Lucid’s Lawyers Called Me After I Bought Their $140,000 Car for $4,100

Overview

The video follows a creator who buys a used Lucid Air reportedly priced at $4,100 despite a retail value around $140,000. He then investigates a core question: Is the car truly “owned” by the customer, or effectively locked and controlled by the manufacturer?

---

1) Customer repair vs. manufacturer control (legal angle)

• The creator highlights a case involving another Lucid owner, Peter.
• Peter was told by Lucid that his damaged car required a full body replacement, including moving components between cars—reported as:
  • 187 hours of work
  • over $20,000 in parts
• The creator previously made a video about Peter’s experience, after which Lucid’s legal department contacted him with an “official response.”
• After delays, Lucid issued a statement saying they are reevaluating third-party repair support. Their goal is to make it easier for independent shops/customers to access:
  • tools
  • diagnostic information
  • support
• Lucid suggests this could come via a national program.

Creator’s critique

• The creator argues that, while the announcement sounds progressive, it doesn’t directly solve Peter’s immediate repair problem.
• He also claims Lucid did not answer his follow-up question about what Peter should do next.

---

2) Can the creator repair the Lucid without Lucid?

Most of the video is a DIY effort to “revive” the car after severe damage. The car arrives with:

• destroyed suspension
• a damaged cooling system
• a high-voltage battery near 0%

Cooling system and HV charging risk

• The creator focuses first on the cooling line for the high-voltage powertrain.
• He repeatedly emphasizes that charging the HV system while it’s open is risky.
• He:
  • removes and replaces parts (sourced from other Lucids),
  • cleans affected components/areas,
  • repairs and repipes the cooling system.

Coolant filling/bleeding constraints

• He discusses coolant filling/bleeding, noting Lucid expects a:
  • factory vacuum system
  • diagnostics-controlled process
• He doesn’t have that factory setup, so he attempts alternative/manual vacuum bleeding methods.

---

3) Suspension repair runs into parts mistakes

After addressing cooling, he moves to suspension repair—where he discovers a parts-matching issue:

• Parts sourced via eBay turn out to be incorrect.
• The replacement appears to be for the wrong drivetrain configuration (described as mismatching Grand Touring AWD vs. another variant).
• The “hub”/axle assembly effectively doesn’t match his configuration.
• Result: axle/hub mismatch issues until he identifies the error and determines the correct part requirements.

Takeaway from suspension repair

The episode reinforces that repairability isn’t only about vehicle design—it also depends on getting the exact correct parts, which is difficult without manufacturer-specific guidance.

---

4) Electrical “revival” attempts: the car wakes up but won’t charge

The creator then works on the electrical side:

• He installs/reconnects low-voltage (auxiliary/wake-up) batteries used to enable communication with the main HV battery.
• During early attempts, the car shows “confusion/lockout” behavior:
  • doors/systems wake,
  • but the full startup sequence fails.
• He continues troubleshooting, including power experiments (one involving a battery from a Rivian).

Success—then charging failure

• Eventually, the car powers on and displays normal functions (lights, seat movement, etc.).
• But the critical issue remains: charging stops.
• After days of attempts, the car refuses to charge.

Creator’s conclusion on why it was so cheap

He suggests the purchase price may reflect a more fundamental failure:

• The main high-voltage battery may be dead, or
• the battery may be unrecoverable, rather than the car being merely software locked or otherwise “easy to fix.”

---

Overall takeaway

• The video is both:
  • a hands-on repair narrative, and
  • a critique of how difficult manufacturer repair workflows can be without access to proprietary diagnostic procedures and systems.
• Lucid’s statement implies increased openness to independent repair, but the creator’s experience suggests that for real owners—especially when:
  • parts don’t match perfectly, and
  • battery charging fails —progress may not help immediately.

Unresolved question

The ending remains focused on whether the problem is truly:

• a dead HV battery, or
• a charging system restriction

With persistent “charging stopped” behavior, the evidence points strongly toward battery failure.

---

Presenters / contributors

• Main presenter / narrator: Joey
• Co-presenter / companion: “Joey” (recurring collaborator/instructor figure referenced by dialogue)
• Other referenced contributor: Peter (Lucid owner; featured in the earlier body-replacement story)