Hertz Is Dumping Another 20,000 EVs, And Prices Are Crashing
If you bought a used Tesla Model 3 or Polestar 2 six months ago, I am genuinely sorry. You might want to close this tab, go for a walk, and maybe scream into a pillow, because what I’m about to tell you is going to hurt your resale value’s feelings.
Hertz, the rental car giant that seemingly bet the entire farm on electric vehicles back in 2021, is pulling the ripcord again. You remember the splashy announcement, right? They hired Tom Brady for the commercials, ordered 100,000 Teslas, and promised to lead the electric revolution. It was going to be glorious. It turns out, however, that the reality of renting EVs to tourists who have never touched a charging cable was less "glorious revolution" and more "logistical nightmare."
After purging 30,000 EVs from their fleet in late 2024 and throughout 2025, Hertz announced this morning that they are liquidating another 20,000 electric units starting immediately to stabilize their bottom line.
The floodgates are open, folks.
We are talking about 2023 and 2024 model year Teslas and Polestars hitting the market with aggressive "please take this away from us" pricing. A quick scan of national inventory this morning shows 2024 Model 3s with decent mileage dipping below the $20,000 mark. That is not a typo. You can now buy a modern, long-range EV for less than the price of a base model Honda Civic from a decade ago (adjusted for inflation).
Why is Hertz doing this? It comes down to depreciation and repairs. Hertz bought these cars near the peak of EV pricing. Then, Tesla slashed new car prices, which instantly torpedoed the value of the used fleet Hertz was holding. Add in the fact that collision repairs on EVs take longer and cost more than a Chevy Malibu, and Hertz decided to cut its losses.
This is a bloodbath for the used EV market, which was already soft. When a player as big as Hertz dumps this much volume at once, it artificially depresses values across the board. If you try to trade in your Model 3 today, the dealer is going to point to the thousands of ex-rentals flooding the auctions and offer you peanuts.
But for the budget-conscious buyer? This is the opportunity of the decade. We are entering a weird timeline where the most affordable, safest, and fastest "first car" for a teenager might genuinely be a 400-horsepower electric sedan.
However, a massive word of caution before you run out to snag a $19,000 Tesla: These are ex-rentals. They haven't just been driven; they’ve been operated. They have been Supercharged to 100% every single day (which isn't great for long-term battery health), driven by people who treated the accelerator like an on/off switch, and likely curbed more wheels than a student driver in a snowstorm.
You absolutely need to know what you are buying, because these cars have stories they aren't telling you. This is exactly where a tool like Price360 becomes essential. While a standard history report is good, Price360 offers a full AI-powered visual inspection that can spot the cosmetic trauma these cars endured in the rental lots—the stuff a quick wash and wax hides. It can show you the panel gaps from a cheap repair or the bumper scrapes from that one renter who took the sedan off-roading in Joshua Tree. It helps you calculate the real cost of that cheap car, factoring in the reconditioning it actually needs.
If you go in blind, you’re gambling. But if you do your homework, this fire sale is a legitimate chance to get into an EV for pennies on the dollar. The market crash is here, and while it’s a disaster for Hertz shareholders, it might just be the best thing to happen to used car buyers in years.
