Rear Ended in Denver

[Steve A.]

I was on 470 the other day, and was rear ended. R1T is already in the shop, but just curious how long am i looking in obviously fictional numbers as its all speculative, but was also curious if any of you all went through this here in colorado, and how it went. I am also using USAA, as the drivers insurance didnt have enough coverage to even think of fixing anything. The preliminary quote is already up to 42K. Any insight is greatly appreciative.

Side note: the car was going full speed, and it took it like a dang champ. Felt like i hit a speed bump over 30 mph. But my bed is now angled to the driver side, and left side is twisted higher than the passenger side, with it rippling through the driver side all the way to the hood to misalign it.

Sorry to hear. I was rear-ended and the driver had the minimum insurance $15K which probably didn't even cover the Honda Civic that he launched under my rear end. I still drove it to work and home but ended up costing $30k and took 5 months to get it back most of the time spent going back and forth with my insurance company and the Rivian certified shop over total estimate.
So after having it back for 2+ months, Thursday an elderly woman didn't see me coming and crashed into me right at the charging door.

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[Underwhirled]

OP’s RIT was truly “Stealth”. Very sad, indeed. Hopefully, they will be able to fix or replace quickly.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Very minor rear-end, but the QP was slightly creased near the bumper requiring complete rear QP replacement, removing doors and even front QP and rear-painting. Every piece of trim replaced down to rear glass. 4 weeks for parts to arrive. Approximately 7 weeks in the shop to date. They are hoping next week after re-calibration.

Repair: $27K.

A challenge is that the body panels are both glued and riveted.

Driver that hit me had minimal insurance forcing my carrier, USAA, to cover and then pursue subrogation for what they can. They were a PIA starting with a low-ball estimate that barely covered some of the parts forcing the only body shop in town that is certified for Rivian repairs to keep going back for updates to the quote.

The experience has soured by experience; although, the body shop said that they have shortages of parts for many vehicles sitting in the back (long before tariffs). And that increasingly there are almost no body panels with creases that can be repaired without replacement and then compounded complications with glued and riveted panels.

I asked them, ok, so what EV car is the easiest to repair with the most body parts readily accessible (at least a relatively modern car). Body shop said, they are all expensive. Asked about Lucid as there are no shops in our area yet certified…. Response, we are contemplating Lucid certification, but, not sure we want to deal with parts and customer complaints as a result (assuming Lucid even survives regardless).

One other thing explained to me—Rivian requires both body shop certification (which can leave only one in some towns that have a pseudo-monopoly on repairs) and then a very high level requirement to put a car back on the road. Just removing the trim around the C pillar requires airbag replacement and the list of replacement parts was staggering. Hourly rate alone is $98/hour. If you are the only game in town, then you can demand it.

Hard to say what is true as everyone has their story and experiences. Last year, my wife caught the rear panel of her Escalade at the garage door side (yet to be repainted) and, same deal, sheet metal too thin to be pulled back out and slight crease near rear door at the seam area, panel was glued and riveted at that part of the car. $7K even there for minor bend since panel pulled and all removed trim and rear glass replaced since they crack or the clips break. GM back logged for a QP 2 nearly months when that little faux pas happened.

Pictures below, potentially reverse order. Insanity.

All above is true!!! My wife's minor brush with a pole as she pulled out of a parking lot put a small crease in the door and quarter panel. The certified shop removed the whole door assembly for repair and also had to remove the rear quarter glass to work on the quarter panel. After the mechanical work was done and I was out of my 30 days of rental car, they went back and forth with Rivian trying to calibrate and clear the errors after the door removal.

The body shop I used was great, but they also had a sign on the wall that had two different rates for body/paint repair. One was for regular cars and the second higher rate was for EV's.

 

[mkg3]

I was just reading the g2 R1S quad thread and it occured to me that the price of both Tri and Quad are priced high enough that a small rear ended or panel damage that costs around $40 would not total the vehicle.

Since its not over 50% of the value, many insurances have replacement coverage for the first year so for now its good to go.

 

[RohrSchach]

Doesn’t look too bad or angled from the photos

It doesnt look bad until you look at in person, and notice that the driver side now sits higher, and the bed is now catty wampus to the cab. Not to mention as the air tanks are there, my suspension wasnt working anymore to go up or down.

 

[RohrSchach]

I’m sorry to see the damage to your truck but glad you made it through fine!

I’m curious if you were using the brake pedal or one pedal driving (OPD) and if you were stopped, slowing, or going a steady speed when hit? It seems like a lot of Rivians get rear-ended and I wonder if it has something to do with when the brake lights come on with OPD or the relatively small size of our brake lights.

Our Rivian is the first vehicle I’ve owned where the turn signals by themselves are larger and more prominent than the brake lights.

I actually had to hard brake as the car in front of me decided that he wasnt paying attention, then the guy behind me had minimum of 4 car lengths to slow down and didnt.

 

[RohrSchach]

Sorry that happened to you, and glad you’re ok! Denver drivers are pretty awful most of the time. (All the time)

Real question, and not victim blaming here: Does having tinted tail lights affect visibility under braking, and does it change responsible party from a liability perspective? I‘m assuming that the tint is technically not legal and the other party’s insurance could use that as a defense for not paying damages. Genuinely curious if that will be a concern.

I understand. I only tinted them enough that they look tinted. Sounds weird i know, but i made sure that brake lights are seen clearly away from my car. I had my wife each time i sprayed a coat a bit away and tell me if they were visible. If you saw the video, i doubt the brake light even came into play for it to be honest.

 

[SolartoEV]

Rivian's already have minimal brake lights on them which isn't your fault. As a reasonable person i would look at tinted lights and think during the day time, it could be pretty hard to see them.

 

[RohrSchach]

Very minor rear-end, but the QP was slightly creased near the bumper requiring complete rear QP replacement, removing doors and even front QP and rear-painting. Every piece of trim replaced down to rear glass. 4 weeks for parts to arrive. Approximately 7 weeks in the shop to date. They are hoping next week after re-calibration.

Repair: $27K.

A challenge is that the body panels are both glued and riveted.

Driver that hit me had minimal insurance forcing my carrier, USAA, to cover and then pursue subrogation for what they can. They were a PIA starting with a low-ball estimate that barely covered some of the parts forcing the only body shop in town that is certified for Rivian repairs to keep going back for updates to the quote.

The experience has soured by experience; although, the body shop said that they have shortages of parts for many vehicles sitting in the back (long before tariffs). And that increasingly there are almost no body panels with creases that can be repaired without replacement and then compounded complications with glued and riveted panels.

I asked them, ok, so what EV car is the easiest to repair with the most body parts readily accessible (at least a relatively modern car). Body shop said, they are all expensive. Asked about Lucid as there are no shops in our area yet certified…. Response, we are contemplating Lucid certification, but, not sure we want to deal with parts and customer complaints as a result (assuming Lucid even survives regardless).

One other thing explained to me—Rivian requires both body shop certification (which can leave only one in some towns that have a pseudo-monopoly on repairs) and then a very high level requirement to put a car back on the road. Just removing the trim around the C pillar requires airbag replacement and the list of replacement parts was staggering. Hourly rate alone is $98/hour. If you are the only game in town, then you can demand it.

Hard to say what is true as everyone has their story and experiences. Last year, my wife caught the rear panel of her Escalade at the garage door side (yet to be repainted) and, same deal, sheet metal too thin to be pulled back out and slight crease near rear door at the seam area, panel was glued and riveted at that part of the car. $7K even there for minor bend since panel pulled and all removed trim and rear glass replaced since they crack or the clips break. GM back logged for a QP 2 nearly months when that little faux pas happened.

Pictures below, potentially reverse order. Insanity.

Thats exactly what happened already with the insurance. Dude had minimums, and now USAA is doing its thing. Problem is the low ball estimate is the 42K.

 

[RohrSchach]

My R1T was totaled after a rear end hit on I-25. But it looks quite a bit worse than yours. We’d really need more photos to give you a decent answer on whether it would be totaled. As it looks now, it could be repairable. All I’m seeing is damage to the tailgate and some to the rear bumper (if you can really call it a bumper. These photos make it look like there is no frame or unibody damage.

I looked for the original picture i took when i picked it up, and looked at the roof rail above the doors. The whole track on both sides are twisted out, and the driver side sits higher. Not to mention the bed is not straight, the air compression tanks dont hold air. The quater panel on the driver side is wrinkled several places towards the front allowing my hood to be misaligned. It was a doozy for sure.

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