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Door hinge not covered by McLaren warranty - huh?

9K views 81 replies 26 participants last post by  Meps 
#1 ·
I have a 12 month McLaren warranty and the dealership noticed a crack in the door hinge. Apparently the warranty company says the door and hinge are NOT covered by the warranty as they're considered "trim". The dealership is being great but their hands are tied.

How can a fundamental structural safety component of the car not be covered by the warranty?

I don't have the actual contract (not sure I ever received it) so can't check the wording but has this hit others? Given the door hinges are known to crack, are the warranty company just starting to dodge these claims?
 
#5 ·
This is a big issue which is emerging in the U.K. it is only covered under manufacturer warranty it is NOT covered under extended.

It’s an issue which is growing as it’s only really been identified, become known, and in turn people now checking and finding the cracks when previously they wouldn’t have known to check and therefore been unnoticed.

Genuinely becoming a major pain point for owners and some are even looking to go legal as it’s definitely not trim and more a structural classification.

Many owners even those without any warranty have asked the dealer to escalate to Mclaren direct and request a gesture of goodwill to which some have had something granted. But you do need to push HARD.
 
#11 ·
Has anyone confirmed these cracks have adversely affected the function of the door ? The crack line seems to separate one out of the four bolts from each other, so it appears that the other 3 bolts are still working to keep the door operational. Would be great to know how this all pans out and if McLaren will fix this under extended warranty. The designation between mechanical vs trim , wear and tear , etc seems like handwaving and quite subjective and convenient for extended service to exclude items for coverage. For all intense and purposes, one can argue the whole car itself is a giant wear and tear item.
 
#14 ·
Honestly, I would put money down that that majority of 570 and 600 have the cracks. It's a very subtle crack in a region that no one would ever really look. And I haven't read anywhere it has adversely affected any function or else we would be hearing things like, "my door is misaligned" or "my door fell off." Not sure though, can anyone confirm that there has been a problem linked to these cracks?
 
#18 ·
Mmmm the extended warranty not worth the paper it’s written on almost everything that goes wrong isn’t covered
1. Battery’s
2 . Windscreen (almost all crack when launched hard )
3. Door hinges
It be cheaper to make sure your car is properly maintained and cross your fingers you don’t have an engine problem at almost £3000 you could easily cover any repairs and have money left over there again if the engine did blow they’ll say it’s not covered for some reason
 
#21 ·
Mmmm the extended warranty not worth the paper it’s written on almost everything that goes wrong isn’t covered
1. Battery’s
2 . Windscreen (almost all crack when launched hard )
3. Door hinges
It be cheaper to make sure your car is properly maintained and cross your fingers you don’t have an engine problem at almost £3000 you could easily cover any repairs and have money left over there again if the engine did blow they’ll say it’s not covered for some reason
This is nonsense. Mine has covered an oil seal, control arms, the door strut and three latch on the rear hatch. My car has also been launched hard and the windscreen is fine.
 
#24 ·
Ok, so I'm clearly not alone! Thank you for all the info. I've asked the dealership to push back on the warranty company and to check with McLaren NA. I'll report back - hopefully the warranty company back down from their BS stance or McLaren NA step in.

FWIW here is a picture of the crack. It's quite hard to see as the crack is hard against the door and you have to sort of put your head between the door and body of the car and then look "up". But it's definitely there. As for how serious it is, I'm not sure but engineers don't put four bolts if they only need three.

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There was a question of wear and tear from @ImHuntingWabbits . The crack on my car is on the passenger side which gets far less use than the driver. I have heard that the doors are very heavy (as they form a piece of the side impact safety system) and it takes two people to safely lower them down when undoing the bolts. So that hinge does have its work cut out. And, again, I definitely would not want the hinge to suddenly fail either while driving or getting in or out of the car (that could cause serious injury).

There was also a point about alignment @VGJ , well that passenger door was misaligned and it caused the door to rub against the jam which then wore through the wrap and paint down to the metal on both door and jam. That I see as annoying but cosmetic and have learned to live with.

And finally @Zarakoff, yes, the e
xtended warranty (which cost US$5200 for 12 months - I looked it up on the contract of sale) does seem to have questionable value. I won't be getting it again.
 
#26 ·
I have a 2017 570GT. Had about 3,700 miles when I bought it and now has about 8,000.

The quoted UK price for the hinge replacement worries me. That's a lot just to havea working door. Though I wonder how much is labor versus the actual part.
 
#29 ·
I have a 2019 600LT. Passenger door started hanging maybe 1/4" low at the door jamb latch. Issue was a crack in the hinge. Door dropped due to that. Fortunately, not enough to bang the catch against the paint on the jamb, but it was enough to also require replacement of the latch and soft close assembly. It's actually in the shop now waiting for parts.
 
#31 ·
At that price it would be better to contact a race team with in-house tooling that can CNC you a set, you could even pay for the design (to own) and just pump them out whenever is needed for who-ever wants to pay.

Might be a bit more expensive, but the benefits of going from a cast part to a billet part are worth it alone for a lot of people anyway?

Given the nature of the part, it is pretty easy to get some good datums from anyway.

I would expect this to be the first thought from Thorney Motorsport, but having experienced their service I have no confidence in any ability greater than that of an average garage with the benefit of experience (limited) dealing with McLarens.

I cannot express enough to people in the UK to stop using the likes of Thorney, do you really think it is a good service you are getting when you pay 10k + for work and the car comes back dirty? That alone is all you need as an indicator that your car is not in the hands it deserves.
 
#32 ·
oh no ,i always say do not wash, I don’t want any dealers with brushes washing and scratching my cars . Maybe they thought the same ?
why don’t you rate them ?
I was going take them mine for a service but the McLaren dealer in the end (with a bit of haggling was a similar price) plus you get the dealer stamp in the book …
There warranty is also similar price but breakdowns arnt covered
So il stick to main dealer
 
#37 ·
I do think in many cases it comes down to the individual doing the work on your car and that persons ethic in getting things done with care and intelligence and OCD levels of “doing it right”. Some places are good at fostering that as a culture and other places, not so much.

For a GM or a Honda, frankly, many can get things taken care of easily without too much thought and do a good job. McLarens are just too intricate and exacting to just be “one more spinning plate”.

If they are well taken care of they will serve you really well but you need more expertise to take care of them well, it seems, and having that can make a big difference in how you experience the car.

As always, ymmv.
 
#38 ·
So re the door hinge that kicked this thread off, it's still cracked and still using it but McLaren has agreed to fix it. I think McLaren are finally just doing the "right thing" but possibly the insurance company admitted they were on the hook. It definitely isn't "trim" and isn't "bodywork" which they also tried to claim. I do know that it took me a LOT of phone calls both with the dealer and the insurer to finally get this taken care of.

With that said, the part has been "on order" without an ETA since March. The dealer is being good and chasing it but it's just not materializing.

I don't know if the new hinge is an improved one (with extra reinforcing etc) or a like-for-like replacement.

And just for clarity's sake, I think the core problem (as with most contracts that end up in an argument) is due to a lack of clarity. The key clause is this one:

General Exclusions -> [CPO Limited Warranty] does not cover... section (d) -> "Bodywork, Paintwork, trim and upholstery or the deterioration of any other part, assembly or component as a consequence of wear and tear or exposure to the elements. "
So, if I look at the general "theme" of that clause, it's talking about asthetic items: paint, seat/interior trims etc. But it then throws in a very wide "any other part, assembly or component" which, depending on how you read it, could be almost anything in the car (inside or out). I feel McLaren and their insurers/underwriters would be wise to more clearly list what is excluded. For instance, is the door lock mechanism covered? What if the motor in the rear-view mirror fails? Or the latch on the frunk? There are just so many things that fall into a very gray zone.
 
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