Why are so many people suddenly trying to get rid of their
Teslas? After all, Tesla was once the
gold standard in EVs, cutting edge designs, breakneck
acceleration and the status symbol for the tech savvy elite.
But now an uncomfortable question is echoing across used
car marketplaces and dealerships.
Why are so many Tesla owners suddenly trying to sell their
cars? Numbers staggering.
In March alone, over 13,000 used Teslas were listed for sale on
Auto Trader, the most ever recorded.
The spike wasn't just an outlier, it marked a 67%
increase from the same time last year.
And what's driving the shift? Some point to market
saturations, others to brand fatigue.
But underneath it all is a deeper discomfort with Elon Musk
himself and his increasingly political persona as he stepped
into a new role as the doge head and lie himself.
With right wing politics, including close ties to the
Trump administration, the Tesla brand appears to be losing its
luster and faltering, especially among the progressive leaning
buyers who once championed it. Question isn't just why people
are selling, but what this sudden exodus says about the
future of Tesla. Now used Tesla inventory in the
US is ballooning at a pace that outstrips every other automaker.
March didn't just break records, it absolutely shattered them
with more than 13,000 used Teslas up for sale on Auto
Trader during the final week of the month.
And this was a flood of new cars coming in.
The listing surged in tandem with hundreds of anti Tesla
protests that swept across the country during the same week,
some under the banner of the Tesla takedown movement.
Now, whether a correlational or a causation, this timing was
hard to ignore. And while Tesla remains smaller
in size compared to Toyota and GM, increased in used listings
about 5300 more than the same time last year was large even in
absolute terms. And meanwhile, used inventory
for rivals like Rivian and Lucid, which are also pure EV
brands, either stayed flat or dropped off.
Tesla is swimming against a current most of its competitors
aren't feeling right now, and prices have followed the same
downward trajectory. Data from Car Guru shows that
the average price of a used Tesla in the US dropped by 7% in
March compared to a year ago. In contrast, other E VS saw only
1.5% dip. In the UK, the trend was even
sharper, with used Tesla prices falling 15% versus the 10% drop
across all E VS. The size and speed of these
price reductions suggests more than just routine market
adjustments. Now Cox Automotive, which is the
parent company of Auto Trader, and I have to disclose this, I
used to work at Cox Automotive. They attribute this glutton
inventory to two core reasons. First, the company notes Tesla's
extraordinary production growth between 2021 and 2023, and that
surge of new vehicles hitting the road was bound to spill into
the used market. And now it's starting to show.
Second, Cox suggests that Elon Musk's political involvement,
particularly his leadership in DOGE in his proximity to Donald
Trump, has begun to affect consumer sentiment.
Even some long term Tesla drivers are looking for the exit
now. This isn't just about cars
though. People identify with their
vehicles, and Tesla's were never just transportational.
For many, they symbolized a future forward lifestyle, clean
energy innovation and independence from the large
fossil fuel companies. But when the people behind the
vision become closely associated with a political ideology many
of his early adopters oppose, the product starts to feel
different in your driveway. Data from you Gov in early March
showed a noticeable drop in Tesla's popularity among
American consumers reaching record lows.
And Musk's increasingly visible alignment with far right
politics appears to alienated a core segment of its original
buyer base. Now the effects of tangible of
these tangible sell offs that go beyond social media and
political debate. Though Edmunds has tracked a
sharp increase in post 2017 Tesla's being traded in, by mid
March they accounted for 1.4% of all vehicle trade insurance, up
from just .4 in the same period last year.
This tripled in trade. Trade insurance suggests a
growing urgency among owners to move on.
They just want to get rid of these things.
Car Guru's market analysis believe there's another
technical factor at play, an influx of former fleet cars
hitting the market. These are vehicles leased by
companies or rented out through services and now returning to
dealerships in bulk. That volume can crash prices,
particularly if not balanced by equal consumer demand, and the
result is a swelling inventory and declining resale value.
Now over in the UK, Auto Traders commercial director attributes
the price drop to a wave of Tesla purchased on financing
that are now maturing. In March alone, there were 5400
used Teslas listed on Auto Traders UK platform, nearly
double the 2900 from a year earlier.
Interestingly, UK buyers still seem more receptive as those
used Teslas are selling quicker than the average EV, 23 days
versus 29. But volume like this can only be
absorbed so fast before the market stress sets in.
Now, despite all the chaos in the resale markets, Tesla is
attempting to pivot forward. The company has confirmed two
major upcoming releases, a more affordable Tesla model, the
$25,000 model that we've all heard about, and it's set to
enter production before the middle of this year.
And a robo taxi, of course, will launch in Austin in June.
They're designed to revitalize consumer interest in Tesla, but
they arrive at a moment when brand trust is the most fragile
it has ever been. Now, Tesla's global performance
has been hit hard too. The first quarter of this year
was the company's weakest since 2022, with only 336,681 vehicles
delivered worldwide, far short of 390,000 analysts hit
forecasted. And that 13% drop year over year
has unnerved investors. Now, according to JP Morgan,
even low end expectations weren't pessimistic enough.
The sharp drop in deliveries confirm the kind of brand
erosion that only months ago would have seemed improbable.
Now, the pressure isn't just about production delays.
Tesla's best selling vehicle, the Model Y, is aging.
They're releasing a new refresh of that, and people are taking
to that pretty well. Analysts believe some potential
buyers are delaying purchases until they can get their hands
on a new Model Y as well. And increasing competition is
also mounting. Tesla now finds itself battling
EV manufacturers from China, like BYD and other Asian
markets, who are releasing more advanced, lower cost models.
One glaring example came in March when BYD revealed a fast
charging platform capable of refueling an EV in about 5
minutes usually trickles in on a supercharger for about 20
minutes. You can go get yourself a cup of
coffee, grab a burger, whatever you want to do.
The 20 minutes. That was Tesla's strategy all
along, because they couldn't get their Superchargers to go faster
than about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how much charge you
needed. Sometimes it would take longer
than that, too. So what are you going to do on a
long road trip when you already took a break and you have to
wait 30 more minutes just because your car has to charge?
Takes a while. Are you going to go stop at the
convenience store or if it's at a parking lot, say at a hotel
chain, what do you do then? You just sit in your car and
hang out and take a breather. Guess that's one way to look at
it. But this also means that BYD
stocks surged to record highs, while Tesla's dropped more than
40% for the year. Also, Tesla stock was very
inflated and it's on a decline now.
It's going to level out. I think it was once they start
moving more into robotics, this the Tesla stock is going to go
way up in my opinion. And I'm not a financial advisor,
so don't take my word as any financial advice.
I have to do a disclaimer there so nobody gets in trouble.
There's also been the enthusiasm drop towards EVs, and Gallup had
a poll that said that EV interest is softening,
particularly among groups previously most likely to adopt
them. The data doesn't specify Tesla's
role in this trend, but it raises the possibility that
negative perceptions of the brand may be bleeding into views
of EVs as a whole. And for Tesla owners, the
consequences are immediate. A vehicle that might have held
its value better than any other EV on the market just a few
years ago now sits in a resale market where it earns thousands
less than competing models. The average used Tesla sells for
about $10,000 less than any other vehicle.
It's a pretty steep loss. It's also changed how
perspective or prospective buyers are thinking.
What's the status symbol? A used Tesla now comes with
cultural baggage for a growing number of consumers.
It's not just a car anymore. It's a statement about who you
are. Shift is especially important in
a country where buying decisions are deeply intertwined with your
identity and your politics. Now, as the second hand market
fills to the brim with Teslas and buyers become more cautious,
the company's next moves will have to be more than technical
upgrades or new product announcements.
Tesla needs to solve one problem that software could never fix,
the perception from the public. Also, right now it's a really
great time to buy a Tesla. So if you could find a good used
Tesla, go check them out. You can check them on any online
auto retailer. Also on Tesla's website itself.
You can also just get them delivered to your house through
Carvana. You can get a car dropped off of
your house. You could trade in your car at
Carvana and also have that car dropped off of your house.
The new Tesla I'm they're not a sponsor, but that's why I buy my
cars. It's so easy now.
Thing is, Tesla's losing resale value, market share, and
consumer loyalty at the same time.
That's a triple threat. And the root of the issue
appears to be a complex competition of overproducing,
increased competition, and of course people starting to not
like Elon as much as they used to.
He used to be a fun, happy, goofy tech bro.
They had future plans to send people to Mars and seem like a
nice guy. And then, of course, the whole
Trump thing happened and people soured on him.
So take that for what you will. But let me know if there's
comments on your podcast platform, if you're in the
market for a Tesla, because if you are, might be a good time to
take a look. It's a lot of them on the market
and the prices dropped severely. All right, thank you so much for
listening today. On my way out of here, I want to
ask you for one second of your time.
I'm going to give you 10 years of mine.
I just going to ask you for a quick sub or a follow on your
podcast platform. That's it.
And I'm going to give you 10 more years of my time doing this
show. I've been doing it for about 5
years now. Not going to quit.
There's never anything behind a pay wall.
And all I ask from you is a quick subscription or a follow
on whatever podcast platform you're on right now.
That's it for me today. Everybody.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to spend it
here with me. Take care of yourselves and each
other and I will see you in the next one.