- Some Fisker owners are struggling to keep their cars running after the EV startup went bankrupt.
- BI spoke to five Fisker Ocean owners who said they've been experiencing problems for months.
- One owner compared his car to a "lawn ornament," and another was charged $5,000 for a loaner car.
Fisker owners are facing a struggle to keep their cars alive after the company's demise.
Weeks after the once-promising EV startup collapsed into bankruptcy, some owners who paid as much as $70,000 for their electric cars now find themselves stuck with slowly falling-apart vehicles.
Business Insider spoke to five Fisker Ocean owners, all of whom say they have issues with their vehicles that have proven difficult or impossible to fix thanks to the company's collapse.
They said they felt abandoned by the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, and they had little information about what would happen to their cars in the future.
Fisker did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
'There are days where the only solace is it's not a Cybertruck'
Steven Hammer, a Fisker owner from Colorado, said he spent months trying to source a glass panel for his Ocean's "SolarSky Roof," a roof-mounted solar panel the company said would allow drivers to supplement their battery.
After he couldn't reach anyone from the company and with local dealers unable to install the replacement part, Hammer is now paying to transport his car to a Fisker-certified dealership in another state.
"There are days where the only solace is it's not a Cybertruck," Hammer told Business Insider. "I do sometimes look back and wish I'd seen some of the red flags."
Another Fisker owner, who asked to remain anonymous but whose identity is known to Business Insider, said he had to message current and former Fisker employees on Reddit and LinkedIn to acquire a new key fob after the company went bankrupt in June.
After sending dozens of messages, he says he was eventually able to get a former employee to send him a new fob.
'It's literally a lawn ornament now'
Fisker has had some very public complaints from customers about bugs, with YouTube reviewer Marques Brownlee branding it the worst car he had ever reviewed.
With Fisker laying off most of its workforce and winding down operations, it looks unlikely that many of those issues will be addressed.
"They never had enough customer service personnel, but it's gotten so much worse as they've gotten into more trouble. No question about that," said Hammer.
Fisker's chief restructuring officer told the bankruptcy court the company had around 179 employees at the start of July but is looking to reduce its headcount to around 138, in comments reported by Techcrunch.
Per court documents, Fisker has sold its remaining fleet of Fisker Oceans to New York-based rental firm American Lease for $46 million and plans to use some of that money to pay its remaining employees.
One Fisker Ocean owner, who also wished to remain anonymous but whose identity has been verified by BI, got his vehicle in November 2023 and is still waiting to fix a battery problem that made it unusable in April.
"Currently, it's parked in my driveway," he said. The car can't be locked because the 12-volt battery and high-voltage battery have been disconnected. It's literally a lawn ornament right now."
The owner said he is in contact with one of Fisker's few remaining service technicians and is waiting on new parts, but is doubtful he will ever get his car fixed.
"I have a car loan for five years for $70,000, so I am paying for a brand new vehicle that I cannot drive," he said.
Customers paying the price
For some Fisker customers, the issues with their vehicles have left them borderline undriveable.
One New York-based Fisker owner, who asked that his name not be included, told BI that he and his wife had been unable to fix their Ocean's AC after their local service center told them it was no longer working with Fisker, leaving their car unusable in New York's summer heat.
"If it breaks, then I don't know what we would do. It kind of sounds silly, but we wouldn't be too upset if someone came and just stole it," they said.
Another Fisker owner, who also asked to be kept anonymous, began having problems with his brakes days after his $70,000 Ocean was delivered in November.
He reported the issue to Fisker, who rented him a loaner vehicle from Hertz while he waited for the problem to be fixed.
The issue was never resolved, however, and in June the owner received a letter from Hertz informing him that as Fisker had failed to pay the rental charge of the loaner vehicle, he was being charged nearly $5,000.
"I was so excited, super excited, when I first ordered the car…but now I think this is a $70,000 mistake I made," the owner, who is disputing the charge for the Hertz vehicle through his credit card provider, said.
"Fisker stopped responding two to three months ago…they stopped responding to any support or service request even before the bankruptcy," they added.
The owner said that he was continuing to drive his Fisker short distances, despite it still having braking issues — but similar to the other Fisker owners BI spoke to, he thought it was only a matter of time before something else broke.
Software struggles
Part of the reason Fisker vehicles are difficult to fix is that repairing the software-heavy cars often requires access to a proprietary software tool developed by Fisker, known as FAST.
Neil Miller, COO of American Lease, the rental company that has purchased the remaining Fisker Oceans at a bargain price of around $14,000 each, confirmed to BI that the company was in discussions with the Fisker Owners Association about potentially collaborating on issues including parts and software.
He said that per the terms of its deal with Fisker, American Lease can only access the software on the cars it has purchased.
A former Fisker employee, who asked to be kept anonymous for privacy reasons, also told BI that gaining access to Fisker software was crucial for retail owners to keep their cars working.
"What is needed to actually help keep customers keep their cars that they purchased on the road is to give them access to software," said the ex-employee, whose identity BI has verified.
"The problem [with the EV industry] is a lot of the software is privatized," he said. "The challenge is that the software is locked up by Fisker, as with every manufacturer."
The former employee said that he hoped to get certified as a mobile technician to help Fisker owners fix their vehicles.
"It does nobody any good having these energy-efficient and eco-friendly vehicles parked as a paperweight in their driveway," he said.
Do you work at Fisker or own an Ocean? Get in touch with this reporter via email at [email protected].