Well, the next time you roll into your local auto shop for a simple repair or an oil change and wince a little bit at the cost, you might want to keep in mind that you’re paying a lot less money for that repair than Mr. Bean. That’s right, the British actor Rowan Atkinson, most famous for portraying the quirky Mr. Bean, just set the world record for the most expensive car repair ever completed.

You see, Mr. Atkinson got a little too excited a while back, while driving his McLaren F1 (a supercar of which only 64 models were made) and he wrecked it. It just got back from the local auto shop and the bill was a staggering £910,000 or the equivalent of $1.4 million! That is a mighty high repair bill if we do say so ourselves. In fact, we’re fairly certain that’s more business than a lot of local auto shops do in a year!

Really makes your $30 oil change seem not-so-expensive by comparison, doesn’t it? The crazy thing is Atkinson’s insurance picked up the bill. Probably because his McLaren F1, which is one of the rarest cars in the world, is valued at around $3.6 million. We wonder how much it costs to get an oil change for that thing (probably uses melted down gold as oil).

The McLaren F1, the second fastest production vehicle ever made. (photo by PSParrot via Flickr)

If $1.4 million seems like a lot for a car repair, that’s because it is. But, its been said before and we’ll say it again: “The rich aren’t the same as you and I.” And Mr. Atkinson is very very rich. He’s worth an estimated $112 million. Bet you didn’t know that Mr. Bean was being laughed at all the way to the bank.

The McLaren itself is quite the piece of machinery. With a top speed of 240 mph, it set the record for the fastest car in the world back in 1998. The record has since been broken by the Bugatti Veyron World Record Edition’s blistering top speed of 268 mph (there were only 5 made). Still, second fastest production car ever made is not too shabby. And with the price tag that comes attached, it had better be something special.

Guinness World Records certified the McLaren’s fastest car bid back in 1998 and it certified Mr. Bean’s most expensive car repair just a few days ago as well. We wouldn’t mind getting our hands on one of those McLaren F1’s, we promise we wouldn’t wreck it either.