WARNING: Do NOT Buy A New Car In 2026!

0:00 Welcome back to the Graham Stephan Show,

0:01 and we got to talk about the dumbest thing that you could buy,

0:03 and that would be a brand new car.

0:05 But, it's not for the reasons that you think.

0:07 It's not because of depreciation.

0:09 It's not because car payments are at a record high.

0:12 It's not because repossessions are increasing.

0:15 It is because your new car is collecting data on you.

0:18 Insurance companies might soon be able to take that data,

0:21 and then adjust your insurance rates based on how you drive.

0:25 And that's what brings me to this video here.

0:27 It's titled, "Here's why you should never buy a new car, and it's not about So,

0:30 I got a comment on this as soon as you hit the like button and subscribe.

0:34 And as a thank you for doing that, here's a picture of an axolotl.

0:37 So, thanks so much, and also a big

0:38 thank you to Function Health for sponsoring this video.

0:40 But, more on that later.

0:41 Like, what's bad about cars made in the last 25 years?

0:44 And please be very specific.

0:46 Oh, I will.

0:47 The first problem with new cars is

0:49 you lose money hand over fist to depreciation.

0:51 Yes.

0:52 And then, if you have to take out a loan for it,

0:53 you're also paying interest on that.

0:55 Yes.

0:55 And one of the fastest ways I see normal

0:57 people in general lose money is on new cars.

1:00 Yeah.

1:01 And they do it because they're afraid they can't work on it or service it.

1:03 That's exactly right.

1:04 That's basically the only real difference.

1:06 right.

1:06 I got to say, there is nothing that depreciates faster than cars,

1:10 and furniture, and clothes.

1:12 As soon as you buy any one of those three things,

1:15 my gosh, it loses value the moment you put it in service.

1:19 The moment you click buy.

1:21 The second you check out, that thing is worth at least 20% less.

1:26 Especially with cars.

1:26 I think a lot of people got disillusioned that in 2020,

1:30 they could buy a car and drive it,

1:32 and all of a sudden it's worth 20% more because supply chains are up.

1:36 But, that's not reality.

1:37 That was like a weird bubble that we all lived in, where nothing made sense,

1:41 left was right, up was down.

1:42 A lot of people got confused that they thought they wouldn't lose money in cars.

1:46 But, everything just reverts to the mean eventually,

1:49 and now we're back at a point again

1:51 where cars are just losing value hand over fist.

1:53 And if you just want to protect yourself with this, always

1:56 just buy a 3 to 5 year old car.

1:58 It's that simple.

1:59 It's not difficult.

2:00 You save like half.

2:01 So, there you go.

2:02 Just saved you like $30,000 like that.

2:04 Cars I would say in the last 20 to 25 years,

2:09 the evolution is not for the sake of the car

2:13 and the person and so much of the experience.

2:15 It's more for the sake of the nature of dealing

2:18 with regulation and keeping a profit margin in building it.

2:22 And when you do that, you make things that are

2:26 inherently more prone to failing in the future and less serviceable.

2:30 So, apparently, a lot of this has to do with EPA

2:32 regulation to try to hit certain miles per gallon limits.

2:35 And so, what they're doing is they're taking these engines and trying to tone

2:38 them down a little bit to get better gas mileage, but in doing so,

2:42 they make them a lot less reliable, the service costs start to increase,

2:46 and that's why you're seeing like these huge recalls going on all the time.

2:51 It's because they tinker with the engine.

2:52 It wasn't broken to begin with.

2:54 Sure, I mean, it got 10 miles a gallon,

2:56 but, you know, beyond that, the engine was reliable.

2:58 You could drive it 200,000 miles, no problem.

3:01 Now, you're getting engine recalls like day one on brand new cars.

3:04 It shouldn't be that way.

3:05 If anything, cars should just be getting more reliable over time, not less.

3:09 I feel like, in a way, we're just moving backwards here.

3:12 We should be making progress, but we're not.

3:14 I guess that this trend toward making everything electric,

3:18 I bought a truck last year, um, a Chevy truck,

3:22 which I've always had, and I was at a a gas station,

3:25 and all of a sudden on the dashboard it says, "Stop.

3:28 We're downloading information from the internet." While you were driving?

3:32 No, I was I was stopped.

3:34 specifically wanted you to stay stopped so it can So,

3:36 it could, I don't know, download softwares.

3:39 I sold the car immediately.

3:40 I brought it back and sold it.

3:40 They wanted all your data to provide it

3:42 to insurance companies to wreck your life, I'm sure.

3:45 true?

3:45 There's got to be more to the story than that, because usually,

3:47 when you do these updates, you have to be parked,

3:49 the car has to be plugged in, and you have to be connected

3:52 to Wi-Fi for it to actually have a signal strong enough to download.

3:55 My guess it was probably just downloading traffic information.

3:59 Like it's not going to be as though you're

4:00 in the middle of driving and the car's like,

4:01 "No, you got to pull over right now.

4:02 We got to do an update immediately." It's never going to happen.

4:06 So, my guess again is probably downloading just like

4:08 normal information and this is just it's a non-issue.

4:12 Insurance companies will be the downfall of cars and driving.

4:15 I guarantee it.

4:16 And the other thing is all the cameras that are out there,

4:18 everybody's putting cameras on their car.

4:20 I'm like, "Okay, you guys

4:20 Cameras on their car?" Well, you you've I'm sure you've seen it.

4:23 Like people are buying little cameras to see what happens.

4:26 If somebody does something stupid on the road,

4:28 you can use that to protect yourself legally, right?

4:30 That's why they sell it.

4:31 It's never occurred to me, but yes.

4:33 Those dash cams, by the way, are worth their weight in gold.

4:36 I will link to one of them down below in the description

4:39 that I've used in the past that I really like.

4:41 I'd highly recommend, if your car does not have a dash cam,

4:45 go and get a dash cam.

4:47 My gosh, if you get hit and it's someone else's fault,

4:50 you're going to wish that you had

4:52 camera evidence showing that you're not at fault

4:54 so that you can you can give it to the insurance company and say,

4:56 "Hey, that wasn't me.

4:58 That was the other guy and uh we should go

5:00 after them instead." Dash cams are worth their weight in gold.

5:03 I mean, just one accident, one thing it pays for itself a hundred times over.

5:06 But my guess is that over time uh car cameras are going to become mandatory.

5:11 They're going to be standard equipment in all the cars out there.

5:14 And insurance companies, most likely,

5:16 my theory is that they're going to request access

5:19 to your car's camera footage in the event you submit a claim.

5:23 So, if you say, "Hey,

5:24 my car was hit when it was parked on the side

5:27 and I need uh $15,000." They're going to say, "Okay, that's fine.

5:31 Show us the footage." And you're going to say, "Well,

5:34 uh uh well, about that." And they're going to say, "Well,

5:36 then we can't cover it unless you show us the footage." And I

5:40 think uh over time they're going to be having access to your driving style,

5:46 whether you're speeding, uh whether you're running lights,

5:49 they're going to have all the data from the car

5:51 that's going to get uploaded to the insurance company,

5:54 and then they're going to price you based on how you're driving.

5:56 So, if you're speeding often, if you're driving recklessly,

5:59 you're going to have to pay a lot more or just be uninsurable compared

6:03 to the person who's driving like a grandma all the time and driving perfect.

6:06 I just think it's a matter of time until the cars become like the iPhone,

6:09 everything updates to your insurance company immediately in real time,

6:12 and then your pricing fluctuates like a a stock would.

6:15 Again, this is just a theory, but I think we're going in that direction.

6:19 So, just be prepared.

6:20 Drive safe.

6:21 What happens when you're completely mandated control?

6:24 Car shuts off at exactly 55 mph speed limit, no matter what.

6:27 what's funny?

6:27 People are so worried about their cars tracking them or them being tracked,

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8:08 Enjoy.

8:09 Thank you so much.

8:10 Now, let's go back to the video.

8:11 And the law enforcement can turn off your car from afar, correct?

8:14 Yeah, and they do.

8:15 Well, with certain cars.

8:17 Yeah, certain cars.

8:18 So, what's the When's the last year you

8:21 could have a car that can't be controlled?

8:23 Oh, that's a good question because I

8:24 don't mess around with those cars very often.

8:27 Um or ever.

8:28 But if you Is it fair to say if

8:29 Ones that are connected to the internet or satellite in some way.

8:32 I honestly don't think a lot of this matters.

8:34 I'm not worried about like the GPS sending

8:37 my car's coordinates and someone like intercepting like,

8:41 "Oh, Graham is driving down this freeway right now.

8:44 He's going 82 miles." I don't care.

8:47 I think a lot of this is just unjustified.

8:49 At some point in the future, yes,

8:51 insurance companies will want data from your driving,

8:54 but any car right now I don't think any of this is justified.

8:58 It's just It is what it is.

8:59 Couple small points that are also happening.

9:01 We're the right to repair your own private property is under attack.

9:05 But that's something that's happening everywhere.

9:08 Because if manufacturers or dealerships want more money,

9:10 well, they want you to service with them.

9:12 If they make it so you can only service with them, no matter what, well,

9:16 then they're going to in an authoritarian way

9:19 force you to let them make the money,

9:21 which is frankly another method of control.

9:24 This is very true.

9:25 A lot of car companies say that if you want to keep the warranty,

9:28 you have to go through them.

9:30 And as soon as a third-party mechanic touches your car, they void the warranty.

9:35 Ferrari is notorious for this.

9:37 Like as soon as you tune the exhaust, boom, lose the warranty.

9:41 Same thing with Bugatti.

9:42 If you don't go through them, boom, lose the warranty.

9:45 A lot of car companies are going in this way,

9:47 most likely so that they can ensure the work is done correctly,

9:50 but it also probably makes them a decent amount of money, too,

9:53 to be able to keep people in the ecosystem, otherwise they void the warranty.

9:57 And just having that threat of like, "Oh, well,

9:59 you're not going to get the warranty." I think

10:01 a lot of people are going to be forced into it.

10:03 keep taking away all the power from the people before eventually you get

10:07 to a point where will you will even be able to own your own car anymore?

10:11 And will you driving it be a liability to where if we have self-driving cars,

10:15 it just takes you there at the most efficient time

10:18 that whatever the it wants you to wants you to.

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10:51 And you know, when I see things like that, and I

10:53 mentioned about it'll be insurance companies that ruin it for everybody,

10:57 because the other thing is what happens when they start

11:00 making it where you can't drive your older cars anymore?

11:02 I don't know if it's ever going to come to that.

11:04 You can't say that someone needs to drive a car above a certain year,

11:08 otherwise it's like illegal on the roads.

11:10 They could probably try to do something like that and and say it's like,

11:14 "Well, it's more of a safety thing." I don't think that's ever going to happen.

11:17 I think that's tinfoil conspiracy theory on the head sort of deal.

11:22 Again, I just don't think it's actually going to happen.

11:25 It's the newer stuff that's crazy.

11:26 Um, for instance, my father-in-law recently got

11:30 my mother-in-law this uh nice new SUV.

11:32 I think it's a BMW.

11:33 I think it's a hybrid SUV.

11:34 She likes it.

11:35 And my father-in-law look at it go by were like,

11:37 "There's a lot of servos and things whirring

11:39 and buzzing." And I don't want to say it, but I'm because I'm saying it now,

11:43 it's kind of like, "When is this thing going to break?

11:44 And how much is that going to cost?" Yeah.

11:46 And you know you're not going to reasonably fix that.

11:48 And then when that thing is older,

11:50 that all these highly specialized little mechanisms and circuit

11:53 boards and servos or whatever go bad, who's making that?

11:57 And is it worth making it anymore?

11:59 I wonder if it's just me or if older cars are seemingly more reliable, it seems.

12:04 Could also just be a proof of concept that if

12:06 the car's been on the road already for 20 years, it's like it's good.

12:10 It passed the check,

12:11 but it just seems as though they're easier to work on, they're cheaper to fix,

12:15 there's less that could go wrong.

12:17 And now when you have like hybrid components,

12:19 everything is electric, all everything is a motor now.

12:22 Like you can't even go and open your own car door.

12:25 Now it's got like the things that pop out for you

12:27 and if like one of those motors fixes like $800.

12:30 They try to make these cars really futuristic, but in doing so,

12:33 as nice as that could be,

12:34 it just adds complications when inevitably something is going to go wrong.

12:38 Like I can't imagine these things still working like 30 years from now.

12:41 You're going to have to replace the whole car at that point.

12:43 So, I just don't think they're designed to last

12:46 as long even though initially they look great.

12:48 Or is it just another giant complicated toxic wasteful

12:52 thing that we go on in this vicious consumer cycle?

12:56 No, they just they just crush it.

12:57 So, let me know what you guys think down below in the comments.

12:59 Personally, I think the best thing that you could do overall,

13:02 get a good reliable car that's got, you know,

13:04 enough miles on it where you know they've worked out all the issues,

13:08 and then just drive it until it doesn't run anymore.

13:10 I think all this talk about like cars monitoring you and things and that.

13:14 Yes, I think at some point in the future, we're going to get to that point.

13:17 Insurance companies are going to know everything that you're doing.

13:20 They're going to be able to verify that you are the one driving your car.

13:23 They're going to know if you're acting a a weird.

13:25 They're going to know if you've had

13:26 a few drinks before you get behind the wheel.

13:28 They're going to see if you speed.

13:29 They're going to see how late you drive.

13:31 They're going to notice driving patterns,

13:32 and they're going to adjust your insurance rates accordingly.

13:35 They're also going to know if something is not your fault.

13:37 If you get hit, and they see that on the camera,

13:40 it's not going to count against you.

13:41 So, I think at some point, yes, we are we are heading towards a world

13:45 where everything is just self-driving from now

13:47 on, but I still think we're probably a good 10 to 15 years away from that.

13:50 So, until then, just do what you can to save money.

13:54 Drive safely, no matter what.

13:56 Hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't done that already,

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14:23 Enjoy.

14:23 Thank you so much, and until next time.