Buying from Used Dealership

[ben_jammin]

Looking to buy a used R1s from a dealership out of state and while the car looks super clean and is a fair market price the CARFAX shows 5 previous owners. The first 2-3 owners only drove it <30-100 miles or so each so might have people trying to flip the vehicle? Planning to fly in next weekend to pick it up in person but the dealership wants a $5k non refundable deposit to take it off market. Thankfully there is a service center 10 minutes away so was going to ask rivian to have a look before driving it back 1000 miles. The car is still within the original warranty so question is … if there are any unknown issues is it still worth having the local rivian team have a look prior to purchase (if the dealership is ok with that) or would we be covered with the bumper to bumper manufacturers warranty regardless? The dealership is very reputable and has a ton of good review with two decade of service but they don’t specialize in EV/rivians so not quite the same inspection process.

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[CharonPDX]

$5k nonrefundable to take it off the market? Run away from that dealer. I've bought multiple vehicles from dealers out of state and have never had to pay that much nonrefundable. (I think $500 was the most nonrefundable, $2000 refundable, another just wanted to see my airplane ticket showing I was booked to come out, and they were willing to hold it for me.)

 

[R1Sky Business]

Bad deal

 

[MidnightRivian]

I found 4 Rivian R1S vehicles that I would be happy with today.

What is so special about this specific Rivian you're looking at with 5 owners and a $5,000 deposit?

What config or color or options are your deal breakers or nice to have?

Maybe we can try to help you find a better deal with a vehicle that has less owners.

 

[Aag12]

5 owners makes no sense... Also I would never put a 5k deposit down for a truck that there is ample supply for!

 

[majorfriend]

That sounds fishy to me.

I've bought used out of state a couple times and never been asked to put a deposit down.

 

[Birdowin]

I would never buy a truck that had 5 previous owners.

 

[Ecupip]

I'm just putting it out there since no one has commented on the plan to have the Service Center inspect the vehicle for you. You'll have a hard time contacting the service center without a Rivian vehicle and account to open a service request, and depending on the location, appointments may be booked weeks in advance.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Unless it is the deal of lifetime, I'd probably look around a little more locally. I'd also take any of those that Midnight posted. How long has that R1S been on the lot? You ever go to Vegas... I'd put it all on black and not hand over $5000 for a car I haven't seen in person.

 

[jrothman]

Looking to buy a used R1s from a dealership out of state and while the car looks super clean and is a fair market price the CARFAX shows 5 previous owners. The first 2-3 owners only drove it <30-100 miles or so each so might have people trying to flip the vehicle? Planning to fly in next weekend to pick it up in person but the dealership wants a $5k non refundable deposit to take it off market. Thankfully there is a service center 10 minutes away so was going to ask rivian to have a look before driving it back 1000 miles. The car is still within the original warranty so question is … if there are any unknown issues is it still worth having the local rivian team have a look prior to purchase (if the dealership is ok with that) or would we be covered with the bumper to bumper manufacturers warranty regardless? The dealership is very reputable and has a ton of good review with two decade of service but they don’t specialize in EV/rivians so not quite the same inspection process.

I'm here to tell you - as someone who just went through this - run, don't walk away from the deal. If you have any red flags popping up, much less multiple, and you're sight unseen and can't get it checked out by Rivian's service team or a mechanic who knows what to look for on a Rivian, you shouldn't do it.

Long story short, I traded a Tesla Model Y for a used Rivian R1S sight unseen. The Carfax was clean, but the obvious red flag was that it went to a dealership for a month and then got auctioned to another dealership, then sat on their lot for about 2 months. Upon receiving the car, I immediately found signs of it having been in some kind of accident and when I took it to the Rivian service center, they uncovered things behind the front bumper - cracked parts - that were not disclosed. It was made clear that the car had been in some kind of accident. The experience was a nightmare. I eventually traded the car in to Rivian for a new one. I spent way more money than I had initially budgeted. Yet, I'm so happy I made the choice to get rid of the used one. Too many unknowns and - I kick myself for not paying more attention to the red flags.

Moral - don't buy or put down serious money on a car sight unseen, particularly if there are any red flags. Carfax reports - as I learned the hard way - can be total bs and are at the discretion of the previous owner and dealerships as to what gets reported. And it's very much in their financial interest to keep the Carfax clean.

Also, I agree with everyone else - 5 owners is a major red flag. A $5K deposit is to. Why it wouldn't be a $500 deposit is beyond me.

Final thoughts - you stand little to lose by waiting for something to come up closer to home that you can check out in person. Within days of me taking delivery of mine, other options popped up nearby that were only $3 - 4K more. Which was minimal and well worth it in hindsight. Used cars will continue to come up - and with greater frequency as the R2 ramps up.

 

[rcwillis]

I found 4 Rivian R1S vehicles that I would be happy with today.

What is so special about this specific Rivian you're looking at with 5 owners and a $5,000 deposit?

What config or color or options are your deal breakers or nice to have?

Maybe we can try to help you find a better deal with a vehicle that has less owners.

Stupid question, but what search site are you using for this? I'm tired of all the duplicate sponsored results on Cargurus and them sending recommendations for vehicle models I have no interest in.

 

[MidnightRivian]

Stupid question, but what search site are you using for this? I'm tired of all the duplicate sponsored results on Cargurus and them sending recommendations for vehicle models I have no interest in.

That specific screenshot was cars.com but I have also used autotrader website in the past.

 

[Time2Roll]

The plane ticket is the only deposit I would give.

Any chance there is any family or friend that is in the area to go kick the tires?
Maybe even a forum member might volunteer....

 

[ben_jammin]

Hi

thanks for all of the kind thoughts.

just to update….

the car dealership in question had 1650 google reviews with an average 4.5 star rating. They specialize in high end vehicles and when I got to the showroom the R1s was probably the cheapest car there (everything from Porsches to McLaren and beyond).

the $5k non refundable was a bit of a stretch for sight unseen but I ended up paying that along with $20k more prior to picking it up via wire and Amex charges.

long story short I got the 2022 launch edition at 36k miles for $63k which was the upper limit of our budget and couldn’t be happier. It is in mint condition and has a handful of upgrades that are nice to have too (spare wheel, 20 inch tires (where as most of the other used had 22 when I wanted the 20), hardwire for radar detector (which I’m not using), carbon fiber mud flaps, etc. the car sold on cars and bids a few years ago for $115k so got it for half the price. It’s a lower vin so seems like maybe original owner got in on the early price and then flipped it at auction. Someone else got it and then ended up driving it a bit and then sold it at auction again before the dealer got it (according to SC records it only had 4K miles on it when they swapped the wheels from the original 22 inch it came with back in January). It barely has a scratch on it and it runs great.

drove it 1k miles back home and had an extremely smooth ride overall.

definitely good to do your research but overall I’m very happy with the truck and plan to keep it in the family for years to come.

 

[Great Gatsby]

Hi

thanks for all of the kind thoughts.

just to update….

the car dealership in question had 1650 google reviews with an average 4.5 star rating. They specialize in high end vehicles and when I got to the showroom the R1s was probably the cheapest car there (everything from Porsches to McLaren and beyond).

the $5k non refundable was a bit of a stretch for sight unseen but I ended up paying that along with $20k more prior to picking it up via wire and Amex charges.

long story short I got the 2022 launch edition at 36k miles for $63k which was the upper limit of our budget and couldn’t be happier. It is in mint condition and has a handful of upgrades that are nice to have too (spare wheel, 20 inch tires (where as most of the other used had 22 when I wanted the 20), hardwire for radar detector (which I’m not using), carbon fiber mud flaps, etc. the car sold on cars and bids a few years ago for $115k so got it for half the price. It’s a lower vin so seems like maybe original owner got in on the early price and then flipped it at auction. Someone else got it and then ended up driving it a bit and then sold it at auction again before the dealer got it (according to SC records it only had 4K miles on it when they swapped the wheels from the original 22 inch it came with back in January). It barely has a scratch on it and it runs great.

drove it 1k miles back home and had an extremely smooth ride overall.

definitely good to do your research but overall I’m very happy with the truck and plan to keep it in the family for years to come.

That's awesome! Congrats! Glad this worked out for you with a happy ending. $63k is a really good price for an R1S, specially with 24k miles before the initial limited warranty runs out. Enjoy the new ride!

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