# Hoovie's Garage
**Hoovie's Garage** is an American automotive YouTube channel hosted by Tyler "Hoovie" Hoover of Wichita, Kansas, built around buying cheap, broken, or otherwise unusual cars and documenting what it costs and takes to own and repair them. Hoover describes his purchases as deliberately bad decisions, and the channel's running self-description is "the dumbest automotive channel in all of YouTube."[1](https://hooviesgarage.com/) • [2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator | Tyler "Hoovie" Hoover, born 1987 in Wichita, Kansas[3](https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Hoovies_Garage) |
| Channel start | Joined YouTube September 8, 2016; first video showed his Mercedes 300 SE Turbo Diesel[3](https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Hoovies_Garage) • [4](https://tubesum.app/v/when-is-the-right-time-to-quit-youtube) |
| Scale | About 1.66 million subscribers, roughly 544.7 million total views, and 795 videos as of late October 2026[5](https://www.trari.com/en/c/hooviesgarage/) |
| Signature concept | A revolving collection of cheap, troubled cars called "The Hooptie Fleet"[1](https://hooviesgarage.com/) |
| Regular mechanic | David "The Car Wizard" Long of Omega Auto Clinic in Newton, Kansas, who diagnoses the purchases on camera[6](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article231156648.html) |
| Television | *Car Issues*, a reality show with Hoover and Long, premiered on FYI Network in 2019[6](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article231156648.html) |
| Business ventures | Ad Astra Automotive (2010–2015) and, with April, The Hooptie Lot car dealership in Newton, Kansas[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html) • [1](https://hooviesgarage.com/) |
| Writing | Columnist for Autotrader.com/Oversteer and The Star Magazine, with earlier contributions to Jalopnik[1](https://hooviesgarage.com/) • [7](https://rightfootdown.com/untitledcarshow/tyler-hoover-of-autotrader-oversteer/) |
## Spoilers
### Format and premise
Each video follows a consistent cycle. Hoover buys a distressed example of a desirable car, usually the cheapest one available, drives it, catalogs its problems, and takes it to his mechanic, David Long, known on the channel as "The Car Wizard," who diagnoses whether the purchase was a winner or a loser before Hoover decides to keep or resell it.[6](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article231156648.html) The cars he keeps join the "Hooptie Fleet," a rotating collection that in 2018 filled a 3,000-square-foot barn in Andover, Kansas, with 15 cars alongside the 1995 Ferrari he drove daily.[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html)
**The economics are part of the joke.** Hoover has been explicit that the purchases usually lose money. He described buying a Porsche Cayenne Turbo for $6,000, selling it for $7,000, and spending another $6,000 on upkeep and customization, and in 2018 he said he had spent $50,000 at his mechanic's shop in the previous year while never actually pocketing YouTube income.[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html) He also observed that the worse the car, the better the video performs: a purchase he sold at an almost $20,000 loss produced his second most popular video at the time, with 1.7 million views.[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html)
## Growth of the channel
The channel grew quickly after a slow start. In July 2018 it had just over 331,000 subscribers, with a most-popular video of 4 million views.[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html) By 2020 it approached 1 million subscribers, and Hoover noted that lockdown-era viewership had risen along with other creators'.[8](https://www.yahoo.com/news/youtube-thrives-window-isolated-020922300.html) As of late October 2026, tracking data put the channel at 1,660,000 subscribers, about 544.7 million total views, and 795 uploads, with a typical new long video drawing around 622,000 views.[5](https://www.trari.com/en/c/hooviesgarage/)
Hoover's route to YouTube ran through writing rather than video. After graduating from Andover High in 2005 he worked at Wichita-area dealerships, ran his own business, Ad Astra Automotive, from 2010 to 2015, and then took a job coordinating new Freddy's Frozen Custard store openings across the Midwest. He began writing part-time for an AutoTrader.com enthusiast blog, agreed to make videos despite not knowing how, and learned editing on [Windows Movie Maker](https://www.edgepedia.org/windows-movie-maker).[2](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html) An account of attending the first episode of *The Grand Tour*, written for Jalopnik, led to further opportunities, including buying and fixing a [Range Rover](https://www.edgepedia.org/range-rover) for less than Doug DeMuro had paid for a [CarMax](https://www.edgepedia.org/carmax) warranty on his own.[7](https://rightfootdown.com/untitledcarshow/tyler-hoover-of-autotrader-oversteer/)
## Television and collaborations
The channel's popularity led to television. In 2019 Hoover starred in *Car Issues*, a prime-time show on FYI Network in which he bought cars, drove them home, and handed them to the Car Wizard for a verdict; filming took about six months and involved trips to Denver, Houston, Memphis, and Omaha.[6](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article231156648.html) He also appears in **Car Trek**, a recurring series with fellow creators including Tavarish, structured as budget-car challenges; on The Smoking Tire podcast he described how working on Car Trek differs from his TV show.[9](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tyler-hoover/id496797178?i=1000650725802) His collaboration with Long transformed Long's own shop, Omega Auto Clinic, into a filming location in its own right.[10](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/car-wizard-reveals-how-fixing-cars-for-youtube-stars-turned-his-shop-into-a-film-studio-176183.html)
## Criticism and reception
The channel's brand of exaggerated trouble has drawn pushback. In August 2024, InsideEVs writer Mack Hogan published a piece titled "This May Be The Dumbest And Laziest Anti-EV Take In History," criticizing a Hoovie's Garage video whose thumbnail proclaimed "DEAD EV BATTERY AT ONLY 40,000 MILES" while the video's opening seconds showed the car being driven; Hoover's mechanic later confirmed the Fiat 500e had a faulty BCPM (battery control module; monitors/manages EV battery charge) component.[11](https://insideevs.com/news/728910/tyler-hoover-fiat-500e/)
## Current ventures
Hoover and his partner April run The Hooptie Lot, a used-car dealership in Newton, Kansas, that sells the cars featured on the channel.[1](https://hooviesgarage.com/) A 10th-anniversary recap video in 2026 marked a decade since the first upload and described a new phase centered on the dealership, the "Hoovie Lodge" property, and auction purchases, alongside a stated plan to make fewer, more meaningful videos.[4](https://tubesum.app/v/when-is-the-right-time-to-quit-youtube) • [12](https://pod.wave.co/podcast/the-iced-coffee-hour/i-need-to-stop-hoovies-garage-breaks-silence-on-getting-scammed-losing-money-starting-over)
## References
1. [Hoovie's Garage, official site, About Tyler and The Hooptie Lot](https://hooviesgarage.com/)
2. [Behind-the-scenes with 'Hoovie's Garage's Tyler Hoover, The Wichita Eagle](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html)
3. [Hoovies Garage, Wikitubia (Fandom)](https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Hoovies_Garage)
4. [10-Year Hoovie's Garage Recap, TubeSum transcript](https://tubesum.app/v/when-is-the-right-time-to-quit-youtube)
5. [Hoovies Garage channel statistics, Trari](https://www.trari.com/en/c/hooviesgarage/)
6. ["Tyler Hoover's 'Car Issues' show airs Sat. on FYI Network," The Wichita Eagle, 2019](https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article231156648.html)
7. ["Tyler Hoover of Autotrader Oversteer," Right Foot Down, March 1, 2017](https://rightfootdown.com/untitledcarshow/tyler-hoover-of-autotrader-oversteer/)
8. [Dennis Romero, "YouTube thrives as a window for the isolated," Yahoo News, April 2, 2020](https://www.yahoo.com/news/youtube-thrives-window-isolated-020922300.html)
9. [Tyler Hoover on The Smoking Tire, Apple Podcasts, March 28, 2024](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tyler-hoover/id496797178?i=1000650725802)
10. ["Car Wizard Reveals How Fixing Cars for YouTube Stars Turned His Shop Into a Film Studio," autoevolution](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/car-wizard-reveals-how-fixing-cars-for-youtube-stars-turned-his-shop-into-a-film-studio-176183.html)
11. [Mack Hogan, "This May Be The Dumbest And Laziest Anti-EV Take In History," InsideEVs, August 3, 2024](https://insideevs.com/news/728910/tyler-hoover-fiat-500e/)
12. ["I Need To Stop!" Hoovie's Garage on The Iced Coffee Hour, podcast notes](https://pod.wave.co/podcast/the-iced-coffee-hour/i-need-to-stop-hoovies-garage-breaks-silence-on-getting-scammed-losing-money-starting-over)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Comedy, drama, and general-genre web series › Premiered 1999 to 2016*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license