/ Cars, Getting Started in Germany

How to register a car in Germany

Checklist for registering a car in Germany

Here is a list of all the documents you need in order to register a car in Germany. If you are not sure what a specific document is, the second half of this post goes into more detail about what each document is and how you can get it.

  • Car Insurance & eVB number
  • New License plates
  • Fahrzeugschein I
  • Farhzeugbrief II
  • TUV or H.U. documents
  • I.D./Passport
  • German Bank Account
  • German Address
  • If the car was not de-registered by the seller and still has the seller’s plates- you need to bring those license plates with you so that the car can be de-registered from the seller to you.

Registering a car in Germany 101

Where to Register a car in Gemany?

Register you car in person:

The most common place to register your car is at your local ‘KFZ-Zulassungsstelle’. In larger cities, The KFZ-Zulassungsstelle will most likely have multiple offices located throughout the city that you can choose from. Smaller cities on the other hand may have a KFZ-Zulassungsstelle may not have its own building but be an located within a local government facilities.

In my city of Nuremberg, the KFZ-Zulassungsstelle requires that I have an appointment. Be sure to check the website of your local KFZ-Zulassungsstelle to see whether you can walk-in or need an appointment. 

Register your car online:

If your car was registered after 01.01.2015, it may be possible to register your car online. To check whether your car has the right documents to be registered on line, check out the infos on THIS website.

When you register a car online, all the new ownership documents(Fahrzeigschein I & Fahrzeugbrief II) along with registration stickers for your license plate are sent to you in the mail and you stick them on yourself. Registering a car online is certainly a practical option and saves time waiting at the registration office, but be aware that you will not be able to drive your new car around while you wait for the registration documents to be mailed to you. 

Keep in Mind: Not only can you not drive your car around while you wait for the registration documents, you also are not allowed to have it parked on city streets. You will need to have  your car parked on private property while you wait for the necessary documents to be approved and mailed to you. 

Two types of registration processes 

Anmeldung

This means that you are purely registering a car. The Car has already been de-registered from the previous owner and only needs to be registered to the new owner. If you are buying a car from a dealer, this is most likely going to be the registration process you do.

Ummeldung

The car is still registered under the seller’s name and can be actively driven around town. An Ummeldung with when the car needs to be both de-registered from the seller(previous owner) and registered to the buyer (new owner).

If you bought the car in a private sale, this may be the type of registration you need to do. Sometimes the seller will ask to go with you to the car registration office and you do this together, other times the seller will allow you to do this on your own. Until the car is registered under the new owners name… the car insurance continues under the name of the seller. Even though you signed a contract and paid the seller for the car, the seller is taking the risk to allow you to drive the vehicle around under HIS(or her) car insurance.

For an Ummeldung, you will need to bring the license plates of the seller with you to the appointment so the clerk can de-register the car from the seller.  

Once the clerk de-registers the car… the clerk will send you to the ‘grinding table’… the most exciting moment in the whole process. You scrape or grind the registration stickers off the old license plates. 

*Pro tip: Don’t throw away those license plates until after you have showed the clerk that the registration stickers have been removed.

Documents required to register a car in Germany

How to get Car Insurance eVB number

An eVB(Elektronische Versicherungsbestatigung) Number is an Electronics insurance confirmation number. The eVB number is the magic number that proves to the KFZ-Zulassungsstelle that you have valid car insurance for the car you are registering.

I suggest buying car insurance online through Tarrifcheck.de as most insurance premiums you purchase through their site send you the eVB number within 5 minutes of ordering car insurance through their site. 

How to get license plates in Germany

License plates are the next piece of the car registration puzzle. Every time you register a car, you need a fresh set of license plates(you can sometimes retain the same license plate number..but always need fresh plates). 

Here are the two places to buy license plates from:

Buy license plates Online: 

It is often the cheapest to buy license plates online from Amazon, check out License plates on Amazon.de here. Buying license plates online are cheaper, but requires a little bit of extra time and forethought. To purchase license plates online, you need to already know what your license plate number is going to be. For a small fee, the KFZ-Zulassungstelle allows you to choose what you want your license plates numbers to be.

This is called: Wunschkennzeichen. Your local KFZ-Zulassungstelle will most likely offer you the option to reserve your desired license plate numbers(Wunschkennzeichen) on their website online. I use the term ‘reserve’, because the KFZ-Zulassungsstelle will reserve and hold the license plate numbers you chose for 6 months or so, you have to register a car within that time period before the KFZ-Zulassungsstelle makes those license plate numbers available for someone else. Once you have reserved your Wunschkennzeichen you can head over to Amazon.de and order your new plates with the Wunschkennzeichen you chose! It will take a company around 5 business days to have the plates delivered to you. Not the best option if you are short on time… that is why you can always buy license plates in person too.

In person 

Next to the KFZ-Zulassungsstelle: Every KFZ-Zulassungsstelle I have ever been to has a license plate store(s) located right next door. These shops are more expensive than Amazon.de, but will print your license plates on demand within minutes.

TUV or HU documents:

Every 2 years, cars need to have its TUV renewed. The TUV, Or Abgas Und Hauptuntersuchung  costs around 130 Euros to get it done… so long as they don’t find anything on your car that needs to be repaired. Last time they made me get news breaks on my car…

When you buy a car, the seller should give you the most current TUV documents. You can always check on the license plate on a car when the TUV expires, but make sure you have the paper TUV documents with you when you register a car. 

Pro Tip: If you TUV is more than 1 day expired, you won’t be able to register it to a new owner. You will have to re-new the TUV before you can register it under a new owner. I learned that lesson the hard way. 

The Fahrzeugschein I & Fahrzeugbrief II

Are given to you once you have purchased a new car, make sure the seller gives you both of them and don’t lode them! The small Farhzeugschein I should always be in the car with you when you drive it. The Fahrzeugschein has not only the name and address of the owner printed in it(Yes, you must pay €10 to update the address in your Fahrzeugschein every time you move) but also all the information about your car. Check out this link to understand all the information printed in you Fahrzeugshein.

The Fahrzeigbrief II is the larger of the two ownership documents and you should keep it in a safe place at home and NOT INSIDE your car…. If someone were to have both of your cars ownership documents… lets say you would make a car thief a very happy person.

Bank Account

You need to give the registration office a bank account where they will withdrawal your yearly car tax payment. Car tax amount will vary depending on the make on model of you vehicle. You can look up how much your yearly car tax payments will be HERE.

Identification/Passport

If you are using a passport as your form of ID… you may need to bring a Meldebescheinigung along with you… as some registration offices may require that you have an official document that has your actual address on it. I registered a car recently and used my Aufenthaltstitel as my form of identification with no problems at all(Aufenthaltstitel has your address printed on the back).

Address

This kind of goes without saying… but it still needs to be said that you need an address to register your car. I have encountered a few people who bought cars before they had a place to an actual address… which made registering a car a little bit of a headache.

Sales contract

I suggest bringing the signed sales contract (Kaufvertrag) along with you. As an extra layer of proof to show that you are in fact the rightful owner of the vehicle you are registering. This document is optional, when registering my car last week the clerk did not ask me for the sales contract.

The last thing you need… is some money to pay the car registration fee! 

How much does it cost to register a car in Germany?

For an Ummeldung, new license plates, and all the random fees… all and all I paid €64,90 for the whole process. Maybe yours will be a little less, a little more… but thats how much is costs in germany to register a car. Here is a break down of a car I registered in Germany:

€30,80: Registration Fees
€12,80: Wunschkennzeichen(personalized license plates
€0,60: Registration stickers
€5,00: Feinstaub plakette: emission sticker
€15,70: 2 License plates

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