[UPDATES IN NEW THREAD] Tow to Rivian Service Centers is now a Charged Fee (as of 10/6/22) ?

[linkwpc]

Rivian set the expectation that it will tow to a SC and has been carrying out such a practice. The fact Rivian didn't give any advanced warning of the announcement and hasn't clarified when towing is or is not covered is just another in a long trend of piss poor PR.

Maybe that's what's been happening but where that written?

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[Dirty_B]

I really think they are trying to separate the "My trim piece is mis-aligned, come tow me" crowd from the "motor fell out on highway x" crowd. The service centers are overrun with the small stuff, I'm sure. QC at the plant needs to step up.

The service ticket my truck is currently in an SC for is ticket number 54###. You got to be Sh!tting me if there doing a sequential numbering scheme starting at ticket #1. No wonder they want to start charging - covering the cost of shipping/picking up and dropping off some 30,000 vehicle service appointments (even if 50% of people drop cars off, I'm betting most don't) means about 60000 trips - they're hemorrhaging money.

So maybe some of this will slow down if they start to actually put panels where they're supposed to be and aligned like they supposed to be, and they pay attention to quality control. Who had the truck with the driver floor mat stamped upside down/mirror image so it didn't sit right, yet was delivered - F-ing embarrassing!

 

[atebit]

Well considering mine died at a EA charger it would be considered "roadside"

Then you were lucky.

No, wait…

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Rivian doesn't support third party repairers for warranty work outside of collision repair. I'll be happy for someone to provide proof otherwise. Service centers are pretty far away from a lot of folks.

Exactly.

I was willing to pay for a third party shop to perform an alignment since Rivian did such a poor job at the factory. Rivian refused to share the specs with the shop. Rivian said only they can do the alignment.

If they want to play gatekeeper with parts and info then they can pay for transport.

 

[jjswan33]

I'm waiting for something official from Rivian and I'd encourage everyone else to as well. In my conversations w/ service it sure sounds like they have some frequent fliers that they're trying to discourage.

I could be considered one of those frequent flyers but that is on Rivian. If they had a SC closer than 4 hours away and actually fixed things the first time they had it.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Exactly.

I was willing to pay for a third party shop to perform an alignment since Rivian did such a poor job at the factory. Rivian refused to share the specs with the shop. Rivian said only they can do the alignment.

If they want to play gatekeeper with parts and info then they can pay for transport.

Feel free to read my other post about Rivian service having a computer system that gets the truck to put everything into the proper settled position and then disables the automatic adjustments that they had to fight to do alignments. The change was sometime in April. Just having specs means your shop could probably check the alignment, but actually doing repairs is likely to make things worse.

 

[ATL_R1S]

Who had the truck with the driver floor mat stamped upside down/mirror image so it didn't sit right, yet was delivered - F-ing embarrassing!

@kanundrum ?

 

[evhelphub]

I do have a service center nearby which is the only way I would have taken the vehicle to begin with, but after reading this thread I'm a bit confused on the policy and I think that doesn't make sense either. Are they still covering towing to the service center if they consider it a warranty issue? But you just have to find your way to the service center to pick it up on your own dime?

 

[ironpig]

Serious question - if you buy a Ford Lightning (or even a regular F150) and live 200 miles from a dealer - do they pay for the tow for a warranty repair? Or do you have to get it to the dealer?

I've always lived within 20-30 miles of a dealer so I've never had to deal with towing a vehicle that far. I'm curious how it's handled for those who live so far away.

 

[kcmwv]

I'm not sure where people get the idea that any warranty work always equals free towing? Anytime I have any warranty work that does not involve a car not moving, I have to pay for the tow for any dealership. Maybe you can talk to them to make them pay but as far I have seen and dealt with, I always had to pay to get my car there.

In Rivian's case, if they car can't move, it must be free towed since no one else knows how the fix the car and no one should not be working on the truck in the first place. I understand that there are not of Rivian dealerships around, but they are a new company and still building more. You have to know before I bought the car, you have to know where the Rivian service is. Thats your responsibility to know before you buy.

Lucky for me Rivian service is only 10 miles from me and only 1 mile from my work.

In my case, the expectation comes from a direct question I asked of my guide prior to purchasing from the Shop. Had the answer been that I had to drive to the service center, I would have certainly waited for my 2023 delivery in hopes of the service centers expanding and early adopters kinks being more worked through.

 

[ohseedee]

I guess I didn't realize they ever offered free towing for issues that had nothing to do with being able to drive the car (e.g. panel gaps, squeaks, etc.). That seems insane and unsustainable with gas prices on a truck that probably gets 5 miles/gallon. Great way to go out of business fast when you are towing some hundreds of miles.

My POV is, if it's safe to drive the owner should be on the hook to get it there. If it's a warranty repair i think they should offer an uber back to your house if it takes more than a few hours to fix and again to pick it up. If it cant be driven safely they Rivan should pay for a tow.

Sucks and very inconvinent due to the low amount of service centers, but without having a (another) big price increase I get it.

 

[connoisseurr]

I'm not sure where people get the idea that any warranty work always equals free towing? Anytime I have any warranty work that does not involve a car not moving, I have to pay for the tow for any dealership. Maybe you can talk to them to make them pay but as far I have seen and dealt with, I always had to pay to get my car there.

In Rivian's case, if they car can't move, it must be free towed since no one else knows how the fix the car and no one should not be working on the truck in the first place. I understand that there are not of Rivian dealerships around, but they are a new company and still building more. You have to know before I bought the car, you have to know where the Rivian service is. Thats your responsibility to know before you buy.

Lucky for me Rivian service is only 10 miles from me and only 1 mile from my work.

Let's put this into perspective - you were delivered a car less than a week ago with a plethora of issues: bad wheel balancing, bad alignment, a compressor that's running next to constantly, a screen that was assembled poorly, and a rear door that has severe paint issues. Would you go with the flow and drive your truck 2 hours to an appointment? Probably not.

I've had the truck for less than a week, and have only driven it 15 miles. I'm not in the business of roasting brand new tires, or starting to wear them that will affect the performance and lifespan in the long run.

 

[kcmwv]

Fwiw, see screenshot from a reply email from my guide (who has been great, btw). Tricky with the “emergency” wording. But, seems as if they will foot the bill for warranty issues, which IMO is as much as one can expect.

 

[JerseyGreens]

Folks better do a much better job at "accepting" delivery when the vehicle arrives at their doorstep. Putting lipstick on a pig won't make anything better.

Take 3-4 hours going over the vehicle, taking a test drive locally and highway - look over all the common issues people are finding with the vehicles and THEN let the delivery person leave...

You bet I'll be doing this and if I find a laundry list of issues I'm asking them to take it right back to the SC on their dime...I've waited nearly 3 years...I can wait another 3 days for them to fix panel gaps and come back...

 

[connoisseurr]

Folks better do a much better job at "accepting" delivery when the vehicle arrives at their doorstep. Putting lipstick on a pig won't make anything better.

Take 3-4 hours going over the vehicle, taking a test drive locally and highway - look over all the common issues people are finding with the vehicles and THEN let the delivery person leave...

You bet I'll be doing this and if I find a laundry list of issues I'm asking them to take it right back to the SC on their dime...I've waited nearly 3 years...I can wait another 3 days for them to fix panel gaps and come back...

All of my issues were discovered at delivery and I had two options. Submit support tickets to fix the issues, or reject the delivery. All my issues seemed to be easy to manage and my delivery agent agreed. He told me all of which would be taken care of by Richmond Service Center. Getting an appointment was easy, but trying to reschedule was like pulling teeth. THEN, the news about towing fees drops today really ground me down.

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