Let me preface this story by saying that it’s a really, really lousy time to be in the market for a new car. The automotive industry here in America and abroad is in a state of chaos over President Donald Trump’s blanket 25% tariffs on all foreign-made cars, and nobody can be certain what will happen next. Those tariffs could be permanent, as Trump has said, or they could give way to new trade deals with various countries, as Trump has also said.
For now, the new car you’ve been eyeing could jump in price somewhere between $2,500 and $20,000, according to a recent analysis. Naturally, any price increases are also expected to trickle down to the used market, since anything already imported won’t face tariffs and demand for them could jump accordingly.
But if you need a newer ride in the meantime, a used electric vehicle just got considerably more appealing. Let me explain.
Car prices in general have gone—to use a technical business term here—completely insane since around the pandemic. The average new car price was around $49,000 in America in March, up from about $37,000 in March 2019. This has also caused used cars to jump in value.
Yet used EVs continue to be a strange outlier. Since the auto industry currently lacks a unified standard on how to value batteries—and in the wake of Tesla’s rapid-fire price cuts back in 2023—the entire electric used market has dropped off hard.
Add in the fact that we’re just now seeing the first major wave of modern, post-Model Y lease returns (think the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID.4 and so on) and there’s a big glut of gas-free used options out there. Often, they have very few miles, not a lot of wear, and as we’ve seen time and time again from various studies, their batteries are far more robust than people think. And as recently as August, the publication you are currently reading described the used EV market as being in “freefall.”
Oh, and as an added bonus, the Trump administration and Congress haven’t killed the used EV tax credit yet, so you’re looking at a $4,000 discount with anything you want to buy. Hopefully, you see where I’m going with this now. If you’re going to buy a car right now, a used EV may be where you find the cheapest overall prices and the best deals.
“Used electric vehicle prices have fallen between 15% and 20% each month over the last six months,” the website iSeeCars said in mid-March. “This puts the average 1- to 5-year-old used EV price at $32,198, or $917 above the price of the average gasoline vehicle at $31,281, according to the latest iSeeCars study.”
Granted, mid-March was before all of the tariff madness hit, and indeed it feels like 50 human years ago instead of one month. But they’re still quite low as of this writing. A quick search of Cars.com for Kia EV6s like the one I own reveals that most are in the mid-$20,000 range up to, at most, around $39,000 or so. (For the record, the MSRP on the one I leased was about $53,000.) And those prices are even for the upper Wind models, which come nicely equipped and easily pull 300 miles of range or more in warm weather.
Photo by: Cars.com
The same seems to be true for my EV6’s cousin, the Ioniq 5—another office favorite. Here’s a 2023 Ioniq 5 SE in St. Louis with 300+ miles of range for $29,995 and just 23,996 miles. That’s a new car, more or less. Somebody else just absorbed the depreciation. (It’s unclear whether any advertised EV prices include the used tax credit or not; some do, some do not. Make sure to check with your salesperson to be certain.)
And it’s the same story for the Mustang Mach-E, another high-range crowd pleaser. These days, most of them are in the $20,000 to $40,000 range, easily. If your choice is between one of those and a Nissan Versa, that’s a real no-brainer. That EV is made in Mexico, so it’s likely to get smacked with tariffs soon. It’s probably the best way to go if you want any Mach-E right now.
2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium
Arguably the best deal around is a used Tesla, however. Due to their abundance in the market and the fact that so many of them are hitting the sales lots because, uh, reasons, means that you can pick up a very low-mileage Model 3 or Model Y for even less than those other options I listed. Tesla’s used values in particular have plummeted as of late. Now, there may be an abundance of reasons you do not want to buy a Tesla right now, or have recently sold your own, so I’m just throwing this out there for you.
It’s crucial to note that we don’t expect used EVs to stay cheap forever. If the tariffs stick around, they could easily inflate all used cars, not just the gas-powered ones. But the tax credit and already-low prices make this a very enticing option.
Maybe the automaker you want to buy from has promised not to increase its prices; maybe any increases will go away soon. Either way, if you can hold onto whatever you’re driving for a few weeks or months more, that may be the best play. If you’ve been eyeing an EV, strike while the iron is hot.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
