Vehicle registration plates of Germany

German car number plates (Kfz-Kennzeichen) show the place where the car carrying them is registered. Whenever German citizens change their main place of residence in Germany, or buy a new car, they are required to buy new number plates. Number plates can be bought which are valid all year round or between 2 to 11 months within any 12 months. This allows changing between summer and winter cars, such as a convertible and a sedan/saloon without wasting time and money for de- and re-registering. As of 2007, buying new number plates normally costs around €30 and €10 to €40 for fees for de-registering the old plates and registering the new ones. If a car is handed over to someone else permanently (e.g. sold), but stays within the same city/region, the number may stay the same. Registration fees however are applied for name changes in the official car papers.

Format

The post-1994 German number plate format (so-called FE-style)

The pre-1994 German number plate format (DIN-style), no longer issued but still in use.

Map of license plates in Germany

The present German number plate format has been in use since 1994. As with many plates for countries within the European Union, a blue strip on the left shows a shortened country code in white text (D for Deutschland = Germany) and the Flag of Europe (12 golden stars forming a circle on a blue background).

The rest of the licence plate uses black print on a white background. Just after the country code strip is a one, two or three letter abbreviation, which represents the city or region where the car was registered, such as B for Berlin. These letters usually coincide with the German districts (complete list); in a few cases an urban district and the surrounding non-urban district share the same letter code. Where this happens, the number of the following letters and digits is usually different. For example, the urban district of Straubing (SR) has one letter after the code (SR - A 123). The surrounding district Straubing-Bogen has two letters (SR - AB 123) after the code. However, these different systems are being used in fewer cases, as many cities that share their code with the surrounding rural districts have started using all codes for both districts without any distinction; the city of Regensburg, for example, and the surrounding rural district Regensburg used different systems only until 2007.

The number of letters in the city/region prefix code mostly reflects the size of the district. The basic idea was to even out the number of digits on all license plates, because the largest districts would have more digits after the prefix for more cars. The largest German cities generally only have one letter codes (B=Berlin, M=Munich, K=Cologne (Köln), F=Frankfurt, L=Leipzig, S=Stuttgart), most other districts in Germany have two or three letter codes. Therefore, cities or districts with fewer letters are generally assumed to be bigger and more important. Reflecting that, most districts tried to get a combination with fewer letters for their prefix code.

Districts in eastern Germany usually have more letters, for two reasons:

• Fewer people live in eastern German districts, so the number of cars registered is smaller and hence the use of three letter codes.
• During the development of the system in 1949, letters have been reserved for all east German districts of that time. However, a lot of those districts were changed over the years, and in 1990 after German reunification, many of the possible shorter combinations had already been used up in western Germany.

There are a number of exceptions e.g. Germany's second largest city Hamburg (HH, Hansestadt Hamburg, because of its historical membership in the Hanseatic League) and the west German district Ammerland (WST, Westerstede is the capital of the district). The letter "G" was reserved for the east German city of Gera, although it is much smaller than the west German Gelsenkirchen ("GE"). The letter "L" had been reserved for Leipzig, but was 1977 assigned to the newly formed rural district Lahn-Dill-Kreis. This casts some light on how unlikely a reunification was regarded at that time. In 1990, Leipzig claimed back the letter "L", and it was reassigned, and Lahn-Dill-Kreis had to change to LDK.

The reason for this scheme is however not to display size or location, but simply to have enough combinations available within the maximum length of eight characters per plate.

After the location name there are the emission test and vehicle safety test stickers (see below), followed by one or two usually random letters and one to four usually random numbers. The total quantity of letters and numbers on the plate is never higher than eight. One letter with low numbers are normally reserved for motorcycle use since the plate space of these vehicles is smaller.

A problem with this scheme is that the space is a significant character and must be thought of when writing down a number. For example B MW 555 is not the same number as BM W 555. The confusion can be avoided by writing a hyphen after the city code, as in the old number plates, like B-MW 555. For this reason, the police will always radio the location name and spell out the next letters using the German telephone alphabet, which varies somewhat from the English one. Thus, B MW 555 would be radioed as "Berlin, Martha, Wilhelm, fünf-fünf-fünf" and BM W 555 as "Bergheim, Wilhelm, fünf-fünf-fünf".

Car owners can also buy personalized plates. There may be an extra charge in some regions. Car owners can simply choose the numbers or letters instead of the random ones at the end, provided of course they are unique and not a prohibited combination. For example, people living in the town of Pirna might choose PIR-AT 77, "Pirat" being the German for "pirate". Kiel is one of few places (others are Lauf, Heide, Regen, Daun, Brake, Baden, Ulm and some more) where the number plate can be the city name: 'KI-EL' (KI-LL is also often seen).

Germany includes diacritical marks in the letters of some codes, that is the letters Ä, Ö and Ü. Such a thing is not done in other European countries.

Prohibited combinations

Various combinations that could be considered politically unacceptable — mainly due to implications relating to Nazi Germany — are disallowed or otherwise avoided. The district Sächsische Schweiz uses the name of its main town, Pirna, in its code PIR, to avoid the use of SS, the name of the paramilitary organization; similarly SA is also unused. In 2004 in Nuremberg, a car owner was refused a number plate beginning N-PD because of the connection to the political party the NPD.

Example of banned combination (NS) which was issued accidentally.

Banned combinations include the Nazi abbreviations HJ (Hitlerjugend, Hitler Youth), NS (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism), SA (Sturmabteilung), SS (Schutzstaffel) and KZ (Konzentrationslager, concentration camp). Some registration offices have overlooked this rule by mistake, however; there are a few cars registered carrying prohibited codes, such as B-SS 12. Some counties also allow these combinations if they are the initials of the owner (e.g., Norbert Schmidt might be able to get XX-NS 1234), but in this case, if the car is sold and re-registered in the same county by the new owner, the number can be changed (otherwise the number stays with the car until it registered in a different area).

History

The first German licence plates that had a lettering plan were issued from 1906 onwards. Berlin for example was using I A (I for Prussia), Munich II A (II for Bavaria), Stuttgart III A (III for Württemberg), Baden used IV. Hamburg (HH), Bremen (HB) and Lübeck (HL) used the same combination as today. Other bigger cities: B Braunschweig, IV B Baden (Heidelberg, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Lake Constance), II N City of Nürnberg and Fürth, I S Province of Hannover, I H Provinz Pommern (Poland), I K Provinz Schlesien (now Poland), I T Province of Hessen-Nassau (Today Frankfurt, State of Hessen and neighboring counties), I Z Province of the Rhine (Cologne, Düsseldorf and other large cities in the Ruhr Area) and finally I X Province Westfalia.

During World War I the German Army was assigned the combination MK for "Militärkraftwagen des Deutschen Heeres", military vehicles of the German Army. After WWI, during the Weimar Republic, the German Army used RW for "Reichswehr". During the Nazi regime (1933-1945) new combinations were issued: DR, Deutsche Reichsbahn (Train Department), OT Organisation Todt (civil and military engineering), Pol Deutsche Polizei (Police), RAD Reichsarbeitsdienst (Labor Department), RK Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (Red Cross), SS Schutzstaffel ("protection unit"), WH Wehrmacht Heer (German Army), WL Wehrmacht Luftwaffe (Air Force), WM Wehrmacht Kriegsmarine (Navy), WT Wehrmacht Straßentransportdienst (Army, everything transport related).

From 1945 to 1956 there were lettering combinations assigned by the allied forces. Examples: BY Bayern 1946–1947, AB Bayern 1948–1956, B Bayern 1950–1956. HE Hessen 1946–1947, AH Hessen 1948–1956, H Hessen, 1950–1956. AW Württemberg-Baden 1948–1956, W Württemberg-Baden, 1950–1956, WB Württemberg-Baden 1950–1956. GF Berlin 1945–1946, BG Berlin 1945–1947, GM Berlin 1945–1947, KB Berlin 1947–1948, GB East-Berlin 1948–1953, KB West-Berlin 1948-1956. MGH Hamburg 1945, H Hamburg 1945–1947, HG Hamburg 1947, BH Hamburg 1948–1956. BD Baden 1945–1949, FB Baden 1949–1956. WT Württemberg-Hohenzollern 1945–1949, FW Württemberg-Hohenzollern 1949–1956.

In 1956 the current system was introduced in West Germany, replacing the post-war system which was based on occupation zones.

As West German districts were extensively rearranged in the early 1970s, many prefix codes were expired and new ones were created at that time. However, number plates issued before these rearrangements remain valid, providing the vehicle is still in use and has not been reregistered since. So it is still possible, if rare, to see a classic car with registration codes of administrative units that haven't existed for over 30 years (e.g. EIN = Einbeck).

When originally planned, the system included codes for districts in Eastern Germany which were to be reserved until reunification. That included the territory of the GDR as well as the territories annexed to Poland and the Soviet Union after World War II, which West Germany's government still claimed in that era until about 1970. When reunification came in 1990, the reserved codes (e.g. P for Potsdam) were indeed issued to East German districts as originally planned and as they existed at that time. However, districts in East Germany were rearranged again in the mid-1990s, thus many of these codes have expired, but can likewise still be seen on older vehicles.

One example of a reserved code being reused before reunification was the letter L which was originally planned for Leipzig, but was given to the newly formed Hessian district Lahn-Dill-Kreis in the 1980s as hopes for reunification faded away. After the rather unexpected reunification the L was returned to the city of Leipzig and the Lahn-Dill-Kreis was issued with LDK instead after a transitional period when L was in use in both districts.

Another reserved code was G for Gera. In the 1980s the West German TV series "Der Fahnder"[1] G was an imaginary large city in the Ruhrgebiet area.

Typeface

Modern German plates use a typeface called FE-Schrift ("fälschungserschwerende Schrift", tamper-hindering script). It is designed so that the O cannot be painted to look like a Q, and vice versa; nor can the P be painted to resemble an R, among other changes. This typeface can also more easily be read by optical character recognition software for automatic number plate recognition than the old DIN 1451 script.

Special codes

Certain types of vehicle bear special codes:

Plate for vintage cars

• Classic cars (known in German by the pseudo-English expression Oldtimer) can get an H (historisch, historic) at the end of the plate, such as K-AA 100H in order to preserve the so called "vehicle of cultural value" (kraftfahrtechnisches Kulturgut"). It includes also a flat tax of appr. €190 per year. The requirements for a vehicle for an H-Plate are:
  • minimum age of the vehicle of 30 years from first registering
  • must be in original condition and well maintained. Some features such as safety belts or a catalytic converter which have been added are accepted and are not in conflict with the "original condition" rule

Seasonal number plate, registration valid from 1st May to 31st October of each year

• Cars (or more often, motorbikes) with seasonal number plates have two numbers at the end of the plate indicating the months between which they are registered to drive, with the licence being valid from the start of the upper month until the end of the lower month. This results in lower fees for de- and re-registering cars, as well lower insurance premiums.

Official registered vehicle (here: fire brigade)

Official registered vehicle for disaster relief

• Official cars such as police, fire fighting and municipality vehicles do not carry a letter after the sticker, such as M-1234.

These include:

• • vehicles of the district government: 1-199, 1000-1999, 10000-19999
  • vehicles of the local government (for example: fire brigade): 200-299, 2000-2999, 20000-29999, 300-399
  • police: 3000-3999, 7000-7999, 30000-39999, 70000-79999
  • disaster relief (mostly changed "THW", see below): 8000-8999, 80000-89999
  • consular corps: 900-999, 9000-9999.

However the registration law changed in 2006 and since March 2007 official vehicles have got standard number plates.

Plate for tax-exempt vehicles

• Vehicles which are exempt from vehicle taxes (for example ambulances, tractors, agricultural trailers, trailers for boats or trailers for gliders) have green print on a white background plate. Regular trailers for lorries can be exempted from tax if the owner agrees to pay an increased tax on the vehicle which tows the trailer. There is also a tax exemption for trailers for which the owner agrees to hand over his trailer without payment to the armed forces (if Germany is in a state of emergency or defence).

Special temporary plate for vehicles in Germany (Kurzzeit-Kennzeichen)

• Vehicles which have not been registered (because they are for transfer within Germany) have to carry short-term plates valid only for five days. The code starts with the numbers 04, e.g. DD-04000, and the plate has a yellow strip on the right showing when they are valid. The date is listed numerically, on three lines, reading day, month, year, with two digits each. The vehicle need not have a valid technical inspection, however it must be technical fit to be operated in public. Insurance premiums are quite high, appr. €100 for the above mentioned 5 days. Most insurance companies credit this premium if the car is registered as a normal car with the same insurance company after these 5 days.

Special plate (red colour, old DIN-style) for dealer's cars for test drives. (Registration office: Würzburg)

• Car dealers' plates are in red print on a white background, and the code begins with 06. Red plates may be attached to cars which are changing hands, such as the test run of unregistered cars, and the liability insurance is connected to the plate, not a specific car.
• Car collectors: Red plates starting with the number 07 are reserved for collectors of vintage cars. Originally, vintage cars had a required minimum age of 20 years from first registering. Since April 2007 onwards the required minimum age has been 30 years. Plates issued under the old 20 years rule remained valid after this date. The collectors must get an official certificate of approval (such as no criminal records). They are allowed to use one set of plates on any of their cars under the condition that they keep a strict record of use. No day-to-day use of the cars is allowed. A valid official technical inspection is not mandatory but the car have to be technical fit for use on public roads.

Special plate for vehicles to be exported (Ausfuhrkennzeichen)

Former special plate for vehicles to be exported (Zollkennzeichen) - no longer in use. It was replaced by the Ausfuhrkennzeichen in the 1980s

• Export plates (also known as "Ausfuhrkennzeichen", customs plates) are used for exporting vehicles abroad. The plates are the only ones which do not have the blue Euro strip on the left and the owner does not have to be a German resident to register the car. The date on the red strip on the right hand side does not show the expiration date of the plate; instead it shows the expiration date of the vehicle insurance. After this date the vehicle must have left Germany.

Diplomatic plate (Indonesian embassy in Berlin)

Plate of the German Chancellor

• Diplomatic plates: plates of cars covered by diplomatic immunity have the digit 0 (Zero) on the left instead of the registration location code. This does not only include ambassadors of foreign countries: the German Federal President's license plate is 0-1, the Chancellor's 0-2, the Foreign Secretary's 0-3. The plate of the President of the Federal Parliament is an exception: it shows 1-1. This reflects the fact that the Parliament's President is not part of the executive branch but still ranks higher in (symbolic) importance than the Chancellor. These vehicles are tax-exempt and need not to be insured since the German government acts as insurer.

Bundeswehr (armed forces)

• The military uses old style non-reflecting plates with a dash between the two circles. The German flag is shown, instead of the blue EU strip. Military plates use the letter Y, rather than a city indicator (no German city name starts with a Y). After the Y comes a six-digit number (or five digits for motorcycles), for example Y-123456. These vehicles are tax-exempt and need not to be insured since the German government acts as insurer. There is also no mandatory technical inspection required but the Armed Forces carry out a regular internal inspection on these vehicles similar to the official inspection.

• Military vehicles which are used by the Nato headquarters in Germany use the same design as the Y-plates except they carry the letter X followed by a four-digit number, for example X-1234

Official registered vehicle for Technisches Hilfswerk (German Federal Agency for Technical Relief)

• Some branches of the federal government and federal state governments use the abbreviations of their names instead of a city code. Example: the Technisches Hilfswerk (German Federal Agency for Technical Relief) uses its abbreviation THW, so the plates read THW-80000, for example. All numbers on THW plates start either with the digit 8 or 9. Before the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German National Railways) and the Deutsche Bundespost (Federal Post Office) were privatised, they used the abbreviations DB and BP (e.g. DB-12345, BP-12345). The Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (Federal Water and Ship Transport Authority) uses BW followed by a digit identifying the region of the office (from 1=north to 7=south).

Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes, here South Office in Würzburg

Bundespolizei (Federal Police), code in use since 2005

• The federal police uses the code BP instead of the local code. Before 2006 they used the code BG (former name: Bundesgrenzschutz) (BG-#####), this old code remains still valid, only new vehicles will get the new "BP"-code.
• The Police of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) uses NRW 4 as the local code. This is followed by a four-digit number (e.g. NRW 4-1960). The 4 stands for the State Ministry of the Interior.
• Light motorised vehicles such as mopeds and motorised wheelchairs are required to have a registration plate, see next section.

Insurance plates

Versicherungskennzeichen, colour of the letters are changed yearly

The Versicherungskennzeichen ("insurance plate" ) used for mopeds and other small, low-power vehicles (such as vehicles for the physically handicapped, with a maximum speed of 50 km/h) is much smaller than the plates for normal cars and is only valid for one year from 1 March to last February. This plate replaces the official proof of registration since this type of vehicle is registered through the insurance company. There are four colours used: red for temporary use such as testing (very rare), black, blue, green for normal plates. The latter three colours are changed every year in order to make it easy to check whether the vehicle has the latest plate and hence is insured. Furthermore, the year is printed on the bottom line. Using the same colour plate three years later when the same colour is again valid does not work since the police can check the combination by radio and see whether the plate is valid for the current year or not. The system is three digits on the top and three letters beneath. The number and the letters are chosen randomly so personalizing the plates is not possible (except by choosing from a small selection the insurer has in his office). Licences can be purchased with insurance companies who give them out together with a paid insurance.

Colours of the insurance plates from 1st March onwards of each year:

Colour	Year
Black (RAL 9005)	1990	1993	1996	1999	2002	2005	2008	2011
Blue (RAL 5012)	1991	1994	1997	2000	2003	2006	2009	2012
Green (RAL 6010)	1992	1995	1998	2001	2004	2007	2010	2013

Emission, safety test and registration sticker

Emission test (front plate) and vehicle safety test (rear plate) stickers are also attached to the plate. The expiration date can be figured out as follows: The year is in the centre of the sticker, and the stickers are attached with the month of expiration pointing upwards. The black marking on the side (near the 12) thus makes it easy for the police to see the expiration month from a distance. Imagine a clock, then the marking shows the same position as the face of the clock. For example the black marking is on the left side, so it is the ninth month (or 9 o'clock) and hence the expiry date is 30 September. The colours are repeated every 6 years. Emission test stickers are no longer used for tests done since beginning of 2010: The safety test sticker covers both.

The lower sticker is the official "seal" of registration. It always carries the seal of the respective German Bundesland, mostly with the place or district of issue being added in print.

All these stickers are specially treated to be easily transferred onto the licence plates, but hard to be removed without damaging the plate itself, making them relatively counterfeit-proof.

Cars found in a public place where the owner did not pay insurance for more than three months (as reported to the police by the insurance company) may get entstempelt, that means, unstamped: The police will remove the state's official seal using a scratching tool (mostly a screwdriver), damaging the plate beyond repair, and it will be illegal to even leave that car parked on public ground, unless insurance is paid and new plates are issued.

Once a plate is invalid, the seal of registration is defaced by law. After that, the plates are often sold to collectors on online shopping sites, such as eBay.

Motorcycles carry only the rear plate.

emission test sticker

safety test sticker

registration seal (Coburg, Bavaria)

Example of a defaced plate,notice how the bottom seal is completely gone,due to scraping. From Kronach.

Colours of the emission test and vehicle safety test stickers:

See also

• Vehicle registration plates of the U.S. Army in Germany

• Liste der Kfz-Kennzeichen in Deutschland (German) List of currently issued registration codes
• Liste der auslaufenden deutschen Kfz-Kennzeichen (German) List of no longer issued registration codes
• Liste aller Kfz-Kennzeichen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German) List of all ever issued registration codes of the current registration system

External links

• German Number Plates, Also shows how they are made
• History of German license plates
• More information about German car number plates and their history
• German City Codes, Complete City Code List
• Application to find which region/place in Germany the vehicle orginates