Lucid Air in Service Queue for 7 Weeks. What Does This Mean for Long-Term Ownership?

[js_pa]

I really like my Lucid Air Touring. That is actually what makes what happened this week so concerning.

I've had the car about 18 months and have approximately 16,000 miles on it. On September 30, a warning suddenly appeared while I was driving. I called Lucid immediately, they arranged a tow - which by the way arrived 26 hours later - and the car was taken to the Beverly Hills Service Center the following day.

Lucid Beverly Hills has now told me in writing:
“Hello [...], at this time your Air is checked in and in our service queue. As mentioned on Thursday when the vehicle arrived via tow, we are anticipating a service time of about 7 weeks.”
Seven weeks!

I called Customer Care and the representative was very understanding. During our conversation, she suggested that the Beverly Hills service operation may have only one or two people handling service, which could explain the delay. I don't know the actual staffing level, so I don't want to state that as fact, but it raised a larger concern for me.

Lucid is paying for an Enterprise rental, which I appreciate. Enterprise initially offered me a Porsche Panamera, but insisted in selling me insurance for $95 per day. Lucid representative had initially told me that they would cover the insurance. Once at Enterprise, that wasn't true anymore. $95 per day x 7 weeks is real money. It turns out that my own insurance would have covered that, but because of Lucid's initial representation, I had not checked. I have ended up with a Genesis G70 with about 46,000 miles, while paying the lease on a $95k car.

They say that they will switch me to a Lucid 'if' one becomes available, but I will believe that when I see it.

The most concerning, and it should concern you too, is not the rental. Until this happened, I genuinely loved the Air. I often said that it was the best car I ever had. I drove like a 911 and was smooth as a Class S. I was seriously considering buying it when the lease ends.

Now I'm asking myself a different question.
What happens if the car develops a problem another 18 months from now? Will the service infrastructure still be this constrained? Will there be any service infrastructure?

I'm not posting this to bash Lucid. I think the Air is an extraordinary car. I am posting because suddenly having a warning appear, having the car towed away, and then being told to expect seven weeks in a service queue has changed how I think about ownership.

I'd really like to hear from other owners:

Have you experienced waits like this?

How well has Lucid handled serious repairs for you?

Have service times been getting better or worse?

And perhaps most importantly, does Lucid's current service network give you confidence about owning an Air or Gravity beyond the warranty period?

 

[Leftlane]

Every bit of this story is a complete failure. The drive warning in the first place, the delay for a tow, the backlog for service and an unacceptable wait to actually have your problem addressed, the BS with the rental and the total BS about requiring insurance…..total failure as a car company. I can’t believe anyone tolerates this nonsense at all.

 

[socktucker]

Welcome to the club. At least you got a good car. I got an Equinox, a Hyundai (nice car!) and a Bronco Sport.

My car has been shipped to 2 states, 5 different times and been in service for 4 months. It’s still broken and they want to ship it to a different state again, for at least several weeks. Guess what? They denied my buy back claim too. They say time waiting for service doesn’t count for lemon law. Oh and Beverly Hills service only has…wait for it…2 car lifts! They can work on 2 cars at a time

They gave me an Air loaner and it broke down and left me stranded. They gave me a loaner Gravity and the rear steering went out. They gave me another loaner Air and it broke down too, literally came broken and stuck in Service Mode and they don’t even know how.

You’re about to experience the train wreck of Lucid Corporate. Their true colors are not a rainbow.

 

[js_pa]

Welcome to the club. At least you got a good car. I got an Equinox, a Hyundai (nice car!) and a Bronco Sport.

My car has been shipped to 2 states, 5 different times and been in service for 4 months. It’s still broken and they want to ship it to a different state again, for at least several weeks. Guess what? They denied my buy back claim too. They say time waiting for service doesn’t count for lemon law.

You’re about to experience the train wreck of Lucid Corporate. Their true colors are not a rainbow.

I dont know where you are located, but under California law, this qualifies as a lemon car and I am planning to have Lucid buy it back.

 

[socktucker]

I dont know where you are located, but under California law, this qualifies as a lemon car and I am planning to have Lucid buy it back.

Did you opt out of mandatory arbitration when you bought the car? Me neither. You’ll go to that, they’ll send a lawyer who will try and muddy the water just enough to rule against you and you’ll then have to go to court.

 

[js_pa]

Did you opt out of mandatory arbitration when you bought the car? Me neither. You’ll go to that, they’ll send a lawyer who will try and muddy the water just enough to rule against you and you’ll then have to go to court.

You are right about that. I had someone read the lease agreement and it's totally one-sided, saying that the lease has to be paid basically whether you have the car or it is in the shop forever. I won't submit without a fight. The real issue is that we are dealing with a virtually bankrupt company. I knew it was bad, but my bet was that Daddy is rich and they would throw enough money at the company that we wouldn't have to worry about it. but Daddy has its own issues these days and there is a limit Daddy is willing to throw more cash at a company that is burning money faster than microwave. The decision to rent a car for 7 weeks because you have 2 service technicians is mind-blowing, irrational, self-inflicted, and the kind of decision you make when there are no rational choices left. They literally turned me from being their biggest fan into wanting to get rid of the car ASAP and never look back. As much as I love the car, buying a Lucid today is madness.

 

[MorganB]

.

Now I'm asking myself a different question.
What happens if the car develops a problem another 18 months from now? Will the service infrastructure still be this constrained? Will there be any service infrastructure?

the Lucid CEO is well aware of the service situation and the company is in the process of staffing up. I’m sure it will be corrected in 18 months. Honestly they can’t continue as a company with the current service delays so I would say they have no choice but to course correct. If they don’t they won’t survive.

I’ve owned my Air for almost 4 years and it’s had to physically go to a service center twice. Once a couple of years ago and there was basically no wait and a quick turn around and recently when there was an excessive wait for an appointment and then it was in service for a month for something that was handled in a week once they worked on it. I had an enterprise Air for the month my car was in service.

Otherwise anything done to my car was handled promptly by mobile service.

I plan to keep my air for easily another 6 years and will be purchasing an extended warranty soon.

 

[HC_79]

I called Customer Care and the representative was very understanding. During our conversation, she suggested that the Beverly Hills service operation may have only one or two people handling service, which could explain the delay. I don't know the actual staffing level, so I don't want to state that as fact, but it raised a larger concern for me.

I think they may have mean car lifts / service bays not staff. It’s a very small service center with only 2 or 3 service bays. I do believe Lucid is opening some more Service Centers in LA area soon and are fully aware that the service lead times need to come down.

 

[BS8899]

I think they may have mean car lifts / service bays not staff. It’s a very small service center with only 2 or 3 service bays. I do believe Lucid is opening some more Service Centers in LA area soon and are fully aware that the service lead times need to come down.

As Lucid sells more cars, and we are all rooting for that, they need to look at more innovative solutions to their services. After almost 5 years of selling cars, Lucid's physical service centers are still quite sparse. Often, owners have to drive many miles to Lucid's service centers. Loaners have to be provided. Services need to be scheduled months in advance. Service is, and will continue to be, the Archilles Heel of scaling Lucid's business. I don't think hiring more service techs is the only answer.

Perhaps Lucid needs to relook at their approach to service. Not every service appointment is about a "bricked" car. To the contrary, I suspect most of the services are yearly maintenance, replacing the 12V battery, topping off fluids, tires, wheel alignment, etc.. Many of these mundane/routine tasks can be accomplished by partnering with local providers like Discount Tires. Rivian, for example, directs many of these mundane, low-tech stuff to local contractors. Most yearly maintenances can also be done by mobile techs. Mobile techs need to be trained by Lucid and adhere to Lucid's protocol, but they don't need to be Lucid employees per se and the routine maintenance tasks can be contracted out and done at the contractor's facilities.

Perhaps Lucid is looking at service as a sustained revenue source. For Lucid, as it stands today, because of its sparse service locations and heavy backlogs, Lucid's in-house service centers is the rate-limiting step to Lucid's growth.

 

[Northpointe]

To the contrary, I suspect most of the services are yearly maintenance, replacing the 12V battery, topping off fluids, tires, wheel alignment, etc..

Actually most of the services are related to quality issues that weren't addressed in production. Some of these are one off problems (fit and finish) while many are systemic problems (drive motors, known software deficiencies, battery failures). In some instances diagnoses and repair has to be done via collaboration with corporate personnel which only bogs down the process even more. It was not contemplated when the service model was built and the resources don't exist to service vehicles on the scale necessary. I don't disagree that expanding the network makes sense but having overflow for yearly maintenance won't make much of a dent in the backlog. Both the Air and Gravity have made the Consumer Reports list of least reliable EV's. And that's based on owner feedback, not influencers or social media. The company has to address the underlying problem. Otherwise they'll continue to add flawed vehicles to an overwhelmed ecosystem which will only make the problems worse.

 

[BS8899]

Actually most of the services are related to quality issues that weren't addressed in production. Some of these are one off problems (fit and finish) while many are systemic problems (drive motors, known software deficiencies, battery failures). In some instances diagnoses and repair has to be done via collaboration with corporate personnel which only bogs down the process even more. It was not contemplated when the service model was built and the resources don't exist to service vehicles on the scale necessary. I don't disagree that expanding the network makes sense but having overflow for yearly maintenance won't make much of a dent in the backlog. Both the Air and Gravity have made the Consumer Reports list of least reliable EV's. And that's based on owner feedback, not influencers or social media. The company has to address the underlying problem. Otherwise they'll continue to add flawed vehicles to an overwhelmed ecosystem which will only make the problems worse.

I presume Lucid has a pareto of all the service causes. Be good if we can see the data.

If what you said is true (and I don't doubt that), Lucid needs to drive changes in the factory QA vs pushing the snowball downstream to Service Centers.

 

[socktucker]

Actually most of the services are related to quality issues that weren't addressed in production. Some of these are one off problems (fit and finish) while many are systemic problems (drive motors, known software deficiencies, battery failures). In some instances diagnoses and repair has to be done via collaboration with corporate personnel which only bogs down the process even more. It was not contemplated when the service model was built and the resources don't exist to service vehicles on the scale necessary. I don't disagree that expanding the network makes sense but having overflow for yearly maintenance won't make much of a dent in the backlog. Both the Air and Gravity have made the Consumer Reports list of least reliable EV's. And that's based on owner feedback, not influencers or social media. The company has to address the underlying problem. Otherwise they'll continue to add flawed vehicles to an overwhelmed ecosystem which will only make the problems worse.

This. I’ve even gotten my car shipped back from service, it comes off the truck broken. Headliner not clipped back in, panels loose, parts on the floor of the car. Has to get shipped right back. Over and over again. It’s pathetic.

 

[Northpointe]

I presume Lucid has a pareto of all the service causes. Be good if we can see the data.

If what you said is true (and I don't doubt that), Lucid needs to drive changes in the factory QA vs pushing the snowball downstream to Service Centers.

My conclusions are anecdotal based on conversations with the service team and the issues reported on this site and others. One of the main selling features of EVs in general is that they don't require the level of routine maintenance and repair as ICE cars. That assumption was clearly built into the Lucid service model. And the company has more or less acknowledged this in their public statements. They know that they brought cars to market too soon and don't have nearly enough service centers and personnel to deal with the resulting problems.

If there's a silver lining in all of this it's the acknowledgment that the problem exists and a commitment to do something about it. The real question is will they achieve their stated goals while they look to cut cost and generate cash.

 

[socktucker]

You are right about that. I had someone read the lease agreement and it's totally one-sided, saying that the lease has to be paid basically whether you have the car or it is in the shop forever. I won't submit without a fight. The real issue is that we are dealing with a virtually bankrupt company. I knew it was bad, but my bet was that Daddy is rich and they would throw enough money at the company that we wouldn't have to worry about it. but Daddy has its own issues these days and there is a limit Daddy is willing to throw more cash at a company that is burning money faster than microwave. The decision to rent a car for 7 weeks because you have 2 service technicians is mind-blowing, irrational, self-inflicted, and the kind of decision you make when there are no rational choices left. They literally turned me from being their biggest fan into wanting to get rid of the car ASAP and never look back. As much as I love the car, buying a Lucid today is madness.

Oh I get it. All I wanted was out of my lease.

They could have just written off the remaining 18k.

Instead; they have chosen to spend close to $20,000 just shipping my car all over the place and thousands on rentals. And it’s still broken. Has to be shipped again.

Even more stupid, they have “mobile service” but can’t keep anyone in the job for about a year now. So they wanted to ship my car to Utah for a body shop to fix what California Lucid did, and they picked Utah because they have a mobile tech based there. But no actual repair center. A guy in a van.

Same thing with Colorado “service center”- it’s two guys, one space in a bay rented from a Lexus autobody shop. And Lucid has the audacity to call it a Service Center.

Lucid is a bunch of bullshitters. And it’s all coming back on them.

 

[mike1121]

You are right about that. I had someone read the lease agreement and it's totally one-sided, saying that the lease has to be paid basically whether you have the car or it is in the shop forever. I won't submit without a fight. The real issue is that we are dealing with a virtually bankrupt company. I knew it was bad, but my bet was that Daddy is rich and they would throw enough money at the company that we wouldn't have to worry about it. but Daddy has its own issues these days and there is a limit Daddy is willing to throw more cash at a company that is burning money faster than microwave. The decision to rent a car for 7 weeks because you have 2 service technicians is mind-blowing, irrational, self-inflicted, and the kind of decision you make when there are no rational choices left. They literally turned me from being their biggest fan into wanting to get rid of the car ASAP and never look back. As much as I love the car, buying a Lucid today is madness.

The rental situation is pretty wild. They are making my lease payment every 12 days they are paying for my rental plus nearly $1k in gas at this point they are going to reimburse me.

 

[MonikaZielinska]

The rental situation is pretty wild. They are making my lease payment every 12 days they are paying for my rental plus nearly $1k in gas at this point they are going to reimburse me.

Reading through this thread, I think there are really two separate questions getting mixed together: whether the Air is a car worth owning long term, and whether Lucid's service operation can support it.

On the first question, the evidence here is actually reassuring. Multiple owners with several years and high mileage describe cars that rarely need a service center at all, with mobile service handling the rest. The car itself doesn't seem to be the problem.

The second question is the real one, and seven weeks in a queue is genuinely hard to defend. What strikes me about your rental situation is the economics of it: paying for a rental for nearly two months almost certainly costs Lucid more than the repair itself, let alone a proper loaner. That reads like a local capacity decision at Beverly Hills rather than a company-wide posture, which is both the bad news and the good news. Bad because you are the one living with it, good because it is fixable without reinventing the company.

What would give me confidence as an owner is transparency more than speed. If Lucid published actual average wait times per service center and a real expansion timeline for the LA area, owners could plan around it. A black box that occasionally swallows your car for two months is what turns fans into skeptics, not the wait itself.

The Gravity ramp makes this the defining question for Lucid's next two years. They cannot sell tens of thousands more cars into a service network that already queues individual cars for seven weeks. If I were deciding today, I would be watching hiring and new service center openings, not the cars, as the real signal for long-term ownership confidence.

 

[gaskiller]

Oh I get it. All I wanted was out of my lease.

They could have just written off the remaining 18k.

Instead; they have chosen to spend close to $20,000 just shipping my car all over the place and thousands on rentals. And it’s still broken. Has to be shipped again.

Even more stupid, they have “mobile service” but can’t keep anyone in the job for about a year now. So they wanted to ship my car to Utah for a body shop to fix what California Lucid did, and they picked Utah because they have a mobile tech based there. But no actual repair center. A guy in a van.

Same thing with Colorado “service center”- it’s two guys, one space in a bay rented from a Lexus autobody shop. And Lucid has the audacity to call it a Service Center.

Lucid is a bunch of bullshitters. And it’s all coming back on them.

I know you are very disgruntled but even for you, this is a little over the top.

You hate Lucid, that is clear, for reasons you have mentioned multiple times. But why stay on this forum bitching about the company constantly? Trying to pay them back? You need to move on.

 

[socktucker]

I know you are very disgruntled but even for you, this is a little over the top.

You hate Lucid, that is clear, for reasons you have mentioned multiple times. But why stay on this forum bitching about the company constantly? Trying to pay them back? You need to move on.

I am only showing the truth of Lucids service structure. Buyers should know.

Why are you even in this thread? Did you have a service experience to share?

 

[Northpointe]

Reading through this thread, I think there are really two separate questions getting mixed together: whether the Air is a car worth owning long term, and whether Lucid's service operation can support it.

On the first question, the evidence here is actually reassuring. Multiple owners with several years and high mileage describe cars that rarely need a service center at all, with mobile service handling the rest. The car itself doesn't seem to be the problem.

The second question is the real one, and seven weeks in a queue is genuinely hard to defend. What strikes me about your rental situation is the economics of it: paying for a rental for nearly two months almost certainly costs Lucid more than the repair itself, let alone a proper loaner. That reads like a local capacity decision at Beverly Hills rather than a company-wide posture, which is both the bad news and the good news. Bad because you are the one living with it, good because it is fixable without reinventing the company.

What would give me confidence as an owner is transparency more than speed. If Lucid published actual average wait times per service center and a real expansion timeline for the LA area, owners could plan around it. A black box that occasionally swallows your car for two months is what turns fans into skeptics, not the wait itself.

The Gravity ramp makes this the defining question for Lucid's next two years. They cannot sell tens of thousands more cars into a service network that already queues individual cars for seven weeks. If I were deciding today, I would be watching hiring and new service center openings, not the cars, as the real signal for long-term ownership confidence.

Unfortunately poor build quality and service center queues are related. The reason that appointment lead times are running 2 months in many locations is the service centers are fixing problems in vehicles that were rushed through production. Lucid has rightfully acknowledged this. The SC's simply weren't equipped to deal with the build quality issues that are overwhelming them.

These are often not minor maintenance problems that an owner can schedule around. They're issues that can, in some instances, render the car inoperable. They often appear without warning and having to wait 2 months just to get your car in, in those instances, is going to generate a very strong reaction. Most owners have not experienced that in their car ownership history and cars that routinely sell for over $100K come with high owner expectations. Service time queues, repair turnaround, loaner availability, ongoing communication, it's all part of the experience and expectation. And sadly Beverly Hills is not the only location that may not have enough loaners to provide to customers.

This is not to suggest that these issues plague all owners. But clearly enough that it's created a major pain point for many. And unfortunately the problem does not appear to be easing in the short term. To the extent that service centers aren't overwhelmed it may be more of a function of the area they serve and how many cars were sold in that region. Part of the promise in buying an EV is that it won't require the level of maintenance common in an ICE car. The Air and Gravity are not meeting that expectation often enough that it's creating major issues for the company and damaging their reputation. Consumer Reports has recently listed both amongst their 12 least reliable EVs (based on owner feedback). That's not a list any company wants to be on let alone a start-up with service center problems.

 

[socktucker]

Unfortunately poor build quality and service center queues are related. The reason that appointment lead times are running 2 months in many locations is the service centers are fixing problems in vehicles that were rushed through production. Lucid has rightfully acknowledged this. The SC's simply weren't equipped to deal with the build quality issues that are overwhelming them.

These are often not minor maintenance problems that an owner can schedule around. They're issues that can, in some instances, render the car inoperable. They often appear without warning and having to wait 2 months just to get your car in, in those instances, is going to generate a very strong reaction. Most owners have not experienced that in their car ownership history and cars that routinely sell for over $100K come with high owner expectations. Service time queues, repair turnaround, loaner availability, ongoing communication, it's all part of the experience and expectation. And sadly Beverly Hills is not the only location that may not have enough loaners to provide to customers.

This is not to suggest that these issues plague all owners. But clearly enough that it's created a major pain point for many. And unfortunately the problem does not appear to be easing in the short term. To the extent that service centers aren't overwhelmed it may be more of a function of the area they serve and how many cars were sold in that region. Part of the promise in buying an EV is that it won't require the level of maintenance common in an ICE car. The Air and Gravity are not meeting that expectation often enough that it's creating major issues for the company and damaging their reputation. Consumer Reports has recently listed both amongst their 12 least reliable EVs (based on owner feedback). That's not a list any company wants to be on let alone a start-up with service center problems.

Yup and a lucid blames itself inside to customers. I’ve had service centers tell me the cars are busted from factory, or how many defective parts get shipped to them. Rocklin told me they had to fix “whatever Seattle did to you car”. The Rocklin messed it up.

I go to arbitration and Lucid sends their lawyer who goes on record saying their service department does “poor quality repairs and shoddy workmanship” so that means lemon laws don’t apply (they claim).

Meanwhile I’m stuck with a new $97,000 car with broken door handles while one Lucid department just tells me how shitty their other departments are and that it’s just the way it is. It’s insane.