Why this man’s Porsche Taycan EV has now been declared worthless after 2 years of ownership

A YouTuber went viral after talking about the hidden costs of his Porsche Taycan, the brand’s first EV.

As it turns out, running a Porsche Taycan is a lot more expensive than expected, and that wasn’t even his biggest problem.

The truly shocking revelation came when he tried to trade in his Taycan for a Porsche 911, because the dealer told him the car was now basically worthless.

This is why.

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The reason why this Taycan owner is in trouble

Lee Alexander Davey, known online as The MacMaster, had already gone viral when sharing the sky-high maintenance costs he needed to pay to keep his Porsche Taycan running.

In theory, electric cars are supposed to be cheaper to maintain because they’ve got fewer moving parts.

But in practice, Davey’s financial situation would inevitably take a huge hit every time he had to have his car serviced.

After finally giving up on his Taycan, he tried to get back in the realm of internal combustion with a used Porsche 911, but the dealership informed him that his car was worthless.

Because so many Porsche Taycan drivers are now returning their cars to the dealership, several dealers, including the one Davey turned to, are refusing to take back the car.

Some tell their customers they may have better luck on the private market, which is why people are buying secondhand Porsche cars so cheaply.

But this isn’t really helping the brand at the moment.

What’s going on with the Porsche Taycan?

The Taycan is a direct descendant of the Mission-E concept car unveiled in 2015.

First launched in 2019, the Taycan experienced a ‘honeymoon phase’ where everything was perfect.

This honeymoon phase lasted a few years.

After all, this was the first electric car to star in a climactic Hollywood car chase in Den of Thieves 2, and it set different records around the Nürburgring.

More importantly, it sold really well… for a while.

Over 20,800 Taycans were delivered to customers last year, but that corresponds to a decline of 49 percent when compared to 2023.

Sales of any car organically decrease after a few years, and the huge recall for over 20,000 Taycans last year certainly didn’t help.

But, when all is said and done, the biggest problem is still depreciation.

Porsche owners are used to buying a new car, driving it for a few years and then getting a good trade-in value when they get the next model later.

This isn’t working with the Taycan, and it’s probably the main reason why this model underperformed last year.

It’s tough for dealers to sell a new Taycan for $140,000 when the would-be customer knows they can get a 2-year-old model with 20,000 miles on the clock for about one third of that.