Andy Nurman
January 3, 2024
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince expressed dismay over a $4,200 quote to replace a cracked rear windshield on his Rivian R1T electric truck, shedding light on the startup automaker’s extremely high repair costs.
In a Twitter thread, Prince detailed his frustrating experience after discovering a simple rear windshield crack. His initial estimate from Safelite was $49 (with insurance) to replace it within 3 days. However, Safelite found that it could not source the glass from Rivian.
Prince reached out to Rivian directly. After several weeks, they provided a repair estimate of $4,232.71. To put this into perspective, Safelite charges $1,700 for R1T rear glass, $560 for Tesla Model Y, and $460 for Toyota Rav4.
“I really want to love Rivian. I root for them. It’s a great product — as long as nothing goes wrong,” said Prince. However, he cautioned that until Rivian addresses its “outrageous service cost issues” and resulting high insurance premiums, he cannot recommend their vehicles.
He also own Porsche Taycan EV and pointed out that his Porsche is cheaper to insure than Rivian. Higher insurance cost on EV is nothing new, but should be fix to reduce true total cost of ownership.
Inability to quickly and cost-effectively service vehicles could severely impact Rivian viability as a mainstream automaker. The startup, which held a very successful IPO in late 2021, faces immense pressure to scale up manufacturing and deliveries in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Meanwhile, I’m enthusiastically supporting Rivian due to their exceptional product. I might be in the minority, but I see their Electric Delivery Van as a crucial product in transitioning to clean energy. Why? Because delivery drivers cover significant distances, contributing substantially to mileage.
