Poor Porsche Parts Stock Control for recent cars

[WilsonLaidlaw]

Just before Christmas, someone reversed into my 997 Turbo, while it was parked. Their insurer assessor agreed that the whole front bumper assembly on my 997 would have to be replaced at their expense, as any damage to it could compromise the accident damage protection system. Well I was not arguing. It was agreed that the whole job would be done by an approved Porsche repair specialist. They ordered the new bumper before Christmas (from my local Porsche dealer, who I use for service) and the car was booked to go in for repair on the 26th of January. The body repair specialists phoned me up last night, to say that the scheduled bumper still has not arrived and they cannot get a straight answer as to when the new unpainted bumper will arrive. I phoned around a number of other Porsche parts suppliers and get the same story. They have none in stock and cannot get any.

This is a pretty disgraceful situation on what should be a readily available stock part. I phoned Porsche UK and they are apparently also awaiting an answer from Stuttgart. It is not exactly rocket science to have a constant stock of current or recent model parts. There are only three parameters: the volume/rate of sale of that part, the numbers of that part held in current stock and the lead time for reordering. A simple computer program would be able to tell when the volume held in stock fell to a point where estimated future sales would approach the time scale, nearly equal to the lead time for re-order. At this point an automatic re-order is issued to the supplier or if internal, the appropriate factory department. Thus the item is never totally out of stock. All supermarkets operate this system.

Wilson

[5517]

and I'm sure Porsche have a system equally as good or better so it may mean that they have a supply or tooling issue hence the lack of stock and info.

Just a guess

I did wait 14 months for some illuminated side sills being replaced under warranty but I'd hope a front PU supply issue would be solved with greater urgency.

[majordad]

Typical. I know someone who 's GT3 was delivered with an uncorrect owners manual, like you he's been waiting over three weeks and no explanation as to when it might arrive. Poor service IMHO, I hope someone somewhere from Porsche sees this and realises this is the way to piss customers off fast.

[WilsonLaidlaw]

Amazing what jumping up and down, phoning people (including Porsche UK) and making a fuss does. Having been told on Friday that no 997 Turbo Gen 1 bumpers were available anywhere, strangely a new front bumper turned up at my local dealer this morning. Odd that!

Wilson

[supersport]

It's not unusual with older cars as they only make parts in batches, but I would have thought that the last generation cars would be well catered for.