In a social media post, Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare Inc., voiced his concerns over the steep service and insurance costs of Rivian Automotive Inc. RIVN, in the wake of his own negative experience with Rivian’s customer service.
Prince’s Troubles with Rivian’s Service Costs
What Happened: Prince, who owns a Rivian R1T truck, said he initially faced a cracked rear windshield issue. When he reached out to Safelite — a provider of vehicle glass repair, replacement, and calibration services and insurance claims management — for a repair quote, he was quoted $49 and a reasonable three-day wait time.
However, the situation took a turn for the worse when Safelite could not obtain the required rear windshield glass from Rivian directly, according to Prince.
“So I scheduled an appointment. Was a couple weeks before they could get me in. Inconvenient, but the holidays, so…” he said on X.
Prince said he was taken aback when Rivian quoted a repair cost of $4,232 for the windshield, which was significantly higher than Safelite’s uninsured quote of around $1,000. The Cloudflare CEO further noted that insuring his Rivian truck was more costly than insuring his high-end Porsche Taycan.
The Soaring Costs and Wait Times
“Rivian trucks are great — as long as nothing goes wrong. When something goes wrong, they’re a disaster,” he wrote.
“I really want to love Rivian. I root for them. It’s a great product — as long as nothing goes wrong,” he said. “And I am fortunate that I can afford to put out $4,200 to fix a windshield and deal with the insurance myself.”
Prince’s current estimated net worth is about $553 million.
He also claimed that Rivian charged a jaw-dropping $8,000 for fixing a cosmetic dent in the bumper.
Rivian’s Repair Cost Concerns Spread
Why It Matters: Prince’s criticism is not an isolated incident. In the past, other Rivian owners have also voiced their concerns over the company’s high repair costs. For example, in May last year, a Rivian R1T owner was shocked by a $42,000 repair bill for a minor fender bender.
Rivian has also faced criticism for its long service wait times. One R1T owner said he waited eight months for his vehicle to be repaired after an accident, which caused a lot of complex issues with the internal wiring.
Rivian did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment at the time of writing.