Porsch Assistance - Northern Spain and Portugal
Discussion
Long time lurker, first time poster 
Have a bit of a tour coming up soon, ferry from UK to Santander, along northern cost of Spain and turn south to Porto, with direct return Porto to Santander "diagonally" at the end.
Very low mileage Boxster 4.0 GTS.
Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
If the repair extends past the return date, or I would prefer to have it fixed in the UK, what might happen in terms of us, and the car, getting back to the UK?
TIA, Alfie
Have a bit of a tour coming up soon, ferry from UK to Santander, along northern cost of Spain and turn south to Porto, with direct return Porto to Santander "diagonally" at the end.
Very low mileage Boxster 4.0 GTS.
Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
If the repair extends past the return date, or I would prefer to have it fixed in the UK, what might happen in terms of us, and the car, getting back to the UK?
TIA, Alfie
A guy I know was telling me his tale recently after he lost gears 1-3-5 at Spa. I think I've remembered the details correctly, apologies if I've got something not quite right.
Porsche Assistance proposed that he could leave his car and they would get him back to the UK separately, but not necessarily back home. I'm sure he said once they got him to the UK e.g. Gatwick or Dover etc they were done. He had to make his own way to his home address.
His car would be picked up separately and was expected to be back in the UK in a couple of weeks(!) I think. Whether that was post fix at a foreign OPC, or the time to get it back to his local OPC, I can't remember but I seem to recall it was that long just to get it to his OPC.
He ended up driving home just using gears 2-4-6 and is now looking at paying for a clutch replacement....
Porsche Assistance proposed that he could leave his car and they would get him back to the UK separately, but not necessarily back home. I'm sure he said once they got him to the UK e.g. Gatwick or Dover etc they were done. He had to make his own way to his home address.
His car would be picked up separately and was expected to be back in the UK in a couple of weeks(!) I think. Whether that was post fix at a foreign OPC, or the time to get it back to his local OPC, I can't remember but I seem to recall it was that long just to get it to his OPC.
He ended up driving home just using gears 2-4-6 and is now looking at paying for a clutch replacement....
Hi, I've used Porsche Assist in Europe several years ago. Gear cable went on a 987 tiptronic on my way to Eurotunnel. They recovered me to my pre-booked hotel which was 20mins away. At that stage I was given a number of options: Local (French) OPC inspection and possible repair. Recovery home with car. Recovery home separate from car.
I was told that evening no French OPC could see the car for several days. Given I was on my way back to England, I asked to have the car recovered home.
The next day I opted to ride in the recovery truck to the ferry port. (Eurotunnel apparently don't accept breakdowns, P&O do. They booked the ferry for me.) Although this isn't necessary, you can travel separately (see below) or fly. Car was dropped off at the port by French recovery truck. Handed off to ferry company, that towed it on and off ferry.
Once back in Dover, AA collected car and recovered it home to London, that evening and then again to OPC the next day when it opened. On the Dover to London leg, I got Porsche Assist to hire me a car from Dover. At that stage I didn't want to wait for the recovery truck and it had already been a long day.
In summary, Porsche Assist were great. Good communication throughout the process. Took all the hassle out of the situation. Gave me options and accommodated my requests. Have maintained my cover on subsequent cars on the back of that experience.
Enjoy your trip! I really doubt you'll need Porsche Assist
PS: N-621 Unquera - Leon is worth a drive and upgrading to the club lounge, if available on your route is also worthwhile.
I was told that evening no French OPC could see the car for several days. Given I was on my way back to England, I asked to have the car recovered home.
The next day I opted to ride in the recovery truck to the ferry port. (Eurotunnel apparently don't accept breakdowns, P&O do. They booked the ferry for me.) Although this isn't necessary, you can travel separately (see below) or fly. Car was dropped off at the port by French recovery truck. Handed off to ferry company, that towed it on and off ferry.
Once back in Dover, AA collected car and recovered it home to London, that evening and then again to OPC the next day when it opened. On the Dover to London leg, I got Porsche Assist to hire me a car from Dover. At that stage I didn't want to wait for the recovery truck and it had already been a long day.
In summary, Porsche Assist were great. Good communication throughout the process. Took all the hassle out of the situation. Gave me options and accommodated my requests. Have maintained my cover on subsequent cars on the back of that experience.
Enjoy your trip! I really doubt you'll need Porsche Assist
PS: N-621 Unquera - Leon is worth a drive and upgrading to the club lounge, if available on your route is also worthwhile.
Thanks for your examples and advice - I will follow up with Porsche Assistance before we go.
The car is currently off road (and has been for 4 weeks), with significant engine work being done by my OPC, which is likely to be finished only a few days before we go and I won't be able to any/much mileage before we depart...so it's not like we're taking a car that we've done a few thousand miles in and where potential engine problems are not even in our minds as being likely to happen.
The car is currently off road (and has been for 4 weeks), with significant engine work being done by my OPC, which is likely to be finished only a few days before we go and I won't be able to any/much mileage before we depart...so it's not like we're taking a car that we've done a few thousand miles in and where potential engine problems are not even in our minds as being likely to happen.
AlfieMac said:
Thanks for your examples and advice - I will follow up with Porsche Assistance before we go.
The car is currently off road (and has been for 4 weeks), with significant engine work being done by my OPC, which is likely to be finished only a few days before we go and I won't be able to any/much mileage before we depart...so it's not like we're taking a car that we've done a few thousand miles in and where potential engine problems are not even in our minds as being likely to happen.
Another PHer’s euro trip experience when needing Porsche Assist… new engine for his 981 GTS, you’ll be covered for most eventualities, if you have a warranty.The car is currently off road (and has been for 4 weeks), with significant engine work being done by my OPC, which is likely to be finished only a few days before we go and I won't be able to any/much mileage before we depart...so it's not like we're taking a car that we've done a few thousand miles in and where potential engine problems are not even in our minds as being likely to happen.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
When are you going? I'm doing the same trip in July/August, ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and then driving down to the Algarve in my 2014 35k-mile Boxster S. I did Portsmouth to Caen last year, then drover down through the Pyrenees and into northern Spain. Fantastic trip. My car has no warranty and my foreign breakdown insurance is present but provided by my bank. I wouldn't worry about going in a nearly new car...
LunarOne said:
When are you going?
April 30....Santander
Santillana del Mar
Pesaguero-La Parte
Libardon
Puerto de Vega
Lugar a Senra
Santiago de Compostela
Porto - working for the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team on WRC Portugal
Puebla de Sanabria
Santander
Jeez - just noticed I can't spell Porsche correctly in the thread title
Edited by AlfieMac on Monday 10th April 17:08
Edited by AlfieMac on Monday 10th April 17:11
My experience with Porsche Assistance was surprising. In a good way. Had a suspension light come on the Cayenne which turned out to be air compressor fault.
As the two nearest OPC’s in the Costa Blanca were fully booked for ten days and we needed to get back to the UK, Porsche Assistance had the car collected onto a low loader and transported back to my local OPC in Wiltshire. Then sorted a hire car for our remaining few days holiday.
They then arranged for our taxi to the airport and flight back to Bristol, finally taxi to our home. All at no cost to ourselves.
That was some service IMO.
As the two nearest OPC’s in the Costa Blanca were fully booked for ten days and we needed to get back to the UK, Porsche Assistance had the car collected onto a low loader and transported back to my local OPC in Wiltshire. Then sorted a hire car for our remaining few days holiday.
They then arranged for our taxi to the airport and flight back to Bristol, finally taxi to our home. All at no cost to ourselves.
That was some service IMO.
AlfieMac said:
Very low mileage Boxster 4.0 GTS.
Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
Well, just to report that we DID need Porsche Assistance when on arrival in Spain, 50m outside the Brittany Ferries ferry port in Santander on a Spanish National Holiday Monday at 4pm, the Henn connector (nope, I'd never come across the name before) in the coolant piping just behind the RH front water radiator came apart and all the coolant, rapidly and unceremoniously, dumped itself onto the ground.Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
The nearest (closed) Porsche dealer was in Bilbao (>100km away eastwards in the wrong direction of our trip) or Asturias (>200km away westwards in the right direction for our trip but we weren't scheduled to be around there for 4 days).
So....
...call European Porsche Assistance, (it's in France) and have a stilted conversation with a lady who did not have great English
...who wanted to know my policy number, which I had no record of, and still don't know it/believe I even have one?
...but was eventually satisfied with my reg no and address/postcode (all spelt out tediously in NATO phonetics to get her to understand)
...and a What3Words location
...promised a recovery truck would attend and left it to us to decide what to do when it came.
The options seemed to us to be:
- recovery to either Porsche dealer, get a hire car (almost certainly not that day) or hang around till it's fixed, alter itinerary, miss and re-arrange hotel stays etc etc
- recovery to the first night hotel (40km) and sort it out in the morning
- neither very satisfactory, to say the least
To cut a long story short, we were incredibly lucky:
- we messaged our son to tell him what had happened and discuss the options
- he said he knows someone who lives in Santander through his WRC work connections
- who when contacted said "my best friend has a garage in Santander, 3km from where you are, he's a great mechanic (turns out he preps and maintains ex-WRC cars, high end classics, 911 GT3 Cup race cars etc) - I'll get him to come out to you at the port and he can probably fix it"
So the mechanic comes 20km from his home on a national holiday, arrives, looks at the coolant on the floor and says "the joint in the coolant pipe behind the wheel arch trim has come apart, I can fix it"
The recovery truck eventually arrives and the driver speaks no English at all, and we have no Spanish. But the mechanic asks him the recover the car to his garage and off we go.
4 hrs later, we're on our way. After some dismantling, Henn clip joint re-made in 30 seconds and coolant re-filled.
Refill procedure should be to create a vacuum in the coolant system and let the coolant be sucked in - he had a universal vacuum kit (that his wife brought from home to his garage) but there was no adapter for the car (he said it was too 718 was too new and they don't have them/they're very rare in Spain) - so it was old fashioned "fill it up, squeeze the hoses, put some revs on the engine to circulate coolant after the thermostat opens, go for a short drive - and repeat till done"
He gave me an extra 5 litres of coolant and we put just over 2 litres more in over the next couple of days, then it was stable.
I asked him to create an invoice for Porsche/someone to pay but he wouldn't have it, and trying to press cash into his (or his wife's) hand completely failed - he just said he was doing the work for free as that was what he would like to happen to him should he be in our situation.
To provide a bit more background, the reason I started this thread was:
- 5 days before the ferry trip I got the car back from my dealer with a brand new, and complete, engine fitted after a catastrophic engine failure at 15mph and 530 miles from new
- I was a little concerned that there might be a teething problem that would affect us, given the amount of work done on the car
- which there was and it did - the joint was taken apart during the coolant refill after the engine change and not re-joined correctly in the dealer workshop (IMHO, having researched Henn clip joints since, they seem a poor design for a critical coolant pipe join and the fact they can be dismantled by hand with no tool at all is odd)
- the joint lasted 200 miles after I got the car back, but the retaining clip (almost certainly not re-fitted correctly) came out of the joint when driving out of the ferry port.
Edited by AlfieMac on Thursday 18th May 17:16
AlfieMac said:
AlfieMac said:
Very low mileage Boxster 4.0 GTS.
Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
Well, just to report that we DID need Porsche Assistance when on arrival in Spain, 50m outside the Brittany Ferries ferry port in Santander on a Spanish National Holiday Monday at 4pm, the Henn connector (nope, I'd never come across the name before) in the coolant piping just behind the RH front water radiator came apart and all the coolant, rapidly and unceremoniously, dumped itself onto the ground.Just supposing we needed Porsche Assistance for a major problem - serious engine defect, water/oil leak etc - that needed an OPC fix that might take several days and /or extend past return date
Does anyone have experience of calling Porsche Assistance from this part of Europe in this scenario, and what happened?
The nearest (closed) Porsche dealer was in Bilbao (>100km away eastwards in the wrong direction of our trip) or Asturias (>200km away westwards in the right direction for our trip but we weren't scheduled to be around there for 4 days).
So....
...call European Porsche Assistance, (it's in France) and have a stilted conversation with a lady who did not have great English
...who wanted to know my policy number, which I had no record of, and still don't know it/believe I even have one?
...but was eventually satisfied with my reg no and address/postcode (all spelt out tediously in NATO phonetics to get her to understand)
...and a What3Words location
...promised a recovery truck would attend and left it to us to decide what to do when it came.
The options seemed to us to be:
- recovery to either Porsche dealer, get a hire car (almost certainly not that day) or hang around till it's fixed, alter itinerary, miss and re-arrange hotel stays etc etc
- recovery to the first night hotel (40km) and sort it out in the morning
- neither very satisfactory, to say the least
To cut a long story short, we were incredibly lucky:
- we messaged our son to tell him what had happened and discuss the options
- he said he knows someone who lives in Santander through his WRC work connections
- who when contacted said "my best friend has a garage in Santander, 3km from where you are, he's a great mechanic (turns out he preps and maintains ex-WRC cars, high end classics, 911 GT3 Cup race cars etc) - I'll get him to come out to you at the port and he can probably fix it"
So the mechanic comes 20km from his home on a national holiday, arrives, looks at the coolant on the floor and says "the joint in the coolant pipe behind the wheel arch trim has come apart, I can fix it"
The recovery truck eventually arrives and the driver speaks no English at all, and we have no Spanish. But the mechanic asks him the recover the car to his garage and off we go.
4 hrs later, we're on our way. After some dismantling, Henn clip joint re-made in 30 seconds and coolant re-filled.
Refill procedure should be to create a vacuum in the coolant system and let the coolant be sucked in - he had a universal vacuum kit (that his wife brought from home to his garage) but there was no adapter for the car (he said it was too 718 was too new and they don't have them/they're very rare in Spain) - so it was old fashioned "fill it up, squeeze the hoses, put some revs on the engine to circulate coolant after the thermostat opens, go for a short drive - and repeat till done"
He gave me an extra 5 litres of coolant and we put just over 2 litres more in over the next couple of days, then it was stable.
I asked him to create an invoice for Porsche/someone to pay but he wouldn't have it, and trying to press cash into his (or his wife's) hand completely failed - he just said he was doing the work for free as that was what he would like to happen to him should he be in our situation.
To provide a bit more background, the reason I started this thread was:
- 5 days before the ferry trip I got the car back from my dealer with a brand new, and complete, engine fitted after a catastrophic engine failure at 15mph and 530 miles from new
- I was a little concerned that there might be a teething problem that would affect us, given the amount of work done on the car
- which there was and it did - the joint was taken apart during the coolant refill after the engine change and not re-joined correctly in the dealer workshop (IMHO, having researched Henn clip joints since, they seem a poor design for a critical coolant pipe join and the fact they can be dismantled by hand with no tool at all is odd)
- the joint lasted 200 miles after I got the car back, but the retaining clip (almost certainly not re-fitted correctly) came out of the joint when driving out of the ferry port.
Gassing Station | Boxster/Cayman | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff