Per Inside EVs, Cybertruck owners are now allowed by Tesla to trade in their cars for the first time since they hit the market – but they’ll incur a heavy hit in the process.

CarGurus recently showed depreciation rates of up to 45%. Meanwhile, Business Insider talked this past week with two owners who shared firsthand what value Tesla has assigned their Cybertruck. One owner, who bought a $100,000 AWD 2024 model and accumulated 19,623 miles, received a quote for $63,100 (a 37% depreciation); the other purchased a top-of-the-line $127,000 Cyberbeast last September and was shown a quote for $78,200, which would amount to a 38% loss after eight months.

Tesla initially banned owners from reselling the vehicle – a policy typically used to prevent scalping of high-demand vehicles and to maintain brand control. In Tesla’s case, it may also have delayed a wave of trade-ins or resales from owners facing a backlash owing to Elon Musk’s high profile in the Trump administration or frustrated with ongoing quality control issues, which have included runaway gas pedals and falling trim pieces.

Worth noting: trade-in figures are typically lower than private-party sales, and EVs as a category depreciate fast. According to Wired, some brands can lose up to 50% in year one.

  • supernicepojo@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    The only times I have seen vehicles appreciate in value has been: Collectors and Covid. I could have sold my car for the price I paid for it years before in Dec 2020, which is absolute nonsense.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Private sales of early Prius models were higher than new back when supply massively outweighed demand. Trade ins not so much.

      That very short time during covid qas due to supply being disrupted and dealerships couldn’t sell new for over MSRP but could sell used for higher.