Car registration and insurance

Most vehicles need to be registered (Zulassung) before you use them on a public road. Apply to your local vehicle registration office (Zulassungsbehörde) and arrange compulsory motor liability insurance; private liability insurance is separate. Section 3 lists the exempt vehicles.

In short

• Do not use a vehicle that section 3 requires to be registered on a public road until it is registered. Registration normally involves an assigned number, stamped plates and a certificate. Eligible online procedures can allow provisional use before physical documents and stickers arrive, subject to the conditions below.
• Registration needs motor-vehicle liability insurance under the Compulsory Insurance Act: the insurer, the policy or confirmation number, and the start of cover. This is not Privathaftpflicht. The annex to section 4 (2) sets the minimum sums per claim. Ask the registration office about the fee.
• Cover for damage to your own vehicle, Teilkasko or Vollkasko, is voluntary. It is not a condition of registration, and there is no statutory minimum scope for it. Ask insurers about their premiums and policy terms.
• Vehicle-tax requirements normally include a SEPA direct-debit mandate and no blocking vehicle-tax arrears. Section 13 of the Motor Vehicle Tax Act allows a hardship waiver and tax-exemption/non-levy cases; holder-related arrears below 5 euros do not bar registration. Check the details below.
• Apply at the competent Zulassungsbehörde with the holder data in section 6 and with part II, or with a request to issue part II. For an imported vehicle, check the required customs documents with the registration authority and customs separately.
• Normally carry registration certificate part I in the vehicle. An eligible online procedure can temporarily allow the registration decision instead, subject to its conditions. If a replacement was issued and you find the old part I, hand the old one in at once.

What you need to know

Section 3 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance says a motor vehicle and its trailer may be used on public roads only if they are registered. Registration is granted on application when the vehicle matches an approved type or has an individual vehicle approval, and when motor-vehicle liability insurance under section 1 of the Compulsory Insurance Act exists. Registration involves assigning a number plate, stamping the plates and issuing a registration certificate, unless a later rule says otherwise.

Section 3 lists vehicles and trailers that do not need registration, including certain work machines, some light vehicles and some slow trailers used in the ways the section describes. Check the section for the full list. The holder may order or allow the use of a vehicle that needs registration only if it is registered.

Section 1 of the Compulsory Insurance Act says the holder of a vehicle that has its regular location, or its usual location, in Germany must take out and maintain liability insurance covering personal injury, property damage, and other financial loss caused by the use of the vehicle, for the holder, the owner, the driver, and the further people the Act names. This is not Privathaftpflicht.

Section 6 says you apply to the Zulassungsbehörde that section 75 makes competent. A natural person states family name, birth name, given names, any religious name (Ordensname) or professional pseudonym (Künstlername) provided for registration-number allocation, date and place of birth, sex, and address, and must prove them on request.

You submit registration certificate part II with the application, or ask for it to be issued. For a first registration you prove the EU type approval, the national type approval, or the individual approval in the way the section describes. You also state the insurer’s name or code, the number of the policy or of the insurance confirmation, and the start of cover.

For an imported vehicle, ask the registration office which customs proof section 6(7) requires. If that section applies and you do not provide the proof, the office informs the responsible main customs office. Registration does not settle separate customs or import-VAT obligations. If the vehicle came from outside the EU, ask customs about declarations, evidence and any relief that may apply; EEA treatment for vehicle registration does not itself establish customs clearance. Ask your local registration office where to apply and about the fee.

Section 13 describes registration certificate part I, the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I. The driver normally must carry it and hand it to authorised people for inspection on request. Sections 30 and 31 provide conditional temporary alternatives for eligible online procedures, explained below. If a lost part I is replaced and the old one is found, the holder or owner must hand the old one in to the competent Zulassungsbehörde at once.

What to do

1. Check whether section 3 requires registration for this vehicle. If it does, do not use it on a public road until the registration exists.
2. Arrange the liability insurance in section 1 of the Compulsory Insurance Act, and keep the confirmation number. The application asks for the insurer, the number, and the start of cover.
3. Apply at the competent Zulassungsbehörde with the holder data in section 6 and with part II, or with a request to issue part II. For an import, confirm the registration evidence and any separate customs or import-VAT requirements before proceeding.
4. Normally carry part I in the vehicle. For an eligible online procedure, follow the provisional-document and plate rules below. If a replacement was issued and you find the old part I, hand the old one in at once.

Online registration and provisional use

For an eligible internet-based first registration or re-registration, or a change of holder under section 30(4), section 31 allows immediate use after the automated registration decision is retrieved, subject to its requirements. Fit plates bearing the assigned number and carry a clearly legible printed copy of the decision. Display the provisional registration proof so it is readable from outside the vehicle; section 32 exempts EU vehicle class L motor vehicles and class O trailers from that display requirement. Attach the stickers sent by the authority without delay after they arrive. Registration and compulsory liability cover must still be in place.

For an eligible online change of residence or holder while retaining the existing plate, section 30(4) allows the driver to carry and present the registration decision in immediately readable form instead of part I until the certificate arrives, subject to the statutory time limit. Section 26(4) and section 31 specify different limits for unstamped plates; do not assume a single limit applies to every route. Check the applicable deadline and conditions with the registering authority and the documents it issues before driving.

Vehicle tax and inspections

For a taxable vehicle, registration starts vehicle tax. It does not end it, and it does not end the roadworthiness inspection. Under section 13 of the Motor Vehicle Tax Act, registration normally requires a SEPA direct-debit mandate from the holder’s or a third party’s account.

A certificate from the responsible vehicle-tax authority waiving that mandate because of considerable hardship is an alternative. For a tax exemption or non-levy under section 10(1), the relevant conditions must be proved or made credible. Holder-related vehicle-tax arrears below 5 euros do not bar registration; the registration authority can also allow exceptions to the arrears rule in reasoned individual cases with the tax authority’s consent. Ask the registration authority and the responsible Hauptzollamt which evidence applies before assuming that a missing mandate or tax balance prevents registration.

For an export plate, if you have no fixed residence in Germany and cannot name a SEPA account, the tax is paid before the plate is issued. The amount is on the customs assessment. Check the applicable vehicle tax and inspection interval for your vehicle.

Customs says the tax begins when the registration authority registers the vehicle, and the holder is the taxpayer. It ends when that authority deregisters the vehicle. For a sale, the end date is the date the vehicle is re-registered to the buyer. Leaving Germany, or handing over the keys, does not replace those steps. Before driving a vehicle abroad permanently, ask the registration authority which registration and plates you need. Section 45 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance distinguishes unregistered vehicles from registered vehicles being transferred to export plates. An export plate creates its own tax duty for as long as the plate may be used, and for at least one month.

Section 29 of the Road Traffic Registration Ordinance requires the holder of a vehicle that must be registered to have it inspected at the intervals the ordinance sets, apart from the exceptions that section lists. The sticker shows the month by which the vehicle must be presented. The sticker expires at the end of that month. If the inspection finds defects that must be fixed before a new sticker is issued, section 29(7) extends validity by one month. This page does not state the gap between inspections.

That extension is not permission to drive an unsafe vehicle. Annex VIII distinguishes defect categories and requires prompt repairs; follow the inspection report’s repair and reinspection instructions. If the vehicle is classified as verkehrsunsicher, the sticker is removed, the registration authority is notified, and you must not use it on public roads. A one-month reinspection period is not a month in which to postpone necessary repairs.

Optional cover for damage to your vehicle

The liability policy in section 1 is what registration requires. Cover for damage to your own vehicle is not. The annex to section 4 (2) of the Compulsory Insurance Act sets the minimum sum for that compulsory policy, per claim, at 7.5 million euros for personal injury, 1,300,000 euros for property damage, and 50,000 euros for pure financial loss that is neither directly nor indirectly connected with personal injury or property damage. For a passenger vehicle with more than nine seats, not counting the driver’s seat, the minimums for personal injury and pure financial loss are higher. The property-damage minimum stays 1,300,000 euros. That increase does not apply to buses used only for instruction and driving tests. This page does not restate that seat table. These figures are minimum cover, not a premium and not a registration fee.

BaFin states that Teilkasko and Vollkasko are voluntary and are not regulated by statute, so there is no statutory minimum scope. They pay for damage to your own vehicle. BaFin describes Teilkasko as usually covering fire, explosion, theft, storm, hail, lightning, flooding, broken glass, and a short circuit in the wiring, and Vollkasko as also covering an accident you caused and deliberate damage by someone else. The contract sets which events it includes, the excess, and the sum. Compulsory liability does not pay for damage to your own vehicle when you caused the accident. A roadside-assistance product is a separate contract. Ask the insurer about the premium.

Common mistakes

• Assuming bought plates or an application alone authorise driving. The vehicle must be registered; the eligible provisional online route has its own document, plate and insurance conditions.
• Leaving part I at home when no eligible provisional online-document alternative applies. Section 13 normally requires the driver to carry and present it.
• Relying on a fee copied from another district. Ask your registration office what applies.
• Treating Teilkasko or Vollkasko as the policy section 3 requires for registration. Registration needs the compulsory liability policy. Own-vehicle cover is voluntary.