The world is slowly leaning more toward EVs as it is the most sustainable option for transportation, but they're not exactly the cheapest vehicle out there. Buyers can always opt for used electric cars, although it might not be the best idea.
Hertz is Selling Used Teslas
Car rental company Hertz planned to add EVs as an option for customers to rent, and it has done so successfully in the last few years by purchasing 30,000 Teslas. However, it is slowly dawning on the company that an investment in EVs might not be worth it.
Experts are already saying that electric cars have a way worse depreciation rate than gas-fueled cars. Hertz, now realizing this, has put up its rental Teslas for sale, and for a time, they were selling fast, but reports are starting to say that used EVs are a bad purchase.
There's a reason why Hertz is getting rid of its EVs. Aside from the depreciation, Teslas are also expensive to maintain and repair. Before people realized this, many had already gone and bought the vehicles from Hertz, as mentioned in Gizmodo.
A salesman working for the company in Smithtown said that at one point, they were selling as many as 30 Teslas in a week but has since slowed down. Buyers seem to have forgotten to register that used cars are different from used rental cars, with the latter being more prone to wear.
Bijay Pandey from Texas was one of the customers who purchased a Tesla 2022 Model 3 Long Range from Hertz for $25,000, and it wasn't long before realized that the purchase cost was not the only expense he would have to worry about.
He found that the car wasn't reading voltage correctly as a body shop found that it had a quarter-size hole in the undercarriage. This led to more issues found inside, and a Tesla technician warned him of the possible safety concerns.
The repair bill would cost about $13,000, which is already half of the price he purchased the car for. Hertz said that they were willing to swap the car for another, but that would mean that Pandey would have to wait two months for the replacement.
"I realized why they were trying to get rid of those Teslas. If anything happens to a Tesla, then the bill is too high," the customer said. Some argued that it would be better to buy a used Tesla from the manufacturer itself than from third-party sellers.
The Depreciation Rate Could Hurt EV Adoption
A lot of organizations and individuals are encouraging more people to switch to electric vehicles as they are better for the environment, and because recharging could cost less than purchasing fuel for combustion engines. However, EVs are said to have a 31.8% depreciation rate.
Compared to gas-fueled cars they are only at around 3.6%, EV owners will get a lot less if they decide to sell their old models to purchase a new one. iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said that this could reduce the demand for EVs, as mentioned in CNBC.
"[A]s more new car shoppers become aware of the massive drop in EV values they will be less interested in buying one," he expressed, also saying that the value a car loses in the first few years is the "single most expensive aspect of owning a new vehicle."
