03 - Vehicle Registration

Great, the base vehicle has been purchased, the sales contract signed and the purchase price paid. All that remains is to collect the car and bring it to Augsburg. Then the conversion can begin.

Well, it sounds too good to be true. Because I hadn't thought about the bureaucratic jungle in Germany. In theory, it all sounds quite simple:
You take out motor vehicle liability insurance, which is no longer a problem online. Here, you can still decide whether you want this just for a temporary number plate or straight away for the registration. Once you've entered all the details, you receive an eVB number. You use this to prove to the registration office that insurance cover is in place once the vehicle is registered.
You'll also need the vehicle registration document - a copy is sufficient - and, of course, the purchase contract and some form of ID.

No problem at all! So nothing stood in the way of registration. Or so I thought! At the registration office, I was then told that I could only get a temporary number plate for this vehicle. However, the eVB number is not valid for that. A phone call to the insurance company later, I had an eVB number for a temporary number plate. The receptionist at the registration office was still not satisfied, though, because the eVB number was not valid for special-purpose vehicles. Another call to the insurance company and they explained to me that they did not insure special-purpose vehicles and therefore could not issue an eVB number for them.
Great, so what now? After some research online, I found a provider who would issue a suitable eVB number for a small fee. Back at reception, I was actually given a reference number and allowed to take a seat in the waiting area.

After some waiting, I was finally called.
At last I'll get my number plates. As if!
The friendly member of staff at the registration office checked my application and then informed me that I could only obtain a temporary number plate for the special-purpose vehicle. That was all I'd wanted in the first place, anyway. Then he explained to me that this would only be valid within the municipality where the vehicle was last registered. Excuse me? I could get a temporary number plate in Augsburg, but it would only be valid within the municipality of Schenklengsfeld?

I therefore explained the situation to the registration office clerk and asked him how I could then get the vehicle registered. First, the TÜV must confirm that all attachments for a special-purpose vehicle, such as the siren and rotating beacons, have been removed. Only then can the special-purpose vehicle be re-registered as a standard car. This can either be done at the current location or the vehicle must be transported to Augsburg on a trailer. In this case, the re-registration and registration can be completed in a single step.

So, after endless hours of getting nowhere, I headed home again. Once the frustration had subsided a little, I rang the seller to discuss the next steps. As he too had assumed the re-registration would be straightforward, given that the signalling system is easy to remove, he had already deregistered the vehicle. This meant it was impossible to take it to the TÜV. We were now at a loss. But a solution had to be found. The seller said he would ask around and then get back to me.

After a few days, he had success. An acquaintance had a friend at the TÜV who agreed that, as he would be in the area anyway to inspect agricultural machinery, he would carry out the inspection. He also explained what needed to be dismantled. Unfortunately, it took a while for him to make it to Schenklengsfeld. But then we finally received the long-awaited TÜV certificate.

With this, and this time also the original vehicle registration document, I headed back to the registration office. And now everything went like clockwork. The registration was granted. I even received a green environmental sticker, and shortly afterwards the number plates were ready too. So now I was actually back in possession of a car that was registered in my name. I was absolutely delighted.

Now I just had to drive back to Schenklengsfeld and collect the car. On the drive back to Augsburg, my grin grew wider with every kilometre. The most important step on the way to owning a camper van had been completed. And I had survived the bureaucratic nightmare.

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If you'd like to find out more about “temporary number plates”, the successor to the red number plate, we recommend the informative article Temporary Number Plates: The Yellow Number Plate from the German Fines Catalogue. Lawyer Dr Philipp Hammerich has compiled all the key information in it:

• Who can apply for a short-term number plate?
• How long is a short-term number plate valid for?
• Where can you apply for a short-term number plate?