Selling a dead or wrecked Tesla

Below: where Tesla came from, which of its five models owners complain about most to federal safety regulators, what the lineup has in common, and a link to every Tesla model page on this site.

From a two-founder startup to Gigafactory Texas

Tesla was incorporated as Tesla Motors, Inc., on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Eberhard was chief executive and Tarpenning chief financial officer. Eberhard said he wanted "a car manufacturer that is also a technology company", built around "the battery, the computer software, and the proprietary motor".

The plan was to start with a premium sports car for early adopters, the Roadster, and then move to sedans and cheaper compacts. A 2009 lawsuit settlement lets five people call themselves co-founders: Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk and Straubel.

Three dates set up the cars most sellers own today:

• May 2010: Tesla bought the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, from Toyota for $42 million.
• June 29, 2010: Tesla went public at $17 a share. Wikipedia calls it the first IPO by an American car company since Ford in 1956.
• First quarter of 2023: the Model Y outsold the Toyota Corolla as the world's best-selling car. It was the first electric vehicle to do that.

Tesla's headquarters is now Gigafactory Texas. Wikipedia lists Elon Musk as owning 20 percent of the company.

Which Teslas draw the most complaints

Each figure counts the NHTSA complaints from owners of that Tesla, in our count dated October 10, 2026. The year ranges come from the EPA list.

Read the counts with the calendar in mind. The Model S has been on sale since 2012, and still trails the Model 3. The Model Y reached nearly the Model 3's total in three fewer model years. The Cybertruck has only two model years in the list, so its 207 says more about its age than about the truck. A 2026 Tesla has had a few months in owners' hands and a 2018 one has had years, so the older car has had more chances to draw a report. None of these counts grades how reliable a car is.

What every Tesla has in common

Every model in the EPA list is battery-electric. There is no engine, no transmission in the usual sense, and no gas tank to drain. When a Tesla stops running, the reason sits somewhere in the battery, the motors, the computers, or the body after a crash.

The cars also share a lot of hardware. By Wikipedia's figure, around 75 percent of what went into a Model Y was common to the Model 3. For vehicles built at the Fremont factory, Tesla buys 2170-type battery cells with a nickel-cobalt-aluminum chemistry from Panasonic's line at Gigafactory Nevada.

Two 2026 changes matter for anyone weighing an older car against a new one. As of January 22, 2026, Tesla stopped fitting its basic Autopilot to new cars in the US and Canada, leaving Traffic Aware Cruise Control as the standard system. And on January 28, 2026, Musk said the Model S and Model X would end in the second quarter of 2026.

Selling a Tesla that no longer drives

If the high-voltage battery is what quit, our EV battery guide covers the choice between repairing and selling. For a Tesla hurt in a collision, read selling a wrecked car.

Leave everything on it. The pack stays in, the wheels stay on, and the truck takes the Tesla as it sits.

1. Have the model, model year and mileage ready.
2. Tell us if the screen lights up, whether it will roll in neutral, and which panels or parts are damaged or gone.
3. Mention the title. A lost one is covered in selling a junk car with no title.
4. Give the address where the Tesla is parked, whether that is your garage, the street or a collision center.

Before it leaves, wipe your data from the car. After the sale, handle the plates and paperwork.

Would rather talk to someone? Call (877) 421-6008.

Every Tesla model in the EPA list

These are the five Tesla nameplates the EPA has rated, oldest first. Model year 2027 entries are still being added. A last year of 2026 or 2027 here can belong to a Tesla still in showrooms.