[New Email] Rivian offering discounted XPEL PPF to existing owners

[Andystroh]

As a note: Took delivery a few weeks ago, received the email the other day, did the online request, nothing yet....

Was at a car show this morning, one of the areas more reputable Xpel installers was there. Asked about the Rivian program, they were aware of it but were not happy about it and said they had no intention of participating. They are at $2,100 for the front clip, didn't ask about the full matte wrap.

They also started to make lots of noises about "Xpel is going to devalue their product..." and "it can't possibly be an edge wrap for that price..." etc. etc.

Will be curious to see if I get *any* shop referrals from my request, and if it just turns into a sales pitch for the local wrap shop to just tell me how I'm going to have to spend more to get it done properly.

Installer I just spoke to had a similar sentiment. He wouldn’t honor it and said it doesn’t include edge wrap. His pricing for the front is about $300 more so not a huge difference, just mentioned it to see what he would say.

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[AO_Pete]

Has anyone actually heard back from Xpel? It's been almost a week since I filled out the contact form, which said I should expect to hear from them in a 'few days'.

 

[KarTruck]

Has anyone actually heard back from Xpel? It's been almost a week since I filled out the contact form, which said I should expect to hear from them in a 'few days'.

No responses/contact received, yet. Maybe they underestimated the level of interest this would generate?

 

[camaroz1985]

Has anyone actually heard back from Xpel? It's been almost a week since I filled out the contact form, which said I should expect to hear from them in a 'few days'.

No contact, but I reached out to my local Xpel shop. They were unaware of the program until yesterday. They weren't sure if they were going to participate as an installer at this time. I was specifically interested in the front end package, so the full stealth info may be slightly different. They said the kit is a template cut pattern that does not wrap edges, and while it is the same material it is given with half the warranty. They quoted me $1750 to do a full front package with wrapped edges and the 10 year warranty. Seems like a no-brainer.

 

[Rousie13]

I just scheduled with my local XPEL installer for PPF/tint next week. Truck is supposed to get delivered Wednesday and I’ll be dropping the truck off Thursday.

Im getting full front (mirror caps, hood, fenders, front bumper, A-pillars, and B-pillars) plus front two windows tinted along with a windshield visor strip. They said they will wrap everything that doesn’t involve disassembly and it comes with the 10 year warranty. They quoted $2200 OTD with 7% taxes included.

 

[Ladiver]

Has anyone actually heard back from Xpel? It's been almost a week since I filled out the contact form, which said I should expect to hear from them in a 'few days'.

I suspect like all other Rivian communications, someone forgot to tell the Xpel installers about the program. Now they are scrambling to come up with the next excuse.

Seems very much like a situation I just faced at work. I was in a meeting to look at future changes and threw out an idea. Not two hours later, I had the manager of the department affected start questioning me about the change I am making! I had to calm those waters and explain that we were in a steering committee meeting and I was looking for feedback from the group before gathering information to present to the department!

 

[AO_Pete]

lol. In this case though, the contact form was hosted on Xpel's site, so I Think they know about it.

 

[Ladiver]

lol. In this case though, the contact form was hosted on Xpel's site, so I Think they know about it.

Proof of concept page just to show what it "could" look like??

 

[ironpig]

There is a reason nobody has heard back. Rivian has quoted prices on average about 15-25% cheaper than what the shops are already charging for the service. And there are very few Rivians on the road. So why would they be looking for sales leads on a job they will not make any money on?

Usually in this situation it would either be Xpel or Rivian offering the dealers/installers some type of rebate or incentive so they make profit. I don't know what Rivian was thinking by setting a price in email and pissing off all the installers. For customers it's great - if you can get someone do to it for that price, but here in LA there are so many good installers - I don't want the guys that will take a job that everyone else won't touch.

 

[HimuraMOdo]

So I've made a few phone calls to the nearby Xpel installer and all their quote are > 7K for full wrap (Glossy or Satin won't change the price). However, some of them do know about the Rivian deal and they said that deal doesn't have the best quality film from Xpel and the warranty is only for 5 yrs. And also the deal doesn't include wrapping the edges so that's why it's much cheaper.

For me, I have no idea and experience about PPF so I don't even know how big of a difference it is for the film quality and if wrapping the edges is important or not. Please advice.

 

[KarTruck]

So I've made a few phone calls to the nearby Xpel installer and all their quote are > 7K for full wrap (Glossy or Satin won't change the price). However, some of them do know about the Rivian deal and they said that deal doesn't have the best quality film from Xpel and the warranty is only for 5 yrs. And also the deal doesn't include wrapping the edges so that's why it's much cheaper.

For me, I have no idea and experience about PPF so I don't even know how big of a difference it is for the film quality and if wrapping the edges is important or not. Please advice.

Got a call from an Xpel installer today and they confirmed the same about the wrapped edges. They also said the Rivian deal does not include lights…
If I’m concerned about the front, I figure lights are included in that concern. Also, not having edges wrapped means you can tell where the film is applied (like the gear tunnel doors) - or so I’ve been told.

 

[nc10]

I used the XPEL program to have Exclusive Paint Protection in Charlotte, NC install XPEL Ultimate on the front end and ceramic coat the entire truck. Came out awesome..

For comparison, I went to the Sun Stoppers in Matthews, not too far from the place you used. I had XPEL Ulitmate plus PPF (10 yr warranty) on the front, hood, mirrors, fenders, bumper, door handles, headlights (included in the quote and on their cut sheet for this option). Was $1750, done a few days before the Rivian email came out. Also got the expel fusion ceramic coating on everything, $1100.

They did not remove the Rivian hood emblem, and didn't wrap around the edges. I had asked about the edges, was told they would wrap around areas were it was possible w/o removing parts. But it looks like where possible, on the hood and a few other places, they took the PPF goes right up to the edge of the hood so you have to look pretty close to see the edge of the PPF. I wish they would have wrapped around the edges on the door handles, where they did not even go right to the edge. Dropped the truck off one morning, picked it up the next afternoon.

I'm happy with how my R1T looks, but the experience wasn't perfect. I got a quote from SunStoppers online, then the location I was referred to (closest to me) tried to raise the price a couple times, said they had higher overheads, needed to charge extra for the headlights. Although it worked out ok, trying to renegotiate at the last second detracted from the buying experience.

 

[pfbz]

This is an Xpel screw up, not Rivian. Seems like a great idea for Rivian to work with Xpel corporate and try and set up some sort of pre-determined pricing at a discount. Xpel (corporate) obviously agreed... Their lack of communication to their licensed dealers and what seems like lack of incentives to make local dealers interested in this program seems to be where the problem lies.

I don't think Xpel's concept for the program was to have customers ask dealers about it, and have the dealers tell them what a crap install it would be and they shouldn't do it.

IMHO, that industry is a huge racket... Decent product? Sure, but insane profit margins, huge up-sells and in my area, fairly obvious price collusion.

 

[ironpig]

IMHO, that industry is a huge racket... Decent product? Sure, but insane profit margins, huge up-sells and in my area, fairly obvious price collusion.

This is correct. In Los Angles, it's a total racket with installers popping up everywhere. And the installers are all aware of each others prices so you really don't get a deal unless you get inferior product or poor installation/corners cut (or more literally not wrapped).

Unfortunately, it's a booming industry and if you go on any car thread there is someone saying "PPF IS A MUST" about every single car. So people who never would have gotten PPF in the past are now convinced that their car will be ruined if they don't plastic wrap the entire vehicle.

This is the only car I've ever purchased a PPF product for and that was only the front end because a flat painted surface and the amount of rocks I encounter convinced me to try it out for this first time. Every other 4x4 or car I have has stone chips and I don't care how they look. Will see if this makes me a convert or wish I had the $2000 back.

 

[jjswan33]

Has anyone actually heard back from Xpel? It's been almost a week since I filled out the contact form, which said I should expect to hear from them in a 'few days'.

I got a call this afternoon from Elite Protective Films in Portland. He confirmed the reasons why it is cheaper than their regular job (6995 vs 4500). No edge wrap, shorter warranty, no emblem removal etc.

Edit: He technically said is typical stealth install for a Rivian would be 7995, 6995 way for the gloss PPF.

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