The Cybertruck’s aftermarket price is cratering as its flaws become too big to ignore

When it comes to cars, bad design can lead to some particularly bad consequences. Poorly designed cars are bad for your body parts , bad for your life span , and bad for your wallet. There’s a single car that has already won that bad design trifecta, and you can probably guess which one we’re talking about. The Tesla Cybertruck has doors that can sever your fingers, a gas pedal that can accelerate uncontrollably into a fatal crash, and now (likely a result of the former points) an aftermarket price in free fall .



To be fair, the value of all automobiles falls sharply as soon as they roll off the lot, but once upon a time Tesla founder Elon Musk thought he could defy those odds. Musk once speculated that all Tesla cars would actually increase in value, something that market data demonstrated to be complete Martian dung . Tesla’s car prices fell like those of any other car, even more so than most cars after the manufacturer was forced to sharply devalue its overpriced automobiles as the EV competition heated up.



But the Cybertruck is not your regular Tesla. Its faulty design is so hard to build that the truck’s availability has been limited since it began rolling out of the factory in summer 2023. And, despite the car being plagued with problems from the very beginning, the hype made fans so eager to get one that its resell price doubled and even tripled its original $102,235 price tag (the actual cost of the car after Tesla adds an obligatory $20,000 Foundation extras package, which includes lifetime Full Self-Driving and lifetime internet connectivity).



While the Rivian R1 , the GMC Hummer EV, or the Ford F-150 Lightning also had a gold rush moment when they launched, it wasn’t as crazy as the Cybertruck. The Hummer scalper auctions  added as much as $50,000 to the MSRP , but that was rare. The F-150 auctions, which Ford forbid, reached an  $8,000 markup  back when it launched in 2022. Only the Rivian began to approach the Cybertruck craze, with some trying to  sell the R1T Launch Edition for around $150,000  (the  MRSP was $85,000 ). A far cry from the  top Cybertruck mark of $244,000 . 









The situation was so bad that Tesla promised to sue anyone who tried to resell their low-poly truck within the first year of buying it. That didn’t stop people from doing exactly that. To date, we don’t know of anybody who has been targeted by Musk’s company despite its repeated threats , but the company has at least banned one flipper from any future Tesla car purchases.



Is demand cratering?



But I digress. The news here is that the initial Cybertruck rush has collapsed, as multiple car enthusiast publications and Tesla fans have reported. The price crash actually started in April , but the resale value is now getting closer and closer to the original price tag. As Autoevolution reports, “not long ago, people were willing to pay more than twice the original price [all the way up to $240,000] to get one from the gray market. However, the Cybertruck lost its shine, with hundreds of units listed on CarGurus at prices as low as $130,000.” Looking at the hundreds of Cybertrucks available on resale sites, it’s logical to think that prices will continue to drop until they drop under their original price, like every other used car on the planet.



Part of the price drop could be attributed to increased production. According to Tesla,  the company produced 1,000 Cybertrucks  in one week last April, reaching nearly 4,000 units sold since its 2023 launch. However, it’s more likely that decreased demand is to blame. (A request for comment and clarification from Tesla went unanswered.)



Not long ago, the  company claimed  that it had a five-year back order; it’s now saying that if you order today, your Cybertruck will be delivered next year. Could the increased production be the sole cause for this sudden timeline shift, or the falling resale prices? More likely it’s a combination, and the Cybertruck’s cratering prices indicate demand for the vehicle is falling even as production increases. Meanwhile, its main competitor—the  Ford F-150 Lightning —is more than  doubling its plate registration numbers , despite the general EV sales drop.



The dropping interest can’t be a big surprise, though. What did you expect when the Cybertruck Owners Club forum is overflowing with an avalanche of reported problems that cover every single aspect of the worst design disaster since the Hindenburg ? The real surprise here is not that the resale prices have collapsed. The true shock is that there is anyone at all even willing to consider buying this lemon.