Luck o' the Irish

[Steveinarizona]

At the end of our discussion he surprised me with his final assessment. He loved the car but would never buy a car that fast again. Despite his many years of driving experience, he felt the car was too fast, even for him. In his opinion there was no need for this kind of speed. Obviously there are those that would disagree with him, but I’m not one of them.

In my view the sweet spot for a car as heavy as a Lucid is HP in the high 400s or low 500s. For me, anything more than that is unnecessary. Now...if one is going to track the car, that is another story for another time.

 

[Coltonw011]

Yeaaa I remember having this discussion with people on the forum before the delivery of my GT. As much as I love the car, that’s honestly the one thing I wouldn’t be upset about if it were changed. I love the speed, I used to compete with FD guys at the local track for years on Wednesday nights. The barrier for entry used to be very high on power like these cars have (the GT still has a large barrier), but with cars like the M3P and such, it’s becoming a dangerous road hazard. Fortunately I haven’t come close to wrecking either my GT or MS and my friends have been fine in their Teslas and such, but man there’s a lot of instant power in these things. Fun, but as always needs to be handled with extreme care.

 

[RM-S8]

In my view the sweet spot for a car as heavy as a Lucid is HP in the high 400s or low 500s. For me, anything more than that is unnecessary. Now...if one is going to track the car, that is another story for another time.

I disagree.
Having extra hp doesn't mean you have to use it all the time. It's like having $100 in your wallet (not that I do after getting married), you don't have to spend it all at once.

 

[quantum]

Just heard from the insurance company. They have assigned 100% liability to the driver of the Subaru.

Now things get complicated. Lucid only has three authorized repair facilities in Florida: in Orlando, Miami, and West Palm Beach. So the car will have to be flat-bedded to Miami or West Palm Beach. As these facilities are not in the insurance company's network, the insurance company has to set up procedures to work with them. All the body work is first done on the car, then the car has to go to Lucid's Riviera Beach Service Center to have the battery pack and electronics checked out.

Somewhere in this mix, the installer of the Radenso radar system has to be brought into the loop to restore that system, for which insurance will pay. They say it's normally the body shop that does that coordination, but our installer is on the other side of the state. So I don't know how that's going to work.

I asked about payment for loss of resale value. State Farm's position is that there is no loss of value if the car is properly repaired. I begged to differ, and they said they would look at any documentation of such loss I could provide them. They did not say what would suffice as documentation on something so speculative.

I have a feeling this is going to be a long road.

Florida law establishes that drivers are entitled to compensation for the diminished value (DV) of their motor vehicle after a car accident - search it on google. Tell your insurance you will take them to court if they refuse to honor diminshed value.

 

[hmp10]

Florida law establishes that drivers are entitled to compensation for the diminished value (DV) of their motor vehicle after a car accident - search it on google. Tell your insurance you will take them to court if they refuse to honor diminshed value.

I've already had that discussion, and they have acknowledged their responsibility. Right now we're still waiting to see if the third-party estimator recommends totaling or repairing the car. The visible damage estimate of $57,000 puts it under the threshold for declaring a total loss, but further damage revealed upon tear-down could tip it the other way. The body shop thinks it's going to wind up totaled, but I really won't know for a while yet.

 

[hydbob]

Not your car, but just found this video about some collision repair on another Air

 

[hmp10]

Not your car, but just found this video about some collision repair on another Air

Interesting. I wonder if this is a repair to return the car to the owner or a repair so that the insurance company can resell a car they declared totaled? State Farm says they total a car if the repair costs reach 75% of the car's value. That potentially leaves some margin to make it worth the insurer's effort to repair and resell.

And did you notice the other crashed Lucid Air sitting in the shop -- apparently a Grand Touring?

I posted earlier that the southeast region is seeing 8-9 wrecked Lucids a week come into Lucid-certified body shops. I wonder how long it's going to be before this high accident rate shows up in insurance premiums -- or even causes insurers to decline underwriting a Lucid.

By the way, the car in this video might be Amster's car. Same exterior and interior colors as hers (Cosmo Silver / Tahoe) and having front- and rear-end damage as did hers. She said Safeco totaled her car.

 

[Electrified]

Not your car, but just found this video about some collision repair on another Air

That's an inpressive shop! Just a few blocks away from Lucid's Goose Island service center, I hope I never have to visit Gold Coast Auto Body.

Good video.

 

[Electrified]

Interesting. I wonder if this is a repair to return the car to the owner or a repair so that the insurance company can resell a car they declared totaled? State Farm says they total a car if the repair costs reach 75% of the car's value. That potentially leaves some margin to make it worth the insurer's effort to repair and resell.

And did you notice the other crashed Lucid Air sitting in the shop -- apparently a Grand Touring?

I posted earlier that the southeast region is seeing 8-9 wrecked Lucids a week come into Lucid-certified body shops. I wonder how long it's going to be before this high accident rate shows up in insurance premiums -- or even causes insurers to decline underwriting a Lucid.

By the way, the car in this video might be Amster's car. Same exterior and interior colors as hers (Cosmo Silver / Tahoe) and having front- and rear-end damage as did hers. She said Safeco totaled her car.

That's an incredibly high percentage of horseshit drivers.

 

[Snafu]

I just tripped over this thread, and I'm glad to hear everyone was ok in the accident. You are right that the Air is a tank. I've been interested in hearing owners' experiences with the accident response and follow-through, both from LUCID and from any insurance companies. I was surprised to hear of the problems with State Farm (I had one house claim many years ago about extreme water damage and mold from a pinhole pipe leak while I was away for an extended period, and they covered everything except the $79.00 plumber's bill to repair the original pipe. Other than issues with their choice of contractors to remediate the mold and entirely rebuild the entire basement and first floor excluding the studs, they covered everything at full replacement value with no quibbles.) Something for me to keep in mind, should I decide change insurance companies.

I was in an accident back in early November in my AGT, when I was T-boned in the driver's side rear door at an intersection (the other car accelerated into my car with a solid impact), 100% the other driver's fault. I called the Roadside Assistance, was connected to a non-native English speaker who could not find my VIN in his system, so I hung up and called Customer Service. There was about a 5-minute wait to get someone on the line, and they took care of getting a Lucid-trained tow service, finding the closest authorized repair shop (in Hollis, MA, about 35 miles from the accident site), let me know it might take the driver a bit to get to me and texted me a link to track his progress. The driver called shortly thereafter and then about 10 minutes before he arrived (@2 hours). He knew his stuff with the Lucid (I had been able to drive my car to the side of the road - tire shredded, entire rear quarter panel/door in rough shape and part of the bumper), and texted me to let me know my car had arrived safely at Hollis. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from one of the Lucid Mobile Service Techs, Mark, to see if I was ok. Since at this time the MA Service Center was co-located with the autobody shop and had constant interactions with them, he was there when my car came in and recognized it. That was much appreciated, but everyone was fine - no airbags had been deployed and the person in the back seat had minor neck whiplash but is fine now.

Then the fun started... USAA had no experience at all with LUCIDs, so it took almost three weeks just to get an adjustor out and decide on damage. The other driver who hit me was also insured by USAA, and I think this caused a lot of the delays in establishing blame (for some reason, the other driver was not ticketed at all, although the police report cited the statute), and it took over a month and a half for USAA to determine they were 100% at fault. The official switching to all claims going against her insurance never seemed to stick, so it was a constant battle for rental car payments for the 3 months it took for repairs. At this point, parts delays seemed to be the largest issue, and by January I had reached out to a senior Lucid manager to troubleshoot and expedite parts deliveries, and things sped up. The service rates were higher than Tesla repair rates, but USAA did pay the bills finally - $49K for the initial estimate and then $30K for the follow-up. The paint on the new door and bumper/panels is a perfect match, and once the body work was done, Lucid Service picked up the car and finalized all the calibrations, adjustments, and software updates. I literally picked up a brand new car. Since then, other than the frunk issue, the car has been trouble free. I was told by the auto body shop that USAA was one of the most difficult insurance companies they dealt with, though. Since this is my first ever real luxury car and my first accident in more than 20 years, it has brought some of the realities and consequences of car choices to mind, but the car really is worth it.

Again, glad to hear everyone who has had the misfortune of an accident has come out ok. Good luck with your repairs!

 

[hmp10]

I just tripped over this thread, and I'm glad to hear everyone was ok in the accident. You are right that the Air is a tank. I've been interested in hearing owners' experiences with the accident response and follow-through, both from LUCID and from any insurance companies.

You had better luck with reaching Customer Service than I did, and there was no issue with assigning liability in our case. In all other aspects, however, your experience was very similar to what I'm going through right now: lots of quibbling about rates and a long time to make a damage determination and decision about how to proceed.

I agree that the car is really worth the hassles with insurance repair, though. I'm going to get right back in one, either ours or a replacement as like it as we can find.

We also have a Model S Plaid, which I had almost ceased to drive before the accident. It had sort of evolved into my partner's car, as he has more patience with its yoke and aggravating turn signals buttons.

Now that we're both using the Plaid again, some interesting perspective is developing for both of us. For my part, I had not earlier noticed (or had forgotten) how twitchy and darty the Plaid feels on the road compared to the steering and suspension composure of the Air Dream P. (We got the Plaid four months before the Air, so most of my driving in it was before I had the Air for comparison.)

Last evening I got into the passenger seat of the Plaid and found it pushed all the way back with the seat in fairly extreme recline. My partner had been in it the night before, and I asked him why he had it in such an extreme position. He said the front passenger seat in the Lucid was much more roomy and comfortable, and he was trying to get as close to that in the Tesla as he could. We knew how much more rear legroom there was in the Air, but he said that he had not realized how much more fore/aft legroom a front passenger has in the Air compared to the Tesla, where he almost never sat as a passenger.

 

[hmp10]

That's an inpressive shop! Just a few blocks away from Lucid's Goose Island service center, I hope I never have to visit Gold Coast Auto Body.

To get certified by Lucid, a body shop has to send personnel to Lucid HQ in California for training and has to invest in special tooling. The only body shops that are interested in doing that for a low-volume car such as the Lucid seem to be shops that specialize in exotic and ultra-lux cars. That is reflected in their high labor rates and the main reason some owners seem to be having trouble with their insurance claims.

The go-to body shop that Lucid relies on for wrecked cars coming into the Riviera Beach service region is the West Palm Beach shop that handles the Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini work that abounds in the area. It's a state-of-the-art shop in everything from its paint shop to its upholstery facility, and Lucid tells me the cars they examine in their Service Center before releasing the cars back to the owner come out of that shop like new.

 

[Electrified]

To get certified by Lucid, a body shop has to send personnel to Lucid HQ in California for training and has to invest in special tooling. The only body shops that are interested in doing that for a low-volume car such as the Lucid seem to be shops that specialize in exotic and ultra-lux cars. That is reflected in their high labor rates and the main reason some owners seem to be having trouble with their insurance claims.

The go-to body shop that Lucid relies on for wrecked cars coming into the Riviera Beach service region is the West Palm Beach shop that handles the Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini work that abounds in the area. It's a state-of-the-art shop in everything from its paint shop to its upholstery facility, and Lucid tells me the cars they examine in their Service Center before releasing the cars back to the owner come out of that shop like new.

BALLER

 

[Volund]

To get certified by Lucid, a body shop has to send personnel to Lucid HQ in California for training and has to invest in special tooling. The only body shops that are interested in doing that for a low-volume car such as the Lucid seem to be shops that specialize in exotic and ultra-lux cars. That is reflected in their high labor rates and the main reason some owners seem to be having trouble with their insurance claims.

The go-to body shop that Lucid relies on for wrecked cars coming into the Riviera Beach service region is the West Palm Beach shop that handles the Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini work that abounds in the area. It's a state-of-the-art shop in everything from its paint shop to its upholstery facility, and Lucid tells me the cars they examine in their Service Center before releasing the cars back to the owner come out of that shop like new.

Being an electric car with tons of wires going everywhere, I'm sure the electrical components and wiring for repair it probably way harder than everything else?

Someone told me he went over a big speed bump in his Audi A8 and knocked some wires loose and was quoted like $460 to fix it.

Another buddy told me after his Mercedes wrecked, he got it repaired but regrets it because no repair shop can get the computer systems back to how it was OEM.

I hope it's not the same with EV's, but you have all these mini computers, processors, and wiring everywhere that repairing anything after an accident freaks me out.

You had better luck with reaching Customer Service than I did,

I always text Customer Service first and tell them, "I am on the side of the road, car stopped, etc.. Call me at 801xxxxxxx"
And while I send that text, I call them. Texts usually respond faster and I'm on the call queue while they respond, most of the time I get a incoming call from them where I hang up my outgoing call to pick up theirs.

I had a pretty quick response when I got the battery and drive train errors

 

[hmp10]

Got word today that State Farm declared our car a total loss. Now working to find its replacement. (Hint: it's going to be another Lucid.)

 

[Amster]

Got word today that State Farm declared our car a total loss. Now working to find its replacement. (Hint: it's going to be another Lucid.)

That's the only way to go!

 

[Bobby]

Got word today that State Farm declared our car a total loss. Now working to find its replacement. (Hint: it's going to be another Lucid.)

I hope they have a replacement value clause!

 

[Amster]

I hope they have a replacement value clause!

Very true. I am so happy to have Lucid #2, but if I hadn't had a full replacement value clause, I'd have an Ioniq5 in my driveway instead.

 

[hmp10]

I hope they have a replacement value clause!

The trick will be how replacement cost is determined. There are very few Dream Edition P's on the market, and the asking prices are all over the lot, so there's not much of a database for me or the insurer to use in positing our positions. Of the few Dream P's offered for sale, there's a $33,000 spread in asking prices with no correlation that I can find to mileage or time-on-market.

 

[Bobby]

When my BMW burned in a house fire, it was a new model that year so very few on the market. I asked them how they determine the value and they said I have "new car replacement coverage," which they define as "covers the cost of a new car of the same make and model, minus the applicable deductibles, if your car is totaled in a covered loss." The car was only a few months old with about 1000 miles, so they wrote me a check for the sticker prices plus tax, DMV fees, etc. Good experience overall.