German–Portuguese car glossary for people who answer calls

There are around fifty words, and almost all of them fit into five moments of the call: the breakdown, charging, where the person is, what happens next and after-sales. You don't need to know mechanics in German. You need to recognise quickly what the person is describing, and have the matching technical term to hand to write in the record. This glossary is organised in that order, not alphabetically, because that is how the words reach your ear.

How to use this list

Each entry has three parts: the German term with its article, the Portuguese translation, and a short note on when the word comes up on the phone. The article is not decoration – in German, the gender changes the whole sentence you are about to say, and on the phone there is no time to hesitate between der and die.

A warning before you start. Nobody calls you saying the technical term. The person describes the symptom, often in a single disorganised sentence, and your job is to translate that into the word the system understands. If you wait to hear the right word, you will be waiting.

The breakdown

The group that usually comes up right at the start of a breakdown call.

die Panne – avaria (breakdown). The root word. Watch its scope: many people use Panne for running out of fuel or for locking the key inside the car.
der Pannendienst / die Pannenhilfe – assistência em viagem (roadside assistance), the service.
der Pannenhelfer – the technician who comes out to the scene. It is the ADAC term.
liegen bleiben – ficar imobilizado (to be stranded). "Ich bin liegen geblieben" is the most common way of saying the car has stopped and won't move.
anspringen – pegar, arrancar (to start). "Mein Auto springt nicht an" is one of the most common sentences in a breakdown.
die Starterbatterie – bateria de arranque (starter battery), the 12 V one. The technical term. The customer just says Batterie.
die Starthilfe – arranque assistido (jump start), starting with jump leads.
das Überbrückungskabel – cabos de emergência (jump leads), the clamps.
die Reifenpanne – furo (flat tyre). Colloquial: "ich habe einen Platten".
das Reserverad / das Ersatzrad – roda sobresselente (spare wheel).
der Wagenheber – macaco (jack).
die Kontrollleuchte / die Warnleuchte – luz avisadora (warning light) on the dashboard. Note the three l's in Kontrollleuchte: it is Kontroll + Leuchte.
der Kraftstoff – combustível (fuel). Colloquial: der Sprit.
der Motorschaden – avaria grave de motor (serious engine failure). A heavy word: use it with care.
das Getriebe – caixa de velocidades (gearbox).
die Kupplung – embraiagem (clutch).
die Bremse – travão (brake).
der Kühler / das Kühlmittel – radiador / líquido de refrigeração (radiator / coolant). Colloquially: das Kühlwasser.
abschleppen – rebocar (to tow). der Abschleppwagen is the tow truck (pronto-socorro).
ausgesperrt sein – ter ficado fechado fora do carro (to be locked out of the car). "Ich habe mich ausgesperrt."

The electric car

Recent vocabulary, and the fastest-growing. It applies both to people handling roadside assistance and to people handling product support.

das Elektroauto / das E-Auto – carro elétrico (electric car). E-Auto is what people say.
die Ladesäule – poste de carregamento público (public charging station).
der Ladepunkt – ponto de carregamento (charging point). A Ladesäule usually has two.
die Wallbox – carregador de parede (wall charger), at home. Feminine, despite the English.
das Ladekabel – cabo de carregamento (charging cable).
der Typ-2-Stecker – ficha Tipo 2 (Type 2 plug), the European standard for alternating current.
der CCS-Stecker – the fast-charging plug for direct current.
der Ladevorgang – sessão de carregamento (charging session). "Der Ladevorgang bricht ab" – the session stops. A frequent complaint.
das Schnellladen – carregamento rápido (fast charging).
die Ladekarte – cartão de acesso aos postos (charging card).
der Ladestand / der Ladezustand – estado de carga (state of charge), the percentage.
die Reichweite – autonomia (range). The word you hear on anxious calls.
die Reichweitenangst – ansiedade de autonomia (range anxiety). It is not a diagnosis, it is journalism, but customers sometimes use it jokingly.
die Hochvoltbatterie / die Antriebsbatterie – bateria de tração (traction battery), the big one.
das Hochvoltsystem – sistema de alta tensão (high-voltage system). Written Hochvolt, with no hyphen.
die 12-Volt-Batterie – the small battery. The distinction between this one and the Hochvoltbatterie is the most useful in the whole glossary.
der Wechselstrom / der Gleichstrom – corrente alternada / contínua (alternating / direct current), AC/DC.

Where the person is

In roadside assistance, the location is essential, and that is where a vocabulary mistake costs the most.

die Autobahn – autoestrada (motorway).
der Standstreifen – berma de emergência (hard shoulder). The German term.
der Seitenstreifen – the same, in the language of the German highway code.
der Pannenstreifen – the same, in Austria and Switzerland.
die Bundesstraße / die Landstraße – estrada nacional / estrada secundária (federal road / secondary road). Note the ß.
die Ausfahrt / die Auffahrt – saída / entrada (exit / entry slip road). Don't mix them up: a person who says they are "an der Auffahrt" has not got on yet.
die Anschlussstelle – nó de acesso (junction), where you get on or off the motorway.
das Autobahnkreuz / das Autobahndreieck – nó onde se cruzam duas autoestradas / entroncamento de três ramos, onde uma autoestrada entra noutra (interchange where two motorways cross / three-way junction where one motorway joins another). They appear in the name of the place.
die Raststätte – área de serviço (service area) with a filling station and a restaurant.
der Rastplatz – área de descanso (rest area), without services.
die Notrufsäule – poste SOS (emergency call post). In Germany they are every two kilometres on motorways.
der Leitpfosten – the white marker post on the roadside. The black arrows point to the nearest Notrufsäule. The marker post is the best thing to ask about when someone doesn't know where they are.
die Fahrtrichtung – sentido de marcha (direction of travel). "Fahrtrichtung München" pins down the location better than a misread kilometre marker.
die Leitplanke – rail de proteção (crash barrier). Behind it is where the person should be.
der Stau – fila de trânsito (traffic jam).
die Baustelle – obra na via (roadworks).
die Tiefgarage – garagem subterrânea (underground car park). Often with little or no signal, so the call may drop.
das Warndreieck / die Warnweste – triângulo / colete refletor (warning triangle / high-visibility vest).

What happens next

In general, this is the part the customer most wants to hear, and it is best said briefly and clearly.

die Werkstatt – oficina (workshop).
die Vertragswerkstatt – oficina da rede oficial da marca (authorised workshop in the brand's official network).
der Servicepartner – parceiro de serviço (service partner). A manufacturer's term.
der Abschleppdienst – serviço de reboque (towing service).
der Ersatzwagen / das Ersatzfahrzeug – viatura de substituição (replacement vehicle).
der Mietwagen – carro de aluguer (rental car). Not a synonym for the previous one.
die Weiterfahrt – continuação de viagem (continuing the journey). "Ist die Weiterfahrt möglich?" is the question that follows the tow.
die Wartezeit – tempo de espera (waiting time).
das Kennzeichen – matrícula (number plate). In Switzerland it is das Kontrollschild.
die Fahrgestellnummer / die FIN – número de chassis (chassis number). FIN is Fahrzeug-Identifizierungsnummer, the German equivalent of VIN.
der Fahrzeugschein – documento do veículo (vehicle registration document), now Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I. The old name is still the one people say.
der Kilometerstand – quilometragem (mileage).
die Vorgangsnummer – número do processo (case number). Generic and safe.

After-sales

Here the register changes: there is no longer anyone stopped on the hard shoulder, and the words are legal ones.

die Gewährleistung – garantia legal do vendedor (the seller's legal guarantee), required by law.
die Garantie – garantia comercial (commercial guarantee), voluntary, from the manufacturer or the seller. It is not the same thing as the previous one.
die Kulanz – gesto comercial (goodwill gesture). It is not regulated by law and is decided case by case. The most delicate word on the list, and the only one you should never promise.
die Inspektion – revisão periódica (scheduled service).
die Hauptuntersuchung – inspeção obrigatória (mandatory roadworthiness inspection) in Germany. Colloquial: TÜV.
der Rückruf / die Rückrufaktion – campanha de recolha (recall campaign), the recall.
das Ersatzteil – peça de substituição (replacement part).
die Reparatur – reparação (repair).
der Kostenvoranschlag – orçamento (cost estimate).
das Serviceheft / das Scheckheft – livro de revisões (service book).
der Kundendienst – apoio ao cliente (customer service), but careful: with cars it often means the service at the workshop ("das Auto muss zum Kundendienst"). Ask which of the two is meant.
die Zulassung – matriculação (registration), registering the vehicle.

False friends, and what the customer says instead of the technical term

There are two different traps, and it is best not to mix them up.

The first trap is words that look like one thing and mean another. Der Rückruf is the worst: it means a vehicle recall campaign, but it also simply means "callback". Only the context decides, and you will need to ask. Die Garage, in Germany, is where you keep the car; in Switzerland, it is the workshop, and the mechanic is der Garagist. Gas geben means to accelerate; it has nothing to do with fuel. Die Kulanz sounds like a guarantee and isn't: it is a gesture, not a right, and treating it as a right creates a problem where there wasn't one. Der Notruf is 112, not the assistance line.

The second trap is bigger and can't be solved with a list. It is the distance between what the person says and what goes into the record. Nobody calls saying "Starterbatterie defekt". They say "mein Auto springt nicht an", or "es macht nur klick, klick", or "gestern ging noch alles". Nobody says "Reifenpanne"; they say "ich habe einen Platten" or "es zieht nach rechts". Nobody says "Hochvoltsystem"; they say "da leuchtet was Rotes".

In a breakdown call, the essentials are usually these: hear the symptom, ask the question that separates two possible causes, and record the right term. What the customer says and the technical term rarely match. Hearing the customer's sentence with the technical term already in your head is a skill that comes with practice; German is the part you already bring.

Austria and Switzerland don't say everything the same way

Some of the German-language calls do not come from Germany. It is worth knowing what changes, and even more important not to invent what doesn't.

What is documented:

Hard shoulder (berma de emergência). Standstreifen in Germany, Pannenstreifen in Austria and Switzerland.
Service area (área de serviço). Raststätte in Germany, Raststation in Austria.
Number plate (matrícula). Kennzeichen in Germany and Austria, Kontrollschild in Switzerland.
Workshop (oficina). Werkstatt in Germany; in Switzerland it is Garage, and the mechanic is Garagist.
Periodic inspection (inspeção periódica). Hauptuntersuchung, commonly TÜV, in Germany; §57a-Begutachtung, commonly Pickerl, in Austria; Motorfahrzeugkontrolle, commonly MFK, in Switzerland.
Automobile club. ADAC in Germany; ÖAMTC and ARBÖ in Austria; TCS in Switzerland. If the customer says one of these names, they have already told you the country.
Spelling. In Switzerland ß is not used: it is written ss. It is Strasse, and it is Bundesamt für Strassen. If you write Straße to a Swiss customer, it is not wrong, but it jars.

What you won't find here is a list of dialect expressions from Bavarian or spoken Swiss German. They exist, you will hear them, and I can't document them term by term with a reliable source – so I don't invent them. The rule on the phone is the same as for everything else: if you didn't understand, ask them to repeat. With road noise on the other end, asking for a repeat is what a professional does.

Do I have to memorise all this before I apply?

No. The postings don't ask for technical vocabulary. What is mandatory is the language level: native German or C1 at minimum, with no certificate required. In the Roadside Assistance roles, fluent English too.

What is the most important word on the list?

The distinction between die 12-Volt-Batterie and die Hochvoltbatterie. Many people with an electric car assume the problem is the big battery, and most of the time it isn't.

Will the customer use these terms?

Rarely. They will describe the symptom. The glossary is there so you can do the translating, not because you should expect to hear these terms.

What if the call comes from Austria or Switzerland?

Some terminology changes – hard shoulder, workshop, number plate, inspection – and the accent changes. The list above covers what is documented. The rest is solved by asking for a repeat.

Do I need to know the assistance procedure to use these words?

No, and you won't find it here. The operation's internal procedures are not published and I don't invent them.

How much does the role pay?

It is on each role's page, linked below.

DWDS, entries Pannenstreifen and Standstreifen, accessed 2026-09-18 – equivalence of the two terms and their distribution across Germany, Austria and Switzerland – https://www.dwds.de/wb/Pannenstreifen
Bundesamt für Strassen (ASTRA), "Pannenstreifenumnutzung (PUN)", accessed 2026-09-18 – Swiss use of Pannenstreifen, and the ss spelling instead of ß – https://www.astra.admin.ch/astra/de/home/themen/nationalstrassen/verkehrsfluss-stauaufkommen/massnahmen-stau/pannenstreifenumnutzung.html
ADAC, "Autopanne auf Autobahn oder Landstraße: Das müssen Sie tun", accessed 2026-09-18 – Pannenhelfer, Warndreieck, Warnweste, and the Notrufsäulen every two kilometres signposted by the arrows on the Leitpfosten – https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/unfall-schaden-panne/panne/autopanne-tipps/
ADAC, "Ladekabel fürs Elektroauto: Test und Infos zu Typ 2, CCS und Mode 3", accessed 2026-09-18 – Typ-2-Stecker, CCS-Stecker, Ladesäule and Wallbox – https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/elektromobilitaet/laden/elektroauto-ladekabel-steckertypen/
ADAC, "Gebrauchtwagen kaufen: Alles zu Gewährleistung, Garantie und Sachmängelhaftung", accessed 2026-09-18 – distinction between mandatory Gewährleistung, voluntary Garantie and discretionary Kulanz – https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/auto-kaufen-verkaufen/gebrauchtwagenkauf/fahrzeugmaengel/
ÖAMTC, "Die §57a-Begutachtung (Pickerl)", accessed 2026-09-18 – the Austrian periodic inspection and its everyday name Pickerl – https://www.oeamtc.at/mitgliedschaft/pruefdienst-leistungen/57a-begutachtung-pickerl/
Wikipedia, "Kontrollschild (Schweiz)", accessed 2026-09-18 – Kontrollschild as the Swiss term for number plate – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kontrollschild_(Schweiz)
Official postings for the Contact Center Agent (German Speaker) roles, Volkswagen Group Services Portugal – language requirements and scope of the two projects.