Lucid Wants My $140,000 Car Back After I Fixed It

Summary

Rich Rebuilds works on two damaged Lucid cars: his own salvage vehicle, purchased for $4,100, and a wrecked Lucid belonging to Peter. Lucid says it is willing to collect both cars and help clear their service-mode errors, which the shop cannot address without Lucid’s diagnostic tools. Rich’s immediate goal is to get the cars moving before that happens.

Repair Walkthrough and Technical Details

Getting Rich’s Lucid to Charge

After several unsuccessful attempts, Rich gets the car to accept a charge. He suspects the usual 16-amp setting was tripping the circuit, so he adds a charge limiter and starts at a lower rate. At first, the car estimates that charging will take several days.

Moving the Car and Fixing the Electronic Parking Brake

The car has too little usable battery power to move under its own power, so the team fits temporary wheels and tows it across the workshop to a higher-powered charger.

A parking-brake fault remains. Rich traces it to a wheel or brake position the car may not be able to identify, then works the brake until it functions again. The car subsequently charges to a displayed 74 miles of range.

Supporting Power to Peter’s Lucid

Peter’s car has been sitting for a long time, and its cabin battery tests bad. Following guidance from Lucid, Rich uses separate power sources to support the rear battery and cabin battery, along with a temporary replacement or jump-start battery. The displays begin booting, and the car appears to start charging.

Body Repair and Scarce Used Parts

Rich transfers parts from the damaged front end to replacement pieces. New Lucid parts are difficult to obtain or expensive, so Peter has sourced used components, including a radiator and mismatched body sections.

Rich and Joey cut and join a damaged body section using hot glue and staples. Later, they discover that the used radiator leaks coolant, limiting how long they can safely drive the car.

Service Mode and Road Test

After reassembly, the car still displays service mode, but the turtle-mode speed restriction appears to be gone. Rich drives it up to about 35 mph, avoiding hard acceleration because of the coolant leak.

He says Lucid will still need to address the service-mode and software issue, potentially including a module.

Key Takeaway

The video shows how challenging salvage repairs can be when an EV requires manufacturer-only diagnostics and replacement parts are scarce. Hands-on troubleshooting and used components can get the cars charging or driving, but they do not resolve software or service restrictions—and used parts bring their own risks.

Guide and Tutorial Content

The video is an informal repair walkthrough covering charging troubleshooting, battery support, electronic parking-brake diagnosis, body-part transfer, and a cautious road test. It is not a formal repair manual or product review.

Main Speakers and Sources

Rich Rebuilds narrates and leads the repairs, with Joey assisting and commenting. Lucid provides repair guidance and is expected to help with service-mode support. Peter owns the second car but does not appear in the workshop.