March has been a month of back-to-back blows to Elon Musk’s Tesla, and now there’s yet another concern to add to the list.
New data from Edmunds shows that Tesla drivers are on track to trade in their vehicles at an all-time high this month. According to the report, Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer accounted for 1.4% of all vehicles traded in until March 15—up 0.4% from March 2023 and 1.2% from last month.
If the trend continues in the second half of March, it will represent a bleak new record of dissatisfied Tesla customers. The trade-ins are representative of the wide-scale backlash faced by the brand as Musk, its billionaire CEO, claims unprecedented administrative power in the U.S. government even while Tesla’s vehicles are recalled at alarming rates.
Tesla’s backlog of woes
Tesla’s stock has been on a sharp decline since early December, a trend that’s only been exacerbated by investors’ mounting fears surrounding Musk’s sweeping cuts to federal programs and funding through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The brand’s problems are mounting almost too quickly to count: There have been plummeting sales in Europe and China, major advancements from Chinese competitor BYD, and a spike in both Tesla vandalisms and wide-scale protests as a response to DOGE’s cuts. Meanwhile, Tesla just had to recall nearly every Cybertruck ever made due to an exterior panel that could detach while driving—just one of a laundry list of design issues that have historically plagued the brand.
All of this has culminated in an increasingly negative outlook for Tesla. As of yesterday, the brand’s stock is down 42% since the beginning of 2025, with some analysts estimating that Musk has lost more than $100 billion since December (though it’s important to note that shares are still up more than 40% year over year.) And now, Edmunds’ new data shows that even Tesla drivers are feeling less confident about the company’s vehicles.
In an interview with Reuters, Edmunds’ head of insights Jessica Caldwell noted that, “Brand loyalty is becoming a bigger question mark as factors such as Elon Musk’s increasing public involvement in government, Tesla depreciation concerns, and its increased saturation in major metro areas leave some longtime owners feeling disconnected from the brand.”
According to Reuters, Edmunds analysts predict that used Teslas prices will likely decline as Tesla trade-ins reach the market. That’s on top of a Fast Company analysis earlier this month, which found that the price of used Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles depreciated more than any other cars in 2024.
Over the past couple of months, some regretful Tesla owners have resorted to putting bumper stickers on their vehicles with phrases like, “I bought this before we knew Elon Musk was crazy,” or even rebadging their Teslas entirely to distance themselves from the brand (and to avoid potential vandalism.) Based on Edmunds’ new data, it seems that many are deciding to take their disavowal one step further.
