Used car prices have been disproportionately high in recent months. Nevertheless, car owners may find it more difficult to sell their own Tesla. Because if you want to sell your used car, you have to sell it well below its purchase value, according to estimates by the British vehicle valuation CAP HPI. This is reported by the British “Financial Times”.
According to this, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range bought in the UK in January for £57,435 will be worth just £31,300 in January 2024 – a whopping 46 percent loss in value. For comparison: If you bought a Model 3 for £48,435 in September 2021, you could still sell it for £46,300 a year later. Here the loss in value was only four percent. Although the information relates to the British car market, there are also large losses in value in other countries.
If you look at the used cars from Tesla’s competition, you will see that the value here is not falling as much – even though used cars were sometimes even more expensive than new cars last year due to the delivery bottlenecks. For example, a Polestar 2 priced at £50,395 at the start of 2024 will likely cost around £33,000. With a drop in value of 35 percent, it should hold up much better than the Tesla Model 3.
In addition, the high depreciation of Tesla cars could drive up the cost of buying a vehicle through financing in the UK. Finally, in the case of leasing or personal purchase contracts, the buyer must pay for the depreciation of a vehicle during the leasing period. This new car regulation is also increasingly being used in Europe and the USA.
Tesla has reduced its prices by thousands of US dollars or euros in various markets to counteract the growing competitive pressure. In October, CEO Elon Musk had prices reduced in China, followed by price reductions in the US and Europe at the beginning of January. And most recently, Tesla reduced the prices for some models again in March. Not only the Model 3 is affected, but also the Model Y.
However, the competition is not going along with the price war started by Musk – apart from the manufacturer Ford, which subsequently adjusted the prices of the Mustang Mach-E in the USA by several thousand dollars.
Sources: Financial Times
