Imagine that, Paris Hilton had a car that was expensive to maintain. Back in 2006, the Mercedes SLR McLaren was the perfect IT car for the IT girl. Remember that photo of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan out for a night on the town? That was in this car. However, now that times have changed, what is it like to own an SLR McLaren as a normal person?

How much is a Mercedes SLR McLaren?

Back in the day, Motor1 says Ms. Paris Hilton paid about $460,000 for her brand new 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. Motor1 noted that a similar 2006 model recently sold for $180,000 at an online auction. Checking CarGurus online, there are a few listed between anywhere from $295,000 and $335,000. DuPont Registry has some similarly priced vehicles.

If we base the depreciation values on the cited $180,000 SLR, the car has lost around $18,000 in value per year. Based on some of the more expensive options, it still lost around $11,000 per year. I mean, what a bargain! People must be lining up to purchase a secondhand SLR.

Those who are out there buying an SLR McLaren probably are not concerned with the price of maintenance, but that doesn’t get any better. Since this car is hard to find and fairly expensive to start, the maintenance is quite astronomical.

Just how bad is the repair cost for the SLR?

When Hoovies Garage took this SLR in for service, the costs were pretty wild. The SLR needed a lot of maintenance and various things fixed because it is an older car. The SLR only had about 2,000 miles on it, but this was likely one of the first major services performed. And boy, did it need some services performed.

For the A service alone, it was $2,105. The shop wanted to put a power steering pump in it for $2,220 or a $6,270 steering rack to fix whatever issue the car was having.

The wipers were $105, likely the most reasonable item on the list. A used replacement for a bent front wheel was $1,899. Two new batteries needed a replacement for $1,350. Another piece under the hood, not specified, was $3,405. Replacing the weatherstripping was $1,350.

A replacement strut to help open those fancy doors costs $2,500. Brake line mounts were $1,300. A washer nozzle was $500. Some missing sensors cost $1,700. The fuel cap tether was $100. A tire fixing kit was $215. Brake caliper cooling ducts were $1,250. The shop replaced a rear differential drain plug piece for $850.

That doesn’t even count everything that needs to be replaced based on the length of time. A brake flush is $1,200. The rotors weren’t recommended (at that time) for replacing but cost about $20,000. In total, it was about $34,000 for all of the bits and pieces needing replacement. The SLR only had about 2,000 miles on it, so this was likely one of the first major services performed.

How many Mercedes SLR McLaren were made?

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was a joint venture between Mercedes and McLaren from 2003 through 2009. It was the first car that AMG got to design on its own from the Mercedes AMG partnership. SLR, in this case, stood for “Sport Leicht Rennsport” (Sport Light Racing), according to Wikipedia. It was loosely based on the Mercedes 300 SLR, which was the official inspiration. Mercedes created only about 2,157.

So if this car was on your list of cars to buy, perhaps take it off the list. Unless you like $40,000 maintenance bills, which you might.