George Kamel - Is This the Future of Car Buying?

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

📋 Get the Ramsey Car Guide.   Is Jeff Bezos’ new electric truck the solution to the completely broken car market? Find out what thehoopla is all about, how it could become the frugal way to buy an EV, plus my tips for car buying no matter what you’re shopping for.    Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video Reliable Used Cars to Buy in 2025. • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. • Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new electric truck is about to hit the market for just 20 grand after tax credits and maybe even less. The catch? It's got hand crank windows, no paint job, and no stereo system. I'm talking about Slate, which is Jeff Bezos's solution to the completely broken and insane car market. And you've got to wonder, is this a good idea? Is this the future of car buying? Is George about to become a truck guy? Today, we'll be answering those questions by breaking down exactly what this new development is all about and how it could become the frugal solution to an overpriced EV market. I'll also customize one of these myself live on camera, and you'll also learn my top tips for car buying,

whether you're buying one of these or something else. All right, as usual, I've done the research to save you some brain calories. So here's the scoop. Slate is a no-frills electric truck with a starting price of around $27,000. But after getting the EV tax credit, customer's actual bill could drop to around $20,000. Now, you can customize a slate with a bunch of add-ons, extra seating, roof racks, wrap kits, stereo system, but out of the gate, it doesn't have much. Here's what they're saying will be included in the base model.

Up first, a 150-mile range, which means no cross-country road trips to see the 35-foot-tall stainless steel fork in Springfield, Missouri. Not that I wanted to see it, but I was curious. You can't tell them the photos online. What's the scale? Next up, no paint, just a plastic body. Basically a Kardashian with no makeup. Also, there's no infotainment screen if you're a fan of those, which I think could be a blessing in disguise,

since it'll spare you from having to listen while your kids watch Despicable Me Too for the millionth time. How many Minion movies do we need? 3, please? Uno, please. Uno. As you can see, this thing is literally a blank slate. Oh my gosh! You're a genius, Bezos!

But seriously, a slate doesn't care about being sexy and cute. It's not worried about impressing your neighbors, your coworkers, or that fancy car next to you at the stoplight. it's simply trying to get you from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. And the fact that Slate is backed by venture capital and billionaire Jeff Bezos tells me this isn't some fledgling Kickstarter project looking for a few thousand in funding. This is a real attempt to rethink what a car needs to be. And it's the first time I've seen a vehicle embraced the idea that less is more, in an industry that's been racing toward more is more for decades now.

After all, we're talking about people who thought investing in the development of Tesla's fart mode was a good use of time and money. Think about that. Someone had to develop that for a job. Disbutton make farch sound. Thanks, Elon. This is the same guy we trusted? To gut the government of overspending?

I wasn't fooled for a second. But hey, I am personally intrigued by the slate. I even put down a $50 refundable deposit to reserve my place in line because I'm that curious. And that said, it's not all sunshine or rainbows with the slate. So let's go over some of the biggest pros and cons. Pro number one is affordability. This is the obvious one, because 20 grand for a new electric truck is pretty much unheard of. The average new car in America today costs about

$50,000, and the typical new EV pushes $60,000. And a brand new cyber truck will cost you at least $70,000 and probably all the friends you once had. Now hear me say that $20,000 is a lot of money. That's not cheap, and most people can't just write a check for that much at the drop of a hat. But driving off on a brand new modular EV for less than half of what you would typically pay for that privilege is a win. Now, we do need to talk about this whole brand new part because it leads us to our first con, which is depreciation. Because while Slate will be affordable, it'll still be a new car, which means depreciation is going to happen very quickly. According to Kelly Blue Book, new cars lose about 30% of their value over the first two years and continue to depreciate 8 to 12% each year after that. This means that after two years, the typical $40,000 brand new car will be worth $28,000 two years later.

And after five years, it'll be worth as little as $18,000. And this gets even worse in the EV market. A recent article from Business Insider showed that some cyber trucks have depreciated nearly 40% in just one year. And personally, I think after all the hype dies down, Slate trucks will follow a similar downward curve. All right, let's get back to a pro. Pro number two is customization. This is where Slate really shines. It's pretty much the Burger King of Cars, because you can have it your way.

Although your slate probably won't come with a dead-eyed 19-year-old asking if you'd like to try a waperito with an order of fiery mozzarella fries and a soaring strawberry lemonade. I wish that wasn't real, but we live in a fallen world, and Burger King, they fell for. Disgusting. Can we see a photo of the woparito? Actually looks pretty good. I take it back. I take it back.

Genius! It breaks every culinary law. For real, though, slates are the ultimate build-it-yourself ride. You want it to look like a construction. truck? Cool. A grocery getter? Easy. A Star Wars inspired dune buggy? Probably. I don't know. I haven't tried, but I'm about to. Let's have some fun and see what the customization process is really like using Slate's own website. Okay, let's see what we got here. This is like a video game. Okay, I'm in the explore. I can change the environment into night. Ooh, that's a vibe. Okay, there's different cameras.

I can peruse through for angles. Girl, look at that body. Sorry, is that still a relevant reference? We don't know. No. The answer is no. All right, let's go back to personalize here. So we have the starter pack, which I can sort of just select a pre-packaged Cali Sunset, the professional, the surf break, the weekender. These are actually pretty cool. Cherry Bomb, the old Grit and Grind. Good job marketing team. These are actually decent names.

The old Highway Hero, the Stargazer, pedal to the metal. Mudmaster. All right. Stellar strider. The DJ set. That's actually pretty dope. They spelled neon wrong. Is this AI doing this?

Kind of a big teal. Clever. beachbound, the vintage, street smarts. It just keeps good. Look how many they have. This is wild. Okay. Now, if you go to the body style, this is where it gets interesting,

because you're going, well, I don't want a truck. Well, you don't have to have a truck. You can start with a truck, but then get a kit to make it into an SUV. Are you impressed yet? Maybe you want a fastback SUV, which has a little trim on the back there. And then the open air kit, which is pretty cool. If you want to feel the wind in your hair, Dave Ramsey knows what I'm talking about. I'm 100% freaking consistent.

And your ball. I probably shouldn't have said that That actually is pretty dope Let me see a different angle on this I don't know how to do it Oh it's okay Pretty slow For the guy who built Amazon

I expect that a little Snapier website Now let's see what other things I can do Color app Okay so you can select a lot of different paint colors Way more than a traditional car I'm gonna go with this Jungle Gem green

All right that's cool And I'm gonna switch the body style To this fast back SUV I like that one Pretty neat And now you can do partial wraps, which I'm not interested in. I like just a solid color because I'm a grown adult. And you can add decals, which again, I don't know the point of those. But I guess for people who

want it to look like it's some kind of Roblox Minecraft situation, you can really go crazy here. I'm more into features than the form here. Running boards, fender flares, front bumper, tire carrier, rear bumper, rack. No doors. That's a wild move. Okay. I'll skip to wheels and tires. That's pretty cool. I can choose some different 20-inch wheels, 17-inch wheels. I'll stick to what they got. Lighting? You can even get some different lighting options here. Tail light upgrade, front light upgrade, fog lights, okay. Interior. They have a gunmetal steering wheel. I am intrigued by that. Go with a bronze steering wheel. They really thought through everything nobody would ever need. I respect that. All right. And then audio and tech. Finally, this is in my world.

Auxiliary buttons, Bluetooth controls. That's great. And then doors and windows. You can do a custom armrest, a little door cubby, power windows. I'm going to need those. I'm not looking for for a workout that I didn't sign up for, bud. Nice try. My arms are already stout. I do not need the hand crank. And then dashboard, uh, different vents. Okay.

It really, they like really turn this into a video game. What is a slate lit? I have no, a glow slatelet. Okay, let's see what this is. Oh, this is those, uh, it like shoots the laser into the ground when you get out the door. I think that's what that is. I have no idea.

Glow in the dark fastback. Okay. Summary. So it tells me my summary here. And then I can reserve my blank slate. and start new, and I can even share it. So they did a really good job with the overall marketing of this to get people stoked, to build something that's really custom and personalized to them,

which truly is hard to do in today's car market. I mean, you can do some of this on carmakers' websites, but it's not as cool and gamified as Slate has made it to be. So kudos to you, Slate, for that. I will concede. I like this experience. I like it a lot. Oh, man, she's pretty.

Let me just go and see what I built here. You're going to really like this and post. The editors are gonna add some music here. It's pretty dope. It kind of does look like an old school, like I'm gonna go a Zuzu, Four Runner, Range Rover type vibe that I can get behind,

especially if they're not charging a lot for these add-ons, which we'll get into in a second. Bottom line, they've built this thing to be adaptable like a Lego set, and that is almost unheard of in the car world. Finally, we get to con number two. Everything costs extra.

You want that sound system, extra. You want the thing to not look like on moving rubber made container, extra. So by the time you upgrade everything, your frugal EV might not be so frugal anymore. And how much do these extras cost? Unclear. And don't think Slate's going to send you a tricked-out,

fully pimped-out truck for 20 grand. That's just the price that gets you to their website. And adding extra features like a stereo system will surely cost a pretty penny. So clearly, Slate has some downsides, but they've also got some cool upsides. And here's what you need to remember. No matter how innovative or budget-friendly

a new vehicle like the Slate might be or sound like it's going to be, it doesn't change the core truth about car buying. You need to be intentional about how you buy it. So let's switch gears, pun intended, and go over my top four tried-and-true tips for car buying. And these work, whether you're buying a brand new, no-frills EV, or eyeing that gently used minivan with 100,000 miles and a questionable smell in the backseat.

First, though, let me give you a tried-and-true tip for protecting your personal data. And that's by signing up for Delete Me, a sponsor of today's video. Because you may not realize it, but your info is definitely floating around on a bunch of shady data broker sites, especially if you ever clicked on the link in a Facebook DM saying, look who died in an accident. I think you know him. So sorry. That's a scam. Don't fall for it, me, ma.

And that's why Delete Me works overtime to clean up your digital footprint by scrubbing your data from these sites. And they have privacy experts doing this behind the scenes all year long, and they even send you a report to show you what they've done. It's a great way to help protect yourself from fishing scams and other attacks, which are getting more powerful each day thanks to AI. And right now you can get 20% off any of DeleteMe's annual plans by going to join deleteme.com slash george

or click the link in the description below. Okay, here's my top four tips for car buying. Tip number one, don't buy new unless your net worth is over a million dollars. Controversial, I know, right? The car's shiny, it's smooth, no one's ever driven it. It smells like a dream wrapped in leather and Bluetooth. But you now know that a brand new car drops in value like a rock. That's where Chevy got it from, I think.

Built Ford Tough? Happy Honda Days? I can't keep track. And that kind of financial hit does not make sense unless your net worth is a million dollars or more, and you can stomach all of that depreciation. So if you don't fall into that millionaire category just yet, let someone else take the hit on depreciation and buy it new while you buy it used. And that applies to Slate too. And despite the low price tag Slate is advertising, buying a gently used car with low mileage is still the better

deal. Tip number two, pay in cash. I'm always telling you on this channel, if you can't afford it in cash, you can't afford it at all. The one exception being a home. When you buy a car with cash, you don't have to deal with a ball and chain monthly payment plus interest. And considering the average monthly payment for a new car is 742 a month, and used cars aren't far behind at 525 a month, that frees up a whole bunch of margin in your budget. So don't fall for the trap of car payments. Plus, here's the good news.

You can't be underwater on a car that doesn't have a payment. And let me make this clear. When I say cash, I don't mean physical, literal cash. You don't need to walk into the dealership with a briefcase full of $100 bills. You can use a cashier's check or a bank transfer. Tip number three, do your research. This is not a trip to the mall to buy a new pair of Velcro sketchers or get your ears pierced at Clairs. This is a major purchase, so you've got to act like it.

Scroll the listings, compare prices, look at private sellers, use car lots, independent dealerships, use Kelly Blue Book, use Carfax, talk to that estranged uncle who used to sell cars back in the day. Dig until you know the exact make, model year, mileage, common problems, recalls, average repair costs. You basically got to become a walking Wikipedia page for the vehicle that you've want. And whatever you do, make sure that you get a pre-purchase inspection from the mechanic of your choosing. It might cost you 100 or 150 bucks, but it's worth every penny to give you some peace of mind. I don't care if the seller says it's like new, so is a toddler with a crayon and a sticky ring pop. Doesn't feel good? So the bottom line is, even if you're not

a car guy, you still need to be informed, do the research and get the inspection. And finally, tip number four, negotiate. Now, some use car dealers like CarMax are haggle-free zones with prices set in stone. But at most other places, the sticker price is more of a starting point versus a sacred commandment etched on stone tablets. And negotiation is your secret weapon. That's especially true if you're dealing with a private seller. So don't be shy. If you follow tip number three and you've done your research, you will understand this market so well and be prepared with real numbers. And salespeople at dealerships, they love dropping classic phrases like, there's a lot of interests on this car. It's not going to last long. My manager is going to fire me

over this deal. Oh, boy. Don't fall for that crap. All right. it's smart-me sales tactics that are used to create a false sense of urgency. You should feel empowered to assert yourself, to advocate for yourself, and just tell them no. If the price isn't right or something feels off, just walk away. There will always be another deal and another car. Now, these are just the basics. So if you want a full step-by-step guide on how to buy a car the smart way,

I will drop a link to my free car buying guide in the description below. And hey, if Slate and its $20,000 price tag is still out of your budget, no worries. I recently made this video breaking down the best used cars you can buy for under $10,000. all of which are super reliable with great safety ratings. So keep watching to check it out or click the link in the description below. That's it for today. If you enjoyed this video, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button,

and leave a comment letting me know what you think about all this. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.