Body work repair from not-Rivian-certified bodyshop

[Jonesy]

Hi all,

We’re in the Pasadena area.

We’ve a Forest Green.

We had a minor repair of a couple of dents in the right rear corner below the tail lamp.

We used CARSTAR in Pasadena. They are not Rivian certified.

They did a great job and did have to repaint even though the paint itself was not scratched.

Cost: $4k, done in 5 days

Also got an estimate from the Rivian authorized shop in Silver Lake (LA), whose estimate was $9.1k and 12+ business days. And they felt a need to paint the undamaged tail gate because they needed to blend paint there too. Whatever.

Best

Sponsored

 

[capitolm94]

Did they have to replace any panels? Sounds like the main issue is that Rivian won’t sell parts to a non approved shop.

 

[DADDYSLILGRANDPA]

Blending the tailgate is the proper way to repair. Congrats on paying less I guess?

 

[BCondrey]

I was told that Rivian would not sell body parts to non-certified shops, and that includes paint. Of course, a Rivian certified shop told me this. I agree it is a racket. The certification from Rivian is a license to charge whatever the hell the body shop wants. The inflated prices are why my insurance totaled my last R1T due to damage isolated to one rear quarter panel. Body shop told me that similar damage on a Tacoma would be $5,000. On my Rivian? $42,000.

 

[R1Thor]

Body shops don't need to buy paint from Rivian. There's very few and far between super specialized paints that can't be replicated by standard means.

A good body shop will be able to color match your vehicle without an issue. It just takes patience and iteration to get the paint to match perfectly.

I also messed up my tailgate beyond what PDR could fix and didn't want to pay exorbitant prices. So, I asked around and found a body shop who was up to the task. Truck looks like nothing ever happened to it!

Sponsored