[Zarakoff]

Seems like a misdiagnosis as it still flashed up imo after they deleted the codes so they should therefore refund you for the first none fault and you should pay for the new fault correct ?
cars hey nothing but a pain in the arse especially expensive ones

 

[SRiversCars]

Purchasing a McLaren P1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of automotive ownership. However, my experience with McLaren has been nothing short of a nightmare, leaving me frustrated, disappointed, and questioning the reputation of a brand that prides itself on excellence.

In May 2024, I purchased one of my dream cars—a 2014 McLaren P1. I did thorough research, and the car had undergone all its scheduled maintenance and passed inspections with flying colors. The actuators were in good condition, the hybrid battery had 92% life remaining, and I was assured that the car was in excellent health.

However, less than two months after the purchase—and with fewer than 200 miles driven due to my travels—the car triggered a Service Engine Soon (SES) light. Upon taking it in for service, I was informed that the battery module had failed, requiring a replacement at a cost of $45,000. Fortunately, a replacement battery had already been ordered by the previous owner with a $35,000 deposit transferable to me. Given this, I decided to wait for the full battery replacement rather than replace just the module, anticipating an inevitable full replacement down the line.

The new battery arrived in September, and I took the car in for service. By the end of October, the battery swap was completed, and I paid an additional $145,000. However, as soon as I drove the car out of the service center, the SES light reappeared. I immediately returned the vehicle, and after scanning the codes, the service team determined that the MCU and DC-DC converter had failed—an issue that arose after the battery replacement while the car was in McLaren’s possession. The cost to replace these components? A staggering $109,000.

After experiencing performance issues firsthand, I returned the car to McLaren, fully expecting them to take responsibility for the failure and cover the repair costs. After extensive back-and-forth discussions with multiple contacts at McLaren, I was eventually contacted by Pat Dahlberg on January 22nd, 2025, their Client Service Manager. He offered to reduce the repair cost from $109,000 to $39,000, stating it was the best they could do. This offer is absolutely unacceptable, considering that the part failed while the car was under their care.

As of now, I have decided to have the car returned to me unrepaired and will be meeting with my legal team to pursue action against McLaren for damages.

As a long-time McLaren client who has invested millions with the company and referred countless others, bringing them additional millions in revenue, I am deeply disappointed with how they have chosen to handle this situation. As a result, I’ve decided to sell my McLaren 765—a car I was prepared to purchase a $12,000 extended warranty for in March— as well as the P1 after I one way or another complete this repair and will be taking my business elsewhere.

All in all - a huge disappointment and a terrible stain for the company's reputation on what was supposed to be their flagship hyper car.

Sounds like a serious pain in the butt. Sorry to hear about it. Please reach out to me via DM.

 

[Jo_sta7]

Is this the car owned by Randy? If so, God only knows what he would have done to the car and not reported. No scruples.

 

[sblvro]

Is this the car owned by Randy? If so, God only knows what he would have done to the car and not reported. No scruples.

locals would know what this car is like.

 

[650]

Just to clarify my frustration with all of this.. if I had owned the car for some time, got to drive and enjoy it, and then ran into some issues - it would be fine. Cars break. I’ve been a car enthusiast for a long time and have dealt with my fair share of car problems. However, the issues started right after the purchase and havent stopped. Granted the car was purchased directly from Mclaren, had undergone all of its scheduled maintenance - at Mclaren, had undergone multiple inspections - at Mclaren, one would hope that they would stand behind their work and handle things differently. I’m a business owner myself, and I can guarantee you that I would. But that hasn’t been the case and that’s the point of this thread. It’s not about the money, just disappointed with the company and how they treat their life long clients.

 

[invisiblewave]

Just to clarify my frustration with all of this.. if I had owned the car for some time, got to drive and enjoy it, and then ran into some issues - it would be fine. Cars break. I’ve been a car enthusiast for a long time and have dealt with my fair share of car problems. However, the issues started right after the purchase and havent stopped. Granted the car was purchased directly from Mclaren, had undergone all of its scheduled maintenance - at Mclaren, had undergone multiple inspections - at Mclaren, one would hope that they would stand behind their work and handle things differently. I’m a business owner myself, and I can guarantee you that I would. But that hasn’t been the case and that’s the point of this thread. It’s not about the money, just disappointed with the company and how they treat their life long clients.

This is exactly my complaint about the CPO cars. Until they find a way to force the dealers to make CPO actually mean something, residual values are always going to be a problem. My current CPO car came with a v-module leaking both oil and coolant.

 

[650]

I definitely understand your frustration and the expense to repair would be damaging to most people, including myself. Would it make sense to have them do the "final" repair for 39k even if you don't agree so that you have a working car, hopefully? I assume you can still go after them legally, unless you feel that paying the extra 39k is "accepting" their offer. When spending that type of money, even if it is used, I would also not expect to have 200k of repair bills. Good Luck with whatever you do.

Exactly, it’s not about the money, it’s about the principle and how they’ve handled the situation. Doesn’t matter if i pay $109 or $39 - the point is - I shouldn’t be paying anything considering i just spent close to $2m over the last 6 months on a car I havent had, and the issues occurred while in their possession - not counting all the other expenses that come along with it (insurance, reg, etc). Ironically i also did a 10 year service on it while the battery was getting replaced. Cars are a pain in the ass and i’m used to it having owned some high hp cars in the past.. but inheriting something directly from mclaren and having to deal with and pay for all these things right after the purchase just isn’t right.

 

[650]

I have somewhat ambivalent feelings about this thread. On the one hand, it's horrifying to hear that even on a $1.6m car, dealers are apparently dropping the ball or cutting corners. On the other hand, it's comforting to hear that people spending $1.6m aren't treated any differently from the rest of us.

As I've said before, these cars are phenomenal, absolutely second-to-none as driver's cars, but the ownership experience is absolutely miserable. I totally get that impulse to just sell and wash your hands of them, that's a feeling I've had on several occasions after having been disappointed by the support for customers. To own a car at this level of expenditure and risk, you want to feel that someone has your back. Sure, there's still risk and cost involved, but for me there was an expectation that the dealers and manufacturer would do the right thing. After nearly 4 years of ownership, I no longer have that expectation, but so far I've resisted the impulse to bite my nose off and simply sell the car, which says a lot about how good the cars are when they're not in the shop.

It’s gonna be hard to support the company after an experience like this, but we’ll see.

 

[650]

This is exactly my complaint about the CPO cars. Until they find a way to force the dealers to make CPO actually mean something, residual values are always going to be a problem. My current CPO car came with a v-module leaking both oil and coolant.

That’s equally annoying.

 

[invisiblewave]

It’s gonna be hard to support the company after an experience like this, but we’ll see.

All I can tell you is that every time I get on a track, all those feelings disappear and I just know that I'll bend over backwards to own one of these cars and feel lucky about it. P1 is a different animal again though. It's not just a low-volume car, it's a boutique car with a unique design and what at this point must essentially be bespoke spare parts.

 

[650]

All I can tell you is that every time I get on a track, all those feelings disappear and I just know that I'll bend over backwards to own one of these cars and feel lucky about it. P1 is a different animal again though. It's not just a low-volume car, it's a boutique car with a unique design and what at this point must essentially be bespoke spare parts.

I feel the same in my 765. Problem is - i havent even had the chance to enjoy the p1.

 

[invisiblewave]

I feel the same in my 765. Problem is - i havent even had the chance to enjoy the p1.

Yeah, it's very frustrating. The warranty paid for the oil cooler, but this was a couple of weeks after I got the car and it was touch & go whether it would be ready in time for the track day I had booked. Then there were other issues which the warranty doesn't cover.....

 

[LRHunter]

another service option would be Apex Motorsports, Buffalo Grove IL. www.apexmotorsportsil.com The Owners James Le Porte and Doug Foster are both factory certified McLaren mechanics and currently have several P1 customers. James was also the service manager for Chicago McLaren and Doug was a master mechanic. At minimum might be worth a conversation and hope this helps.

I can vouch for Apex and James. James has done all the work on my McLarens.

 

[ClaesM]

Its difficult to have technicians up to date with so few cars in the market. I have seen a similar issue, locally, where the actual problem was a easy fix. If it only was a routine service, but a tech needs to recall how-to-do when a P1 shows up.

 

[650]

Its difficult to have technicians up to date with so few cars in the market. I have seen a similar issue, locally, where the actual problem was a easy fix. If it only was a routine service, but a tech needs to recall how-to-do when a P1 shows up.

To my knowledge there’s only a few techs that work on these cars, so one would hope they don’t have to recall anything. Especially when most of the cars have similar issues (battery related).

 

[Trevor90]

I sympathize with you going thru this after dropping that much coin on the car. I think I've said this before, but I believe these inspections are over-rated. I'm all for it, believe me. However, we can't sit here and say a ppi will save us from an unknown bill down the road. Even though we'd like it to. There's just too much gray area.

 

[aorta]

It’s a difficult situation and certainly not fun for any owner to deal with. The cause of the problem is also hard to pinpoint. Could be a mis-diagnosis, could have actually just randomly gone bad or possibly something else. Anyone who buys a P1 has to be prepared to put $200-$300k into it at some point…new battery and $65k for accumulators. They will ALL need this at some point.

Recently (past 6 months) 3 close friends bought P1’s…and all of them chose the $45k, 1 year warranty. Why? Because they’ve owned enough McLarens to know better. A lot of things can happen in used cars…sometimes it’s a poor PPI, other times it’s just age and other times just bad luck. In this case, while I don’t know the details that 1yr warranty may have saved you…maybe not.

Personally I think Pat is doing the best he’s ‘allowed’ to do in this case…his hands are tired as well…$109 down to $39 isn’t chump change…Unless there is a smoking gun to defacto prove it was McLarens fault it’s tough. Ive had my ‘battles’ with them over certain things…as have friends of mine. Sometimes things aren’t fair…but that’s also perception as well. Not suggesting it makes your situation better, but I’ve seen FAR worse screw jobs at McLaren than this…

Btw…Carrera GT’s had a stop drive in them for how long now?? How much is that ‘worth’ to the owner? Hard to quantify isn’t it…Sometimes we need to just deal with it and move…Enjoy your P1 and don’t sell the 765. Everyone manufacturer has many examples of ‘your’ situation. It’s not right sometimes…but it is what it is.

 

[Trevor90]

It’s a difficult situation and certainly not fun for any owner to deal with. The cause of the problem is also hard to pinpoint. Could be a mis-diagnosis, could have actually just randomly gone bad or possibly something else. Anyone who buys a P1 has to be prepared to put $200-$300k into it at some point…new battery and $65k for accumulators. They will ALL need this at some point.

Recently (past 6 months) 3 close friends bought P1’s…and all of them chose the $45k, 1 year warranty. Why? Because they’ve owned enough McLarens to know better. A lot of things can happen in used cars…sometimes it’s a poor PPI, other times it’s just age and other times just bad luck. In this case, while I don’t know the details that 1yr warranty may have saved you…maybe not.

Personally I think Pat is doing the best he’s ‘allowed’ to do in this case…his hands are tired as well…$109 down to $39 isn’t chump change…Unless there is a smoking gun to defacto prove it was McLarens fault it’s tough. Ive had my ‘battles’ with them over certain things…as have friends of mine. Sometimes things aren’t fair…but that’s also perception as well. Not suggesting it makes your situation better, but I’ve seen FAR worse screw jobs at McLaren than this…

Btw…Carrera GT’s had a stop drive in them for how long now?? How much is that ‘worth’ to the owner? Hard to quantify isn’t it…Sometimes we need to just deal with it and move…Enjoy your P1 and don’t sell the 765. Everyone manufacturer has many examples of ‘your’ situation. It’s not right sometimes…but it is what it is.

I forgot about that part. 109 down to 39.. is.. quite the help honestly.

 

[Trevor90]

a dealer service problem, not the car. choose your servicing dealer wisely.

well he bought the car from BH, where else would he service it...

 

[pfbz]

... Carrera GT’s had a stop drive in them for how long now?? How much is that ‘worth’ to the owner? Hard to quantify isn’t it…

The CGT stop drive is an interesting comparison.... To me it's more of a case study in how to do it 'right' vs. how to alienate your high end customers. I have multiple friends with CGT's, and just now the first one is finally getting fixed. It's been a long time, but Porsche was trying to ensure they had a complete and comprehensive solution. Not surprisingly, all of them have several other fantastic cars they have been able to drive while waiting, and the waiting was easier with them knowing Porsche was going to make it right and none of them are particularly disappointed with the issue.

As the resolution, Porsche is replacing the entire rear suspension with completely new titanium components. Also crediting owners for a a full set of fresh tires N-spec tires and including a major (and ordinarily quite expensive) CGT annual.

Similar situation with the 991.1 generation of GT3... Porsche kind of screwed the pooch on that initial engine design and complete engine failures were popping up regularly. They compensated owners with an extremely generous 10 year extension on the powertrain warranty.

I love my Mclaren. My personal ownership experience has been great, as 1) I bought it after the huge initial depreciation, 2) it has been extremely reliable and no real service issues. But it does scare the hell out of me that if something more significant ever does arise, the dealer and factory will get into this blame game that ends up with me holding the bag on some expensive repairs that really should be covered.

It really does seem short sighted for Mclaren to keep making the mistake of saving costs on customer repairs at the expense of alienating current and future customers to the brand.

I suppose in a way I should be a bit thankful that Mclaren doesn't go out of their way to instill brand loyalty. If Mclaren had the same sort of fanatical customer demand as motorsport Porsche and special edition Ferrari customers, prices on lightly used Mclaren's would be up 20% from original sticker instead of down 40%, which would have put my 2020 720S off of my radar.