Considering purchasing R1S second hand

[Jack Attack]

I put my deposit down a year ago on the R1S but because I live in an area without a service center, I have no idea when I will be eligible to purchase directly from Rivian. I was going to be patient but my Tesla was just totaled by the insurance co so I’m now considering purchasing the R1S on the secondary market, purchase a new model X or go back to pumping gas!

I’m curious for those of you who have purchased on the secondary market what your customer service experience has been like. If you’ve needed service or had issues, do you feel you would have been treated differently if you had purchased the vehicle directly?

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[mkg3]

Two things.

First, my R1S is 6 weeks since taking delivery from Rivian. Have had two mobile service, and have an appointment at the SC in late November for things they cannot perform with mobile service. Unfortunately, Rivian QC is still not great and have issues wit many new vehicles. That's the primary reason why they don't deliver outside of the SC radius.

Two, If you really want to get an R1S in an area that Rivian currently does not support, might consider older (meaning at least 6~9 months old) vehicle that have had most of the initial issues resolved. Of course the downside is the earlier VINs have more likely issues.

Personally, I would not do it for now until the SC opens in a reasonable proximity.

 

[Jack Attack]

Very helpful, thank you. Does Rivian provide a loaner vehicle when your car is at the service center? When I purchased my first Tesla and they didn’t have a service center in my area yet, they provided me with a rental car at Enterprise.

 

[mkg3]

Very helpful, thank you. Does Rivian provide a loaner vehicle when your car is at the service center? When I purchased my first Tesla and they didn’t have a service center in my area yet, they provided me with a rental car at Enterprise.

I think they do, if the repair is extensive. We have more vehicles than the number of drivers so I never would ask or need a rental vehicle - so I'm not sure, but I think so....

I don't know when you bought your Tesla but if its old enough, think of early days of Model S/X kind of service response time and issues - say 2014~2015ish. By the time Model 3 came along, Tesla service centers were humming along, until they got crushed with high volume of Model 3. Tesla is still adding service centers to catch up but they are pretty much everywhere; whereas, Rivian service centers are just starting to spool up beyond metropolitan areas.

Still, Rivian is focused on where the high demand is coming from. An example is they are putting three new service centers in SoCal (one in Thousand Oaks, Irvine, and another in Eastvale, near Riverside). That makes 6 service centers within probably 100 mile radius.

Your best bet is hope for NOLA, probably...

 

[azbill]

I’m curious for those of you who have purchased on the secondary market what your customer service experience has been like. If you’ve needed service or had issues, do you feel you would have been treated differently if you had purchased the vehicle directly?

I bought my R1T used and it had a few issues when I bought it. Took 7 weeks to get an appointment and then it was at the service center for 12 days. But that seems to be the "normal" experience. I live within 40 miles of the Phoenix service center and was never offered mobil service, because one of the fixes was for the half shafts.

So no, I don't feel I was treated like a second class citizen.

 

[buglas]

I bought my R1T new and I have been able to get my vehicle repaired for warranty work without any issue or judgement

My biggest annoyance is that Rivian hasn't been able to update my email in the system so that I get owner emails. I've reached out about this and they all they were able to do was note that this was a suggestion I've had. I've missed emails about the PAAK outage or updates to the tonneau covers as an example. It doesn't seem like a difficult request but have been annoyed that it is such a challenge to be added to the distribution list of these updates.

 

[Kimmyyox]

I put my deposit down a year ago on the R1S but because I live in an area without a service center, I have no idea when I will be eligible to purchase directly from Rivian. I was going to be patient but my Tesla was just totaled by the insurance co so I’m now considering purchasing the R1S on the secondary market, purchase a new model X or go back to pumping gas!

I’m curious for those of you who have purchased on the secondary market what your customer service experience has been like. If you’ve needed service or had issues, do you feel you would have been treated differently if you had purchased the vehicle directly?

I have both a used one and a new one because I didn't want to wait and then my order became available. I am looking to sell the used one, but hesitate because the new one has been in the shop for two weeks...

Where are you located?

 

[Jack Attack]

I’m just outside of New Orleans. I was able to finally get in touch with Rivian yesterday afternoon via chat and my understanding if they don’t sell to me directly and because I’m in an area without a service center, it will be my responsibility to transport the vehicle to/from Houston (the closest service center) even if the car is undrivable and it’s an issue covered by the warranty. It also my understanding they don’t have enough mobile service employees to service my area either.

Because of the laws in Louisiana (which Tesla had the same hurdles for years) they have no estimated date for when they will be able to open a service center and therefore when I will be eligible for delivery of a vehicle. I opted to refund my deposit with the hope whenever that day comes, the waitlist won’t be 1-2+ years.

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