Delivery and Purchase; Required to Pay Before Delivery?

[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

Valid concern, but this "Q", the "why is car play and android auto not..", and others should be in an FAQ or pinned somewhere. Not, that all folks will go there, but at least some.

Sponsored

 

[Joe Hoffman]

I heard the same crap, "Gotta provide money ahead of time". But I worked with my guide and brought a cashiers check to the pickup event. They were fine with that. This provided me the opportunity to inspect prior to paying.
Good luck.

 

[VSG]

More annoying to me was the fact that they made me buy an insurance policy for a vehicle I did not yet own. With prior purchases I always had (and used) a month to add a new vehicle to my policy.

Rivian is not making you do that.
Just tell your insurance company what date you want to start the policy coverage. Then call them and change that date if delivery gets delayed or moved up.

 

[Writemax]

Rivian is not making you do that.
Just tell your insurance company what date you want to start the policy coverage. Then call them and change that date if delivery gets delayed or moved up.

Rivian made me provide proof of insurance as well. Not like I wasn't going to have it, but why does Rivian care as long as they have their money?

 

[Writemax]

I didn't mind the pay before seeing piece, as I know any issues are covered by contract law; but I really wish Rivian had more straight forward out the door pricing instead of the traditional car dealer markups (doc fees, destination, etc ...)

 

[VSG]

Proof of insurance does not mean you have to be paying for insurance a month ahead of time. I provided proof of insurance in the form of an insurance ID card that showed the VIN and showed the coverage start date. I didn't have to pay my insurance company anything until the coverage start date.

 

[Mobius1]

I financed mine and was only required to send an image of the check to Rivian a day before pick up. Also, for insurance in CA, I just had to show them my card from my other vehicle and that was fine. I didn’t actually get coverage on mine until a couple of days after pickup.

 

[TollKeeper]

My service center in Denver is NOT a dealer, and does not have a dealership license, so the can not offer an exchange (you give money, we give truck). All the SC can do is act as a Notary (for lack of a better word) on the exchange of paperwork. This is why they want the checks/whatever mailed to them before delivery.

I also think its kinda hooky, but, this is how direct sales work. I think Tesla used to, and may still, do this.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I paid by ACH a couple days before my scheduled appointment, then when they put my truck on the flatbed for delivery the night before it blew a drive motor and delivery was delayed a week. Never in that time did I worry about being stiffed.

Rivian is a multi billion dollar company the bad press isn't worth stiffing me for 80-100k. All of this was still better than my experience at the BMW dealer picking up my wife's car. I had to waste a ton of my time waiting for the paperwork to be done just so I could write a check. I'm still shocked they took a personal check though.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Rivian made me provide proof of insurance as well. Not like I wasn't going to have it, but why does Rivian care as long as they have their money?

I dunno why. But BMW did the same and I paid cash for that car as well. Maybe its law.

 

[NY_Rob]

I dunno why. But BMW did the same and I paid cash for that car as well. Maybe its law.

If the traditional dealership is issuing license plates for your new vehicle, just like at a State DMV you are required to show proof of insurance. Rivian uses RegUSA for their registration stuff, they submit your info along with proof of insurance to the State DMV for your plates.
That's my guess anyway....

 

[Donald Stanfield]

If the traditional dealership is issuing license plates for your new vehicle, just like at a State DMV you are required to show proof of insurance. Rivian uses RegUSA for their registration stuff, they submit your info along with proof of insurance to the State DMV for your plates.
That's my guess anyway....

Yeah that sounds right. If I had a flatbed there and told them I planned to track it they may not have required insurance.

 

[J-Flo]

Not to quibble but Rivian would not give me a delivery date until I provided proof of “currently effective insurance.” They would not accept snything else. So apparently some ofhers had a different experience.

I think this is just more growing pains related to their efforts to comply with law. (If they are financing the vehicle, fine they can required insurance be purchased first as a matter of policy but this made no sense for a cash buyer like me). Under most or maybe all state laws where they operate as a car dealer they are required to obtain proof of insurance, but that just means the buyer needs to have a current policy — because auto policies provide liability cover on newly acquired vehicles for 30 days. So they should not have needed me to add the vehicle to my policy before delivery (never happened with any other car I bought from a dealer).

Overall my pick up and delivery experience was good. Aside from this issue and the pay-first demand it was smooth and no BS like you typically get. As the demand for this awesome truck cools to normal levels Rivian will need to adjust their policies to be more customer-friendly about payment and insurance.

 

[TollKeeper]

The insurance thing varies by state. A dealer can not, in most states, let some one drive off the lot without proof of insurance. Some states require it to be on the specific vehicle. Other states, like Colorado, only require proof of insurance on any vehicle, as Colorado has a transfer allowance of, I believe, 2 weeks. Your insurance carrier can have rules above that thou.

For example, my insurance carrier, State Farm, has a 7 day rule, in Colorado.

Also some finance company will not release the dealer to release the car to the purchaser until a Certificate of Coverage for the specific vehicle in question, with policy number, is provided to the finance company. This happens every time my company buys a new truck. It even has to have the specific VIN(s) listed.

 

[MacO512]

More annoying to me was the fact that they made me buy an insurance policy for a vehicle I did not yet own. With prior purchases I always had (and used) a month to add a new vehicle to my policy.

Yes buying the policy prior as Rivian (and Tesla) require does cost some money. I think it's unavoidable as Rivian/Tesla need your insurance policy number to get temp tags. Dealerships don't have those legal restrictions.

The insurance will backdate your charges for that month to the purchase date, so you don't save any money with that strategy on prior vehicles. Id strongly recommend not doing that. Yes technically your policy should cover a vehicle that you purchased and haven't yet added. However if you have an incident the amount of extra paperwork and documentation you have to do is overwhelming. Insurers always are looking for a justification to deny coverage. Also a chance you don't have enough coverage or have an emergency and don't get the vehicle added in time. You don't save any money either. I always add the vehicle at the moment I sign for the vehicle.

Sponsored