A few weeks ago I began the lease process for a Rivian R1S. At the end of the month, Rivian sent an email stating they were offering lease promotions ($6250 off plus discounted paint or wheels on already built inventory) plus an extra $70 off a month for getting a 2023, and best deals on a Quad motor version.
Rent charge was about $51 for the 3 years. 12k miles a year. Monthly payment with nothing down was $682.55 on a MSRP of $98k+ and selling price of $92k. I can link the rest of the deal if needed.
10 / 2021: I make the original $1000 reservation for the R1S.
3/25: I reached out to my guide saying I’d be interested in purchasing or leasing a vehicle. My guide puts me in contact with Inside Sales.
3/25: Inside Sales contacts me and works with me to identify a vehicle from their existing inventory. I select that vehicle to purchase/lease and start the process. They discount the $6250 and $1750 for paint. I pick a vehicle that didn’t match my original configuration due to the deal.
3/25: I receive the VIN and confirmation via email.
3/26: Vehicle Pickup scheduled for 3/29.
3/28: Vehicle Pickup is delayed due to “logistics” and rescheduled for 4/5. Car is not at their plant in Illinois, but in California.
4/1: I go to the bank and wire the Due At Signing money. ($4733, no down payment)
4/1: I confirm with my guide that they received the money. Money is out of my account.
4/4: Receive another Vehicle Pickup is delayed text and rescheduled for 4/10. Confirmed they’re good with this new date.
4/8: Receive the final contract and sign the papers. The usually send these out 1-2 days before vehicle pickup. I’ve saved these documents, everything still looks good.
4/9: Receive call from local service/delivery center that the vehicle and VIN is for a test/engineer vehicle and should not have been on the site. Not sure how it got there, but sales will reach out to me.
4/9: Receive a text from the On-Call guide as mine is out of the office. They say the vehicle has been damaged beyond repair and that sales would be reaching out to me. I mention I’m hearing conflicting stories about the vehicle and that I want to keep this deal and that I didn’t appreciate the lies. I’d be willing to hear what their plan is on fixing this issue.
4/9: the VIN has been removed from my account against my wishes
There are no 2023 quads left in inventory ($70 off a month). I haven’t heard from sales and I think I’m gonna get screwed. We both signed the lease agreement, order summary, made the due at signing payment via wire. Is there anything I can do?
You need to look at your lease agreement and/or purchase & sale agreement, for clauses related to either party being unable to meet their obligations.
IANAL, but as Rivian has been unable to deliver, they are probably looking for an out based on the signed agreement. Maybe they might be able to give you another VIN? You just have to wait and see what they tell you.
If you have experience with Tesla, they deliver like this too, whereby VINs are assigned but are sometimes swapped out. The buyer has no say or control over what it is assigned, as long as it meets the buyer’s specs.
And when they can’t deliver, they go “oops, here’s your money back”.
Force Majeure
The obligations of you and Rivian under this Agreement (other than your payment obligations) will be
suspended to the extent that such party is wholly or partially precluded from complying with its
obligations under this Agreement by force majeure. Force majeure includes, but is not restricted to, fire,
storm, flood, earthquake, explosion, accident, act of the public enemy, war, rebellion, insurrection,
sabotage, outbreak, epidemic, public health emergency, quarantine restriction, labor dispute, labor
shortage, transportation embargo or failure, curtailment or delay in transportation, act of God, act
(including laws, regulations, orders, advisories, disapprovals or failure to approve) of any government or
public health agency or authority, whether national, statewide, municipal, or otherwise, or any other event
or circumstance beyond such party’s control.
Rivian sales reached out to me late yesterday and mentioned they would need to speak with a higher up on next steps, but unfortunately I’m not seeing any 2023s and neither did he. I mentioned I was open to other choices as that vehicle was already built and I selected it for the deal, but I need to get back to those deal numbers or better as signed in the contract.
Based on your experience of such, Id post this on twitter and other social outlets telling people about the process in hopes that they understand the negative affects of screwing over the customer. If their PR game is good, they’ll get you a 24 and honor your prior pricing
As @SoCalLeaser said, post on social media. That seems to get companies attention now. Especially companies like this that are so reliant on internet business.
Agree on the social media as next steps if I don’t hear good news today. I’ll give them a chance to fix their mistakes.
Now I’m worried that I signed the lease agreement, that they probably set up an account for me with Rivian Financial (Chase) and will be looking for a payment in a month.
Rivian should put you in a 24 with same configuration with same lease terms. I would think Chase has some liability with this as well if a representative signed the lease agreement. See if Rivian has a Consumer Affairs number. This would be a good channel to escalate your matter, if available. From my experiance as a Rivian owner, Rivian will make it right.
They should not have pulled your credit, accepted your $ DAS, and countersigned the lease agreement without verifying the specific vehicle was in a condition to sell and available to be sold, first.
Additionally, if Vin was assigned, and lease consumated, post your story on the Rivian Forum, as Rivian owner which effectively you are , with your message being “Rivian, please escalate and resolve”. There are thousands of loyal Rivian enthusiasts that will get behind you.
Again I am a Rivian owner, and believe Rivian will ultimately do the right thing. Be strong and persistant and feel free to DM me or call with any questions, refer to my thread on Marketplace to reach me if needed.
Be careful not to bash Rivian on social media, but just tell your story. There are always “bad apples” in every large organization, and I believe executive management, who is customer centric for the most part, will resolve it quickly to your benefit. Be patient, so that your issue can be transferred to a higher level person within Rivian.
You hold all the leverage and are in a good position to get a new/same 2024 for the same lease terms.
This is only my opinion and are different ways to handle, but I hope my input helps as a fellow Rivian owner and a believer in the Leasehackr community.
Just a small update to this thread, I did not go nuclear on their social media. Just talked with them and they realized their mistake. I think the R1S will be updated with this factory shutdown, so they figured it’s an older model and the newer version will get a better premium, so they might as well just take the deal and keep a happy customer.
Rivian Sales contacted me last Friday and we spoke. I had the R1S Shop/Inventory website opened and we found a 2024 Forest Green - White Interior - Standard Wheels - Quad - Large 2024 available. He said he would run it by leadership to see if they would agree to the deal. the 2024 had standard wheels, whit interior ($2k option) and no underbody, the 2023 had $2500 wheels which is the difference, the underbody was $2000 and black interior standard.
Looks like they did and gave me the 2023 pricing.
2023 Car MSRP about $98,250.00 w/ selling at $92,050.00 (includes $1800 dest fee)
2024 car MSRP about $95750 w/ selling at $89,550.00 (includes $1800 dest fee)
Right now my due at signing was a few bucks cheaper ($3). I have not seen the official lease paperwork to see my monthly payments, but my assumption is it will be cheaper than the 2023, but if it’s the same I’m okay with it cause the 2023 was $70 cheaper a month due to being older, which the wheels at $2500 on the 2023 is about $70 a month. So I think that’s a wash.
Financing team made a few mistakes but finally spoke with the guide today and I think everything is on track for tomorrow delivery. Financing team had to fix their paperwork mistakes, hoping that doesn’t impact delivery. Waiting on final word if everything is good to go. I’m also an idiot, my due at signing refund will be $250+
Taxes* $2,530.66
Acquisition fee $895.00
Home delivery fee$0.00
Documentation fee$347.00
Title & registration fees$258.75
Down payment$0.00 Total due at signing$4,473.78 $1,000 original reservation fee
Was this for a R1T or R1S? I just received my offer from leasehackr and I responded to the email with a couple questions.I am looking to get into an R1T myself. Thanks for the share!
And delivery rescheduled again…because they sent me 3 different leases, they messed it up even after calling and texting with my guide. Had to have him go back through a certain recorded phone call where they agreed to the 2023 lease deal on the 2024 VIN. Even with me talking to the guide, him writing everything down and repeating it back to me to confirm, they still mess it up.
The first lease was right, showing the $613 mo plus the $250ish refund from due at signing. I signed it but right away but someone must have entered in another lease.
Then second lease they made it 10k miles, payment at $585. I noticed the price and mileage difference and contacted guide.
Then the third lease came in to signing it and the guide goes Monthly at $711 and you owe us $101. So they put me back at the 2024 pricing as they removed the lease adjustment.
Now I’m waiting on the fourth lease agreement.
I’ll clean up the timeline later, add more details, and send it to Rivian leadership after I sign the contract.
