You may not be aware of this, but car dealers are a very powerful lobbying group. In fact, many car dealers have been in Congress. So when a group of them, including across Republican-led states such as Utah, Texas, and North Carolina, co-sign a letter to the Senate to back off cuts to EV incentives, you can bet the Senate might just pay a bit of attention. It doesn’t hurt that CarMax and Carvana also signed the letter. CarMax runs the nation’s largest dealer network, with a vast footprint in almost every state, and casts a bigger shadow across states like Florida and Texas.
In an open letter to Senate leadership, these dealers stressed the following:
- Stability and predictability will protect dealerships—axing the EV incentive is a gut punch, and the opposite of predictability.
- This is about jobs at dealerships, and buyers struggling to afford used cars.
- This is about dealerships investing in their own communities, and yet more jobs.
Here’s the down-and-dirty of what they’re saying and how EVs and tax credits have become a lifeline for car sales more broadly.
Quickly Cutting EV Incentives Will Hurt Dealers
Part of the tax code you’re unlikely to know about benefits dealers for investing in selling EVs, including in adding charging infrastructure. Much as carmakers have been hurt by Trump’s sudden tariff imposition, and how hard it is for them to change their business plans in an instant, car dealers have also made long-term strategic decisions based on the existing laws and regulations.
The letter stressed that notion: “We need a stable and consistent market for our dealerships to plan, invest, and grow. Recent attempts to abruptly roll back key EV-related Inflation Reduction Act tax credits pose a serious threat to our business continuity and the industry’s long-term investments…. Collectively, changes on such a rapid timeline would introduce significant uncertainty and deter investment.”
Used EVs Are Crucial — And Congress Is Wrong To Ignore These Customers
It’s often lost in the sauce that there’s a $4,000 incentive on used EVs that sell for less than $25,000. But dealers are well aware of it, because it’s a boon to moving used EVs to customers who can’t afford to buy new.
The letter noted that “A sudden elimination [of the credit] will disrupt the used car market, a backbone of the American economy.” They went on to skewer the idea that only wealthy people are buying EVs: “Used EV rebates in particular have provided a valuable bridge for working- and middle-class Americans. For car dealerships, these time-of-sale rebates have enabled us to better serve our customers and expand our businesses. For many of our working-class customers, the used EV rebate becomes the down payment that enables a vehicle purchase at all.”
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
The letter doesn’t mince words. While carmaker pushback has seemed subtle, not wanting to risk the ire of the President, this letter directly targets Congress members for potentially harming the livelihoods of “…many independent and family-owned dealerships.” The letter cites a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation suggesting that killing the tax incentives would harm 130,000 auto sector jobs, and another 310,000 jobs affiliated with the auto sector would be lost by 2030.
New, affordable EVs are coming in 2026, no matter what, including the Kia EV 4, the next Chevy Bolt, and the revamped Nissan Leaf. But carmakers rely on the steady churn of trade-ins to keep moving the metal. It’s clear from this letter that dealers think they’ll be harmed by axing incentives, and they’re giving Senate leaders a loud earful about who they’re going to blame if the House’s legislation isn’t altered.
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