When Tesla Model S first came out I was in love with this vehicle once I did my first test drive around ten years ago. This was before model 3 and model Y came out. There was Tesla Roadster, Model X and Model S. I never liked the looks of Model X, though it is nice to sit in as the windshield configuration makes it feel like you have no obstructions to your view. But I didn't like how it looked which is the same problem I have with Model 3 and Model Y.
Coming from Mercedes S-class that I had for ever I have build appreciation for nice vehicle shapes and certain minimal size of the vehicle inside and out as well as appreciation for the cabin design and finish. Model S looked and felt just right and the quiet acceleration that silently took you from zero to sixty miles in hour in only around three seconds was like nothing I have ever experienced at the time.
This was also before Elon Musk became a republican and campaigned for Trump and before I knew about Elon's leadership style, which put a big dumper on the Tesla brand for me. The only problem at the time was that these cars cost around $70,000!
Over the years I kept checking on Model S prices and the last time I looked these cars were still going for around fifty to sixty thousand dollars for a used Model S that was around five to seven years old. Imagine my surprise when I accidentally came across this:
That is not just a seven year old Tesla Model S with under 100k miles under the hood, it is also an All Wheel Drive version with a larger battery 100D has a bigger battery with a better range than the standard 75D AWD version.
And that is not the lowest price these things went down to. For the higher mileage, slightly older vehicles this car starts at under 10K USD:
So what happened in the last couple years? I decided to do a little price research, unfortunately my favorite car site doesn't have Tesla price charts and info before September 2024, still the recent price declines were not kind to Tesla Model S. Here is the chart for Used Model S prices compared to CarGurus Used car index in the last year:
As you can see average used car price stayed the same while Tesla Model S have taken a nose dive of almost ten thousand dollars from almost $36K down to $27K!
If we take a look at the details you will see that the declines are steep and don't show any slow down in decline as the vehicle ages as you would normally expect from the ICE vehicles:
It seems that Tesla Model S was one of the worst vehicles one could buy in terms of retaining its value...
If we take a look at what happened to used Tesla vehicle prices in 2022 and 2023 we will see that Tesla Model S is not alone in price declines:
The chart above clearly shows that all Tesla Model prices were fairly stable until August of 2022 and then the steep decline has started that continues to this day. That Tesla 2015 was worth $50,000 in March of 2023 and it is worth now around $17,000! That is a drop of 66% in just a year and a half... on a 8 year old vehicle at the time it was worth $50K!
Used car prices are flat to slightly up due to tariffs, but Tesla prices are still in freefall. According to automotive research site iSeeCars.com used car prices have risen by 3.7% over the last five months, compared to a consistent 2.5-year decline before prices broke the trend. Used Tesla prices were an exception with prices dropping 5.3% in July of 2025 alone with Model S, Y and X loosing the most value.
Another interesting aspect of this decline for me is that normally the cheapest cars to maintain tend to hold their value better with luxury vehicles like Mercedes, BMW and Porsche that are expensive to maintain tend to loose their value fastest. Well Tesla is frequently cited as the cheapest car to maintain long term:
That silver Tesla above had over $80,000 MSRP now it goes for under $15,000... I wonder what is it? Is the impact of Elon Musk controversies as that vehicle has the sticker on the back:
Take a look at the sticker on that particular car in the picture above and I saw multiple variations of that sticker on the Tesla cars I saw around Seattle...
Or could it be the slowing demand for cars in general in US due to the softening economy combined with the tendency of electric cars to depreciate faster?
If I was in the marked for a new used vehicle I would have definitely considered a used Model S.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I am a Hive Witness and would really appreciate your vote for me as a witness: https://vote.hive.uno/@seattlea
I'm not an electric car guy, diesel trucks for me, but I think if I was an electric car buyer the very last one I would buy is a Tesla; that's probably mostly got to do with the fact I don't like, or want to support, Elon Musk.
I am not a diesel truck kind of guy, but despite Tesla's clear technological lead and great pricing I would not be buying Tesla.
Indeed, I agree.
Wow, that is quite the difference in price. I personally don't feel like an electric car is super feasible where I live, but one day that might not be the case. I know several people around here have them.
In my small neighborhood of around 20 houses more than half the houses have at least one Tesla, many have 2...
Wow, that's impressive. I'm guessing if I lived in a bigger city there would be more. It just makes sense if you have a way to easily charge it.
I think it is also a status symbol among some people that is why about a quarter of the cars driving around this town are from Tesla.
Ah okay. That makes sense.
A significant drop in price, my friend!🙄
Will be interesting to see if these prices will hold going into the spring!😮
I think these prices will keep going down or stay flat:
That’s quite a significant drop my friend!😮
I wonder how many Tesla owners have seen these prices?
Yeah, not sure if many have... This is a kind of drop that could potentially ruin a brand reputation and set future expectations that these things will keep dropping like a rock...
It would definitely make me think twice about purchasing one, knowing that you couldn’t resell it for much! 😳
Unless you buy one for 15k then you can just drive it and don't worry about it as there is not much to depreciate anymore.
That was my thinking, I bought Mercedes S550 ten years ago for $22k instead of Model S for $70k. That tesla Model S is worth around 10k and Mercedes is worth 10k but instead of loosing 60k I lost 12k. I have enjoyed driving it for 10 years paying $1.2 k in depreciation per year. That Tesla now is a similar deal or better.
That’s a very smart way to look at it my friend!👍😇
The Tesla has already lost the majority of its depreciation….
I also heard that tesla depreciate a lot, it could be due to musk exposition with Trump though
I don't know on electrics tbh, better not to buy one here, recharge is a mess, few places have it, you gotta do it at home always, but few homes are ready... I just stick to gasoline cars... Small and 5-6 years cars like these hold a lot of value because new cars are utterly expensive
Makes sense