Genuine Porsche Parts for the UK Trade

Why Porsche parts become a sourcing job

Porsche is a low-volume marque with a long memory. It appears as its own entry in SMMT's monthly table of new car registrations by marque, so UK workshops see current cars regularly — but the same badge covers models that left production thirty, forty and sixty years ago and are still on the road and still being repaired. A specialist can easily have a current Macan and an air-cooled 911 in the building in the same week, and the two are not the same parts job in any respect.

On the current cars the difficulty is rarely that a part does not exist. It is that the catalogue holds several versions of it, and the correct one is decided by the options the car was built with rather than by the model name. On the older cars the difficulty is the opposite: the number is simple and the stock is gone. Parts sourcing is the work that starts at the point where the normal route for either has run out.

Three things make this marque harder than its registration figures suggest: the length of the production span still in service, the amount of specification hiding behind a single model name, and the fact that a large share of these cars have been modified, rebuilt or imported during their lives — so what is on the car is not always what the factory recorded.

The parts picture changes with the generation

• 356 and the air-cooled 911 and 912 models. Identification runs on chassis and engine numbers and on period records rather than on a live electronic catalogue. Supply is the manufacturer's classic programme, marque specialists, genuine new-old stock and good used genuine parts.
• The transaxle cars — 924, 944, 968 and 928. Long runs with many running changes, modest UK survival numbers, and a parts picture where body, interior trim and electrical items are far harder to find than service parts. A number can be long gone from the UK while the car itself is still a common sight at a specialist.
• The water-cooled 911 generations and the Boxster and Cayman models. The volume classics of the near future, and the ones where trim level and factory options decide the part number for cooling, suspension, lighting, glazing and interior items. The model name on its own almost never resolves a part here.
• Current 911, 718, Cayenne, Macan, Panamera and Taycan models. Sports cars and prestige SUVs in parts terms: control modules, camera and radar units, adaptive lighting, air suspension components, glazing variants and painted panels in specific colour and trim codes — several of which need coding or calibration after fitting rather than simply bolting on. For the wider prestige picture see prestige, performance and supercar parts.

A workshop is usually dealing with one of these at a time, but the request has to say which, because the route to the part is genuinely different in each case.

Identifying a Porsche part correctly

Most failed parts orders on this marque are identification failures rather than availability failures. A registration starts the search — the DVLA's public vehicle information service confirms the basic record a registration holds — but the identifiers underneath it do the real work. These are the checks that most often change the answer.

• Build date, not registration date. Running changes landed mid-model-year throughout these ranges, and a car registered after a change can have been built before it.
• VIN on the later cars, chassis and engine numbers on the earliest. The oldest cars predate the 17-character VIN, and the stamped numbers are what the period records are indexed by.
• Factory options and equipment level. Option content changes the part number for bumpers, carriers, lamps, looms, seats, glazing, brakes and wheels far more often than the model name suggests. The build specification is recorded both in the parts system behind the VIN and on a printed option label fitted to the car — commonly in the service book or under the bonnet area. A photograph of that label settles questions that would otherwise take an exchange of emails.
• Supersessions. A number taken from an old parts book, an old box or an old invoice may be several revisions behind the one currently supplied.
• Handedness. Manufacturers define left and right from the driver's seat, and diagrams and estimating systems are not always consistent. A photograph of the part in position settles it.
• What is actually fitted. These cars are modified more than most. Engine changes, brake and suspension upgrades, later wheels and replacement panels are common, and the correct part is the one that fits what is there now — a different question from what the factory built.

Working on an older Porsche? Send the VIN or chassis number, a photograph of the identification plate or option label, and a photograph of the part in position. On a car that has been rebuilt or modified, the photograph usually tells us more than the number does.

Porsche Classic and parts for older models

The manufacturer supports its older cars through a dedicated classic parts operation, and it is the first route we check for a car in scope, because a part from it is a genuine part with a documented origin. Porsche's UK classic genuine parts pages describe looking after “over 80,000 genuine parts”, list the classic models supported with genuine parts and specialist services — a range running from the 356 through to the 918 Spyder — and state that Porsche “produces high-quality, genuine spare parts for repairs, replacements and optimisations to your vintage car”.

The programme is not a static stock list, and that is the part most useful to a workshop. Porsche states that Porsche Classic is “responsible for reissuing original parts that are out of stock” and that “some 200 spare parts have been reissued each year since 2013” — figures published in its March 2023 announcement of reissued magnesium crankcases for early 911 engines, which also records that “more than 80,000 different spare parts and accessories can be ordered from any Porsche Centre worldwide”. The Porsche Classic Partner network is described in the same terms, as able to answer questions on “the more than 80,000 items in the Porsche Classic spare parts range”.

The practical consequence is that a part written off as gone some time ago is worth re-checking rather than assumed. Where the programme does not cover an item, the remaining routes are the ones any obsolete search uses, worked in order: marque specialists who have concentrated on these cars for decades, genuine new-old stock, good used genuine parts, and remanufactured or reproduction items last. We describe every option by its actual category rather than calling it all “genuine”, so the decision is yours and your customer's. See classic and vintage car parts, parts for restoration projects and our guide on how to source hard-to-find car parts.

Body panels, corrosion and accident repair

Body requests on this marque split into two kinds. Accident repair needs the correct panel, bumper, carrier, lamp or glazing for that build and equipment level — ordinary bodyshop sourcing, but with an unusually high proportion of option-dependent parts behind the bumpers. See genuine body panels and bodyshop support. Restoration and corrosion work on the older cars is a different exercise: inner and outer sills, floor and suspension pan sections, wing and front-end repair panels, where the question is usually whether to repair a section or replace a complete item, and where availability differs sharply between the two.

We quote both where both exist, with the category and origin of each stated, because on these cars the cheaper line on the estimate is not always the one that finishes the job. Where a structural repair needs the manufacturer's documented procedure rather than a judgement call, see manufacturer repair methods.

Imports, left-hand drive and market specification

A large share of the older cars in UK workshops were imported, and the current cars come off production lines serving every market from the same catalogue. The genuine part number is issued once by the manufacturer and used worldwide; what changes from market to market is stock and specification. Before we search we confirm which specification the car in front of you actually is, from the VIN and, where it helps, a photograph of the option label.

Lighting is the one that decides whether a part is usable at all. DVSA's MOT inspection manual records that it is “acceptable for masks or converter kits to be fitted to right hand dip headlamps” to temporarily alter the lamp for use in the UK — see section 4: lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment. For a repair going back to a customer the correct left-dipping lamp is almost always the right answer, and that is what we source unless you tell us otherwise. The wider picture is on our international parts sourcing and European and German car parts pages.

Historic cars, engines and substantial changes

On the oldest cars, sourcing runs into registration rules, and it is worth settling before an order rather than after. GOV.UK's guidance on historic vehicles states that a vehicle “built or first registered more than 40 years ago” does not need an MOT — but only where “no ‘substantial changes’ have been made to the vehicle”, and the example it gives of a substantial change is “replacing the chassis, body, axles or engine to change the way the vehicle works”. Vehicle tax is set out separately and by build date: a vehicle “built before 1 January 1986” can be taken out of vehicle tax, and the keeper has to apply for the exemption rather than it happening automatically.

That matters on this marque because engine changes are common and are rarely documented on the car. We are not advising on a vehicle's registration status — that sits between the keeper and DVLA — but it changes what a workshop should be sourcing, and whether the search is for the unit that is in the car now or the one originally fitted. Tell us which, and we will search for that rather than quoting both and leaving the question open.

When the UK network has nothing

Three situations send a Porsche parts request to us, and each points at a different search.

• National back order. The number is current, UK stock is gone and the date keeps moving. The same number is frequently a stock line in another market. See back-ordered parts.
• Withdrawn here, still catalogued elsewhere. Lines are retired market by market, and on this marque a part can also be reissued through the classic programme after it has run out — so a part reported as no longer available on a UK screen is worth checking properly. See obsolete and discontinued parts.
• Never sold here in that form. Market-specific lighting, emissions and equipment parts for a privately imported car were never in the UK catalogue at all, and low-volume and motorsport-derived variants carry their own numbers. See hard-to-find parts.

Where a part comes from outside the UK it is an import, so duty and import VAT belong in the quotation rather than arriving afterwards. Rates depend on the commodity code and origin of the specific item and HMRC's Trade Tariff is the authority; we quote the landed figure for the actual source rather than an overseas shelf price.

How a Porsche parts request works

1. Send the registration, VIN or chassis number, a description of the part and, where you have them, a part number, an estimate line or a photograph.
2. We confirm which generation and specification the car actually is, and the correct part number for it, including supersessions and option-dependent variants.
3. We check the UK network first, then the classic parts programme where the car is in scope, then overseas markets, marque specialists, new-old stock and — if you have told us it is acceptable — good used genuine parts.
4. You receive availability, the category of part, where it is coming from, the price and the lead time for that specific source.
5. On approval we order, handle the import where the part comes from outside the UK, and arrange delivery to your workshop.

Independent, and trade only

REMCAM Automotive Ltd is an independent parts-sourcing specialist and is not affiliated with, approved by or an authorised agent of any vehicle manufacturer. Manufacturer and model names are used to identify the vehicles we source parts for. Being independent is the point of the service here: we are not limited to one franchise's parts system, so a search can run across the manufacturer's own network, the classic programme, overseas markets and the specialist trade in the same job.

We supply the trade only — garages, bodyshops, accident repair centres, restoration specialists, sports car specialists and fleet workshops. Private owners should ask the business carrying out the work to send the request, which also means the part is identified against the car in front of the technician. Send the details through Request a Part.

Common Porsche parts requests

The requests that reach us for this marque repeat often enough to be worth listing. Recognising which pattern a job falls into usually decides where the search starts.

• Bumpers, carriers, lamps and glazing for accident repair. Ordinary bodyshop work, but with more option-dependent variants behind the bumper than most cars of the same size carry. The VIN resolves it; the model year on its own does not.
• Sill, floor and pan sections on the older cars. Corrosion work where the real question is whether the job takes a repair panel or a complete item — and where availability for the two is rarely the same.
• Cooling, suspension and braking components on the water-cooled generations. Frequently superseded, frequently specified differently on a performance derivative, and a common source of a part that looks right in a diagram and is not.
• Control modules, camera and radar units. Where the correct unit depends on the car's build and equipment level, and where fitting the wrong one costs a diagnostic session to discover. Several need coding or calibration after fitting, which belongs in the job plan rather than coming as a surprise.
• Interior trim in a specific colour and material. Seat parts, door cards and mouldings in combinations the model name does not resolve. The trim code does.
• Period-correct items for a restoration. Brightwork, instruments, badges, switches, seals and small fittings — usually a classic-programme, new-old-stock or good-used-genuine search rather than a catalogue one.

What slows a Porsche parts search down

When one of these orders goes wrong, the cause is usually on a short list — and every item on it is avoidable at the request stage.

• A model name instead of a VIN or chassis number. On a marque with this much production history and this much option content, the model name narrows a search to a family of numbers rather than to one.
• Assuming the car is standard. These cars are modified more than most. The correct part is the one that fits what is on the car now, which a photograph answers and a number does not.
• Not saying whether the car is an import. Lighting, emissions and equipment parts diverge by market, and a home-market number ordered for a UK repair can arrive correct and still be unusable.
• An old parts-book number treated as current. Supersessions over a long production run are frequent, and a number from a period parts list may be several revisions behind.
• Taking an old 'no longer available' answer as final. Lines on this marque can be reissued through the manufacturer's classic programme after they have run out, so a part written off a year ago is worth asking about again.
• Not saying whether used genuine parts are acceptable. On the older cars that single line can be the difference between a part found this week and a part that does not exist new at all.

None of this needs solving before you contact us. Send what you have, and if something is missing we will tell you which detail we need and why it changes the answer.