Rivian won't sell me a truck due to my middle name. WTF.

[tusharparmar]

I've had a tenuous relationship with Rivian thus far. Having owned and sold 2, I was hesitant to buy a third. However, after a number of decisions and automotive related changes, I decided to dive back in a pick up a new R1T. Found one the shop to my liking and reserved it.

Going through the steps and I'm bringing my own insurance. I have a 20+year relationship with StateFarm and this is one of MANY policies I have with them under my general account (which is where the issue below comes from). My wife is also on my insurance.

Apparently Rivian has a policy that my insurance must match my registration/license exactly - including usage of my middle name. They want me to re-write my insurance policies to include this, and drop my wife from the policy so it matches. Obviously, this is unacceptable and I've refused and told them to either rectify their policy or refund my $$. I will not re-underwrite my existing relationship because of this unnecessary detail.

This, btw, occurred after the contract was signed and I paid the 50k balance.

This is absurd. A random arbitrary rule, that has no legal merit, will lose them a customer. This is the kind of lame BS they need to fix. The customer experience, especially during the purchasing stage, is of utmost importance. If they want their direct-to-consumer model to work, they need to up their game and understand the nuance from the customers point of view.

Currently waiting to hear back from my guide if they will accept my policy or refund my $$ and cancel my purchase.

If you don't mind the little extra hassle and few extra bucks spent then you can get a totally new insurance just to go over Rivian delivery hump and then cancel it the day you get the delivery. They might just charge you pro-rated for the days your shadow insurance is active, which can technically be as low as 1 day.

This can work as long as your primary State farm insurance is okay covering your new Rivian registered with different middle name.

Sponsored

 

[SolartoEV]

This is like getting upset at the 18 year old girl at the grocery store for asking for your ID when buying beer.

If you were the only person that they asked to do this for then i could understand but i can tell you this exact situation happened to me in March of 2022 that my middle initial was not on my insurance but was on my license. Called progressive and they added it and 5 minutes later i had my new card. Also my wife was on my insurance and she had to go on the title. Seems like Rivian status quo

 

[Quick]

In this forums eyes, Rivian can do no wrong. it's astonishing

 

[Quick]

If you don't mind the little extra hassle and few extra bucks spent then you can get a totally new insurance just to go over Rivian delivery hump and then cancel it the day you get the delivery. They might just charge you pro-rated for the days your shadow insurance is active, which can technically be as low as 1 day.

This can work as long as your primary State farm insurance is okay covering your new Rivian registered with different middle name.

Why should the customer be penalized for a ridiculous policy by Rivian? You expect me to incur more cost and inconvenience due to something that doesn't even apply to my state? that's absurd.

 

[Christopher]

This is the stupidest load of crap I've ever heard and no legal reason to have the middle name present. I'm looking back at some old agreements for other vehicles I've purchased and some have it some don't. Even my R1T and R1S purchase agreements are different! One with, and one without middle name.

My license has my middle name, my insurance doesn't. Rivian didn't say anything. My passport doesn't even have my middle name! Half of any legal documents I execute have my middle name, half don't. It's not necessary. Also doesn't seem like a good policy to selectively enforce this...

Rivian didn't like how my model was listed on my insurance and wanted it to specifically say "Rivian R1T" so guess what, I edited it in Photoshop and sent it back. I don't have time to rewrite a policy for this BS and spend an hour on the phone with my agent. The only person with a security interest in my vehicle is the lienholder and myself, and they don't care how the Model is listed on the policy.

 

[COdogman]

In this forums eyes, Rivian can do no wrong. it's astonishing

I don't think anyone in this thread said that.

A fair question is why do you put all the blame on Rivian and none on your insurer? You could have just as easily come here and asked "Why won't my insurance company change the name on my account so I can buy my Rivian?".

 

[tusharparmar]

Why should the customer be penalized for a ridiculous policy by Rivian? You expect me to incur more cost and inconvenience due to something that doesn't even apply to my state? that's absurd.

I agree, it is absurd and Rivian can be little more lenient in this case but if you are writing your name differently at different places then you are prone to such troubles. So if you are looking for fairness here then matching your name accurately in all the documents is the right thing to do because then you will not be at someone's mercy.

 

[Quick]

I don't think anyone in this thread said that.

A fair question is why do you put all the blame on Rivian and none on your insurer? You could have just as easily come here and asked "Why won't my insurance company change the name on my account so I can buy my Rivian?".

Because Rivian is expecting a matching set of details on somethign where the marketplace IN NO WAY requires this. Again, this isn’t a problem with my insurance company. It’s Rivian expecting a different level of data alignment than the marketplace. Establishing an unreasonable expectation for the consumer.

No one has ever said in any capacity that my license MUST MATCH EXACTLY to my insurance card.

Only Rivian has said that after my sales contract was signed by both parties and money transferred.

 

[tusharparmar]

I don't think anyone in this thread said that.

A fair question is why do you put all the blame on Rivian and none on your insurer? You could have just as easily come here and asked "Why won't my insurance company change the name on my account so I can buy my Rivian?".

Agree and why not blame yourself first for such discrepancies.

 

[tusharparmar]

Because Rivian is expecting a matching set of details on somethign where the marketplace IN NO WAY requires this. Again, this isn’t a problem with my insurance company. It’s Rivian expecting a different level of data alignment than the marketplace. Establishing an unreasonable expectation for the consumer.

No one has ever said in any capacity that my license MUST MATCH EXACTLY to my insurance card.

Only Rivian has said that after my sales contract was signed by both parties and money transferred.

Agree, that's a miss on Rivian's part that they didn't clarify the requirement early enough.

 

[Christopher]

Agree and why not blame yourself first for such discrepancies.

Not sure why he has to blame himself? Middle names are often not on paperwork. I have a DL, passport, global entry, CCW, port authority ID, boaters license, state ID, notary, school ID. All of these are government issued by either fed/state/county governments. Some have middle name, some don't. I've filled out applications with my middle name and then have them redacted from my ID or just shown as a middle initial which I have no control over. I don't even pay attention to it at this point, and I've never once had anybody say, "sorry we can't provide this product/service because your middle name on your license is not on the paperwork."

 

[COdogman]

Because Rivian is expecting a matching set of details on somethign where the marketplace IN NO WAY requires this. Again, this isn’t a problem with my insurance company. It’s Rivian expecting a different level of data alignment than the marketplace. Establishing an unreasonable expectation for the consumer.

No one has ever said in any capacity that my license MUST MATCH EXACTLY to my insurance card.

Only Rivian has said that after my sales contract was signed by both parties and money transferred.

It is not something they require in every state, as others have pointed out. So clearly Rivian has this policy in CT for a reason. Instead of taking the path of least resistance (changing your name on the insurance documentation) you seem to be looking for battle with Rivian.

I have had to change the names or other info on insurance cards multiple times in my life when purchasing vehicles. It seems silly, but it takes 10 minutes on the phone and every time USAA has done it for me. If your insurance company is telling you that requires a total re-write of your policies, they are lying to you.

No one is saying the policy makes sense. Everyone is suggesting you take the easy route. ?‍

 

[Count Orlok]

The Count says it depends upon the nature of the middle name. How offensive is it?

 

[Quick]

It is not something they require in every state, as others have pointed out. So clearly Rivian has this policy in CT for a reason. Instead of taking the path of least resistance (changing your name on the insurance documentation) you seem to be looking for battle with Rivian.

I have had to change the names or other info on insurance cards multiple times in my life when purchasing vehicles. It seems silly, but it takes 10 minutes on the phone and every time USAA has done it for me. If your insurance company is telling you that requires a total re-write of your policies, they are lying to you.

No one is saying the policy makes sense. Everyone is suggesting you take the easy route. ?‍

According to my guide, this wasn’t an issue until recently. So a new policy (or maybe processor)

You seem to be making assumptions about my insurance company and state - assuming it’s easy. As stated, it’s far more complex than just a name change. If it were that simple, I would have done it already.

 

[Quick]

The Count says it depends upon the nature of the middle name. How offensive is it?

lol. Very generic, unfortunately. Nothing exciting about my life.

Sponsored