R1T t-boned. Let’s see what it costs to repair hitting a light pole

[Alex D]

From my experience. My incident occurred on 7 Feb, Rivian certified repair facility viewed the truck on 8 Feb, initial estimate received on 10 Feb. Parts were "ordered" and I began to wait.

In late April, after being assured again by the body shop that Rivian was "back-ordered" on the parts, I reached out directly to Rivian. Within 3-4 days, Rivian reached back and notified me that the parts were readily available and, although an inquiry had been made by my certified repair facility, the parts HAD NEVER ACTUALLY BEEN ORDERED!

I call my repair facility and, upon asking for the gentleman I had been working with for months, was informed that he no longer worked there...hmmm. I relayed what Rivian had told me, they investigated, and parts were finally ordered. I dropped the truck off last Monday, 22 May, and it's being worked on now.

Lots of delays but they appear to be the fault of my repair shop and not Rivian. BTW...Rivian has continued to contact me to track completion of my repairs. This is astounding behavior from a manufacturer and is indicative of their (in my experience) genuine concern for the satisfaction of their customers.

I recommend you stay on top of your repair shop and if you seem to be overly delayed, ask lots of questions. Good luck!

Update:

Man you we're completely right about this process being terrible all around. Its been a month since the accident and I still don't even have an initial damage estimate from the shop. And I chose a top tier shop. They says its going to be another two weeks before I even have an estimate.

On top of it, the at fault party insurance company has been terrible. They've accepted full fault but havn't communicated anything since. I had been running the claim through my insurance but my rental car coverage is about to run out so we're working to move that coverage to Travelers, the at fault company. Its been 2 weeks and they haven't even communicated back to me or my insurance agent despite multiple calls. And this is with reaching out to the adjuster, the adjusters manager and the managers manager. Not a single bit of communication from them. They are proving to be an absolutely horrible company to deal with. I've filed a complaint with the state insurance board and am about to hire a lawyer. I can't believe this is the state of modern insurance. I shouldn't have to sue someone to get the service owed from the at fault company.

Honestly after this whole experience I think I've lost all interest in owning a Rivian. The company itself and car are great but if this is the difficulties when it come to repairs and insurance, I'm out. The state of our society and insurance is sad.

I wish I could just say what the damage is going to cost...

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[Chewy734]

It sad to hear of all your troubles. You are absolutely correct that insurance companies can be a pain to deal with in such cases, and industry wide improvements need to be made to help the customers more.

But, to be fair, would your experience have been any different if you were driving any other ~$90k vehicle in the same situation? Is it just because there are fewer certified Rivian repair shops? Or something else?

It took over a month to fix a small fender bender on my dad’s Ford Taurus a few months ago. Good body shops are just backlogged and busy as hell these days, even if they have all the necessary parts.

 

[Count Orlok]

Honestly after this whole experience I think I've lost all interest in owning a Rivian. The company itself and car are great but if this is the difficulties when it come to repairs and insurance, I'm out. The state of our society and insurance is sad.

I wish I could just say what the damage is going to cost...

I understand your thinking. My collision experience wasn't as bad as yours but I did learn that there is often a delay in generating estimates because shops rely on Rivian techs for specifics on repairs. When I took my S in the shop manager said he was relieved I was hit in the front as there isn't even established protocols from Rivian on repairing the back since they are so new.

good luck.

 

[Ravenron]

Update:

Man you we're completely right about this process being terrible all around. Its been a month since the accident and I still don't even have an initial damage estimate from the shop. And I chose a top tier shop. They says its going to be another two weeks before I even have an estimate.

On top of it, the at fault party insurance company has been terrible. They've accepted full fault but havn't communicated anything since. I had been running the claim through my insurance but my rental car coverage is about to run out so we're working to move that coverage to Travelers, the at fault company. Its been 2 weeks and they haven't even communicated back to me or my insurance agent despite multiple calls. And this is with reaching out to the adjuster, the adjusters manager and the managers manager. Not a single bit of communication from them. They are proving to be an absolutely horrible company to deal with. I've filed a complaint with the state insurance board and am about to hire a lawyer. I can't believe this is the state of modern insurance. I shouldn't have to sue someone to get the service owed from the at fault company.

Honestly after this whole experience I think I've lost all interest in owning a Rivian. The company itself and car are great but if this is the difficulties when it come to repairs and insurance, I'm out. The state of our society and insurance is sad.

I wish I could just say what the damage is going to cost...

Man, that really sucks. Insurance companies in general really suck! They know they're gonna pay so they seem to have no incentive to "help". And since there is no penalty for being dicks about the whole thing, naturally, that's the path they're going to take.

As far as being a Rivian owner, I tend to agree with a previous poster that we're likely to experience similar issues with any high end, expensive vehicle. Ultimately, I believe the cooperation and assistance of Rivian in my case will make this entire situation MUCH more bearable and successful. I would never expect ANY other manufacturer to go to bat for a customer like Rivian has for me. Once my repair is complete, I will share details. Suffice to say, it's given me a new definition of "above and beyond" for things they had absolutely NO responsibility to address...they simply were concerned about me and my vehicle and volunteered to help.

In your case, I wouldn't give up on Rivian yet (assuming you still like the truck). Best of luck!

 

[ironpig]

Update:

Man you we're completely right about this process being terrible all around. Its been a month since the accident and I still don't even have an initial damage estimate from the shop. And I chose a top tier shop. They says its going to be another two weeks before I even have an estimate.

On top of it, the at fault party insurance company has been terrible. They've accepted full fault but havn't communicated anything since. I had been running the claim through my insurance but my rental car coverage is about to run out so we're working to move that coverage to Travelers, the at fault company. Its been 2 weeks and they haven't even communicated back to me or my insurance agent despite multiple calls. And this is with reaching out to the adjuster, the adjusters manager and the managers manager. Not a single bit of communication from them. They are proving to be an absolutely horrible company to deal with. I've filed a complaint with the state insurance board and am about to hire a lawyer. I can't believe this is the state of modern insurance. I shouldn't have to sue someone to get the service owed from the at fault company.

Honestly after this whole experience I think I've lost all interest in owning a Rivian. The company itself and car are great but if this is the difficulties when it come to repairs and insurance, I'm out. The state of our society and insurance is sad.

I wish I could just say what the damage is going to cost...

That's awful and you are right about the insurance industry. This is getting even worse here in California where they don't want to cover anybody for anything - even if we've paid in to insurance for decades and not had any claims.

I can understand not wanting to deal with a car that is out of commission for this long in the event of an accident.

Hope you get some resolution soon.

 

[RexRemus]

Thank you - Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve absolutely loved the truck but I have a hard time with the increased pricing. I’m sure insurance will make me whole but for me, I’m not sure I want to daily a 100k truck. For some reason my mind sees a difference between an 80k and 100k price point and my willingness to offroad it. I’m sure this will be an unpopular opinion but I’m debating what I want to do.

Better to buy a $60k truck, put $40K of upgrades into it and off-road that. Then you don't need to feel bad because it's only a $60k truck

 

[Alex D]

Better to buy a $60k truck, put $40K of upgrades into it and off-road that. Then you don't need to feel bad because it's only a $60k truck

Right! Or spend 40k on a side by side and burn the offroad world.

 

[Alex D]

Man, that really sucks. Insurance companies in general really suck! They know they're gonna pay so they seem to have no incentive to "help". And since there is no penalty for being dicks about the whole thing, naturally, that's the path they're going to take.

As far as being a Rivian owner, I tend to agree with a previous poster that we're likely to experience similar issues with any high end, expensive vehicle. Ultimately, I believe the cooperation and assistance of Rivian in my case will make this entire situation MUCH more bearable and successful. I would never expect ANY other manufacturer to go to bat for a customer like Rivian has for me. Once my repair is complete, I will share details. Suffice to say, it's given me a new definition of "above and beyond" for things they had absolutely NO responsibility to address...they simply were concerned about me and my vehicle and volunteered to help.

In your case, I wouldn't give up on Rivian yet (assuming you still like the truck). Best of luck!

You are definitely right about Rivian, this doesn't really fall on them and my collision center has said they are super helpful with parts and supporting them. The overall Rivian support seems to be solid (minus my guide, who doesn't seem to embody the Rivian message the way the rest of the team does).

On an interesting note I was told by the collision center that Rivian does not allow body shops handle the cooling systems for the truck. My radiator will have to be replaced and they have to call in Rivian techs to manage that repair. I find it fascinating that Rivian steps in on the cooling system.

Has yours been repaired yet? Also if you don't mind me asking what did you ask for with your "like rental"? I'm about to have that conversation (hopefully not with lawyers) and I'm curious how you made your demand and what you had to go through to get the company to make it right.

Thanks for your insights!

 

[Sconces]

Travelers is the absolute worst insurance company to deal with. I was rear ended (luckily not in an R1) by a turo driver covered by travelers. They absolutely dragged their feet whenever they could and even misrepresented their coverage limit. I had to file a complaint with the state insurance board. But they moved really fast after receiving an investigation letter from the board.
Definitely pursue diminished value AND loss of use payment. For me, my old car was totaled as the result of the accident, and they paid me 120 days of loss of use for my car at comparable daily rental rate, which was almost as much as what my old car was worth. (They didn’t even provide a rental).

Update:

Man you we're completely right about this process being terrible all around. Its been a month since the accident and I still don't even have an initial damage estimate from the shop. And I chose a top tier shop. They says its going to be another two weeks before I even have an estimate.

On top of it, the at fault party insurance company has been terrible. They've accepted full fault but havn't communicated anything since. I had been running the claim through my insurance but my rental car coverage is about to run out so we're working to move that coverage to Travelers, the at fault company. Its been 2 weeks and they haven't even communicated back to me or my insurance agent despite multiple calls. And this is with reaching out to the adjuster, the adjusters manager and the managers manager. Not a single bit of communication from them. They are proving to be an absolutely horrible company to deal with. I've filed a complaint with the state insurance board and am about to hire a lawyer. I can't believe this is the state of modern insurance. I shouldn't have to sue someone to get the service owed from the at fault company.

Honestly after this whole experience I think I've lost all interest in owning a Rivian. The company itself and car are great but if this is the difficulties when it come to repairs and insurance, I'm out. The state of our society and insurance is sad.

I wish I could just say what the damage is going to cost...

 

[CharonPDX]

On top of it, the at fault party insurance company has been terrible. They've accepted full fault but havn't communicated anything since.

It is almost always better to have your own insurance company deal with the claim, and have your insurance company deal with the other person's. It means you'll have to pay your deductible up front, and get reimbursed it when your insurance company collects from the other person's; but your insurance company wants to keep you as a customer - they will bend over backward for you. Especially in a cut-and-dry-the-other-person's-fault accident, because they know they'll be getting fully reimbursed, so making you happy is their one and only concern.

 

[Ravenron]

You are definitely right about Rivian, this doesn't really fall on them and my collision center has said they are super helpful with parts and supporting them. The overall Rivian support seems to be solid (minus my guide, who doesn't seem to embody the Rivian message the way the rest of the team does).

On an interesting note I was told by the collision center that Rivian does not allow body shops handle the cooling systems for the truck. My radiator will have to be replaced and they have to call in Rivian techs to manage that repair. I find it fascinating that Rivian steps in on the cooling system.

Has yours been repaired yet? Also if you don't mind me asking what did you ask for with your "like rental"? I'm about to have that conversation (hopefully not with lawyers) and I'm curious how you made your demand and what you had to go through to get the company to make it right.

Thanks for your insights!

IM sent.

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