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My totally unsolicited idea on how to improve Lucid Service

martinjlm said:
That would be true if they ONLY repaired high value luxury vehicles. But when you are working with full portfolio brands like Cadillac or Ford, you're dealing with entities that are not seeing the problem(s) for the first time and that are experienced in handling them efficiently. Most of the processes and procedures are similar between luxury makes and mainstream makes. Many are exactly the same. The differences typically involve model specific tooling that would be recognized in any sort of bilateral agreement. What's the difference in replacing a Lucid Air electric motor vs a Cadillac Lyriq electric motor vs a Chevrolet Blazer EV electric motor? Tools required to access would be the biggest issue.

Body shop and paint work is already one of the first things that get contracted out. Socktucker's reference to Caliber and CC is spot-on. That's gonna happen anyway. It's the warranty repair and systems repair work that will be of issue. The smattering of annoying, but not disabling issues where an owner would not be predisposed to send the car to a service center 3 or 4 hours away that their neighbor can get fixed by making an appointment with the dealer a few miles away. Getting door handles to extend / retract correctly. There's a rattle behind one of the 21 speakers. The wipers are mistimed. Mobile service can and should fix most of those types of things, but if they can't what's the backup plan? Ship the car to a service center where it gets to stand in line and might even get bumped because of more critical repairs.
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spot on!
 
I would not want to have to deal with a third party. For me it would be more of a negative than having to be tolerant of the line for service.
 
martinjlm said:
That would be true if they ONLY repaired high value luxury vehicles. But when you are working with full portfolio brands like Cadillac or Ford, you're dealing with entities that are not seeing the problem(s) for the first time and that are experienced in handling them efficiently. Most of the processes and procedures are similar between luxury makes and mainstream makes. Many are exactly the same. The differences typically involve model specific tooling that would be recognized in any sort of bilateral agreement. What's the difference in replacing a Lucid Air electric motor vs a Cadillac Lyriq electric motor vs a Chevrolet Blazer EV electric motor? Tools required to access would be the biggest issue.

Body shop and paint work is already one of the first things that get contracted out. Socktucker's reference to Caliber and CC is spot-on. That's gonna happen anyway. It's the warranty repair and systems repair work that will be of issue. The smattering of annoying, but not disabling issues where an owner would not be predisposed to send the car to a service center 3 or 4 hours away that their neighbor can get fixed by making an appointment with the dealer a few miles away. Getting door handles to extend / retract correctly. There's a rattle behind one of the 21 speakers. The wipers are mistimed. Mobile service can and should fix most of those types of things, but if they can't what's the backup plan? Ship the car to a service center where it gets to stand in line and might even get bumped because of more critical repairs.
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Absolutely!

Let's not reinvent the wheels!

The body shops know how to do this stuff.

About 6 months ago, the Rivian Mobile Tech came to my Sausalito garage to do my 2-year maintenance. He was there for almost 2 hours. Rivian charged me $220 for the service. My recent "Schedule A" (the light touch one) on my Air (at the SC) took 2 weeks and $700. ~$350 for the Schedule A, $350 for wheel alignment. And Lucid paid for my Enterprise rental for 2 weeks while my car waited in the queue for service. Now, what's wrong with this picture!?

Rivian does not do tire rotation or tire repairs on their services. They tell you to go to Discount Tires, and it is free at Discount Tires; tire rotation and tire repairs. The mobile tech even taught me how to tweak the body panels to tighten up the gaps. I haven't had the time or the nerve to try it yet!
:)
 
BS8899 said:
My recent "Schedule A" (the light touch one) on my Air (at the SC) took 2 weeks and $700. ~$350 for the Schedule A, $350 for wheel alignment. And Lucid paid for my Enterprise rental for 2 weeks while my car waited in the queue for service. Now, what's wrong with this picture!?
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if I was their CFO I would cry when I read this.
 
socktucker said:
if I was their CFO I would cry when I read this.
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BTW, you don't have to be Lucid's CFO to be outraged. YOU (and me) as the purchaser of Lucid vehicles at a high ASP, and (I am assuming) potential stockholders, are paying for all these nonsenses!
 
A partial solution is far more simple. I don't believe the existing SCs are all backlogged due to an insufficient number of work bays. They do not appear to have the technician workforce to handle the load.

Putting aside vehicles waiting for long-lead factory parts (oftentimes filling SC parking spaces), other services might be accelerated by hiring and training more techs (train your own rather than train a third-party workforce), deploying more remote diagnostic SW tools to triage vehicles that need to come to a SC, and expanding all SC hours into the evening and weekends with the expanded tech teams that were hired and trained. The overhead costs currently being carried for SC rent and specialized service equipment can be leveraged to produce revenue during expanded hours, instead of being idle and missing those opportunities.

Increasing the warranty service throughputs will clear SC capacity to encourage and service revenue generating post-warranty vehicles. Those vehicles (owned and leased) are increasing in number each month. The faster they can be serviced, the faster that revenue can begin to flow.
 
PhotoEye said:
A partial solution is far more simple. I don't believe the existing SCs are all backlogged due to an insufficient number of work bays. They do not appear to have the technician workforce to handle the load.

Putting aside vehicles waiting for long-lead factory parts (oftentimes filling SC parking spaces), other services might be accelerated by hiring and training more techs (train your own rather than train a third-party workforce), deploying more remote diagnostic SW tools to triage vehicles that need to come to a SC, and expanding all SC hours into the evening and weekends with the expanded tech teams that were hired and trained. The overhead costs currently being carried for SC rent and specialized service equipment can be leveraged to produce revenue during expanded hours, instead of being idle and missing those opportunities.

Increasing the warranty service throughputs will clear SC capacity to encourage and service revenue generating post-warranty vehicles. Those vehicles (owned and leased) are increasing in number each month. The faster they can be serviced, the faster that revenue can begin to flow.
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The reasoning in favor of training someone else starts with the understanding of long term utilization vs the liability assumed in having your own staff. In a steady state world where the people at Lucid Service Centers who only work on Lucid vehicles if/when service is needed, each employee represents a liability of $150 - 200k through pay and benefits. Training techs at a 3rd party, where the techs work on Lucid and other products (higher steady-state utilization) is a lot more efficient. When they're not working on Lucids, they're working on EVs from other brands. Sure, in an exclusive Lucid SC environment you can reduce staff when work tapers off, but you can never get below a critical mass. At that point, any idleness is inefficiency. And as a Lucid vehicle owner, I'm in favor of some idleness. I want my Lucid Service Center to be like the Maytag Repairman for those like me old enough to remember that.

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martinjlm said:
The reasoning in favor of training someone else starts with the understanding of long term utilization vs the liability assumed in having your own staff. In a steady state world where the people at Lucid Service Centers who only work on Lucid vehicles if/when service is needed, each employee represents a liability of $150 - 200k through pay and benefits. Training techs at a 3rd party, where the techs work on Lucid and other products (higher steady-state utilization) is a lot more efficient. When they're not working on Lucids, they're working on EVs from other brands. Sure, in an exclusive Lucid SC environment you can reduce staff when work tapers off, but you can never get below a critical mass. At that point, any idleness is inefficiency. And as a Lucid vehicle owner, I'm in favor of some idleness. I want my Lucid Service Center to be like the Maytag Repairman for those like me old enough to remember that.

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I hear you and understand. My proposal, however, is aligned with Lucid as an emerging manufacturer with only expanded production on the immediate horizon (at least that's a presumption). As such, idle time should be years away (unless the C Suite is quietly not expecting sharply increased production).
 
PhotoEye said:
A partial solution is far more simple. I don't believe the existing SCs are all backlogged due to an insufficient number of work bays. They do not appear to have the technician workforce to handle the load.

Putting aside vehicles waiting for long-lead factory parts (oftentimes filling SC parking spaces), other services might be accelerated by hiring and training more techs (train your own rather than train a third-party workforce), deploying more remote diagnostic SW tools to triage vehicles that need to come to a SC, and expanding all SC hours into the evening and weekends with the expanded tech teams that were hired and trained. The overhead costs currently being carried for SC rent and specialized service equipment can be leveraged to produce revenue during expanded hours, instead of being idle and missing those opportunities.

Increasing the warranty service throughputs will clear SC capacity to encourage and service revenue generating post-warranty vehicles. Those vehicles (owned and leased) are increasing in number each month. The faster they can be serviced, the faster that revenue can begin to flow.
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They just laid off a bunch of service people, and in my region shifted states to different service centers. Their mobile tech quit and they’re working on a replacement.
 
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Lycra said:
?! joke :D
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No. Not a joke. @socktucker is tossing facts. The Tesla Model Y has been the best selling car in the world for several years. 2023 and 2024. Not sure about 2025 yet but it's definitely in the top three (RAV4; Corolla)
 
I am not on the side of outsourcing sales or service.

If they opened 50 more service centers (or 30 or 100) they can handle the current backlog and the initial onslaught of mid-size. They can drop locations as the cars become better from the factory. It's not easy or inexpensive, but they need to put service on a higher pedestal than sales if they expect their reputation to improve.

I don't know about the rest of you, however I chose this brand from reading about it - the sale was a foregone conclusion. I never saw an ad. But, 100% of the rest of my experience will be with service.

Franchise dealers make money out back - service pays the bills, not paper-thin margins on new sales. Eventually, if Lucid can take your car in the morning, spend an hour and a half on the service and charge you $350, they could actually make money on service - and, sell you some swag and accessories while you are there. But, having to have Lucid change your tires from winter to summer or align the car - that's so 1900s. It isn't car specific and it's a waste of a service center's technician and floor space.

YMMV. Dream Ahead!
 
What about a discreet 3rd party that contracts with all the main EV manufacturers to do all their servicing - a specialist servicing company. Yes, they would lose control of the service experience, but it couldn't be any worse than generally most EV vehicle manufacturers offer today. Big boys like Tesla included.
 
Macgreiner said:
What about a discreet 3rd party that contracts with all the main EV manufacturers to do all their servicing - a specialist servicing company. Yes, they would lose control of the service experience, but it couldn't be any worse than generally most EV vehicle manufacturers offer today. Big boys like Tesla included.
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The Apple model. Who services your iPhone? It ain't Apple, but you'd never know it.
 
Let the body shops do the work and have a mobile specialty Lucid service that comes in and gets all the cameras and sensors aligned and factory certified. That way it would take a lot of liability off the body shops and the specialized equipment would be used by trained Lucid tech that do not need to relearn the car on the rare occasion the shop has Lucid that needs body work.
 
BS8899 said:
recent "Schedule A" (the light touch one) on my Air (at the SC) took 2 weeks and $700. ~$350 for the Schedule A, $350 for wheel alignment.
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Wait, a wheel alignment is part of scheduled service? If so, that's a scam
 
martinjlm said:
The Apple model. Who services your iPhone? It ain't Apple, but you'd never know it.
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Apple doesn’t want you to service your iPhone. It’s a planned obsolescence business model. Although they will sell you Apple Care which is nothing more than insurance.
 
Northpointe said:
Offered, not required.
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Thanks for the clarification. Only reason cars need alignments is if something is bent, or a worn/broken part has been replaced. It's a ADP item 90% of the time
 
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