We all knew this day would come: the Tesla Cybertruck flippers are here. Scalpers aren't a new concept. They've been around ever since limited-run commodities have existed. We recently saw this very same pattern happen with the GMC Hummer EV, which eventually crashed the used market into the ground once production ramped up.
Now they've come for the Cybertruck. These Cyber-flippers are listing their trucks up for sale over MSRP, even without the truck in hand and despite Tesla threatening civil penalties of more than $50,000 should someone resell their truck within the first year of taking delivery. Let's take a look at just some of the examples we found up for sale this week.
Yossi Wizman, who is registered as an agent for an LLC tied to an exotic car rental agency in Florida called Luxury Miami Car Rentals, has listed one such example on Facebook Marketplace for a whopping $275,000. Wizman has been advertising this truck as an upcoming vehicle available to rent at the exotic car rental agency for several months on various social media platforms. However, the truck does not yet appear to be available to purchase and the photos on the ad do not appear to be of the actual truck.
It's not clear if the truck has actually been delivered yet, or if Wizman has listed the truck ahead of delivery to attract prospective buyers. Luxury Miami Car Rentals acknowledged an email we sent to them, but did not provide additional context about the sale at the time of writing. (Some listings have also been removed after we published this story.)
Speaking of not in hand, it seems to be the theme with Cybertruck flippers. Most we have found for sale are trucks that have been ordered and allocated, but not yet delivered. Many of them appear to have estimated delivery dates of March and April of this year—still, with an estimated output of less than 50,000 units for 2024, that could mean a long wait if you were to reserve one today.
Another Cybertruck is listed for sale in Texas at $150,000. And another in Eureka, California at the same price. There's another seller in Williamsburg, Virginia asking a modest $115,000, which seems like a good deal, comparatively.
A more expensive iteration is listed in San Diego, California with a one-year lease for $162,000. After the lease is over—which conveniently is the same length as Tesla's anti-flipping clause—the lessee can purchase the truck for a mere $0.01. What a deal! We also found another lease as well for $130,000 in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, though the terms aren't in the listing.
Likely, these "leases" are meant to circumvent Tesla's anti-flipping clause found in the Cybertruck's order agreement. The clause is meant to dissuade people from buying the electric pickup and then immediately reselling it to the highest bidder.
Tesla specifies in the agreement that the buyer will allow Tesla to have the right of first refusal on any second-hand Cybertruck purchases. Only if it chooses to forego the purchase will the buyer be permitted to resell it privately. If the original buyer circumvents this, the agreement allows Tesla to seek civil penalties of $50,000 or more.
Listen, it's no surprise to see some of these trucks pop up for huge sums of money, especially when they will be in limited quantity for the time being. Tesla has been transparent that the truck will require a significant uplift to reach volume production.
However, it's worth noting that despite the Cybertruck being the most unique-looking vehicle on the road, it hasn't really commanded a huge price tag. For example, one of the first Cybertrucks fetched around $400,000 at auction. That's a lot, but not nearly as much as the $2.5 million Barret Jackson bid for the first Hummer EV. But with a strong enough desire to be an early adopter—and deep enough pockets—anything is possible.
