The burden of being a Tesla owner: lower resale value, higher insurance rates

Tesla’s turbulent start to 2025, fueled by CEO Elon Musk’s political narrative, is lashing back at its owners. These face not only repercussions from activists throwing eggs and dog excrement at their cars but also higher running costs.

For a brand that once set the pace for the global electric vehicle market, Tesla’s past few months have been anything but smooth. A combination of CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly controversial political ‘moves’—including provocative gestures—shifting consumer sentiment and pressures from Chinese competitors have put Tesla in a position it has never faced: a company struggling to maintain its once-unquestioned dominance.

A genuine nightmare 

Boycotts of Tesla have gained traction across social media, with ex-owners swapping their cars for rivals such as Rivian, Kia, and GM’s growing Ultium-based lineup in the US and Polestar in Europe. While social media outrage doesn’t always translate into real-world impact, the data suggest that it very much does in Tesla’s case. 

The company’s used vehicle prices are depreciating at three times the overall industry rate, with some Tesla models now available below the average cost of a used car.

Second-hand buyers who couldn’t care less about politics and image are in for a sweet deal, but for leasing companies that still need to offload a substantial range of Tesla cars and rely on resale value for their operating profits, it’s a genuine nightmare.

Also private buyers who believed in these cars as strong assets face losing money. The Trump promo, which turned the White House into a Tesla showroom last week, has yet to materialize in terms of marketing impact.

Cybertruck in sinking mode

Anyone who saw the picture of the sunken Cyberster after its owner tried to test its naval capabilities—one of the many fata morgana qualities propagated by Musk—couldn’t help but notice the underlying symbolics.

While the futuristic pickup truck is a relatively new product in Tesla’s showroom, its resale value has sunken nearly 60%, the deepest fall of all Tesla models.

Once a halo car, the truck seems to have lost all of its glamour. Since the early adopter phase has cooled, interest has withered faster than the car can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph. 

Another factor eroding the running cost advantage is insurance. At least in the US, Tesla owners already face higher premiums for costly repairs, which are only superseded by stronger luxury brands like Aston Martin.

But now insurance companies are warning about increased tariffs over the ongoing mischief. The cars have become a target for activists trying to show Musk how they feel about his political endeavors, and insurers intend to calculate that higher risk in their prices. It’s historic. In the automotive industry, cars have never been scorned over the boss’s beliefs. 

Delivery slump

The final blow comes from JPMorgan. The creditor agency slashed its delivery forecast for the company by 20% and warned that Tesla’s stock could tumble to $120 per share—roughly half its current value.

The firm’s analysts now expect the EV maker to deliver 355,000 vehicles in Q1, a steep decline from their previous 444,000-unit projection. If the forecast proves accurate, it would mark Tesla’s worst quarterly result in three years.

Tesla is already reacting to the freefall. It has written an unsigned letter to the Trump Administration warning of the adverse effect of import tariffs, while over in China, it has rebooted its 0% financing program for the facelifted Model Y to counteract slow demand.

How many scratches can the hype around Tesla endure before things spin out of control and consumers really get tired of all the unusual headaches associated with this type of car ownership?