Steering damage loading on flatbed?

[Jabbah]

Had my 997 recovered today for a coolant leak. During mounting on the flatbed truck there were some difficulties and it became apparent that the front wheels were no longer pointing in the same direction:






The problem was only noticed after trying to tow the car onto the flat bed and it was still in park (it's a PDK). The guy noticed the car wasn't moving freely so checked the handbrake and put it in neutral. Could that have done this damage? Previously, I had noticed a bit of clunking from what I thought was the front nearside in certain situtations so possible that something was already not right, but nothing visually wrong and handling was fine right up until loading today.

[Jabbah]

jh001ace said:

Where on your car did the breakdown guy attach the winch wire?

Used the towing eye for the main cable and then a secondary one was connect under the car on the near side but was left loose. I wonder if that secondary one got trapped under the wheel and pulled something.

[Jabbah]

OPC has taken a look and confirmed a bent steering arm:



You can see where the strap was connected and pulled it down. I am now certain it was the strap being caught under the wheel as it was being towed onto the flat bed.

[Jabbah]

The recovery was done through Porsche Assistance, so the breakdown service is the yellow one with a very nice man. There is a claim open with them and the OPC don't think there will be an issue. Just hoping there isn't any further damage caused by the stresses involved.