As a precautionary measure, it is pointed out that the vehicle owner must initiate the decommissioning. The following only refers to the procedure if this has not been done.

Every month, the KBA receives a report on the vehicles that were previously registered in Germany and re-registered in the previous month. If the transmitted vehicle data is correct and the vehicle is still registered in Germany, the responsible registration authority receives a notification from the KBA. The registration authority de-registers the vehicle after checking the facts. The tax office and your insurance company will be informed about the decommissioning and will contact you.

If your vehicle has been re-registered in another EU country for more than two months and has not yet been taken out of service in Germany, you can contact the registration authority responsible for you to obtain information on how to proceed.

Legal basis: Article 5 (2) of Directive 1999/37/EC and Section 13 (6) of the German Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV).

If the vehicle is to be re-registered in Germany and the foreign registration certificate cannot be presented in full or there are questions regarding German registration law, please contact the German registration authority where you wish to register the vehicle. This authority can send a corresponding request to the foreign registration authority via the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA). The answer will then be forwarded to the German registration authority.

Legal basis: Section 7 (2) of the German Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV), Article 5 (2) of EC Directive 1999/37

If the vehicle is to be re-registered in another EU country and the German registration certificate cannot be presented in full or there are questions about registration law abroad, please contact the foreign registration authority where the vehicle is to be re-registered. If necessary, the foreign authority will send an inquiry about the facts of the case to the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) and receive a reply.

Legal basis: Article 5 (2) of EC Directive 1999/37

Please contact your competent licensing authority directly. You can find the contact information of the registration authorities in the

Anschriftenverzeichnis der Zulassungsbehörden (AV 1)PDF, 1MB, File does not meet accessibility standards

You will receive all necessary information from the registration authority.

Legal basis: § 1 Road Traffic Act (StVG) in conjunction with § 6 Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV)

No, you no longer need them. On 01.03.2007, the Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV) came into force. This means that the obligation to provide an extract from the Central Vehicle Register (ZFZR) (clearance certificate) in the absence of the registration certificate Part II (vehicle title) no longer applies.

The registration authorities are connected online with the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) and can check all data required for vehicle registration. Please contact the registration authority responsible for your place of residence.

This question can only be answered by the responsible registration authority, which alone decides on the allocation of official license plates. In many cases, the registration authorities already offer their own portals that provide the option of reserving license plates. You can find out more about this on the homepage of the relevant registration authority.

In the event of a transfer, change of license plate or decommissioning, an automated process immediately generates a message to the registration authority responsible for the previous license plate. This authority electronically retrieves the message from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) for processing in the local registration procedure. The processing time until the license plate is released again depends on the internal program processes of the registration authority. The KBA has no influence on this.

Please contact your responsible registration authority directly.

The registration authorities have a direct link to the Central Vehicle Register (ZFZR) and can check all required data if necessary.

Legal basis: § 1 Road Traffic Act (StVG) in conjunction with §§ 6, 14 Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV) further §§ 29 & 21 StVG

Please contact the manufacturer of the vehicle or your registration authority, who will inform you of the further requirements for issuing a new or replacement type approval.

Only the holder of the ABE (manufacturer of the vehicle or sole distributor) can issue a replacement under certain conditions. A certificate from the registration authority responsible for your place of residence must be submitted to this authority stating that, according to the documents of this registration authority, the operation of the vehicle has neither been prohibited due to technical defects, nor has the operating permit been withdrawn. The confirmation of an officially recognized expert that the presented vehicle still corresponds to the approved type is also sufficient.

If the manufacturer of the vehicle or the sole distributor no longer possesses any documentation and is therefore unable to issue a replacement, an individual expert opinion by an officially recognized expert is required before the vehicle can be put into service. The expert opinion must be submitted to the registration authority, which will note "Operating permit issued" on it.

Further information, especially for vehicles manufactured in the former GDR, can be found here.

In the case of vehicles with registration plates, the data in the ZFZR must always be deleted seven years after the vehicle has been taken out of service and has not been re-registered for road traffic since then. In the case of vehicles with insurance license plates, the data in the ZFZR must always be deleted seven years after the end of the traffic year (February 28/29 of a year).

Legal basis: § 44 Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV)

Immediately report the loss to your responsible registration authority.

The registration authority will then initiate the so-called bidding procedure. The number of the registration certificate Part II (vehicle registration document) is published in the electronic traffic gazette (Official Gazette of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV)). If the publication (bidding) is unsuccessful, you will receive a replacement registration certificate Part II from your responsible registration authority 14 days after publication. The KBA will not issue a release or a new replacement registration certificate Part II.

Legal basis: § 12 Para. 4 Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV)

No, this option does not exist. The inclusion of an additional postal address for the vehicle owner is not provided for in the Central Vehicle Register (ZFZR).

The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) is required by the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and the Vehicle Registration Ordinance (FZV) to store information on the vehicle owner in the ZFZR.

Legal basis: § 33 StVG in conjunction with § 30 FZV