Luxury EV Headache : Although Lucid might have come to the electric vehicle game a bit late–especially when compared to the class-leading (at least in terms of experience and sales) Tesla–the company has put its pieces in play something formidable in the Air sedan. But, as much as the EV has been praised by those who have driven it, one customer is strongly thinking about trading in his car.
A Good Car, But Poor Support
The owner, who shared his story on Reddit with the username MtrCityMadMan, bought an Air GT in June 2022. He told us that thus far his experience with the car has been “great”, that it is “fun to drive” and that the range is “fantastic”. But he says Lucid’s customer service is lacking and — because of the truly unpleasant experience — is considering getting rid of it even with its positive attributes.
His problems started when he clumsily broke the fairing of a side view mirror inside his garage (this, he said, was all his doing). When he reached out to Lucid, however, he was informed that he’d need to take the car to the service center to get the mirror fixed — not an issue in and of itself, but one that meant a 2.5-hour drive. Still, while annoyed, he understood the company was in
a “strategic location”, as he put it, and decided to travel.In theory it was a fairly simple job, one that should not have taken too long to complete. The service center technicians told him it would take one to two hours, and he didn’t complain. That estimate, however, proved to be too optimistic “I sat in a McDonald’s for 5+ hours,” he wrote in his Reddit post. “No communication and when I’d call, they didn’t provide any timeline. What was supposed to be a morning repair (out early, return around midday) turned into a 12 hours day. Barely an apology.
Bumper Fallout: Same Song, Different Fix
The problem came when he needed to repair the Air’s bumper, which had been tagged by another vehicle. It was nothing serious, but he likes to have his cars in pristine condition — which is fair enough. What isn’t is that he’d have to drive 2.5 hours again, since there’s no certified Lucid shop in his city, leave the car there for at least three days, and then, if all worked out and the technicians were able to repair the bumper — on time, we presume — drive back again to pick it up. He admits he could have used a flatbed and spared himself the trouble, but that would have set him back $1,500, and that was a price he deemed too steep.