Demo Rivians Now for Sale

[onesoil]

Im just not understanding why they dont evenly apply a policy that makes sense. There are people all thru this forum with mix experiences on delivery. Im certain all of us here wouldnt mind an additional fee to deliver, but some if their sale reps are needlessly rude and provocative.

Were also dealing with a company that regularly ships vehicles across the country, its nothing for them to include our orders in their existing system.

Not to mention the website for demo sales clearly states they deliver in 1-4weeks in multiple places.

Its frustrating to be in the middle of buying a very expensive vehicle (at a discount, but still expensive) and to be treated poorly.

I

I spoke with a guide at 5pm yesterday. My main question was regarding the new policy that the demo vehicles are locked into their SC locations and cannot be transfered between service centers: will this policy return to normal (being able to ship demo vehicles to a nearby service center) after April 1st? (since this seems to be an end of the quarter sales push)

The answer: he doesn't know. Maybe. But he probably won't know anything until mid-April after they've reviewed "what worked and didn't work regarding these demo vehicles". He said he would reach out sometime in mid-April to let me know.

I asked if I should continue to "reserve" a vehicle I'd be willing to purchase on the demo shop for $0.00? Or maybe resume after April 1st?

He said no, no use in it. It would just prevent someone that might be local to the vehicle to not be able to get one. He recommended just hanging tight until I hear from him next month...

He also confirmed that vehicles located in CA or MA cannot be registered to out of state buyers. So unless you live in one of those states-- don't waste your time.

With that being said-- Jw3833 said he lives in NJ and is heading out to CA to pick his up. So it seems the Rivian guide is giving some conflicting info in that regard...

Frustrating. For the next couple weeks I'm going to keep an eye on the demo shop to see if anything that meets my criteria pops up within ~400 miles of my location.

It just seems crazy to me that a lot of folks were able to transfer vehicles between service centers earlier in March, but if a person tries to the same in late March, they can't do it.

If anyone hears anything different, please post up.

I live in VT and am picking one up in Chelsea, MA—tentatively scheduled for the 4/6. I haven't heard anything about me not being able to collect the vehicle due to some registration rule.

We opted to register it ourselves anyway since a dealer locally clued us in to a loophole that cuts the tax price in half. We can benefit from this if we register ourselves, and I assumed Rivian wouldn't be able to find the right category to register under. I plan to just bring a temporary tag, which can be printed from my DMV.

I would take anything a "Sales Guide" says with a grain of salt and try to speak with a different person (which I had no success in doing throughout the frustrating 3 weeks I was dealing with my Sales Guide). It seems that you can get a different answer about the same question depending on who you're talking to, which is not very confidence inspiring. They really need to do a better job getting their sales teams on the same page, take a more active approach to sales now that they seem to be supply-heavy with waining demand (I think they got used to the opposite supply/demand dynamic, and are therefore in need of some restructuring and/or retraining of staff to become more effective salespeople).

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[Patrick87]

I


I live in VT and am picking one up in Chelsea, MA—tentatively scheduled for the 4/6. I haven't heard anything about me not being able to collect the vehicle due to some registration rule.

We opted to register it ourselves anyway since a dealer locally clued us in to a loophole that cuts the tax price in half. We can benefit from this if we register ourselves, and I assumed Rivian wouldn't be able to find the right category to register under. I plan to just bring a temporary tag, which can be printed from my DMV.

I would take anything a "Sales Guide" says with a grain of salt and try to speak with a different person (which I had no success in doing throughout the frustrating 3 weeks I was dealing with my Sales Guide). It seems that you can get a different answer about the same question depending on who you're talking to, which is not very confidence inspiring. They really need to do a better job getting their sales teams on the same page, take a more active approach to sales now that they seem to be supply-heavy with waining demand (I think they got used to the opposite supply/demand dynamic, and are therefore in need of some restructuring and/or retraining of staff to become more effective salespeople).

That's good to know. Either my guide is mistaken, making that up, or, the fact that you're registering it yourself ahead of time makes a difference.

I completely get what you're saying the sales guide. When I started this journey a couple weeks ago, the general customer support people at Rivian said these vehicles could be transferred between service centers. The sales guide says otherwise. What a mess...

 

[mcarver316]

Wow- the only 3-4 R1S to pop into the demo sale page disappeared within an hour.

 

[AaronTV]

The text at demovehicles.rivian.com was recently changed to reflect this new pick up at location only policy.

My truck was coming from San Francisco to Chicago and I'm scheduled to take delivery on Saturday (3/30). I haven't heard about any delays...yet.

 

[Patrick87]

The text at demovehicles.rivian.com was recently changed to reflect this new pick up at location only policy.

My truck was coming from San Francisco to Chicago and I'm scheduled to take delivery on Saturday (3/30). I haven't heard about any delays...yet.

Damn, it's official then. Good catch. They changed the wording on the paragraph above that line, too.

I wonder if "Pick Up Only" means they'll waive the $1,800 "Destination Fee". I'm assuming not, even though the transfer costs should come out of that. Anyone picked one of these vehicles up at their assigned location mind sharing?

 

[jbl911]

Picked up mine yesterday. It was transported from VA to MI. It was as described, it actually only had 78 miles vs the advertised 148.

 

[Patrick87]

Picked up mine yesterday. It was transported from VA to MI. It was as described, it actually only had 78 miles vs the advertised 148.

Congrats! Glad you had yours transferred before the policy change.

 

[onesoil]

Picked up mine yesterday. It was transported from VA to MI. It was as described, it actually only had 78 miles vs the advertised 148.

Congratulations—and nice color choice! I'm also getting a Forest Green R1T (with FE and 20" darks), assuming it all works out next week It's nice to see it in the dappled sunshine—it really shows how much range there is in this paint.

When did you place your demo order?

 

[doit82]

I


I live in VT and am picking one up in Chelsea, MA—tentatively scheduled for the 4/6. I haven't heard anything about me not being able to collect the vehicle due to some registration rule.

We opted to register it ourselves anyway since a dealer locally clued us in to a loophole that cuts the tax price in half. We can benefit from this if we register ourselves, and I assumed Rivian wouldn't be able to find the right category to register under. I plan to just bring a temporary tag, which can be printed from my DMV.

I would take anything a "Sales Guide" says with a grain of salt and try to speak with a different person (which I had no success in doing throughout the frustrating 3 weeks I was dealing with my Sales Guide). It seems that you can get a different answer about the same question depending on who you're talking to, which is not very confidence inspiring. They really need to do a better job getting their sales teams on the same page, take a more active approach to sales now that they seem to be supply-heavy with waining demand (I think they got used to the opposite supply/demand dynamic, and are therefore in need of some restructuring and/or retraining of staff to become more effective salespeople).

as a fellow vermonter could you share this loop hole?

 

[jbl911]

Congratulations—and nice color choice! I'm also getting a Forest Green R1T (with FE and 20" darks), assuming it all works out next week It's nice to see it in the dappled sunshine—it really shows how much range there is in this paint.

When did you place your demo order?

Thanks! I reserved my demo 3/19, paid 3/20, Delivery Scheduled 3/21, Picked up 3/28

 

[jbl911]

Congrats! Glad you had yours transferred before the policy change.

Thank you sir.

 

[onesoil]

as a fellow vermonter could you share this loop hole?

Apparently—according to Lamoile Valley Ford Anyway—you can register any truck in a weight class over 10,100 lbs. GVWR. This weight class has a maximum tax of $2,486. I guess after the first year, you can then register it normally. I will check with my Father, who was shopping for a Lightning when the Lamoile Valley salesman told him, "we do this all the time," to see how this is legal because I don't really see why it is. But it seems like it must be if they register trucks this way for people regularly with the volume of new trucks they sell. Here's a link to the tax table https://dmv.vermont.gov/tax-title/vehicle-taxation

I’m a little skeptical, but I’ll let you know how it goes when I go to register.

Also, if you're on GMP power, check if you qualify for the $2200 rebate (if you aren't aware of it already). You have a year after purchase to get it. We are turning in a leased Ioniq 5 for a manufacturer buyback due to it spending so much time in the shop within the first year, and GMP is still giving us the rebate a few days shy of a year after we signed the lease (I just found out that the rebate qualifies for commercial purchases/leases).

All said and done, we will be getting the $7500 federal rebate (Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit), the $2200 GMP credit, and saving a little over $2k on taxes. Combined with the nearly $30k off the purchase price for being a Demo, I feel like we've just about dodged the current depreciation hit.

 

[andder]

Took three tries w/ our demo reservation (got unsolicited cancellation notices twice, but saw it quickly each time and managed to snap up the same vehicle as it hit the demo site once again) but finally got connected with a sales guide yesterday.

I'm assuming this was due to the big push to get as many demo rigs delivered within Q1 as humanly possible, which put me out of the running w/ my AZ zip code, far, far away from any demo vehicles on the website.

They did confirm that they're not transferring vehicles between service centers at this time, but indicated that they were still able to do (at least some?) transfers from the main plant/warehouse in Normal to other service centers.

Knock on Dark Ash Wood, our prospective demo R1S will be jumping on a rail car headed from IL to AZ in the coming days...

 

[mcarver316]

Bad news for Maryland Residents:

“Currently, we're unable to register demo vehicles with the state of Maryland. And therefore we cannot facilitate a purchase of one of these vehicles unless there is an alternative State not indicated on our website that does allow for the registration of that vehicle. We will be able to ship any vehicle out of normal to the service center. But wanted to set the expectation that it cannot be registered with the state of Maryland.”

 

[Patrick87]

Took three tries w/ our demo reservation (got unsolicited cancellation notices twice, but saw it quickly each time and managed to snap up the same vehicle as it hit the demo site once again) but finally got connected with a sales guide yesterday.

I'm assuming this was due to the big push to get as many demo rigs delivered within Q1 as humanly possible, which put me out of the running w/ my AZ zip code, far, far away from any demo vehicles on the website.

They did confirm that they're not transferring vehicles between service centers at this time, but indicated that they were still able to do (at least some?) transfers from the main plant/warehouse in Normal to other service centers.

Knock on Dark Ash Wood, our prospective demo R1S will be jumping on a rail car headed from IL to AZ in the coming days...

How did your delivery go? Were they able to transfer your R1S from Normal to a service center closer to you?

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