Motortrades Insight Magazine Online
Mr Bean forces insurers to pay £910k for smashed up car
Known for his passionate love of fast cars, Rowan Atkinson, who crashed his £2m McLaren F1 into a tree two years ago, has made his insurers pay up to fix the car.And while no driver should ever sympathise with profiteering insurers, it provides hope for consumers who have had accidents that insurers will often pay up eventually.
Despite recovering quickly from a horrific shoulder injury after crashing the McLaren F1 for the second time, experts in Woking spent in excess of a year attempting to repair the damage, with the final bill amounting to £910,000 42 per cent more than the £640,000 he paid for the Gordon Murray-designed machine in 1997.
It is three times larger than the previous highest repair bill paid out by Aviva for damage to a crashed Pagani Zonda in 2010.
The 58-year-old comedy legend, known for Mr Bean, Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line and more recently Johnny English, is already driving the car again - one of only 64 road worthy in the world.
Atkinson realised the importance of the repairs, with the McLaren F1 having already become a 'classic' with values increasing year on year. He is aware that with such a turbulent history and with his name stamped on it, his model could be worth far more than the £3.5m record for the model.
He also owns a Lotus Carlton, a Bentley Mulsanne and an Aston Martin DB7. Several years ago, Atkinson wanted to build his own personal fuel station next to his home.
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