The continuing trend of declining sales has inspired Tesla to get into the rental car business. According to Electrek, these are genuine short-term rentals of three to seven days, not long-term vehicle leases. Prices start at $60 a day, and go up depending on the model and how well-equipped it is. However, Supercharging is included with all rental cars, perhaps to demonstrate that charging and range anxiety aren’t as bad as people think they are. “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” is also included, which could be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view.
The end of the $7,500 tax credit gave Tesla a nice sales boost with 497,099 vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, a 7.4% increase from the same time last year. But that was a positive blip in the otherwise downward trend of Tesla sales worldwide. Potential trillionaire Elon Musk‘s politics have cost Tesla over a million U.S. sales. For similar reasons, sales in Germany have dropped 50% since last year, China’s sales have dropped 35.8%, and Cybertruck sales are in the dumpster it resembles, down 62.6% from last year. As a result, Tesla has a lot of cars it hasn’t sold, and they aren’t likely to sell quickly now that the EV tax credit is gone. Renting them out like Hertz seems like a way to make at least a little bit of money from the inventory on hand.
It didn’t work out so well for Hertz
Hertz’s Tesla rental program didn’t go so well for the company, though. Some of that was Hertz’s fault, like the time it charged a customer $277 for gas in his Tesla Model 3 rental (which it eventually refunded after the bad publicity). Much of the problem, however, was the vehicles themselves being unreliable and expensive to repair, which eventually prompted Hertz to dump its fleet and even offer to let renters buy them instead of turning them in. The cost of repairs may be less of an issue with everything handled in-house, but depreciation was another factor for Hertz, and Tesla will end up having to eat that cost itself. That may still be better than letting the cars sit, unused and unsold, on inventory lots, even if well-used Tesla rentals are known to be glitchy, damaged nightmares.
For now, rentals are limited to San Diego and Costa Mesa, California, according to Fast Company, but will be available in more locations over time. Tesla is even offering customers a $250 credit toward a vehicle purchase within a week of the rental. That’s no replacement for the former $7,500 tax credit, but you can’t blame Tesla for trying.
