My social media scrolling has recently shown me a lot of videos of Tesla owners trading in their cars for another brand, apparently to voice their discontent with Elon Musk’s politics. I also have friends looking to buy a car who are noticing Teslas are dramatically cheaper than they were a few months back. I was curious if the data backed up my anecdotal experience, so I found @CarGurus used price tracking data, and lo and behold.

Of the 48 brands CarGurus tracks, 47 of them saw increased prices in the last 30 days. Tesla stood alone as the only brand to see a price decline, trailing the index by an impressive 3.3%.

For the moment, it seems to have been a strategic error for Elon Musk to take such a polarizing role in politics in this polarized time. It’s making a real impact on EV owners willing to keep or buy used Teslas, as evidenced by the drop in prices. Tesla stock is also down 33% year to date.

Will this trend continue? Will right-leaning car buyers, historically often against EVs, embrace Tesla to make up the difference? I have no idea. I’m really bad at telling the future, but it’s interesting to see the politics we watch on the news having a real world impact on prices we see on the ground!

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy