In a fit of extremely poor judgment, I tried to drive my Touring into my garage from an unfamiliar angle, and caused some damage to the car’s front end in the process. Lucid customer service referred me to Chilton Auto Body San Carlos for the repair. San Carlos is a four-and-a-half-hour drive from where I live. I had to make the 9-hour round trip once for a 10-minute inspection so Chilton could prepare an estimate for the repair. They were able to get me in for the repair a few weeks later. I brought my car into them on August 7th. As of today (September 29th), it’s still there. I’ve been driving a rental car since August 7th. Insurance covered the first 30 days of the rental, and I am responsible for the rental cost after that at $50/day.
The repair included replacement of the headlight assembly. The first headlight assembly Chilton received proved to be defective, so it had to be re-ordered, and they’re still waiting to take delivery of the replacement. They had to replace one of the wheels, and the replacement wheel Chilton received was the wrong size. Other than parts snafus, the main cause of delay has been the need to send the car to a Lucid service center for calibration. There is a Lucid service center in Millbrae, which is not far from San Carlos, so distance is not the problem. The problem is that the Millbrae service center is overwhelmed with work.
My car will have to be re-calibrated at Lucid after the second headlight assembly is installed. I was told yesterday that Lucid can take my car on October 4th for the calibration. I called the Millbrae service center to see if they could take my car the same day the headlight was installed and was given a firm “no.” The service representative told me October 4th was already an expedited date. They are booked out into November for routine maintenance services.
I love my car, and like all of us on this forum, I want Lucid Motors to succeed as a business. I understand that they must focus on selling cars and making a profit. But Lucid Motors is not a real car company, and they won’t be a real car company until situations like mine are a thing of the past. Lucid service centers do not have a parts department, so body shops have to order parts from other suppliers. Lucid does not have dealerships, and there are too few Lucid service centers and Lucid-certified body shops. Chilton San Carlos and the Millbrae Lucid service center seem to be doing the best they can for me, but they can’t make me happy because the available infrastructure does not allow them to.
You may be thinking that the moral of my tale is: Don’t bang up your Lucid Air. But as Elvis Costello reminds us, accidents will happen. My accident was entirely my fault. Your accident may not be your fault at all.
My co-workers, friends and family have seen what I have been going through. One thing they know for sure is that they will never buy a Lucid Air.
