The Used EV Discount Is Gone: 1-to-5-Year-Old EVs Now List for $579 More Than Gas Cars
A year ago, one- to five-year-old EVs were $2,227 cheaper than gas cars. Now they cost more and sell almost two weeks faster, iSeeCars data show.
A used electric car that is one to five years old now costs more, on average, than a gas car of the same age. In September, the average asking price for those EVs reached $32,533, or $579 above comparable gas models, according to a new iSeeCars analysis of 1.5 million used vehicles. A year earlier, the same EVs were $2,227 cheaper.
That is a $2,806 swing in twelve months, and it lands a few days after Cox Automotive put the used EV premium at $2,137 by its own count, as we laid out in our used EV vs. gas car payback math. The two firms measure the market differently, but they now point the same way.
Prices up, selling times down
Used EV prices rose 9.8% year over year, or $2,896. Hybrids gained 4.9% to $34,476 and stay the most expensive group. Gas cars barely moved: up 0.3%, or $90, to $31,954.
Speed of sale shifted even more. Used EVs spent an average of 41.9 days on the market, 10.1% less than a year ago. Gas cars took 54.8 days, up 19.9%. In September 2025 gas cars sold slightly faster; now EVs move almost two weeks sooner. The average for all used vehicles was 53.4 days.
The September gap is not a one-month blip. In iSeeCars' monthly series, the average used EV has listed above the average gas car every month since June, after EV prices fell year over year from January through March.
Teslas lead the price gains
Three Teslas made the top five for price increases among all used models. The Model S rose 22.5%, or $10,636, the Model X 18.0%, and the Model 3 15.4%, or $3,870, to $28,931. Only the BMW X2, up 24.3%, climbed faster. Across all used cars, the average gain was 0.9%.
Popularity still matters. The quickest-selling used EVs were the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron at 29.8 days, the Toyota bZ4X at 33.3, and the Lexus RZ 300e at 34.3. At the other end, the Cadillac Escalade IQ averaged 128.7 days, the GMC Sierra EV 93.2, and the Chevrolet Silverado EV 89.1. iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer put it bluntly: “even high fuel prices can't save an unpopular electric car.”
Two yardsticks, one direction
The iSeeCars and Cox figures can't be compared dollar for dollar. iSeeCars averages list prices model by model for one- to five-year-old cars and drops heavy-duty and low-volume models. Cox's September EV Market Monitor tracks listings across all model years and set the average used EV at $36,767, against gas and hybrid models grouped together. Neither figure is a transaction price.
What they share is the trend. Cox also had used EVs turning faster, at 35 days of supply versus 46 for everything else, and wholesale data tell a similar story, as our Q4 used-car price and trade-in breakdown shows. The demand shift on the new-car side is covered in where EV demand went in 2026.
iSeeCars ties the move to seven months of high fuel prices and to the EV market's recovery from the loss of federal incentives a year ago. Brauer expects the trend to hold until fuel prices ease. The study doesn't say how many of the cars were lease returns, a key source of used EV supply. Shoppers weighing one should start with our used EV buying guide on prices and battery health. Cox's October monitor, due in mid-November, is the next check on direction.
