white stuff could be polish/wax residue
can't speak to state of ppf.
gap on a lot of macs are uneven,especially around doors at front fender.
gap on headlight shroud is not normal.those fit well usually.
unequal gap/misalignement of fenders is not normal.
car has a carbon front splitter? may have been added unless car came with it? check build sheet. could explain the fender/bumper thing.
or a minor parking lot crash?
could door have rubbed on fender to create those marks? macs have had a history of corrosion under the paint which could cause this also.
rubbers are not the best quality so they can fall apart.
definitely get an exhaustive ppi on this one.
if car was never modded and title is clear,you can get esc from a dealer after owning car for 90? days and having a dealer check it out and corrected for any issues.
look for telltales of a repaint.

 

Thanks restosud for your reply. I have done more research and these marks on the fender appear to be aluminum corrosion. Not sure how easy of a fix is that and also not sure if this means that other parts of the car will start corroding as well. Apparently McLaren gives 5 years warranty against corrosion but this just expired a couple of months ago. Will take it to McLaren for sure.

 

Walk away that ppf on the front looks like a child as stuck it on if the owners skimped on that what else . They should be cut from a pattern so a perfect fit . The corrosion if 5 years so you’ll have to pay . Panel gaps and alignment can be out but this looks a little bit to much . I’d go for another maybe a little newer
As long as service been done McLaren will give you extended warranty but would have to be inspected first th McLarens they give one upto 10-12 years old ,
The bumper probably been off and not been fitted properly or even been in a shunt

 

I would also walk away from this one. The panel gaps are rarely perfect, but this one is bad. Something happened.

 

I agree with what others have said, yet I would run, not walk away.

Many other 720s for sale are in much better shape than that "can of worms." When you find "the one," have PPI done by the most knowledgeable person you can.

 

Budget? Preferred color/spec?

 

Actually the only one in Houston!

 

What’s the price difference between this and others for sale at franchised dealers ?

 

What does McLaren Houston say about it? It’s a local car (maintained by Lamborghini Houston according to Carfax) so I suspect they can tell you about the previous two owners and why they’re not the ones selling it.

 

That PPF is arguably the worst application I have seen in some time. The marks on the fender look to be from the PPF but it is hard to tell from photos alone. The PPF on the bumper has to go, period! It should be done in one piece and pretty much invisible.

Per the remarks of what the Merc dealer stated, not true. Nothing left to say there as these cars are very solid and imo the best McLaren has built thus far.

 

You might want to call Eurocar-Werk and ask for Tim. MB Greenway brought the car there for a service when they took it in. Tim worked on it and might have some useful thoughts/info.

 

I wonder if it had unreported accident damage with poor quality repair?

 

The panel gaps seem large, but not unusual.

Sometimes the rubber goes bad or is impacted, replacement is not cheap but not a deal breaker.

The under paint corrosion seems real and is going to eventually require a paint job to fix. If its an MSO color it's going to cost you 5 figures. If standard color, then 4 figures.

That's not "PPF", it's a 3rd grader with kiddie scissors given a sheet of clear plastic and told to have fun. You could probably ignore it, but if you choose to have it removed and properly replaced, there's always a chance it could pull up the paint, forcing another paint job. If you go to a high quality PPF place they can tell you more. Anything like a half car to full car PPF is going to cost 4 figures to maybe 5 figures if you cover absolutely all surfaces.

So if the discount is high enough that you can cover all these repairs or even force the seller to do it before you buy it, it may be a fine deal. If you have more cash and are looking for a more perfect car, it's time to move on.

 

The paint and panel issues is pretty eye opening. Is this normal for mclarens?

 

I haven't seen the corrosion issues yet on my car, but there's a nice YouTube video that someone posted around here by Thorney Motorsport in the UK with 30 minutes on what to look for in a casual PPI in the parking lot and he talks about this.

Panel gaps? It's a hand built car. Can be worse (like on my car) if anyone poorly installed third party body kits. The previous owner did this to my car and the casual observer won't really notice, but if you look close, or try to work out the gaps it can be ugly. If you try to remove the aftermarket parts it gets worse. I decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

 

Thanks so far for all your responses.

I have an update, it seems that the car is clean. Mclaren dealer had offered the previous owner to buy the car but Mercedes Benz offered him 5k more. The car seems to be very clean mechanically and this is why the Mclaren dealer had no issues buying it back. Now Mercedes Benz are selling it at cost and I have contacted Total Auto Protect who offered me 3 years 3rd party warrant for 8.9K. I am thinking of buying the car and just fixing the corrosion issue later. What do you guys think?

 

Thanks so far for all your responses.

I have an update, it seems that the car is clean. Mclaren dealer had offered the previous owner to buy the car but Mercedes Benz offered him 5k more. The car seems to be very clean mechanically and this is why the Mclaren dealer had no issues buying it back. Now Mercedes Benz are selling it at cost and I have contacted Total Auto Protect who offered me 3 years 3rd party warrant for 8.9K. I am thinking of buying the car and just fixing the corrosion issue later. What do you guys think?

Did you get a PPI done? If so, by whom? Can we see the report?

 

No I haven't, but from talking to the dealer he mentioned that the car was well kept, at least by the first owner.

 

Never trust a dealership. Always get a 3rd party PPI, especially on a purchase this large.

 

I can’t speak from firsthand experience, I am just going off what I have read and been told. If the dealer is Mac Charlotte, I would stay away, far away.

 

Don't believe a dealer, ever. Especially if they are the ones selling it to you and won't let you get a PPI.

If you can already see a bunch of flaws by just standing there looking at it, what else is going on with the things you can't see? As I said before, if it is a sooooooper deal and you can take your savings and fix everything you can already see, plus a little more, then maybe...

How much below the low prices on AutoTrader is it? If it's the same or higher, just forget it. You'll find another one.