Rivian Owner Gets A $42,000 Fender Bender

[Lunentucker]

https://www.carscoops.com/2023/05/r...r-bill-totaled-over-42000/#Echobox=1683068902

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[Duece McCracken]

https://www.carscoops.com/2023/05/r...r-bill-totaled-over-42000/#Echobox=1683068902

Seems like a scam, not enough info to know though.

 

[ErrngeElise]

Seems like a scam, not enough info to know though.

Agreed. I'm sure there is some level of waste and excessive margin on it but it could be legit. The part about the "why did they remove the rear glass?" leading to a scam seems reasonable at first but it is probably legit. The Rivian has weird construction but even a normal pickup with a separate defined box can cause cab damage. I had a Dakota R/T years ago and got rear ended. At first glance it looked like just the bumper took the hit. Closer inspection the bumper dented the rear fenders, okay yea makes sense. But then I realized the entire bed dented the back of the cab. The final bill was half of the trucks value and it was a conventional pickup where the only panel they had to replace was the rear bumper. The rest of the dents were knocked out and filled. Back when the Lotus Elise was a new car and few body shops would touch them a 5mph bump in a parking lot would often total the car due to limited factory parts with no aftermarket support and few shops that would work on them driving the costs up. I hate to think of what some of these semi-rare and new EV parts go for.

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

Meh. That’s the insurance company’s problem. Or the owners…I guess…if they have crap insurance.

 

[Elff]

Interesting read off the above article
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/03/i...battery-issues-causing-problems-for-everyone/

 

[Sandevino]

Interesting read off the above article
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/03/i...battery-issues-causing-problems-for-everyone/

Good luck to those under water on their loans.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Agreed. I'm sure there is some level of waste and excessive margin on it but it could be legit. The part about the "why did they remove the rear glass?" leading to a scam seems reasonable at first but it is probably legit. The Rivian has weird construction but even a normal pickup with a separate defined box can cause cab damage. I had a Dakota R/T years ago and got rear ended. At first glance it looked like just the bumper took the hit. Closer inspection the bumper dented the rear fenders, okay yea makes sense. But then I realized the entire bed dented the back of the cab. The final bill was half of the trucks value and it was a conventional pickup where the only panel they had to replace was the rear bumper. The rest of the dents were knocked out and filled. Back when the Lotus Elise was a new car and few body shops would touch them a 5mph bump in a parking lot would often total the car due to limited factory parts with no aftermarket support and few shops that would work on them driving the costs up. I hate to think of what some of these semi-rare and new EV parts go for.

You hit on something that people like us in forums need to get used to - and some things to forget.....
EVs like Rivian, Tesla and others are not made the old way we are used to. I go back to not so long ago when Toyota engineers bought and disassembled a Tesla to "see how they did it".
They called it a work of art, the manufacturing methods, the construction methods not like other vehicles. We need to forget what we think we know about how cars and trucks are made.

BTW - I don't accept filler. A good metal worker can put things back into shape so well you don't need actual body filler - perhaps a skim coat, icing, otherwise high build primer.
If they start talking filler, I start talking new panels.

 

[Hootbro]

Carscoops seems to follow the Motorbiscuit model of automotive journalism. Sensationalize something but leave the details vague and unverifiable but have 60% of your viewable webpage be advertisement.

 

[sharpsicle]

Carscoops seems to follow the Motorbiscuit model of automotive journalism. Sensationalize something but leave the details vague and unverifiable but have 60% of your viewable webpage be advertisement.

Yep. The "source" of this article is a couple vague random Facebook posts? Yeah no thanks.

If we all stop visiting garbage sites like these, they'd eventually go away. Unfortunately people these days are more interested in something that sounds good over actual information.

 

[Rahkmalla]

The price plus the blurb about the RIVIAN repair specialists having a 70k sqft warehouse sounds like RIVIAN is using static ADAS, which is where all the crazy stories about $2,000 windshield replacements come from. For example, here's an article about the ADAS repairs required for my last vehicle before I bought a gladiator: This Kia Costs $34,000 to Repair and It's Not Alone (jalopnik.com).

From my understanding static ADAS systems are cheaper to build but vastly more expensive to repair/calibrate than dynamic ADAS systems. Which makes perfect sense for a brand like KIA trying to build budget luxury, but also for new market entrants that are operating on a loss in the hopes of making it back later.

To my knowledge Jeep uses exclusively dynamic ADAS systems, at least currently.

 

[Orange01z28]

Seems like a scam, not enough info to know though.

100%

First thing I saw when I read that article last week

 

[Guns_N_Rosaries]

I absolutely believe that's how much it costs to repair it. I watch a channel on youtube called Wham Bam Teslacam, and it's all about accidents and incidents caught on Tesla cameras. A lot of those accidents involve the Teslas themselves, and they usually go over how much the repair costs. Small fender benders you would think would cost like $500 - $1,000 end up totaling the car due to the expense of parts and labor for electric vehicles.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The price plus the blurb about the RIVIAN repair specialists having a 70k sqft warehouse sounds like RIVIAN is using static ADAS, which is where all the crazy stories about $2,000 windshield replacements come from. For example, here's an article about the ADAS repairs required for my last vehicle before I bought a gladiator: This Kia Costs $34,000 to Repair and It's Not Alone (jalopnik.com).

From my understanding static ADAS systems are cheaper to build but vastly more expensive to repair/calibrate than dynamic ADAS systems. Which makes perfect sense for a brand like KIA trying to build budget luxury, but also for new market entrants that are operating on a loss in the hopes of making it back later.

To my knowledge Jeep uses exclusively dynamic ADAS systems, at least currently.

Yes.

I'm not aware of any that are static. Even some Jeep people aren't aware that you don't need a room with CSC tools to calibrate these, or that they often don't need any calibration.
Even the glass installers aren't usually aware of how Jeeps work and insist you have to use fancy equipment, and it's got to be calibrated for the most mundane or simple of repairs.

The equipment to calibrate the static systems can't be cheap, and I can imagine there's not a lot of people out there well-versed on how to use them on very many different makes and models.

I have to wonder if some of the tech talked about in some of these rags isn't associated with self-parking and other features - besides ACC and FCW.
I suspect there's a few things being left out of the articles - Wrangler and Gladiator don't have many of the features of these other vehicles so we really can't fairly compare. It's Granny Smith to Yellow Delicious, IMO.
Do those cars so expensive to repair perhaps have lane departure warning, driver alertness warning (sensing if you are drowsy and showing a coffee cup symbol on the dash, for example) or other features.
Jeeps like JL and JT don't have some of those sensors or systems - so we can't really compare the cost of repairing those Jeeps with the high-end Kia or other vehicles. These can't park themselves, they don't care if you are sleepy, they can't tell you that you are driving into the other lane.
Of course the Jeeps are cheaper - only a fraction of the "safety features".

Carscoops seems to follow the Motorbiscuit model of automotive journalism. Sensationalize something but leave the details vague and unverifiable but have 60% of your viewable webpage be advertisement.

10 demerits for using the word "journalism" with such blogs, and that's really all they are these days.
Interesting to note that if you looked at 3 or 4 of them, at times you'd find the same articles, only very slightly re-written. They search the web for stories, make them their own, and post them. Sometimes their source is another such blog.
Gone are the days of real journalism - especially investigative journalism, especially when it comes to automotive stuff.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Small fender benders you would think would cost like $500 - $1,000

Sorry, but what decade are those numbers from? LOL

I've not seen anything that cheap for years.
Even back in the year 2005, a TAIL LIGHT for a Jeep cost $125. Imagine there was any sheet metal damage involved.
A small ding from a door caught by the wind and slammed into a post next to the vehicle - 20 years ago was over $500.
Look at the costs of Jeep bumpers- there's your fender-bender part for over $1,000 not including labor (and you must include labor because most Jeep owners don't actually do their own work. Forum members are the exception, not the rule.
I thought I got a hell of a bargain when 6 or 7 years ago a rock hit the hood of one of my cars, put a deep ding in it and I got that repaired and the hood painted for $600. Fast forward to today. That same rock ding would likely cost at least $1,000 (look at the cost of paint - epoxy primer 10 years ago was $100/quart. That's the last time I bought it)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yep. The "source" of this article is a couple vague random Facebook posts? Yeah no thanks.

If we all stop visiting garbage sites like these, they'd eventually go away. Unfortunately people these days are more interested in something that sounds good over actual information.

That's why I didn't even click the link. The very name sends at least yellow flags up for me. "carscoops" - really? Scoop? Naw, troll the web looking for juicy stuff, embellish it a bit, leave a lot of questions, post it. Now you are a journalist.
Those sites keep popping up by the dozen because people want to be internet journalists instead of working a real job or being a real reporter.
Most of them don't know a crankshaft from an axle but are reporting on cars and trucks.

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