Californians becoming frustrated with lots of Teslas being parked on streets and causing unanswered questions
Published on Aug 16, 2025 at 12:16 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Residents in Long Beach, California, have claimed that unsold Tesla EVs have been parked up on public streets after a dealership ‘ran out of storage’.
Photographs shared online and with a local newspaper show what appear to be brand-new unsold Teslas parked up in Signal Hill.
One resident claims to have seen 24 Tesla EVs with temporary paper plates parked throughout her neighborhood.
Residents have said they think the EVs belong to a nearby dealership that has ‘run out of storage’.
DISCOVER SBX CARS – The global premium auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
‘Unsold’ Tesla vehicles have been clogging the streets
Residents in Signal Hill began to notice the Teslas popping up last month, and since then, the problem hasn’t gone away.
“It seemed like they just appeared overnight,” a resident called Bella told SF Gate.
Bella also shared images of the Tesla EVs on Reddit, claiming that they had been left there by a local dealership.
“Tesla ran out of storage and is parking new, unsold vehicles in my neighborhood,” she wrote on the post.
Reporters from SF Gate headed out to the area and said they spotted ‘at least five Teslas’ that were mostly older Model Ys wearing paper plates in the area.
Some of the cars have been hit with warning stickers from local law enforcement stating that the EVs will be towed if they’re in the same spot for 72 hours.
But Bella claims the vehicles ‘move fairly regularly’ to avoid being ticketed or towed.
The cars have popped up not too far from a Tesla dealership, prompting speculation that it could be responsible.
However, when contacted by SF Gate, the dealership declined to comment.
Local towing companies said they hadn’t seen any new Tesla vehicles with paper plates being brought in, and the Signal Hill Police Department said it had yet to receive any complaints.
It wouldn’t be the first time unsold Teslas have been parked in public
While there’s no official word on whether the Teslas parked up have been left by a dealership or not, it wouldn’t be the first time unsold Tesla EVs have been seen parked in public.
Last October, a woman in Missouri stumbled upon hundreds of Teslas in a mall parking lot.
Similar occurrences have also been spotted before in California, and in a Detroit shopping mall that was nicknamed ‘the Cybertruck graveyard’.
In the Detroit case, a court order was eventually obtained forcing the hundred-or-so Tesla vehicles to be removed.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
