Demo Rivians Now for Sale

[Laserboy1054]

Does anyone know what's the latest status on shipping of the demos? I picked one in FL but i'm in CA...

According to their web site, the demo vehicles cannot be shipped: "Vehicle pickup is at the purchase location — we're unable to ship or transfer"

Looks like you'll have the opportunity for an awesome shakedown drive!

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[momo3605]

According to their web site, the demo vehicles cannot be shipped: "Vehicle pickup is at the purchase location — we're unable to ship or transfer"

Looks like you'll have the opportunity for an awesome shakedown drive!

Uff anyone have a demo R1S reserved in CA and want to trade for an R1S in FL? Lol

 

[Patrick87]

My progress so far:

Reserved a vehicle through the Demo Shop on Friday, May 17th. Sent a message to the Guide that I've been working with (like he instructed earlier that day if I found a model I like) so he could transfer the VIN to his supervision.

He sent the request via an email within a couple hours to put down a $1k deposit on a default R1T configuration. (price didn't match at this point) I paid the deposit and he said he would have more info/steps on Monday.

Today (Monday), an email came saying it's time to "lock in the configuration". Followed the steps. Price was correct at this point (actually $100 cheaper than the sales price on at the demo shop, I'm assuming because I missed out on the last one I tried to buy due to a policy change regarding not shipping from service center to service center).

Did that, and everything in the buyers portal switched to filling out the "steps" and all the stuff you have to do and upload.

At this point I emailed my guide and asked him about a potential pick up day so I'd know when to start the insurance policy on the Rivian. He replied back in 30 min and said he'd check w the service center and I'd hear back in 24 hours.

Within 45 min, I got a text from a Delivery Specialist in Virginia asking to confirm a delivery/pick up appointment this Thursday at 4:15pm. Yes! But now it's time to get busy on financing and all on my end. So I did.

Rivian's in house financing at that point advertised a rate of 7.5%. I clicked Apply (no trade in) and after filling out a bunch of info and hitting "Apply"... I got an email back in 5 minutes saying "Your Loan Application Decision is Ready". Clicking on that brought me to a page with terms for 8.2% APR and lowered my down payment from the amount i entered, oddly enough.

Mind you, my credit score is ~810. And I still didn't get the best rate??? Lol, I said no thanks.

I then called the credit union I've always backed at. Immediately was approved for 7.2% on the same 60 month term.

I selected "...I'll bring my own 3rd party financing" (or something like that) and filled in all the requested info.

The only thing I have left is to call my insurance company in the morning and have them add the vehicle/VIN to my policy and send Rivian proof, then, when my bank cuts a check to Rivian, I'll send them a photo copy and tracking info (overnight shipping). Then go pick up the truck 6.5 hours away on Thursday.

In summary, I reserved the vehicle Friday afternoon, and I'm this close on Monday afternoon. Pick up on Thursday. Knock on wood... hopefully the rest of this goes smoothly....

Following up with my progress:

I picked up my 2022 El Cap/Ocean Coast quad R1T demo on Thursday.

It was advertised to have 100 miles on the odometer, but actually only had 27 miles on it.

The truck is super clean and still had the screen protectors on all 3x screens inside. Still had the options sticker on the rear side window. It was literally brand new. Not a scratch, scuff, or any indication that it has ever been driven.

The "delivery" experience at the service center was flawless. They paired the app with the vehicle in seconds.

Very happy so far. Rides great (even compared to a 5th gen Ram 1500 with air ride) is super quiet and unbelievably fast.

I can't get over the handling. It handles a curvy road like a sport sedan rather than a traditional pickup truck!

I towed my ~7k lb travel trailer with it yesterday about 25 miles. It's a towing machine! It has so much torque I couldn't even notice it was back there when merging onto the interstate. The regen braking is so good: I only pressed the braje pedal 2x times on my short trip (when coming to a red light down steep hills).

Really impressed with this thing!

The demo process ended up saving me $25k vs a comparable "new" 2024 order. We'll worth the 450 mile drive to pick it up!

The federal tax credit was "point of sale", btw, so it was treated like a discount.

 

[Laserboy1054]

Following up with my progress:

The "delivery" experience at the service center was flawless. They paired the app with the vehicle in seconds.

Thanks for the update! You give me good reason for optimism: I'm slated to take delivery of the demo vehicle I've purchased from the same service center as you. My interactions with them so far are consistent with what you report, so it seems that there's good reason to expect that to continue.

Cheers!

 

[Patrick87]

Thanks for the update! You give me good reason for optimism: I'm slated to take delivery of the demo vehicle I've purchased from the same service center as you. My interactions with them so far are consistent with what you report, so it seems that there's good reason to expect that to continue.

Cheers!

Good deal: Bryce with the delivery team was especially great. Great communication.

If you end up speaking with Bryce, tell him Patrick from Tennessee said hello and had nothing but good things to say!

I drove a rental car the 6.5 hours from an Enterprise Rent-a-car in Clinton, TN to Richmond, VA and dropped the rental off at an Enterprise 0.75 mile away from the service center. He insisted he come pick me up to save me the walk (which after that drive, I wouldn’t have minded at all).

The rental car was definitely the way to go. It saved 900 miles on a personal vehicle and saved me from needing to tie up another person for a 16+ hour day. I bought the gas in the tank and spent $200 (gas + rental fee + taxes) total to drive the 42mpg car there. Didn't even have to stop for fuel. We'll worth it IMO. I'd do the exact same thing again.

 

[Laserboy1054]

If you end up speaking with Bryce, tell him Patrick from Tennessee said hello and had nothing but good things to say!

I drove a rental car the 6.5 hours from an Enterprise Rent-a-car in Clinton, TN to Richmond, VA

Wilco! We'll be flying in. Southwest is very inexpensive: from St. Louis (ironically, the St. Louis Rivian service center is right next to the airport--technically in Hazelwood; not-coincidentally, also right next to a major Amazon delivery hub) so we're in for about $250 in total air fare plus a night in a motel in Richmond. Let's call it $400 out-of-pocket and saving more than $20k on the truck. I'm cool with that!

 

[swflor]

Dumb question and I apologize in advance if I couldn’t find this somewhere…

“Demo” units being marketed as NEW with less than 100 miles on them…..how are they different than Demo Units? Vs QC Units..etc. anyone know?

Seems odd they keep adding these “New Demos” with less than 100 miles on them.

Demo makes sense for those with Miles vs no miles and listed as New.

ok…proceed with the “didn’t you read xx thread?”

 

[Laserboy1054]

How are they different than Demo Units? Vs QC Units..etc. anyone know?

ok…proceed with the “didn’t you read xx thread?”

C'mon: as a 30+ year veteran teacher, I've heard some dumb questions, and this isn't one of them! You'll have to get _way_ dumber to impress me. This is, in fact, an entirely reasonable question and one with a simple answer: you're right, the site includes demos and others. They state: "These vehicles are from our expanding sales and service fleet, previously used for demo drives, service loaners or as display vehicles in our spaces."
Later on (sort of in the "fine print zone"), they also say that the vehicles may include units that were sold but returned before being titled.

So some have basically zero miles while others actually have a few thousand--they still sell as "new" because they were never titled.

The accrued miles _do_ count against the mileage part of the warranty, but the time part of the warranty starts when the vehicle is "delivered" (or "picked up" in this case).

I hope this helps! (FYI: I'm relaying answers I got when I asked the same dumb questions of three separate "guides.")

 

[voxel]

I gave up my 23 late-VIN R1S demo late last week. I was supposed to drive to Atlanta from Orlando on Saturday but decided to hold off until the 800V refresh.

I tried to transfer the order to a friend in Tampa but Guides had no such authority and I was told to speak to sales folks but I had no sales contact info and my order was basically canceled and returned back into the pool. I forfeited the $1K deposit but don't care. My friend ended up reserving a R1T with all the crazy new discounts.

Rivian will NOT ship/transport demos between locations. That factored half into my decision as I am pretty occupied on the weekends and this would have eaten up almost 2 days. The other half was even with the demo pricing the destination ($1800) and reg/title fees ($1000) basically ate into the EV tax credit and trade in values were low. The R1S would have been my third vehicle that I would drive twice a month and wasn't ready for it to be my primary car nor my offroad rig (had a 23 R1S back in mid 2023 and I didn't gel with that config). When I look at R1Ses out in public, I kinda miss the speed and tech but this past week all the reasons why I sold mine in the first place came back to me.

With a 800V upgrade and improved suspension (or dump the air suspension), I would definitely consider it as my road trip vehicle but currently I see most EVs as more commuters or short trip cars.

 

[BuzzL8ghtYears]

Uff anyone have a demo R1S reserved in CA and want to trade for an R1S in FL? Lol

Has there been any R1S added ? How are yall so lucky to snag those? I never see any in stock

 

[bradsmart]

Not a great experience with my r1s demo, unfortunately.

Be sure to Inspect closely. Mine has mud/water evidence up to the firewall, dented/creased frame/ battery rail, mud /dirt evidence that the ac condenser has been submerged. Numerous underbody panels warped despite having the underbody shield.

Hoping to help others , as I don't understand how this r1s made it through to be sold as it is.

Picked up last Monday from Mahwah, NJ.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Not a great experience with my r1s demo, unfortunately.

Be sure to Inspect closely. Mine has mud/water evidence up to the firewall, dented/creased frame/ battery rail, mud /dirt evidence that the ac condenser has been submerged. Numerous underbody panels warped despite having the underbody shield.

Hoping to help others , as I don't understand how this r1s made it through to be sold as it is.

Picked up last Monday from Mahwah, NJ.

No photos?

 

[bradsmart]

No photos?

A few...

 

[onesoil]

A few...

Wow! That’s a bummer. How has Rivian responded?

my Demo R1T had almost 10k miles, but looked better than my dad’s June 2022 Launch R1T did when delivered new. I literally could have been told it had no miles and would have believed it. The charging records on mine showed it charging at “Palo Alto Home” until Dec. 2023, inspire of it coming from Chicago (and then delivery in Chelsea, MA). My suspicion was that my truck was probably an employee/executive vehicle or something, spending most of its time in Palo Alto L2 charging.

my truck did need one front half shaft and both rear dampers due to clicking I was feeling in the front on hard/abrupt acceleration/deceleration and clunking in the rear over bumps. The driver door also needed a minor alignment tweak.They fixed everything about 1.5 month after I took delivery (I had 20 days with a loaner).

 

[Laserboy1054]

Not a great experience with my r1s demo, unfortunately.

Hoping to help others , as I don't understand how this r1s made it through to be sold as it is.

Picked up last Monday from Mahwah, NJ.

That's awful! How did you miss all that at the time of delivery? I'm not sure what would happen if a customer said "this isn't what I paid for," considering that they already have your money at that point. But a vehicle that was advertised as having "ordinary wear and tear" is what you were offered and it seems not to be what you received.

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