As Electric Car Production Falls Short, Flippers Step Up
In the wee hours of the morning in October 2020, Brent Estes turned his insomnia into $35,500.
The 39-year-old Californian was in bed, scrolling through Hummers on his phone — specifically, the GMC Hummer EV, one of the rarest and most coveted machines in a parade of all-new electric vehicles. Estes happened to be awake during a tiny window in which a $100 deposit reserved the right to buy one of the first models off the assembly line. Within 10 minutes, all of the first editions were spoken for, including the one he managed to secure.
It wasn't until almost two years later that Estes, vice president of a commercial heating and air-conditioning contractor, finally got the truck. He shelled out about $125,000 under strict instructions from his wife: Don't let her drive it, or she might want to keep it. So Estes drove the Hummer directly to his father's garage, where it sat for three weeks. On Sept. 28, he sold it at auction for $160,500.
“It's kind of like winning a mini lottery,” he says. “It's an amazing truck, but to me it's not worth what other people are willing to pay.”
In the car world, flipping a brand-new vehicle is a practice as old as seat belts, and one historically confined to sports cars made in small batches. However, the emergence of electric vehicles has led to a flipping frenzy of sorts. Demand is at an all-time high for both mass-market and higher-end models, and factories are struggling to keep up. That means EV owners savvy or lucky enough to have secured an early edition of a highly coveted car are often choosing an immediate sale (and a handsome profit) over the street cred of being an early adopter. And the practice is picking up speed, as the staggering sales figures lure more recent buyers
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