Rivian Care Expansion Adds Five New States

Rivian Care isn’t a Texas-only thing anymore. The optional protection program grew, and it’s now in six states, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Oregon, and Texas.

We covered this back when it launched as a small Texas-only pilot, and the whole pitch then was that Rivian would expand it if things went well. So, here we are. Five more states added.

Rivian Care is run through Assurant and it’s there to keep your Rivian covered after the factory warranty taps out. It’s not one plan though. There are two, and you can take one or both. They cover pretty different things, which trips some people up.

The Vehicle Service Contract is the one I’d pay the most attention to if you’re keeping the vehicle a while. It picks up once your New Vehicle Limited Warranty is done and covers the expensive failures, the high-voltage battery, drivetrain, the mechanical and safety systems. The stuff that hurts when it breaks. It also folds in some wear and tear items from day one, which is a little more than you usually get out of a plain extended warranty, so that’s a nice touch.

Then there’s Preferred Vehicle Protection, which is honestly a completely separate kind of thing. This one’s not about breakdowns at all. It’s the road stuff. Windshield chips. Curb rash on the wheels. The dent someone leaves in a parking lot and drives off. Paintless dent repair, tire and wheel damage, that whole category of small annoying stuff your warranty was never going to touch anyway.

If you’re trying to sort out which one actually makes sense for you, we did a full breakdown comparing the two a while back.

Pricing is still vague and I doubt that changes. You apply, you get a quote, and the number depends on your vehicle. The one thing actually worth knowing is that it’s cheaper if you buy in while your warranty is still active. Wait until it’s about to run out and you pay more for it. So if you were ever going to do this, earlier is the cheaper version of doing it.

Getting it just depends on timing. Buying a new one right now? You can add Rivian Care during the purchase flow, easy. Already have your truck or SUV sitting in the driveway? You log into your account, go to the Rivian Care section, fill out the interest form, and if your vehicle qualifies Rivian comes to you.

Not in one of the six states yet, you do the same form. Drop your info, and they reach out when it lands in your area. Rivian’s said the long-term plan is national, so the other 44 are coming eventually, whenever eventually means.

One to six in this kind of window is a real pace though. What I keep wondering about is the timing on the rest of it, because R2 deliveries are about to bring in a flood of brand new owners, a lot of them first-time EV people, and coverage is exactly the kind of thing that crowd is going to be asking about right out of the gate. Whether Rivian has the rollout far enough along by then is the part I’m not sure about.