Hello everyone. New AGT owner and wanted to share some thoughts with you with the hope some will teach me something and one or may learn. Hopefully a Lucid official will read.
Took delivery of my Q-Grey + Santa Cruz AGT today. Here's my experience.
(TL;DR: Fantastic car - GET ONE or another one, Terrible delivery experience)
The Good
- - I made a lot of changes during the ordering process and Lucid could not have been more accommodating in allowing me to switch from Pure to Touring to GT. Kudos to Nick Wright in DC.
- - The test drive in CLT was fun and the folks there were helpful.
- - Upon suggestion of the test drive team, changed the wheels from 21" to 20" and am very glad I did. Thank you for the suggestion Vinnie!
- - La piece de resistance: The drive from DC To NC today was absolutely amazing. What a fantastic car this is. If anyone thinks that a Mercedes S series, Maybach or any other car has a better driving experience, you may need to drive this car again. Do note that I am not including the obvious in competition in this list (I currently own one) as I do not think it belongs in it. The drive was smooth, the car handled very well and the EV experience top notch. Lucid has clearly done a better job than all the others. Hats off. I am very happy that I got the car.
- - The build quality is excellent. I have read and watched posts/videos of parts falling off but I have not seen anything like that.
- - Good mi/kwh. I thought I could make it from DC --> NC in a single charge but I drove too fast and got 2.9 mi/kwh and had to recharge in Henderson, NC at an EA station. Pulled 148 from a 350 station.
- - Turned MANY heads, on the highway and the charging station with people walking up wanting to sit in the car.
The Bad
- - The communication was fragmented with the Lucid crew: an introductory call person, a sales associate, a delivery associate and a travel associate (I flew to DC with my wife), all of whom I talked or emailed with. Not all communication was smooth or timely but my excitement and expectations may not have been matching.
- - The Lucid financial services website would not accept the provided information and we needed to work around that and go to the bank to make the first payment
- - It was not clear until later what the price of the car/ monthly payment was. BoA gives you different numbers than Lucid does and this number shifted a few times (not because I changed cars but because sometimes discounts were not accurately reflected). I was warned about this but heard different numbers from different people within Lucid.
- - The Alexa integration for the phone isn't working well. It is not uploading the contacts. Any advice is welcome.
- - I had asked for ceramic floor mats at the time of delivery so that I could have them installed/placed from get go but these were not there. I had asked over a week prior. Not that big a deal but want to keep the carpet clean, especially as the kids will be getting in the back after sports.
- - The Lucid app did not allow me to plug and charge with EA despite following all the prompts. In the end, I ended up paying with my phone through the EA app. Not a big deal but a feature touted by Lucid so I had hopes. Maybe over time this will change as it was my first time. Charging was swift but not the 350kw suggested (only one small KIA on the other end was charging from a 50kw station). We got 120miles in 7 minutes which I was more than happy with. Hopefully this will change. Not Lucid's "fault" obviously.
The Ugly
- - The process in getting a loan approved through BoA is absolutely archaic. It took them 6 days to call me back (disclosure: I filled out the request on Friday early morning and Monday was President's day, another excuse for the bank not to work). It was supposed to take 24-48h. I sent an email to a Lucid executive on Wednesday and finally got a call from BoA on Thursday. That fortunately rattled some cages though I am not sure how much longer it would have taken had I not done that. It then took them five more days to send me the contract for review. I got it late afternoon and got busy with work that night. I got a call from BoA the next morning. I was tied up and unable to answer the call so my associate answered. The BoA person insisted on talking to me despite my colleague telling him that I was in an important engagement. When I stopped what I was doing and got on the phone, the BoA gentleman told me that the call was being recorded and wanted me to confirm that I got the contract. That was it. I guess he checked the box in his to-do list but that diligence was definitely in stark contrast with how they had taken their merry time. Not a befitting experience for a very expensive car purchase. It was definitely not my credit score as that is excellent. It takes less time to get approval for a house purchase.
- - Today's delivery process was far below par and my wife and I almost walked away. We had been invited to the store at 10am and I had confirmed the time. We flew in at 7:30a. They usually open at noon but the travel associate had told me that they often come in early for deliveries. We made sure we got there in ample time and arrived at 9:50a. Doors were locked but I was early so no big deal. At 10:00, no sign of life. My wife and I sat at the edge of the sidewalk waiting for the doors to open. I texted the sales associate I had the number of but did not get a reply. He was not working probably so I wasn't surprised. I emailed the gentleman who was supposed to meet us at 10a, at 10:11am asking him where he was. He replied that he was going to be there within 5 mins. I sat on the sidewalk as if I was waiting for alms. I could not believe that I was there to buy a 135k car and the sales person could not bother to show up on time. Maybe I am too demanding but even Walmart opens its doors on time for its customers. This associate could not get out of bed on time. He had my number and if he had called me (dog ate my homework, alarm clock without battery -esque excuse etc etc), I would have totally understood. Upon greeting me, he said "thanks for waiting for me". No apology. My wife rightfully asked me which conclusion I drew from this: if this is how they are treating me BEFORE I buy, how will they treat me AFTER?
- - Upon entry into the garage, I was shown my car. It was not the car I had ordered. I expressed that and at this point my blood was boiling. He had to go and check which car was mine and in the mean time, my wife and I strolled through the garage and found my car. He walked up. Fortunately, he agreed and brought it to the front.
- - Going through the introduction/customization process, several times, he fumbled and had to call someone else to come and help set up a profile for my wife. One would think that this would be a very common practice when a husband/wife show up but clearly not. Simple questions regarding customization were not answered. Another associate joined and answered our questions.
- - I had specifically expressed the need for assistance in setting up the financial portal in emails prior to arrival but he did not know how to find the information needed. He will get back to me.
- - Carplay was a disaster to set up it took 8 tries and finally it worked. During the trip home (I used it for Waze because the HERE in-car navigation was annoying with too many voice prompts and no way to lessen them like with other apps), Carplay froze and I kept driving not realizing that I had missed my exit and had to exit carplay and use HERE. I have since toggled it off and as someone asked earlier this week, see very little reason to go through this hassle. My iphone syncs with my wife's Lightning and my son's Clarity seamlessly. Surely, Lucid.....
All in all, very happy with the car, not so much with the process. If anyone will be taking delivery, upfront stating your expectations may not be superfluous. Call me demanding but I do not think punctuality and skill are optional, especially when buying such a car. I truly want this company to succeed and would love to get my next Lucid in a few years.
I am open for suggestions/criticisms.
