Used Tesla Model S prices climbed 22.5% in a year to an average of $57,862

Used Tesla Model S prices climbed 22.5 percent in a year to an average of $57,862 in September 2026, according to iSeeCars. The Model X rose 18.0 percent to $61,309, and the Model 3 gained 15.4 percent to $28,931. Three Teslas sit among the five used cars with the biggest annual price increases.

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Used values for the brand went the opposite direction from the usual EV depreciation story. Higher prices at the pump pushed buyers toward electric cars, and the older flagship sedan gained the most.

Model S, Model X and Model 3 against September 2025

The iSeeCars price and days-to-sell study puts the Model S increase at $10,636, which implies an average near $47,226 a year earlier. The Model X added $9,336, up from roughly $51,973, and the Model 3 added $3,870, up from about $25,061. Averages like these blend every mileage and trim level in the used listings, so a particular car can sell well above or below them. Those prior-year averages are derived from the stated changes rather than published separately, so they carry rounding from the reported dollar figures.

Autoblog’s Adam Lynton reported the Tesla gains on November 2, 2026, alongside the sell-speed rankings. The Model 3 at $28,931 still undercuts the used EV average of $32,533, which itself rose 9.8 percent and now sits about $579 above the average used gas car. By that yardstick the Model 3 is the budget Tesla, and the Model S and Model X sit far above the market average for any fuel type.

The three Teslas stand out against a market where nearly every used EV rose. iSeeCars compared September sales a year apart across a sample of over 1.5 million one- to five-year-old vehicles, so the percentage changes compare like with like, and Tesla’s cars claimed three of the five biggest annual increases anywhere in the data, gas models included.

Gas at $4.33 and the used EV price rebound

Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst, linked the price gains to fuel costs, describing used EVs that offer high value and solid execution as beneficiaries of ongoing high gas prices. AAA reported that regular gasoline averaged $4.33 a gallon in September, the highest September on record and 50 cents beyond the old mark from 2023.

The context is a stretch of years in which used EV prices mostly fell, leaving owners of older electric cars used to watching resale values slide. Autoblog’s report on the nearly 10 percent jump after years of declines frames the current climb as a reversal of that trend, with Tesla’s cars at the front of it. The change is a sizable one: a Model S shopper in September 2025 would have paid thousands less for a comparable car.

No Tesla in the sell-speed ranking

Price strength has not turned into a visible speed advantage, at least in the data the study makes public. No Tesla appears in the top ten of fastest-selling used EVs, and iSeeCars does not publish Tesla days-to-sell figures in the study, so the brand’s turnover cannot be compared directly with the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron, which led at 29.8 days. A rising average price can reflect both stronger demand and a shift in which cars are listed, and the study does not separate the two. Buyers seeking to understand the number should treat it as an average of asking prices across all listed Model S cars, not the price of any one car.

For buyers, the arithmetic is awkward. A used Model S that cost around $47,000 a year ago now averages almost $58,000, and Autoblog’s advice for the compact and midsize crossover market, where competition is stiff, is not to count on prices falling while waiting. The same caution applies to Teslas, whose gains were the steepest among used EVs in the study. Money is the other awkward part: the Model 3 remains the cheapest way into the brand, described on Tesla’s Model 3 page, where the new car can be compared with used examples.

Seen next to the Model X, the Model S is the cheaper of the two large Teslas by about $3,447, even after its bigger percentage gain. The Model S added $10,636 in dollar terms against the Model X’s $9,336, so the gap between the two narrowed over the year. In percentage terms, the Model 3’s 15.4 percent gain was the smallest of the three, though still well ahead of the used EV market’s 9.8 percent average.

What iSeeCars has not said is whether the increases will hold if gasoline eases, a scenario that matters because the whole explanation Brauer offers rests on fuel prices staying high. AAA’s late-September data already showed the national average slipping, so the next monthly reading from iSeeCars will show whether Tesla resale values follow fuel prices back down or stay near $57,862.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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