Are Elon Musk’s Politics Tanking Used Tesla Prices?
March 12, 2025
While all electric vehicle owners have had to contend with serious depreciation in recent years, Tesla drivers are getting a particularly bad deal.
A Fast Company report analyzing data from CarGurus, a car-buying platform, found that used Tesla values depreciated more than any other car brand in 2024. And the trend has only accelerated since the presidential election, with used Tesla prices slumping more than $2,000 since early November.
The situation has changed rapidly. Although President Donald Trump’s victory was initially seen as a blow to the electric vehicle movement, he promptly announced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk would lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, in effect becoming Trump’s right-hand man.
Trump and Musk have had their differences over the years on EVs, which Musk has built an empire around and Trump repeatedly criticized prior to his alignment with Musk. (Trump once posted on social media about “electric car lunacy” and suggested supporters should “rot in hell.”)
But before the election, Trump said he had “no choice” but to be “for electric cars” because of Musk’s support during the campaign. Now, even as the Trump administration is undoing some Biden-era policies related to EVs and funding for charging stations, Trump has personally backed Musk, going so far as to buy a Tesla on the White House lawn Tuesday.
With the high visibility of Musk’s role in the new administration, there’s also been a surge in public attention on his conservative politics — and mounting hate toward his car company from Trump critics. Given the interest in Musk’s relationship with Trump, Money looked into the data and checked with experts about how used Tesla prices have fared since the election.
The verdict? “Tesla prices and EV prices in general have been on a journey for a while now,” says Kevin Roberts, director of economic and market intelligence for CarGurus.
The average used Tesla price currently sits at $30,058, according to CarGurus data. That’s down 7% from an average of $32,330 on Nov. 6, just four months ago. (For context, the average transaction price of a new Tesla was $55,380 in January, according to Kelley Blue Book.)
Used Tesla prices have been falling faster than other non-Tesla EVs. Since the election, used non-Tesla EV list prices are down from $40,771 to $39,689, which is a 2.7% drop.
Asked whether Teslas are, in fact, depreciating faster than any other car on the market, Roberts wasn’t able to confirm. While various media outlets have used CarGurus’ dashboards to conduct their own analyses, he says, all he can comment on is what’s in his company’s latest report.
“I don’t know if they looked at it by make or by model, so I can’t say,” he adds. “I haven’t compared [Teslas] to all the other makes and models out there.”
According to CarGurus:
- Used prices for the Model Y, Tesla’s extremely popular crossover SUV, are down 15% since February 2024 to $30,600
- In the same period, used Model 3 sedan prices fell 13% to $23,800
- Model S prices are down 7% to $31,000
The data begs the question: Why are Tesla prices dropping faster than other EV prices, and could it have to do with Democrats souring on Musk?
What’s going on with used Tesla prices?
This week, Trump announced he would purchase a Tesla as a “show of confidence and support” for Musk following a string of vandalism incidents around the country involving Teslas. Charging stations have been set on fire, vehicles have been spray-painted with the word “Nazi,” and a showroom in Oregon was struck by bullets in the middle of the night.
“Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump wrote in a social media post. “But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for.”
While the data shows that used Tesla prices are plummeting, it’s difficult to say if it’s politically driven because there are simply too many variables that affect car prices.
“There’s been a pretty significant correction in used EVs in general over the past several years, and I think we were kind of highlighting that in our report,” Roberts says.
After rising in 2022 during the used car supply crunch, used EV prices have been trending down, he adds.
First there were “price wars” that saw automakers slashing list prices on the new-car side, which affected used values. By 2023, several more automakers were launching EV models, and Tesla had ramped up its production to record levels. However, demand fell short of expectations as car shoppers ultimately proved hesitant about making the switch from dependable gas cars, and electric inventory piled up.
The used marketplace has also been affected by the arrival of more inventory beyond Teslas and those other early EV models like the Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus.
More recently, automakers have pumped the brakes on some of their more ambitious EV production, and the new EV market is stabilizing. But used EV prices — and used Tesla prices especially — have continued to tumble, as the CarGurus report shows.
The decline in used prices coincides with recent weakness in Tesla stock. After the election, Tesla (TSLA) surged over 90% to a record-high of $479.86 on Dec. 17. Tesla’s post-election bump has been completely erased by a 49% decline. The stock is now down 2% since Nov. 5 but remains up 36% over the past year.
In August, just after Musk endorsed Trump, Edmunds conducted a survey that found 31% of car shoppers said they were less likely to consider a Tesla because of Musk. However, 20% of respondents said Musk made them more likely to shop for Teslas.
What to do with a depreciating Tesla
According to media reports and Reddit threads, some Tesla owners are selling their vehicles — or at least thinking about it — because they don’t want to be associated with Musk anymore.
For Tesla owners with car loans, steep EV depreciation could mean owing more than what your car is worth, otherwise known as being upside-down on the loan.
If you have a Tesla and it has lost value, you can check what it’s worth using online car shopping tools. It’s important to set realistic expectations about your options if you’re thinking about moving on to your next vehicle.
Selling a Tesla is similar to selling or trading in any other car: Tesla can give you an offer, but you should also shop around at dealerships and used vehicle retailers like CarMax.
On the car buyer side, the drop in used Tesla prices could be a buying opportunity. Notably, the average price of a Model 3 is now under $25,000, which is the cutoff point for EVs to qualify for the federal EV tax credit of up to $4,000.
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