Are Used Tesla Prices Killing New Tesla Sales?

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Are Used Tesla Prices Killing New Tesla Sales?

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24/7 Wall St. Insights

Used Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model 3s are available for $20,000 to $27,000, depending on the year they were built. A new long-range Tesla 3 sells for $37,500 without the federal tax incentive. The question is whether a three- to five-year-old version of the same model that has been driven 40,000 miles is a vehicle people would buy to save money. Used Tesla sales compete with new ones, which must erode some new Tesla 3 sales.

Buyers can purchase used Tesla 3s at Carvana. They have been through a 150-item inspection, meaning they have a low chance of mechanical problems.

The car media has compared new Tesla 3s with used ones, and their conclusion is, in general, that the used versions are a good deal. Car review site InsideEVs compared a new Tesla long-range Model 3, which had upgraded paint and cost $51,000. A 2018 Model 3 with fairly similar features costs in the low $20,000s. The review said the differences were fairly small. It wrote of the used version, “While the 2018 model may not be quite as refined and luxurious, the overall driving experience is essentially the same.” Despite these comparisons, Tesla stock is still rising.

Most other car companies have similar challenges. Used versions of cars and light trucks compete with new ones. In Tesla’s case, its stock price is based, to some extent, on rapidly growing vehicle sales, which used models have almost certainly undermined. Another factor in the stock’s price is that Tesla may launch what could be an advanced self-driving vehicle using road data it has collected and AI. In the meantime, its sales per quarter face the challenge that the number of used Tesla 3s for sales is large.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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