellow 996 turbo. Honestly, I was thinking of the mirrors on that
because they're most shaped. I was not, then I got to like the egg. What do they call egg yolks?
Fried eggs. Fried eggs. No, the runny eggs are the, the like early ones, the fried eggs or the
like turbo, bad, whatever. All right. Yeah. SHO plus level of nerd them there. Okay. Indiana plate
goes to 11. Is this a like drag racing car or a muscle car of some kind? Like a challenger or
charger goes to 11. Oh, this is, is this a reference to the spinal tap, which is an amp that goes to
11. So it's an EV. It's a Tesla. Nope. Nice train of thought there. I think there is,
I'm not sure why, but I think maybe why. So it is a singer. Okay. Porsche 911 reimagined by singer.
Goes to 11. So singer was, Rob was a singer in, don't remember the band. But anyway, the creator
of the singer automobiles was a lead singer in a band. So maybe it's like, oh, he was in a band,
goes to 11. But I think it's more just the nature of the raucous nature of a four-liter singer
Porsche. Like the car just embodies going to 11. Cause that's kind of what the phrase means.
Now, I think it should have been on a Tut Hill 911 K because that car does go to 11 literally.
If like the one person that probably has a Tut Hill 911 in the US, that is the plate you need.
Please, please do. But I still appreciate it. Give it to me. I'll get that plate.
For you, Doug, I have WYD TNN, which I can only assume means what are you doing tonight? I don't
know what the extra N is for. Oh, I thought it was like wide Tennessee in. It might be,
but I like what are you doing tonight with what this car is?
Nissan Altima. No, it's not a Murano either, Ethan.
This is a BMW four series. So it's like a playboy kind of like, you know,
it's a fancy finance man. Yeah. All right. Well, along that same type of energy,
you 18 yet. Oh, yikes. I don't know if I even want to touch this. Yikes.
You know what? No, I don't. Nope. Not gonna touch it. Not gonna. Nope. Okay. I'm out.
It's a Corvette C five. Oh, of course it is with a license plate frame. Don't
so bad. It's good, but it's not good. So awful. Don't laugh. Your daughter might be in here. Oh
my God, not in a C five, bro. Jesus, Pete's definitely C four energy.
Oh God. All right, we're gonna eject out of this real quick. Mick Queen.
Is that lightning McQueen or Steve McQueen? Is it a
Mustang bullet? No, it is not.
I don't know then. It is a brand new Ford lightning. F 150 lighting like the Queen
and the less good lighting. I get it. Look, I had to get it out of that was good. That was good
obscure or more like Carter to kind of like. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's been saved like that.
Wordplay. All right. Last one for you from Ken Smallwood. I be fartin.
Oh, this is a Yukon Denali.
No. Dang it. Amazingly, not that far off. Really? I thought you would have gone for
like a Honda Civic with a fart can exhaust or something like that. I was trying to imagine
what I see in the Taco Bell drive through when I come drive home from podcast late night.
Taco Bell is the kind of people that be put in. I mean, you can see this in late night Taco Bell.
Yeah. What is it? It's a Chevy Traverse. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. I went too fancy.
That's what I at least I think that you seem so sure of yourself for not getting that right.
I was it was it was close. I'm so happy with how with the stuff you've been given to me tonight.
I'm okay with that. There were no clues for that. You did get on the right track.
Is that it? Do you have one more for me? That was fine. All right. Well, thank you,
Dr. Hoover, soul and spine for the ever popular plate to sample game and thank you all for
submitting your fantastic plates. Switch cars is the enthusiast dealership where we buy,
sell and consign only cars that we like ourselves. Check out our handpicked inventory online at
switchcars.com and mentioned switchcast for special pricing. You can find more information
online at switchcars.com or come visit our showroom in a beautiful twinsburg Ohio where you
can experience the switch cars difference. Thank you for joining us for switchcast with
Emily and Ivory. You can stream their full album on Spotify or SoundCloud. If you like this show,
you can stream it in its entirety on your favorite audio podcast platform. Check out
switchcast.live for more info.
About this episode
Tariffs are reshaping the automotive landscape, impacting both new and classic car markets. Hosts Doug, Tyler, and Ethan delve into how tariffs affect prices, sales, and imports, revealing a significant drop in new car sales and a slight decline in classic car imports. The episode also discusses the psychological aspects of car buying, the influence of government policies, and the ongoing debate about affordability in the auto industry. With insights on recent market trends and a humorous take on automotive culture, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the current state of the car market.
