Well, I think you have to see Matt as one of Donnie's victims in all of this. If you listen to some of the deeper dives/costs/time with Donnie's repairs with his cars, he has similar stories to others but with less dramatic outcomes -- he drove in for something minor, and ended up with an engine out repair. He paid hundreds if not over 1K if I recall correctly -- for "special Lamborghini bolts". From my experience a good shop will offer the most expensive "OE" option, but also look to mitigate costs for you with alternatives that are equivalent, or sometimes better. Donnie "doesn't like to do that," is an "OE only guy" and would claim the parts were unobtanium, he has to travel to Europe, etc. the same ruse we have heard from others. The difference Matt experienced, I think, is that Donnie was smart enough to return stuff a bit quicker and make sure everything worked well, and giving Farah some kind of unknown "discount." So while others have reported Donnie didn't even fix what the car was brought in for, it's possible that if Donnie couldn't solve something he outsourced the work knowing Matt was an important media influence for him. And the "discount" is possibly still more than what good shops likely would charge, or at minimum he got taken for a ride on some things he didn't need and parts that were overpriced. Now in terms of consequences, there's nothing legal that will/could happen to Matt as far as I can tell. His reputation however will take a huge hit if he doesn't respond properly, especially after the Camissa/Cybertruck fiasco. He needs to issue a same-level mea culpa like he did with Jason. So far in Matt's track record when he has been badly wrong about something he has issued public apologies and taken accountability. That Camissa episode on his own podcast he let Jason really rip him to shreds, and he's left it up for anyone to listen. The record got corrected. If Matt wants to keep his standing with the community (although it will take some kind of hit regardless) he needs to make a similar level of apology/admission like he did with the Camissa/Cybertruck situation. The question I really wonder about is whether he will realize that he was also likely taken for a ride by Donnie. I mean obviously we know Donnie at minimum took him for a ride in terms of using Matt to further his scamming, but will Matt fully realize the extent of what Donnie has done? I sure hope so. And I hope he takes down those videos where Donnie appears ASAP, it's embarrassing. His standing as someone with technical understanding, that has absolutely taken a big hit. He's recommended a scammer mechanic to others, who now have also been taken for a ride. If he's really being reflective, perhaps he can realize he doesn't know as much as he thought he did. He can still lean into being an entertainer, car enthusiast, and someone who does great interviews. There's a lot of great interviews on his podcast, I hope he can find it in him to be as self reflective as he has in the past.
I researched the state data base and said he had no license at the beginning of the Donnie discussion.
As I understand it, Matt’s Countach is stuck in Donnie’s hangar, so he’s certainly a victim in that respect. But prior to that it’s hard for me to see it that way. Everyone I know, including myself, who got involved with Donnie realized very quickly what a mistake they’d made. The goal was just to get our cars back as quickly as possible. We would never in a million years send them back a second time, or send him another car. Matt on the other hand sent his cars back repeatedly, paying the crazy (albeit discounted) bills, and most tellingly in my opinion, making content about it every step of the way. Even if Donnie somehow snowed him personally, Matt had been told about these things that others were experiencing. Enough to at least ask around some more and exercise caution in promoting Donnie, even if he still wanted to use him personally. Personally I can’t believe Matt really bought into that stuff about Donnie needing to travel first class to a small village outside of Modena to buy 3 bolts for $10,000 (hyperbole intended). Matt’s not dumb. On the other hand, if Matt decided that Donnie equaled “ratings” for lack of a better way of saying it, and nothing much else mattered, that would easily explain his choices. If that were true, and one could easily be forgiven for thinking it was given the circumstances, that would be quite cynical on his part. Especially given his hot takes on the self serving behaviour of people like Elon Musk. I don’t know the stories about Camissa or EAG. Nobody is perfect and he wasn’t the one committing crimes. Most of us at the end of the day have robbed Peter to pay Paul on some occasion, or looked the other way when it was expedient for us to do so. Matt seems like a nice guy. We’ll see how he plays it but it seems pretty obvious what went down here.
Matt knew at minimum last year and has continued to post positive videos and recommendations since. Even the Bloomberg interview he seems to say Donnie didn't do him wrong and he didn't mention that he had people warn him about Donnie last year. Maybe Matt still has assets with Donnie and that's more important to him than his own viewers and acquaintances.
Not surprising (but still sensational) that all of the Donnie escapades finally came back around to bite him. I have seen all the tidbits over the years and had some serious reservations about the way Matt Farah seemed to be in bed with Donnie -- whether as an ignorant victim or just a greedy influencer -- but what really took the cake for me was the $130K service costs on that 328 on sale at BaT. At best it was a neglected driver-quality car that shouldn't have even fetched $90K when it sold the first time for $115K, and somehow Donny scammed the owner into $130K of work on top of that. It boggles the mind. I commented as much on the recent BaT auction, with an attempt to be polite to the seller who got duped, but it really boggles the mind how someone could go down that road investing so much time/money into an average driver-quality 328. The math just doesn't work out. At the time I commented it was borderline criminal for Donnie to push a customer in that direction and I guess the system finally caught up. Back to Matt Farah -- his Donnie videos were probably golden for content, but showcase how someone can get duped into overkill repairs on these cars and just go along with it for content/entertainment value. For sure it would be misleading to anyone that gives Matt credibility. I don't know if/how he perceives a PR problem from this, but he should. Some of us could watch the Ferrari/Lambo repair videos and see he was getting taken for a ride and making great content along the way, but many other folks probably took it seriously and got roped into sending cars to Donnie. That is the unfortunate side to the influencer fad. These folks are often not qualified or ethically-prepared to peddle the influence. Or they just get greedy and all sense of responsibility goes out the window.
The sad part of this industry, like a few others is it would be really easy to be like Donnie if I was devoid of ethics. I am not but some others are and there are all kinds of others in between. We hear about it all the time. Do a good sales job of presenting yourself properly and as I have said before people really want to believe they have just found the magical mythical Ferrari guy who can turn water into wine. People do want to believe in fairy tales.
Victim my ass. Thats what I call karma. And its good. All too often it seems like that is the only justice being handed out.
I agree. I was responding to another persons characterization of Matt as a victim. I feel Matt’s decisions around Donnie were self serving, with a willful disregard for any collateral damage his promotion might cause.
I think Matt is a successful businessman, but his YouTube days are over except he can probably break even on the content and use it for promotion (himself, storage, Donnie, etc). Last time he had video 500k+ Views (apx $2-8k) was 4 years ago. He has been averaging about 100k for the last 2 years ($500-1k). I bet he's losing money every video not counting the side promotion.
what, video makes $1k instead of $500? The numbers don't add up for there to be any YouTube consideration.
back in the day Matt's YouTube was booming with most videos over 1M and many several million. those were certainly profitable. the last few years most YouTubers have taken a hit in views and revenue. there can be many reasons to keep it going although not as profitable. maybe he enjoys doing it, maybe it is good for promotion, maybe you are only "defeated" when you quit. the world of shorts, post pandemic, and YouTube policies/algorithms have changed the landscape. hell, I have that stupid 355 shifting short that girlfriend spent 1 minute filming and I spent 1 minute uploading, at 20M+ views it has more views than Matt has received total in the last 2 years of 100+ heavily produced videos.
Good advice. The challenge, of course, is when you're new to the community like me. The good news is that it seems like a great community for the most part. I'm finding it pretty easy to meet people and make friends. I'm also very grateful for this FChat community which has been, almost without exception, very welcoming.
I know and I was reiterating it. It looks like Farah isn’t going to say a dang thing. He posted about driving an NSX to Vegas today. Not a single comment on his post either about this mess. I also heard that he actually pulled his cars out of Donnie’s hangar in pieces when this thing went down. It has yet to be confirmed but I did hear that. If that’s true it’s totally wrong and his hands are even dirtier. Imagine created this mess for people who listened to his advice and then being the only one able to get his cars out when it all goes south. It doesn’t look like he’s going to feel any repercussions at all from this.
Like your broker selling his stock before it tanks. If that turns out to be true the whole world needs to know what a dirt bag he is.
Reasons like that are the real value of organizations like the Ferrari club. Most were after all formed for mutual benefit of that type.
I know cars that have been picked up at Donnie's hanger. I assume Donnie's future ex mechanic may have been assisting customers to pick up their cars but there were no police supervising. Supposedly everything is fairly well organized. This will probably get worse before it gets better.
someone wrote that he put metal shavings in an engine spark plug hole to damage the engine. very scary and psychotic behavior.
Yes apparently he did do that. To a Testarossa in Belgium. Then took a picture and posted on social media that the car would never run again.
I am his audience and I care. I’ll admit I thought about bringing my car to Donnie based on his recommendation but I couldn’t afford him. I’d imagine Matt is very hurt by this. Farah was very public on his podcast that he received discounted rates from Donnie and still said it was amazingly expensive. He would go onsite and film videos of his cars in different state of repair, as well have Donnie on the podcast. Donnie currently has his countach so he may be keeping his mouth shut until he gets his car back. Just like any Yelp ranking comment or Amazon product review there are good and bad comments on just about anything. It is hard to discern the good or bad when you have a positive experience. So even if he discloses the warnings sent: we may not hear from him on this topic with his countach on the line until it is back in his hands. (I would do the same) His experience was different than so many others because of Donnie - not himself. So why blame him for that? He isn’t just an influencer- he understands this but also cares about his credibility as more of a journalist. He is an editor at large for Road and Track. He does care about and understand the difference and discussed integrity. Most “influencers” cannot critique a car like he can and be trusted. He also has car storage facilities in So Cal so a bad reputation could affect those businesses. He also promotes the love of old Italian machinery like us. Right now he’s out a contach and that sucks!
