The Myth of the “Insider”: Why Some Car Influencers Are Bluffing

On social media, we often see automotive influencers bragging that they have “insiders” within car companies – people who supposedly leak confidential information ahead of time. With this claim, they publish sensational or surprising “scoops” about upcoming vehicles, hoping to shock their audience, drive traffic, and profit from the attention.

But there is a catch: these influencers also insist they must protect their source, so they refuse to disclose anything about the so-called insider. This makes it impossible for the audience to verify whether the claim is true. In other words, the “secret insider” is the perfect cover story.

Please note, this article does not refer to all auto influencers. I am specifically talking about those who constantly claim, “I know an insider” or “I know someone higher up in the management” etc.

Naturally, this raises a critical question: do these insiders even exist?

Here is one fact no one disputes: if you work for a car company and leak company secrets without permission, you will be fired, without hesitation.

Now let’s reason it out. To have access to truly sensitive information: launch timelines, product decisions, technical details – you would need to be in a high enough position within the company. But how much would such an employee really stand to gain from betraying their employer?

Consider Ford Motor Company. Its lowest management tier, LL6, comes with a base salary between $146,520 and $276,600 a year, not counting bonuses or stock grants. According to job data, a newly hired LL6 manager can expect a total annual package of around $300,000. That’s just the lowest level of management. The people who actually make product decisions, and thus have access to the most sensitive secrets – are even higher up the ladder. In short, these employees already earn a very comfortable living.

So let’s imagine, for argument’s sake, that I am one of these managers. An influencer approaches me, asking me to leak confidential details so they can post videos and rake in views. First of all, I will ask myself: Why should I do it? For what? And I will clearly see the below risks:

1. The risk of discovery: Even if I disguise the leaks, repeated disclosures leave patterns. Professional investigators could connect the dots.
2. The death of my career: If I am caught, not only would I be fired, but I might never work in the industry again. Even a future employer could discover my past misconduct.
3. Trusting the untrustworthy: If an influencer is willing to profit by betraying a company, why wouldn’t they betray me too? If my employer offered them a pile of cash to reveal the source, what would stop them from taking it?
4. No legal shield: If the influencer sells me out, I have no recourse. Leaking trade secrets is already illegal. In court, I’d be the guilty party.
5. Permanent blackmail: Once I leak, the influencer has leverage over me forever. At any time, they could turn around and extort me.

Now ask yourself: if you already make ~$300,000 a year, would you risk all of this just to help some influencers? How much would it take for you to make that leap?

And here is the other side of the equation: how much could influencers even afford to pay you? On YouTube, a video that miraculously reaches one million views typically earns the creator about $2,500 to $4,000. But how many influencers can guarantee every video will hit that million benchmark? Very few, almost none. Which means their financial firepower is nowhere near enough to compensate someone for putting their career and future on the line.

The conclusion writes itself: when an influencer claims to “know an insider” with shocking inside information, it is nothing but a bluff. They know nothing at all. And if you observe closely, another pattern emerges: whenever their so-called “exclusive leaks” are later disproven by official announcements or facts, they quietly delete the old videos. That is not credibility – it is hypocrisy.

Let me give a real example that shows these influencers do not actually know any insiders with access to confidential information. On 08/13/2025, Dodge sent all dealerships the product information for the 2026 model year. For the first time, it was officially confirmed that the 6.4 and 6.2 V8 trims of the 2026 Durango could not be sold in CARB states. This was a fairly significant piece of news. Yet strangely, before that date, not a single one of the so-called “insider-connected” influencers had mentioned it. They only started making videos about it after the news became public on August 13, 2025. If they really had an insider, how could they not have known this beforehand?

And in fact, this wasn’t even top-level insider information. For people in the industry who actually understand cars, this was hardly a secret at all. The facts had long been public:

1. Even with federal legislation in place, California has consistently maintained its CARB emissions regulations.
2. The 6.2 and 6.4 HEMI V8s fall under the LEV160 emissions category – a fact that has been publicly known for years.
3. Starting with the 2026 model year, CARB requires the LEV IV standard, with a minimum of ULEV125 for all non-heavy-duty vehicles. Since LEV160 is far below ULEV125 (and therefore banned under LEV IV), this too has been publicly known for a long time.

So really, no “insider” was needed. Anyone who understands the industry could have already predicted with 100% certainty that starting in 2026, Durangos with the 6.2 and 6.4 V8 engines would no longer be sold in CARB states.

And even if these influencers did not understand the technical details, if they truly had an insider, that insider would have told them long ago. The reality is, when it comes to genuinely useful and accurate information, these influencers know no more than the general public. What they spread is mostly nonsense and random guesses – and whenever their guesses turn out wrong, they simply delete the videos to cover up their lies. So lame.