Thelife- A Rivian owner said repairs cost $42,000 for his R1T after a fender bender, according to The New York Times.
- A repair shop had to take apart the vehicle's interior ceiling, the Times reported.
A Rivian owner said his R1T electric pickup truck cost about $42,000 to fix after it was hit at a stoplight earlier this year, according to a report The New York Times.
Chris Apfelstadt told the publication that while he'd expected the repair wouldn't be cheap, it was a "shocking number."
The incident, which occurred February in Columbus, Ohio, was at first believed to be somewhat minor, according to the Times report, which said the other driver's insurance offered to pay about $1,600. But, after the electric car was taken to a repair shop that was certified to work with Rivian products the cost jumped to $42,000, the publication said.
The repair cost over half the starting price of the vehicle. One of the primary reasons for the high price was that the accident affected a panel that reaches from the back of the vehicle all the way to the front roof pillars of the truck and fixing the panel required service workers to remove the ceiling and front windshield, the Times said.
The publication also attributed the cost to the lack of repair shops for the Rivian R1T and the expense of fixing EVs that rely on more high-tech parts. Like Tesla, Rivian does not use dealers. The company has certified about 200 repair shops in North America and Apfelstadt only had three to choose from in Ohio, according to the Times. The company also only has about 34 of its own service centers.
A Rivian spokesperson told Insider: "The nature of the repair and the parts and labor required with this specific case meant this bill was higher than what we'd expect for the average customer. We will certainly take this case into account as we continually seek to enhance our products and quality of service."
Meanwhile, Rivian's vice president of service operations, Noe Mejia, told the Times that while the company's smaller size makes it easier for it to work closer with customers and provide better service it's also "a challenge that we're newer to the market."
While everyday maintenance is much cheaper for electric cars, the vehicles can be more expensive to repair and insure. Last year, a study from CCC Intelligent Solutions found that on average EV repairs cost more than repairs for gas-powered cars. Another report from Mitchell that was cited by the Times found that last year EV repairs cost about $2,400 more than fixes for traditional combustion-engine vehicles.
Similarly, Insider's Alexa St. John previously reported that EVs are more expensive to insure. For example, the national average cost of car insurance is about $2,148 per year, while a Tesla Model S costs about $4,066 to insure, according to the Insider report.
Still, the high costs might be short-lived. The cost of insuring and repairing an EV is expected to drop as more people and companies transition to all-electric cars.
Apfelstadt isn't the first Rivian owner to detail issues with his electric pickup truck. Insider's Nora Naughton previously reported that a Rivian customer who had waited three years to get his R1S saw the vehicle break down just days after he took it home.
Read the Times' full story on its website.
Do you own an EV or are you on a waitlist to buy one? We want to hear from you. Contact the reporter at: gkay@insider.com