John Oliver Directs His Righteous Anger at the Predatory Nature of Sub-Prime Auto Loans

On the August 14th episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver directed his righteous anger at the predatory nature of the “buy here, pay here” car dealers and their baiting use of sub-prime auto loans. Referring to “Wheel of Fortune“, an excellent three-part article by Ken Bensinger, then of the Los Angeles Times, Oliver colorfully explained the circuitous adventure that one 2003 Kia Optima took around used car lots all over the country.

Let me take you on a magical journey, because a few years ago the LA Times traced the sales of one car from a Kansas City ‘buy here pay here’ dealership with a 2003 Kia Optima much like this one. It has a blue book value of $5,350 but in April 2008 it was sold for nearly eleven thousand dollars or double its Blue Book value. …That one car changed hands eight times in three years each time at a price double or even triple its Bluebook value at which point you’re almost feel bad for the car. … Now that is where the LA Times left off, but we felt so emotionally involved we actually tracked that car down and discovered that since then it has been sold again, repossessed again, and then sold yet again and when we called the last listed owner, she said it had been stolen and I really hope whoever did that drove it straight off a cliff.

Later on, the incredible Bob Balaban joined Oliver and Keegan-Michael Key in a very loud skit.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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