A Rivian owner was in a fender bender. The repair bill was $42,000.::The repairs cost over half the starting price for the Rivian EV. The owner said he’d expected it wouldn’t be cheap, but it was a “shocking number.”
One of the primary reasons for the high price was that the accident affected a panel that reaches from the back of the vehicle all the way to the front roof pillars of the truck and fixing the panel required service workers to remove the ceiling and front windshield, the Times said.
What a terrible design
Even removing a ceiling and windshield, $42,000 seems stupidly excessive.
At that price don’t you call it totaled?
Remember that this is a truck where the base model costs in the neighborhood of 70K, even with whatever depreciation, wear and tear, etc. it has picked up (which probably isn’t too much since the truck is, at most, not quite 2 years old) playing around with the kelley blue book website, it looks like the value of that truck is still almost definitely 10k+ more than the cost of the repairs (and honestly probably more like 20K+ unless this guy has seriously beaten the crap out of his truck and racked up a ton of miles)
So the insurance company basically has the option of paying out either 42K for repairs, or 50, 60, 70K+ for the full value of the truck to total it.
That’s some pretty easy math to do to see why it’s not totaled.
I really don’t understand the second hand market for stuff like this… If you can’t afford it new… You probably shouldn’t be buying it used…
It’s like a dude trying to buy a used yacht because he can’t afford it new… You’re not in the yacht club my guy, buy yourself a sensible boat you can afford and maintain.
All I want out of an EV is a fully electric 1990s era Single Cab Ford Ranger