Used car prices have plummeted over the past year, led by the Tesla Model 3, according to new analysis from iSeeCars.
Used car prices overall fell 4.7% from September and 8.7% from a year ago, according to an analysis based on the average list prices of more than 1.8 million used cars. 1- to 5-year-old appliances sold in February 2022 and 2023—not necessarily final sale price.
Based on that dataset, the average used Model 3 price is down 21.5% since September 2022, making it the used car with the biggest drop in price over the past six months. Tesla is also in the top 5 vehicles that are also in the top 5 annual car discounts, with asking prices down 19%.
2022 Tesla Model 3
The Nissan Leaf, Toyota Prius Prime and Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid are also among the used vehicles with the biggest drop in average prices year over year. Strange, the leaf is on both the list of models that have lost the most in the past 6 months and the list that has increased the most in the past year. That can be a good indication of how volatile the market has been.
According to the analysis, electric vehicles overall saw an average decline of 13.9% in used prices between February 2022 and 2023, while hybrids fell 2.1%. Overall, it’s a signal that the EV market has really gone down from 2021, when the price of used electric cars increases sharplywhile varying greatly by model and region.
2020 Tesla Model 3
Some reports early last fall suggested that The used electric vehicle market has peaked during the summer months. Now we are seeing even more evidence that the US electric vehicle market is shrinking, possibly related to demand, interest rates, etc. As observed by JD Power, the price of EV models long range seems Better hold value on the used market during this downturn.
In the case of Model 3, Tesla slashes prices in January probably played a role in the price drop on used models. But for the Model 3, and possibly the upcoming Model Y, a sharp drop in used values indicates that the market is stabilizing back to closer to normal, after the odd situation where, for a while, Used Teslas cost almost the same as new Teslas.
