Tesla used car prices are falling at three times the rate of the rest of the used car market, which is also going down.
When new sales and used sales are not going well, it’s a giant red flag.
I tried to trade in my Model 3 Performance 2018 with fewer than 40,000 miles on the odometer last year, and Tesla basically offered me a Starbucks gift card and a goat.
It got me worried and that was late last year before the bulk of Tesla’s brand destruction that happened over the last few months.
We now have a better idea of what’s happening with Tesla’s used car sales price thanks to CarGurus.
According to their data from car listings, used Tesla vehicles have seen their prices decrease by 3.7% over the last 3 months and 7.26% over the last year – about 3 times the rate of the rest of the market:
| Make/Model | Avg Price | Last 30 days | Last 90 days | Year over Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CarGurus Index | $27,014 | +0.35% | -1.12% | -2.68% |
| Tesla | $29,552 | +0.05% | -3.7% | -7.26% |
Despite being a “premium brand,” Tesla’s prices are coming really close to the CarGurus average.
Tesla has actually been up slightly in the last 30 days, which is surprising considering what is happening with the brand. However, as you can see, the rest of the market is up significantly more than Tesla.
Furthermore, when breaking down Tesla’s used car price trends per model, we can’t see that only the Model X is up:
| Make/Model | Avg Price | Last 30 days | Last 90 days | Year over Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cybertruck | $91,924 | -4.57% | -11.46% | -58.28% |
| Model 3 | $23,622 | -0.11% | -4.19% | -11.52% |
| Model S | $31,629 | -1.29% | -8.32% | -6.33% |
| Model X | $41,438 | +1.29% | -4.42% | -8.8% |
| Model Y | $30,399 | -0.42% | -2.9% | -13.56% |
Cybertruck is dragging Tesla’s entire used price performance down with a 58% drop in used prices over 12 months – but that’s a bit misleading since a year ago, people were still trying to flip them for a profit.
However, the 11.5% drop in the last 3 months is more indicative of the current trend of used Cybertruck prices.
Top comment by Troy Savary
Starbucks coffee is terrible, but the goat for a Tesla would be tempting. I guess Elon already gave all the ponies away.
The more worrying and impactful trends for Tesla are the 4.2% drop in used Model 3 prices and 2.9% drop in used Model Y prices over the last 3 months.
Electrek’s Take
This is not surprising, considering how many people are selling and trading in their Tesla vehicles as they want to distance themselves from the brand and Elon Musk in particular.
You increase the supply, you decrease the prices.
So much for Tesla vehicles becoming “appreciating assets.” They are literally depreciating at 3 times the rate of the rest of the market.
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