Not in Turtle Mode, yet

[borski]

Yea, doesn't really work like that I am finding out. When I first called in, they basically said, sorry to hear about your car, we will arrange service, go ahead and get a rental car, save your receipts and submit them (and gas receipts) and we will reimburse you. I gave them a bit ( alot) of grief over this and I got a call from someone saying they were going to try and get me a rental from Hertz. Well, that person was the maintenance tech in Atlanta and the best he could really do is get me a contact name/email for Hertz here in Charlotte. He told me they should be contacting me, but that has not happened. I am not going to bug him about a rental/loaner as he is a tech and really shouldn't be doing this kind of thing. He should be taking care of customers' cars. Bottom line, unless you are close to a real Service Center, you are on your own. They say they will reimburse you, but you are on your own to source the alternate transportation. I have tried a few rental places, but most mean I have to go out to the airport to rent anything of any quality. I tried Silver, but absolutely no availability.

This is odd. In Millbrae, they’re having Hertz call me to take preferences, etc. Have you tried contacting customer care about the rental?

 

[magesh]

OK, kind of a moral dilemma here - Do I rent a Nissan Maxima for $75/day from Enterprise or an Audi e-tron hatch 2022 for $220/day from Turo. The total price for twoo week is $900 for one and $3000 for the other. The Audi would definitely be more comparable, but it isn't something I "need".

Thoughts?

Well ... two diff type of vehicles ... sedan vs SUV. What fits your needs better? And charging capability? And distance driven - you will need to take an outlier here, assuming there may be a travel in excess of 200+ miles on one of these rental days. And yes, gas prices. And I don't believe putting miles on my personal car, all things being equakl, if I have a loaner. That's just me.

I just replaced a loaner ((Q8 in service 23 days back!!!)) Q5 with an eTron due to gas prices and it travels a max of 200 miles. I did not realize that when I picked it up, thinking it was closer to mid 200s or slightly higher. :-( . If I had known that, I would have stayed with the Q5. You cannot beat the convenience of fueling up & driving over 400+ miles.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Yea me, I win the award. The worst part of it is that there really hasn't been any contact from Lucid from anyone other than Customer Care or one of the techs in Atlanta.

And when the sales team tells you "We will provide you a rental vehicle as a loaner". What that really means is, "If you need another car, go get it yourself and send us a copy of the bills after we return your car".

I have gone down the route of having a car bought back by the dealer, BMW in my case. The process was about as pain free as it could be. I never had to get to the "Lemon" stage. They recognized my B7 (and several others) had a fuel management issue. The gave BMW/Alpina a period of time to rectify the issue and when it was apparent that no progress was being made (after 30 days or so and the car was completely drivable), the Service Manager at the dealer called me up and said they were reversing the transaction and to pick any car I wanted at XX% below cost from any brand dealer they owned. Now, this dealer is a huge name (around town and in NASCAR), so I had my pick. That is how I ended up with the M5. That dealership won my respect for life by the way they handled a potentially poor situation and it took the dealer and the brand to make that happen. Even after 8+ years and the car out of warranty, they provided a loaner, delivered to my house and swapped with the car they are to service. I way underestimated the value of having someone close enough and committed enough to service. Why, oh why, did I think I wanted to give an EV a try?

Lucid, at least in my experience, cannot compete on any level with any established higher-end brand on terms of Communication, Customer Service and Reliability.

I also had the "buy back" experience with BMW. In my case I was ready to sue under the Lemon Law (I am a retired litigator so it would have been fun) but the service manager at the dealership agreed with me and got the regional rep to agree to buy it back. Once BMW agreed to buy it back, they were terrific. Even let me hang on to it while I waited for my ordered car to be built. Gave me a very fair price for my time of use. My replacement car --a 2018 530e -- has been rock solid for me.

Dealership is only a couple of miles away and they have always had a loaner for me. I went so far as to do a test drive in an IX and I liked the way it drove and the features it had which all worked. BUT I can't get past how ugly it is. If I am going to spend $100K on something, it can't be something that is ugly every time I look at it. Making it even worse is that my home office is off my garage so I have to walk through the garage every time I go to use my computer.

 

[CLTGT]

This is odd. In Millbrae, they’re having Hertz call me to take preferences, etc. Have you tried contacting customer care about the rental?

Well, that is not my experience and I think there is a big difference when you have a Service Center that might provide a good number of customers. Being in Charlotte and getting contacted by a Satellite service location in another city might dictate a different priority level by the local Hertz office. Either way, I will book something on my own. Customer Care is the one that originally told me I was on my own.

Wait - @borski , is Millbrae contacting you for my rental?

I did talk with two higher management level people in the last hour and I am convinced that they do care and that they are paying particular attention to getting the car turned around as quickly as they can while following best practices in doing so.

I really just wish my experience with Lucid could have been more "vanilla" and less eventful.

 

[CLTGT]

I also had the "buy back" experience with BMW. In my case I was ready to sue under the Lemon Law (I am a retired litigator so it would have been fun) but the service manager at the dealership agreed with me and got the regional rep to agree to buy it back. Once BMW agreed to buy it back, they were terrific. Even let me hang on to it while I waited for my ordered car to be built. Gave me a very fair price for my time of use. My replacement car --a 2018 530e -- has been rock solid for me.

Dealership is only a couple of miles away and they have always had a loaner for me. I went so far as to do a test drive in an IX and I liked the way it drove and the features it had which all worked. BUT I can't get past how ugly it is. If I am going to spend $100K on something, it can't be something that is ugly every time I look at it. Making it even worse is that my home office is off my garage so I have to walk through the garage every time I go to use my computer.

Yea, I never had to go that far. My Service Manager had their maintenance guy drive the car and experience what I was complaining about. It was very subtle and felt like the car was shuddering when slowing down and downshifting, almost like driving a manual and not pushing the clutch in soon enough when slowing down, just not as violent. Once the maintenance guy confirmed it, they started looking into the B7 Alpina complaints across the country and found a couple of car owners complaining about the same thing. He asked me to give BMW 60 days to solve the problem. the car really wasn't bad to drive, so I kept it and used it while they investigated. He called me back 30 days in and said he was not happy with BMW's follow through and progress and to just figure out what I wanted and they would handle the rest. It was a real "whatever the customer wants" kind of approach.

 

[Pete44]

Well, that is not my experience and I think there is a big difference when you have a Service Center that might provide a good number of customers. Being in Charlotte and getting contacted by a Satellite service location in another city might dictate a different priority level by the local Hertz office. Either way, I will book something on my own. Customer Care is the one that originally told me I was on my own.

Wait - @borski , is Millbrae contacting you for my rental?

I did talk with two higher management level people in the last hour and I am convinced that they do care and that they are paying particular attention to getting the car turned around as quickly as they can while following best practices in doing so.

I really just wish my experience with Lucid could have been more "vanilla" and less eventful.

In my situation, the service center is 150 miles away. Customer care did have Hertz reach out (I did have to nudge them once) and I rented an Infinity QX 50 without fuss. I did ask for a Telsa but Hertz didn’t have one there and said Lucid won’t allow it. Customer care verified they don’t allow Tesla rentals which I found strange but didn’t follow up. I may go back and complain if it seems the car is not going to available for another few weeks or so.

 

[borski]

Wait - @borski , is Millbrae contacting you for my rental?

No, I need one because I’m selling both my gas cars (a 2012 Kia Sorento and a 2012 Mazda 3) this week. We’ll have just the Lucid for now, and then eventually a second EV.

(edit: and my car is in service to have the windshield replaced, so that my Fastrak will work through it, instead of the tiny window of non-metallic tint on the passenger side)

 

[joec]

I do wonder now what the rental situation might be here in Boulder, given there are no service centers nearby yet. Not that I'm planning on needing it, but this is yet another thing Lucid should clarify in the fine print, if there are indeed differences depending on where you live.

My guess is they are still making this up as they go along. Literally a case-by-case basis for handling all of these issues.

I imagine in five years, this whole situation will be very different. Cars will fail less frequently. Service centers will be more plentiful. Loaners of actual Lucid Airs will be readily available. That has to be the long-term plan. Loaners would be far less expensive in the long run than rental cars.

It's just so early in Lucid's development.

 

[CLTGT]

So, I went ahead and rented the Audi Sportback e-tron for 10 days. It will be delivered tomorrow. I do not drive a ton, so the anemic range should be fine.

Today was a wasted day service-wise. Looks like the car got there around lunchtime and I was just told they plan to put it up on the lift tomorrow am. After talking with the East Coast Service Manager, he thinks it is the drive unit based on the pics. They have already ordered one and he said it was in stock, so it should be there tomorrow as well. The engineers will also need to give their input as I think they are part of every major repair/failure like this.

 

[Impatient7536]

So, I went ahead and rented the Audi Sportback e-tron for 10 days. It will be delivered tomorrow. I do not drive a ton, so the anemic range should be fine.

Today was a wasted day service-wise. Looks like the car got there around lunchtime and I was just told they plan to put it up on the lift tomorrow am. After talking with the East Coast Service Manager, he thinks it is the drive unit based on the pics. They have already ordered one and he said it was in stock, so it should be there tomorrow as well. The engineers will also need to give their input as I think they are part of every major repair/failure like this.

did they ok the audi rental? last thing i want for you is to rent the audi, but then lucid say it's not something they allow (like how they said no teslas for some people), so you end up being on the hook for it too...

 

[CLTGT]

did they ok the audi rental? last thing i want for you is to rent the audi, but then lucid say it's not something they allow (like how they said no teslas for some people), so you end up being on the hook for it too...

I told them what I was doing and no one seemed to care. It was always, "just send us the receipts". The only guidelines I received, and they were just comments in passing, were "whatever you want, short of a Ferrari" and "something comparable to the Lucid". The Audi was about as close as I could get. I could have gotten a 7-Series, or a Ghilbi or something like that, but they were no cheaper and would have required me to make a trip to the airport. I have two board meetings tomorrow and the Audi is going to deliver in the hour between them.

 

[Demosthenes]

I told them what I was doing and no one seemed to care. It was always, "just send us the receipts". The only guidelines I received, and they were just comments in passing, were "whatever you want, short of a Ferrari" and "something comparable to the Lucid". The Audi was about as close as I could get. I could have gotten a 7-Series, or a Ghilbi or something like that, but they were no cheaper and would have required me to make a trip to the airport. I have two board meetings tomorrow and the Audi is going to deliver in the hour between them.

Yeah, I can't imagine they'd balk at the e-tron. It's an extremely reasonable rental and you shouldn't have to shed one drop of effort worrying about how the expense will impact them. Great call! Let's just hope the e-tron doesn't convert you away from lucid . I've never driven one myself.

 

[Tesla2.0]

So, I went ahead and rented the Audi Sportback e-tron for 10 days. It will be delivered tomorrow. I do not drive a ton, so the anemic range should be fine.

Today was a wasted day service-wise. Looks like the car got there around lunchtime and I was just told they plan to put it up on the lift tomorrow am. After talking with the East Coast Service Manager, he thinks it is the drive unit based on the pics. They have already ordered one and he said it was in stock, so it should be there tomorrow as well. The engineers will also need to give their input as I think they are part of every major repair/failure like this.

I bet the cost of HQ senior engineers’ flights to Atlanta to troubleshoot, their hotel stay and billary salary/per diem expenses outweigh your Audi ETron.

 

[MoniputerLM]

I bet the cost of HQ senior engineers’ flights to Atlanta to troubleshoot, their hotel stay and billary salary/per diem expenses outweigh your Audi ETron.

If I were the engineer that was looking into it, I would want the car in a controlled environment with the proper test gear. Not ideal for the customer.

 

[Tesla2.0]

If I were the engineer that was looking into it, I would want the car in a controlled environment with the proper test gear. Not ideal for the customer.

Also they are looking for source of failure to document problem of their process . Either production process will be refined as result of finding or someone responsible in assembly will get fire or office politics gets played out for quid pro quo hush hush scratch each other’s back (as in legacy corporation).

 

[Ksa23]

OK, kind of a moral dilemma here - Do I rent a Nissan Maxima for $75/day from Enterprise or an Audi e-tron hatch 2022 for $220/day from Turo. The total price for twoo week is $900 for one and $3000 for the other. The Audi would definitely be more comparable, but it isn't something I "need".

Thoughts?

Ill be paying about $1700-$2300 a month, and if they expected me to drive around in a Nissan for such a catastrophic failure and loss of that money, I would become extremely disgruntled.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Ill be paying about $1700-$2300 a month, and if they expected me to drive around in a Nissan for such a catastrophic failure and loss of that money, I would become extremely disgruntled.

I think you are entitled to a reasonably comparable loaner. My only concern is with using Turo for that purpose. Lucid could argue that it is not a true car rental agency and its prices are not rental prices. I don't know if they will try that but Turo is a different kind of animal than a regular car rental agency.

 

[CLTGT]

I told them who I was using and the prices were actually very competitive with Enterprise given the specific vehicle. Actually, Enterprise was slightly higher. I am not too worried about it.

 

[Impatient7536]

I think you are entitled to a reasonably comparable loaner. My only concern is with using Turo for that purpose. Lucid could argue that it is not a true car rental agency and its prices are not rental prices. I don't know if they will try that but Turo is a different kind of animal than a regular car rental agency.

forgot about that part. i remember looking into turo and my credit card's auto coverage specifically said that they wont cover turo. that's something i never thought about or considered until then

 

[hydbob]

forgot about that part. i remember looking into turo and my credit card's auto coverage specifically said that they wont cover turo. that's something i never thought about or considered until then

Aren't all cars rented through Turo insured through Liberty already?