Rivian curious life-long cheapskate....what to look for in a USED R1T

[grebe]

Good day all,

I have been living a happy life looking for deals and trying to get the most out of my limited funds, but still trying to get cool stuff! I just started a new job where I actually have a little wiggle room and now a new-ish truck is actually a thing I can start looking seriously at. I am currently in a Ridgeline that is 15 years old full of dog hair and dirty as hell, but otherwise still getting it done (16 mpg though...ouch). ALSO: new job has free charging stations, so the cheap skate in me needs to take advantage of that nugget.

So, I will be surely still looking at the bottom of the range on a used Rivian....What would you all recommend looking for and looking to steer clear of while looking to get the best bang for the buck on my next truck? It will be driven daily, and will have big dogs in the back almost that often. It will not get washed, it will not ever see the inside of a garage, and will be used hopefully often to make 400 mile round trips pulling a raft on a light trailer. Sometimes, it will have to pull a 6000 lb trailer, but not very often or far. FSD is not really that important to me. Of course, coming from the ICE life, range anxiety may be though...especially while towing and traveling. I already have a NART (not a real truck), so the bed size is not a concern.

Gratuitous pic of the gods as thanks for your replies.

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[BigSkies]

Welcome! I hope to keep my Rivian like you've kept your ridgeline.

I don't think there's any one thing to look out for.

Read a little about the differences between Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles. There are reasons people prefer one over the other which are more related to personal preferences than better/worse. I haven't looked at used pricing, but I suspect you can get a slightly better deal on a Gen 1.

Earlier Gen 1's had more panel gap and cosmetic issues, but that doesn't sound like something super important to you.

Get one that is under warranty and make sure Rivian does a full inspection before the warranty expires.

You can trust the range estimates on the Rivian for charging, at least once it learns your trailer and driving habits. Most of the anxiety around charging is like the anxiety of learning to pump gas when you turn 16. It's not exactly hard, but you feel like an idiot the first time you do it. You'll be fine as long as you figure it out before you get 200 miles from anywhere.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I wouldn't buy a Rivian if you want to save money. These things are expensive to fix, and getting one out of warranty is a recipe for multi-thousand-dollar repair bills. These cars are great, but they are not economical.

 

[iansriv]

There are a lot of people on here that have had very positive experiences with a used Rivian. My friend and I both got our 2023 R1S new around the same time in '23 and have not have any major issues. No panel gaps either. There is also the option of a new R2, if you're concerned about warranty? All the best.

 

[kanundrum]

Good day all,

I have been living a happy life looking for deals and trying to get the most out of my limited funds, but still trying to get cool stuff! I just started a new job where I actually have a little wiggle room and now a new-ish truck is actually a thing I can start looking seriously at. I am currently in a Ridgeline that is 15 years old full of dog hair and dirty as hell, but otherwise still getting it done (16 mpg though...ouch). ALSO: new job has free charging stations, so the cheap skate in me needs to take advantage of that nugget.

So, I will be surely still looking at the bottom of the range on a used Rivian....What would you all recommend looking for and looking to steer clear of while looking to get the best bang for the buck on my next truck? It will be driven daily, and will have big dogs in the back almost that often. It will not get washed, it will not ever see the inside of a garage, and will be used hopefully often to make 400 mile round trips pulling a raft on a light trailer. Sometimes, it will have to pull a 6000 lb trailer, but not very often or far. FSD is not really that important to me. Of course, coming from the ICE life, range anxiety may be though...especially while towing and traveling. I already have a NART (not a real truck), so the bed size is not a concern.

Gratuitous pic of the gods as thanks for your replies.

Hit up @LindsayVW for your local rivian deals. Happy owner of a R1S almost 3.5 years

 

[smashweights]

I have a 22 R1T I bought used. I would absolutely ensure you have a service center nearby and minimum 1 year and 1 years worth of miles on the warranty just to comb through it. I love it but it does have some issues that hopefully will become less frequent down the line.

Also, free work chargers are great. I get about 100kWh free at work every week, which is about half my total energy cost.

 

[LindsayVW]

Hit up @LindsayVW for your local rivian deals. Happy owner of a R1S almost 3.5 years

Thank you for the mention! We have tons of R1T’s, some even currently listed in the high 30’s / low 40’s!

 

[Nixapatfan]

Not a cheap truck to own out of warranty.

 

[RivianRiverRat]

I personally have not had an out of warranty issue -yet

but if you are in it long term - budget the extended warranty cost into your plans

 

[TTedP]

Buy the cheapest one you can find with enough warranty time to identify any issues and consider adding this https://www.xcelerateauto.com/ for the long term. Very little is self repair and likely a $700+ bill.

Only other thought is mid to late Gen 1 switched to a single 12v. If you’re watching your duckets, the potentially more frequent 12v replacement is $. Maybe target early Gen 1 (lowest price, great early builds) or early Gen 2 (cheapest ones with all the newer hardware)

Awesome cars. Nothing else like it out there I’d want. I’ll probably stick with Rivian for many model generations but go in eyes open. Good luck in the search!

 

[Matt M]

I purchased a '23 R1T back in Nov. I did a lot of research and a lot of looking around. I live in Albuquerque, NM and ended up buying from a Ford dealer in Moab, UT....400 miles away. (Not a great selection is NM.) My suggestion would be to make sure you test drive it and anything that has power and/or supposed to function in some way, make sure it works. One of my biggest issues with buying used, if buying directly from Rivian you CANNOT test drive the exact vehicle you are purchasing. You just have to take their word for it that everything is in good working condition. I test drove two different used R1T's (one at CarMax and one at a local dealer) and found both to have several "little" issues. Seat heaters didn't work, lumbar didn't work, tailgate didn't release, had to pull the pull tailgate down, frunk wouldn't open all the way, one had something wrong with the screen and constantly had the red "warning" color/fade/whatever it's called on the right side of the screen no matter the setting it was in. Both trucks were also missing some of the items that came stock when new (flash light, portable charger, etc.). None of those were necessarily show stoppers but when paying in the 50K range for a 4 yr old used truck, everything should work. I had the dealer in Moab do a video call where they walked around the truck and had them push every button, move every switch, toggle, etc. I'm sure they didn't like that, but, again, wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting. My vehicle only had 15K miles when I bought it so lots of warranty left and the previous owner had a PPF wrap put on the truck, had all the paperwork, etc., which gave me a warm and fuzzy that he took care of it.

I was also nervous about service because I'm 5 hrs from the nearest service center. Was there last month for the latest recall and paid the $230 for the "comprehensive inspection" to give me a better piece of mind. Based on your location, looks like you are pretty close to a service center so it'll be "easier" if you have a problem.

Long post, but just do you homework and make sure everything is in working order.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Expensive vehicles are always expensive to own. And seemingly inexpensive parts are surprisingly expensive. By expensive I mean original product positioning, not used retail value. As in, a used BMW could be affordable to buy, but expensive to own.

Fundamentals on economy of scale... R1 is a low production product. This means every single part it is assembled from is also low volume. This means higher cost per item, and higher resulting retail price for the consumer… for each replacement part.

Learn all you can, but also be aware that the digital information space is unbalanced by nature. If you don’t spend enough time reading and researching, you can easily get the impression that these cars are extremely unreliable. The internet is an echo chamber and negativity gets amplified, often intentionally to boost site/platform traffic. So it’s doubly important to do due diligence and research thoroughly to get a fuller picture and really know what you’d be getting yourself into. Don’t rely only on asking, but also do lots of searching (web search, forum search).

Nothing beats your own first person impressions. Get hands-on with test drives. Evaluate these tactile experiences against all secondhand impressions you’ve learned in your research. And answer for yourself, “do the cons outweigh the pros?”

Lastly, if you do not have a local service center AND if you are not willing to budget for a trustworthy extended warranty… this car is not for you.

 

[BlueberryQuadzilla]

Bought my 2022 Used. Get the lowest miles you can find and having it still under warranty for a year is a solid idea because Rivian is great with their warranty. Service center at a distance you don’t mind driving to is good. Basically if it is under warranty, nothing to look for. Drive it, get used to 1 pedal driving with regen… it is fun. Mine has been in the service center for AC, tonneau functionality, cruise if you want a few things to check. Pro tip, the frunk hood closes with a button, not by hand.

 

[Steve A.]

Good day all,

I have been living a happy life looking for deals and trying to get the most out of my limited funds, but still trying to get cool stuff! I just started a new job where I actually have a little wiggle room and now a new-ish truck is actually a thing I can start looking seriously at. I am currently in a Ridgeline that is 15 years old full of dog hair and dirty as hell, but otherwise still getting it done (16 mpg though...ouch). ALSO: new job has free charging stations, so the cheap skate in me needs to take advantage of that nugget.

So, I will be surely still looking at the bottom of the range on a used Rivian....What would you all recommend looking for and looking to steer clear of while looking to get the best bang for the buck on my next truck? It will be driven daily, and will have big dogs in the back almost that often. It will not get washed, it will not ever see the inside of a garage, and will be used hopefully often to make 400 mile round trips pulling a raft on a light trailer. Sometimes, it will have to pull a 6000 lb trailer, but not very often or far. FSD is not really that important to me. Of course, coming from the ICE life, range anxiety may be though...especially while towing and traveling. I already have a NART (not a real truck), so the bed size is not a concern.

I just went through this process last month when I totaled my 2023 R1S, so after several weeks of research for ALL AVAILABLE used R1Ts in the MD/VA/PA/DC/DE area, I can HIGHLY recommend your BEST value deal will most-likely be found at @LindsayVW Dulles, VA. See my recent reply for details: Lindsay VW - Your #1 Source for Pre-Owned Rivians.

The BEST VALUE deal that I got from @LindsayVW was a 2022 R1T for $56k w/ a build date of 6/22 and 15k miles, so it still had 15 months and 45k miles on the OEM warranty; however, one benefit of buying from @LindsayVW was that I was also able to buy a 5 year/100k mile JD Power & Associates extended warranty, which I desired, since I put 31k+ miles/year on my R1S (100+ mile daily r/t commute).

AFAIC, it was a great deal considering my 2023 R1S that I totaled had 62.5k miles (out of warranty) and still resulted in a $58k payoff by the insurance company. Plus, the 2022 R1T was single owner, ZERO accidents, and because it was a pre-3/23 build date (MY #1 REQUIREMENT) it had the original Meridian premium sound system (all Rivian sound systems since SUCK incl. my 2023 R1S), plus two 12V batteries (my 2023 R1S had 1 w/ 2 replacements and 5 total service calls for 3+ weeks total!), 12V power points in frunk and under dash (ZERO for my 2023 R1S), and 110V outlet in 2nd row and gear tunnel (only 3rd row 110V outlet for my 2023 R1S) PLUS it had a WORKING original powered tonneau cover (my #2 requirement!). Also, the 2022 R1T interior and exterior was in better shape than ANY OTHER preowned R1T I looked at CarMax and other dealers and even better than my 2023 R1S which was a year younger!

So, I HIGHLY recommend a pre-3/23 build date for your best value w/ 1 or 2 previous owners, less than 30k miles, and ZERO accidents, and DEFINITELY buy the extended warranty and windshield insurance as well.

Hope that helps.

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