Purchasing frustration

[oakhill5]

New to the forum and we are enjoying our new R1S tri GEn2. I have had a ford lighting for several years and my wife secretly loved the performance and hates gas stations, but obviously isn’t a truck person , but loves the finer things in life. Thanks for having me. I kind of can relate to both some positives and negatives but overall they were very upfront but I will say I’m not sure if this matters to them or not but it did affect us leasing vs buying.
We had a 25 Range Rover and they were up front and said they wouldn’t be able to give us the best price and I would have better luck with a 3rd party. Luckily the Land Rover dealership is 5 miles from the rivian showroom so I popped in and they gave me $10k more than rivian. It was actually an easy transaction on both ends but if rivian would have offered $5k more I would have bought the rivian because I only have to pay the sales tax between the difference if both vehicles which would have been almost a wash and out the remainder left overwith the rest of a down payment.

so instead I pocketed the $10k extra and turned around and leased the rivian and pocketed the extra money and used the rest to pay for taxes and fees on the good lease deal they were offering. Not sure if Rivian cares much about purchasing vs leasing since their lease deal was equivalent to 0% financing but that was a deciding factor for me.
Anyway it all worked out fine and was just a little more work on the front end but nothing worth complaining too much about since they were so upfront with it in the first place.

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[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Like any business deal. The terms are what they are. Don’t like it? It’s your choice to take your business elsewhere, or not. That, you are entitled to. Complaining doesn’t change anything because you have no leverage.

 

[Time2Roll]

Yes for what is described it is probably better to buy something off a dealer lot.

I must say I was a bit confused that all money needed to be paid in advance. I have always bought from a dealer and financing was done at time of pick up. So my delivery was delayed about a week as I caught up with the banking.

Otherwise do what it takes to close the deal. Or move on to something else. No unfair treatment here.

 

[VSG]

I personally love the fact that Rivian has up-front set pricing and that they will give you a best-and-final trade-in offer. No playing games with a dealer. Do the math, then make the choice based on what's best for you.

 

[Skeldog99]

Picked my my 2026 R1T Dual Max on 21 Jan 2026 and traded in my 2022 Ford Lightning Platinum. I bought it used and found out the moon roof leaks, when I opened up to see why, Ford did not install moonroof drain hoses on both front and rear passenger side. . Had the Lightning for a year and I was done. Had. 22 LE R1T but the quad motor clunking was what drove me away from the LE. The Dual motor is a lot better. Glad to be back

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

Like any business deal. The terms are what they are. Don’t like it? It’s your choice to take your business elsewhere, or not. That, you are entitled to. Complaining doesn’t change anything because you have no leverage.

No no. If you have a legitimate issue, you should raise it. Especially if an agreement ends up being unfair or misrepresented.

I’m just not sure that happened in this situation.

 

[Druidspirit]

No no. If you have a legitimate issue, you should raise it. Especially if an agreement ends up being unfair or misrepresented.

I’m just not sure that happened in this situation.

For me it wasn’t unfair or misrepresented. It was more one person was trying really hard to work out a deal. Because I told him multiple times I wasn’t going to sell it 3rd party. Especially since Tesla offered 4k more and up until this week was considering getting a Model Y performance or waiting for my R2 preorder. And at the time leaning more to the Tesla because of the trade in valuation.

But as soon as I got switched over to the second person, he acted like he was put out. And wasn’t willing to do anything other than tell me to sell it to a 3rd party.

I understand Rivian only accepts the trade in to immediately sell it at auction. But so does Tesla. I found it odd that they would be that far apart when they both were doing the same. I even sent them the offer from Tesla.

I told Noah, my original sells guy I’ll just wait for the R2 if they can’t match Tesla and he has literally emailed me every other day for the past 2 weeks to tell me the current deals and ask if I’ve changed my mind. Up until Thursday my response was always to ask if they’ve upped their trade in offer and if not I still wasn’t

However if Rivian wants to move past the fan boy stage of sells as they do with the R2 they need to figure out how to be competitive on trade ins. I’ll admit I’m a fan boy. I almost bought an R1S two years ago but I had to cancel it because it took too long to get here and I needed a car, which unfortunately is where the Lightning comes in that I’m trying to trade. So my original post is just about my frustration with the different interactions that stems from them undercutting everyone else.

This was the email that started the frustration

 

[jakasspeech15]

I agree, the terms are fixed. But I think the frustration comes more from the inconsistency between Guides rather than the price itself. As the OP said, having one person work hard for the deal and another blow it off is jarring. Consistency is key if they want to be taken seriously as a major manufacturer.

 

[iansriv]

What exact build did you want that Rivian never made? I remember looking through the R1 Shop trying to find exactly what I wanted and it didn’t take more than 5 days, IIRC. Did you want an exterior color that Rivian prohibited with Forest Edge, the Explore trim level that got axed, a 2-row R1S, a Gen1 Quad with max battery pack, or an accessory that Rivian never produced? Genuinely curious why you didn’t get what you wanted.

edit: typo

I was a bit late to the game and wanted a "bum basic" R1S. It was initially specked with a silver R1S, 21" wheels and the Explore trim. By the time I got my R1S it was a ECG, 20" wheels and about $15k more. I went with it realising that we were a select few and nothing was promised. 2 years on and my R1 is doing great. Only issue is I get stopped outside Whole Foods and Costco a lot and have to answer a lot of questions about the car.

 

[Eury]

There is flexibility on the trade value. Rivian and Carmax were $4k apart on my trade. I told my guide that wasn’t going to work for me, and with the time between getting a check from Carmax to clear and buying my new R1T wasn’t something that I could manage. So I was just going to trade in at Carmax and buy used from Carmax.

My guide had me take good detailed pictures and sent them to the trade in people. They came up $1500, then I got another $1k as goodwill from Rivian and they had a $1000 promo for orders that started that weekend. So ultimately they got me within $500 of the Carmax offer when it was all said and done. This all happened a couple weeks ago.

 

[Druidspirit]

There is flexibility on the trade value. Rivian and Carmax were $4k apart on my trade. I told my guide that wasn’t going to work for me, and with the time between getting a check from Carmax to clear and buying my new R1T wasn’t something that I could manage. So I was just going to trade in at Carmax and buy used from Carmax.

My guide had me take good detailed pictures and sent them to the trade in people. They came up $1500, then I got another $1k as goodwill from Rivian and they had a $1000 promo for orders that started that weekend. So ultimately they got me within $500 of the Carmax offer when it was all said and done. This all happened a couple weeks ago.

Dang, I need to tell them what you did. They were a hard we don’t negotiate for me no matter how many times I asked.

 

[Eury]

Dang, I need to tell them what you did. They were a hard we don’t negotiate for me no matter how many times I asked.

I initially didn’t even try after reading others say the same thing, but it got to where I was about to get the Carmax one and figured I’d give it a shot.

 

[Druidspirit]

I initially didn’t even try after reading others say the same thing, but it got to where I was about to get the Carmax one and figured I’d give it a shot.

I got a really good offer from Carmax. 6k more than Rivian’s offer. I tried to stand strong and wait for the R2 but my will was weak when they updated the lease cash to 6500. So I just ordered a R1S Dual Large with performance upgrade and the road trip package in LA Silver. I figured the LA Silver in matte finish would look pretty cool.

 

[Eury]

I got a really good offer from Carmax. 6k more than Rivian’s offer. I tried to stand strong and wait for the R2 but my will was weak when they updated the lease cash to 6500. So I just ordered a R1S Dual Large with performance upgrade and the road trip package in LA Silver. I figured the LA Silver in matte finish would look pretty cool.

I picked up my Blue Dual Large R1T today. I've been wanting one since they were first shown in Long Way Up years ago. It's even better than I imagined it would be. You're going to be very happy.

 

[Count Orlok]

The ol' bait and switch. Thank you RJ Scaringe, for promising a product, taking a large deposit for a custom configuration of said product, and then never delivering. I was an early adopter of the R1S and configured a quad motor version with just about every option. Then I waited.....and waited......and then got a nice rendering in the mail with a letter and all the niceties of a company doing their best to woo more customers.......and then continued to wait. And THEN!!!!!.....No, I didn't get my vehicle. What I got was "here are some other cars you can choose from and use your credit towards. Sorry, we know they're not the quad motor you ordered, or even the right color, and don't have the right interior, but if you don't select one of them before the end of September 2024 we're going to cancel your initial pricing.....OH, and we're going to keep your initial $1,000 deposit until you actually fight us to have it returned.........OH, and when you persist and try to explain that that's not what you signed up for we'll just tell you that due to the lease pricing and the changes in the production blah blah blah, our promise to you is no longer valid." Crappy, crappy company. I had really high hopes and really believed in their product but after that experience I will be turning as many people away from Rivian as possible.

early adopter? you mean like in 2024? The Count's 2022 quad R1S was delivered in 2022.

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