Transparency around Rivian's waitlist management has been a sticking point with early adopters who pre-ordered their vehicles as early as 2018 and still have not received them. On a recent Reddit thread, customers posted how many months they've been waiting: 18 months, 20, 47, 48, 51, 53. "Try waiting 43 months," one user wrote. "Still counting. Some neighbors have R1Ts. Just don’t understand this system."But recently Rivian announced some relief: a new batch of customers can now configure their R1T electric pickup trucks. That means it's their turn to select the final finishes and features before receiving their vehicle in the next one to four months. Rivian configuration email"Today, we’re excited to begin inviting a new, large group of R1T reservation holders to configure their vehicles," says Tanya Miller, communications manager at Rivian. "Thousands of R1T reservation holders can expect an invitation from us in the coming days. This is all part of our focus on ramping production and improving delivery timing for our customers." Rivian would not confirm the exact number of R1T customers invited to configure, though "thousands (more than a couple thousand) are being invited," Andy Bowman, communications director at Rivian, said in an email to PCMag. The group does not include reservation holders for the R1S, a 7-seat SUV.The total number of people waiting for their R1T or R1S remains a mystery. Rivian gave its last and final public update in Nov. 2022, when it had "over 114,000 pre-orders," CNBC reports. Since then, the company produced just over 10,000 vehicles in Q4, and announced a goal to produce 50,000 in all of 2023. That means it will not produce enough this year to get through the existing backlog, not to mention new 2023 orders. With at least 100,000 people waiting, by PCMag's estimates, the question is: How did Rivian select the most recent subset of customers to configure their vehicles? New(ish) Reservation Holders OnlyThose earliest to order are not necessarily in the front of the line. In fact, the most recent R1T customers invited to configure their vehicles placed orders after May 2022—11 months ago, relatively recently—when Rivian implemented a new reservation system. The new process switched from taking fully configured vehicles, known as pre-orders, to reservations. With the legacy pre-order system, customers finalized their vehicle details—battery size, paint color, accessories, etc.—at the time of putting down the $1,000 deposit. The new reservation system requires the same deposit, but it primarily locks in vehicle type (R1T or R1S). Customizations come later once the production slot is secured."The idea of 'inviting to configure' is a novel practice that began since we instituted the reservation system back in May of 2022," Bowman says. "So this is the reservation holder group dating back to that time that’s being invited today, starting with our oldest reservation holders first." Closest to May 2022, that is. The new process bifurcates those waiting for their Rivians into two groups: pre-orders, and the newer reservation holders. But this doesn't mean customers who ordered before May 2022, the pre-orders, have been forgotten. Rivian is working through those orders as well."If you’re a pre-order holder who’s been waiting since 2019, you’ve already configured a specific vehicle, but you may be waiting because you likely want a specific configuration that we’ve not yet produced, like a Max Pack or Dual Motor R1S or R1T," Bowman says. "Or, you don’t live in serviceable area."Proximity To a Rivian Service Center Is a MustAlthough Rivian has been taking pre-orders since 2018, it has since then introduced a new delivery process that relies on proximity to its budding service center network (like the one PCMag visited in Chicago.) The company currently has 28 facilities across the US and Canada. They cover many metro areas, but also leave wide swaths of the country unserved.Rivian plans to more than double its current network (future sites marked in yellow in the map below). In the meantime, however, this leaves some customers in a lurch. "It's important to remember that it’s more complicated than just 'whomever got in line first,'" Bowman explains. "For instance, if you’re in Montreal and I’m in California, even though you may have configured your order months before me, we don’t yet have service infrastructure or licensing in Montreal." Map of existing Rivian Service Centers (black), and upcoming locations (yellow)PCMag spoke with one Rivian owner (he preferred not to be named) who found a crafty workaround: he switched his address to the closest service center in another state."I placed my pre-order in Nov. 2021 and Rivian said I was initially slated to receive my truck in the Oct.-Dec. of 2022 range," the customer tells PCMag. "In a much anticipated (by the community and myself) delivery timeline update, I received a communication in Oct. 2022, that due to my location (Albuquerque, NM), Rivian would reassess the ability to deliver a vehicle to me in Jan. 2023. My delivery estimate was now 'processing.' At this point, I was completely unsure if Rivian would even sell me a truck."He shared a screenshot of the email from Rivian, pictured below, which explains, "We're prioritizing deliveries in locations where infrastructure is in place to deliver and provide full support for your ownership experience. We know this is not the news you were hoping to hear... We apologize." But a few weeks later, he had the idea to update his address in the system to the service center in Denver, CO. "I was committed to getting a Rivian, even if it meant I had to travel six hours to go get it," he explained. "Within a couple of weeks, I was asked to confirm my configuration, which in Rivian delivery speak, means they are going to build your truck soon." In the end, the vehicle has "only exceeded" his expectations. "It’s got amazing performance, a tech-forward approach with several OTA updates already, and it looks great. It does get a lot more attention than I expected."Living near a service center, though, is not a guaranteed path to quick delivery. "Seeing people get an R1S over a year faster than I get mine is mildly frustrating even though I live somewhat close to a service center," Ahmad Alkilani tells PCMag. He ordered a Rivian R1S in 2019. "Certainly close enough to where my neighbors have a few R1Ts in town."So, You Want a Rivian? Certain States Don't CareGeorgia, New Mexico, Texas, and a handful of other states have antiquated (pre-internet) laws preventing direct-to-consumer online automotive sales. They require dealer-based deliveries, which companies like Rivian and Tesla do not do. However, both companies still allow reservations there. Even if they ordered years ago, customers in these states cannot receive their vehicles until the laws change. "If you live in a state in the US that prohibits automakers from selling cars directly to customers, you may have put in a preorder months ago but state laws do not permit direct sales," Bowman says. "Let's say you’re a pre-order holder and I’m a [post-May 2022] reservation holder. Because you live in a state that prohibits [direct sales]…I’m gonna get my truck before you." Site map of future Rivian factory in Georgia, where it will make EVs but cannot sell them due to state lawsTesla has lobbied multiple states to change this. It lost its battle in Texas, where Tesla HQ is, back in 2015. But Elon Musk had success in 2020 when Michigan, home of Detroit "The Motor City," finally allowed Tesla to sell vehicles there after a legal battle dating back to 2016.The customer we spoke to who changed his address to a service center in Colorado actually lives in New Mexico, which also bans online new car sales. "It’s notable that New Mexico does not technically allow direct-to-consumer vehicle sales, but there are workarounds," he tells PCMag. "As my wife periodically reminds me, Tesla delivered my Model 3 to our driveway."That might be because Tesla resorted to opening up a site on a Native American reservation to circumvent state laws, Forbes reports.Tired of Waiting, Some Look to Online Resellers"I reserved my R1T June 15, 2022," Rivian owner Bryan Redcay tells PCMag. "The estimation to configure was Q4 2023. I decided I couldn’t wait so I bought mine in October from a private seller. Best decision I’ve ever made. Absolutely love the truck!" Redcay says sites such as Cars and Bids, eBay Motors, and Bring a Trailer are common for Rivian re-sellers. "Private sellers likely reserved theirs long before I did, and for whatever reason decided to sell or 'flip' for a profit," he says. "It just so happens that the pricing worked out for my situation." Rivians for sale from private sellers on CarsandBids.comRivian has similarly opened up what it calls the R1 Shop, which offers pre-configured vehicles for quicker sale. "The R1 Shop is a place for reservation holders and pre-order holders who might want a truck even sooner than their configured vehicle," Bowman says. "In the R1 Shop, they can search available configurations and those vehicles can be delivered to them in as quickly as a couple of weeks."Last Resort: Be Patient Rivian's success depends on delivering as fast as possible to as many customers as possible. This has proved a difficult task during pandemic-related supply chain issues and a steep learning curve for a new brand entering an industry full of legacy companies. But production has gone from just over 2,500 in Q1 2022, to just over 10,000 in Q4 2022. Hopefully the first production update from Q1 2023, yet to be released, will see even greater numbers."I think Rivian gets a bit too much flack," says Alkilani, who says he will receive his R1S in a few months (almost four years since ordering it). "Given the clientele is somewhat of a mixed bag of people ordering an EV for the first time, or ordering a high-tech vehicle for the first time, there's bound to be complaints." His Tesla Model 3 also took three years to receive, and he says Rivian's process largely mirrors Tesla's. "I think the answers for why it’s taking so long are somewhat obvious," Alkilani continues. "New company, COVID, chip supply chain, ramping up production takes time for someone that hasn’t done it before et cetera, et cetera, nothing out of the ordinary to be honest."

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