Used Tesla Model S prices jumped 22.5% in a year, the biggest climb among used EVs in the study

A one-to-five-year-old Tesla Model S now averages $57,862 on dealer lots, and that is 22.5% more than the same kind of car cost in September 2025. Back-solving the percentage puts the earlier average near $47,200, so the typical used Model S gained roughly $10,600 in twelve months while most of the used market stood still.

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No other electric model in the iSeeCars sample matched the move. Tesla’s flagship sedan outran its own stablemates, the Model X and Model 3, and left every non-Tesla EV behind.

The Model S numbers against the Tesla lineup

The figures sit inside the iSeeCars hybrid and electric car price study, which tracked more than 1.5 million used vehicles aged one to five years. In Motor1’s reading of the data, the Model S climbed 22.5% to $57,862, the Model X rose 18%, and the Model 3 gained 15.4% to reach an average of $28,931. CarPro’s summary of the same release puts the Model X at $61,309.

Those three moves matter because of what surrounds them. Tesla accounted for three of the five largest percentage increases among every vehicle iSeeCars tracked, electric, hybrid or gasoline. Only the BMW X2, which rose 24.3%, finished ahead of the Model S across the full study. Within the electric group, the Model S held the top spot by a wide margin: 22.5% against 18% for its closest EV rival in the data.

A market that left most EVs far behind the Model S

For all used EVs, CarPro’s account of the study shows a gain of 9.8% to $32,533. The Model S ran more than twice that pace. Gasoline cars rose 0.3% and hybrids 4.9%, while average prices across every used vehicle in the study climbed 0.9%.

The contrast with the rest of the lot is stark. Hybrids averaged $34,476 after a 4.9% increase, gasoline vehicles $31,954, and the Chrysler Voyager fell 17.3% to $22,466 as the biggest decliner in the study, with the Lincoln Corsair hybrid down 9% and the Jeep Wrangler down 7.1%. A Model S owner watching a car appreciate by a fifth was living in a different market from an owner of a used minivan.

The pattern did not start in September. Electrek reported in February that used Tesla prices were up 4.3% while the rest of the EV market fell after the federal tax credit ended, and Gizmodo made the same observation under the framing that used Teslas were getting more expensive while other EVs got cheaper. By September the broader EV market had caught up in direction, if not in size, with six straight months of year-over-year gains.

Dollar moves implied for the X and the 3

Converting the percentages gives a rough sense of scale. An 18% rise to $61,309 implies the Model X averaged about $52,000 a year earlier, a gain near $9,300, while the Model 3’s 15.4% rise to $28,931 implies a prior average near $25,100, a gain of about $3,900. Against those, the Model S’s $10,600 is the largest dollar swing of the three, and the only one that also tops the percentage ranking among EVs. These back-calculated figures are estimates; iSeeCars’ coverage gives the current averages and the percentage changes rather than last year’s dollar values.

What iSeeCars points to as the cause

Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst, tied the broad movement to two forces: higher fuel prices and an electric-vehicle market still bouncing back after federal tax credits disappeared twelve months before. Per Motor1, he described the pricing shifts as reflecting significantly different year-over-year trends across drivetrains, which is the study’s central finding.

CarPro’s version of the Brauer comments adds a caution: higher fuel prices can lift appealing used EVs, but they cannot make up for weak demand for particular models. The Cadillac Escalade IQ, at 128.7 days on the market, and the GMC Sierra EV, at 93.2, were the slow sellers in the electric group, so a rising tide is not lifting every electric badge. The Model S sits at the other end of that spread.

Neither explanation singles out the Model S, and the coverage reviewed does not say why this model beat the rest. The study does show how quickly used EVs are moving overall. AutoGuide notes that EVs averaged 41.9 days on dealer lots against 54.8 days for gasoline cars, and that the order flipped from the year before, when gas cars sold slightly faster. No days-on-lot figure for the Model S itself appears in that coverage.

The study measures advertised prices for one-to-five-year-old cars, so each model’s average blends model years and trims. A change in which Model S years are listed could move the average without any single car changing price, a limit that iSeeCars has not addressed for the Tesla figures in the coverage reviewed. Whether the 22.5% climb carries into the next monthly reading is the open number.

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