- Business Insider spoke with three Florida men about how they felt owning Teslas.
- A Cybertruck owner shared how his cherry-red truck was vandalized four different times.
- Another Tesla owner bought his secondhand after admiring the cars for years.
It's not easy being a Tesla owner right now.
When Tesla's Model S — the company's second car and longest-produced model — began shipping in 2012, its earliest drivers were generally seen as progressive, environmentally minded, and technologically savvy.
Fast forward 13 years and Tesla drivers are getting flipped off and being called Nazis. Their electric cars are being pelted with eggs and decorated with shaving cream, or worse, spray paint. Dealerships and charging stations have become the site of protests, vandalism, and even arson.
As Elon Musk deepens his relationship with President Donald Trump, slashes funding at federal agencies via his new position at DOGE, and lends support to Germany's far-right AfD party, his company's image as the cutting-edge choice of progressives is now a distant memory.
Business Insider spoke with three men — one of whom just sold his dream car because of Musk's growing political stances — who bought Tesla cars in Florida, the second state behind California when it comes to Tesla sales. They spoke about why they chose to buy Teslas and how they feel when driving them now.
A Cybertruck that's been vandalized 4 times
Peter Doran, the owner of a cherry-red Cybertruck in Safety Harbor, Florida, ordered the vehicle when it was first announced in 2019. His wife owns a Model Y, and in 2020, Doran also bought a Model 3, which he has since sold, but not for political reasons.
"My son talked me into it; I've always been a performance guy," Doran, who's in his early 50s, said of his truck. Doran boasted that the truck can go from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 2.6 seconds, adding that his Cybertruck is nearly as quick as his old C8 Corvette.
Doran also cited rising fuel prices as a factor in his purchases, as well as safety and lower maintenance costs. He puts roughly 40,000 miles a year on his cars and said the maintenance really adds up. Doran said he'd had to change only the tires and wiper blades of his Model Y so far.
Doran said he wanted the Cybertruck when it was announced "for the heck of it," continuing: "It was ugly, but I liked the concept of the stainless steel exoskeleton." When Hurricane Milton took out power for five days in October, the Cybertruck powered his office with its Powershare feature, which allows the vehicle battery to provide power from its onboard outlets or charge port.
A Trump supporter who put "45" and "47" decals on his Cybertruck, Doran said he found the controversies surrounding Tesla difficult to understand. He's still keen on Tesla's future, as well as other Musk ventures such as SpaceX and Neuralink, a company he finds exciting as a chiropractor who's worked with paralyzed patients.
"Years ago, if I wanted to buy a pair of Nikes, I didn't check the political proclivity of the CEO first — I bought a product because I liked it," he said.
Doran's Cybertruck has been vandalized four separate times since Musk started his role at DOGE in January 2025 — it's been keyed, spit on, plastered with Hillary Clinton stickers, and had messages written on it with shaving cream in an incident Doran caught on camera.
"A grown man went to the trouble of putting on a mask and gloves to write on my car with shaving cream. How is that a form of protest?" he said.
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While not a Musk fan, another owner thinks Tesla makes the best cars
Across the state in Lake Worth, Florida, Brian Ritter's Model 3 sits in his driveway.
The 43-year-old acupuncturist and tai chi instructor purchased a used Model 3 in December for about $22,000. He said he hoped to receive a roughly $4,000 tax credit implemented by the Biden administration (it's unclear whether this tax credit will survive the Trump administration because it's at risk of being scrapped). Ritter had admired the cars for years before finally buying one secondhand — previously, they'd been prohibitively expensive for him.
"For quality, durability, and cost-effectiveness, this was by far the best vehicle," Ritter said. He also looked at electric vehicles from Ford and Kia, coming very close to buying a Volkswagen. He was dissuaded, however, by the automaker's all-electric SUV's lower reliability ratings based on his online research.
Ritter's personal politics lean heavily to the left, but for now, he's still behind the wheel of his Tesla. "I'm not going to let them mess up driving what is, for me, the nicest car on the road," he said.
"It's not my favorite thing in the world to finally get my dream car, and now people call them swasticars," he said.
Ritter, who can't stand Musk or Trump, said he thinks a lot about how the public perception of Musk has changed from when he was smoking weed with Joe Rogan and being lauded for being an out-of-the-box thought leader. "And now? Surprise, he's a Nazi. He gave a very clear Nazi salute twice," he said.
Musk, on the social media platform that he owns, denied that was his intention for the gesture. "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks," he wrote in January on X. "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
Vandalism is of some concern, Ritter said, so he's considering getting an anti-Musk bumper sticker for added deterrence. He doesn't want anyone to think he supports what Musk is doing.
An early fan of Musk felt driving his car was like 'wearing a red hat'
Eric Branch purchased a Tesla Model 3 Performance for a little under $50,000 in 2023. By March of this year, he'd sold it and bought a Mercedes EQE 350+.
"It was becoming like wearing a red hat," said Branch, a 43-year-old project management office director at a Tampa, Florida, insurance company. "I loved that car. I had no other reason to sell it. I didn't just sell it; I sold it and took a big loss. I sold my Rolex to buy that car. That's how bad I wanted to get rid of it."
For him, the problem with Tesla now is that you can't separate the company from Musk. Branch said that close association was good for the brand when Musk was popular and seen as an Edison-like figure, even appearing in Marvel's "Iron Man 2" alongside Robert Downey Jr. But now, Branch said, Musk's image weighs Tesla's brand down. "When Musk starts showing up in Germany talking about national pride, I don't know how you talk yourself out of that being bad," he said.
While Branch likes his new Mercedes, he does miss the feel of his old Tesla, particularly its acceleration. "I miss going fast in it," he added.
Branch didn't just own a Tesla, he also previously owned around 2,000 shares of the company's stock. As a stockholder, a former Musk fan, and an ardent supporter of renewable energy, Branch said he had some level of emotional investment in the brand.
Still, he sold his stocks shortly after its December stock price peak because he felt that Musk's relationship as Trump's largest donor seemed certain to benefit his businesses via favorable regulations and government contracts. Now, Branch doesn't think their partnership will benefit Tesla in the long run.
"Look at every other relationship Trump has had — it always goes bad," Branch said, citing his relationships with former Vice President Mike Pence, the attorney Michael Cohen, and generals in his first administration. "Everyone gets burned except for him. That will happen to Musk. It's happening right now."
Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.