Deregister your vehicle (Außerbetriebsetzung, commonly called Abmeldung)
KFZ-Zulassungsstelle (vehicle registration office) · registration & deregistration under § 16 FZV
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KFZ-Zulassungsstelle (vehicle registration office) · registration & deregistration under § 16 FZV
What is colloquially called “deregistering a car” is, in legal terms, the Außerbetriebsetzung (vehicle deregistration), regulated in § 16 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance (Fahrzeug-Zulassungsverordnung, FZV). It causes the vehicle to lose its authorisation for public road traffic: it must neither be driven nor parked in public road space. At the same time the motor vehicle tax liability ends, and the insurance contract converts into premium-free dormant cover (Ruheversicherung) — it expressly does not end.
The fees for this are set uniformly nationwide in the fee schedule for measures in road traffic (Annex to § 1 GebOSt) and depend neither on the federal state (Bundesland) nor on the local authority. Deregistration in person costs €15.90 (Nr. 224.1), internet-based deregistration via i-Kfz €2.10 (Nr. 224.2). This makes online deregistration by far the cheapest service offered by the vehicle registration authority — provided your papers and your identity document meet the technical conditions set out in detail below under Required documents. There is no price range of the kind often quoted online; older amounts such as €6.90 or €16.80 come from superseded versions of the schedule.
On terminology: “Abmeldung”, “Stilllegung” and “Außerbetriebsetzung” all refer to the same process under § 16 FZV. Our page Taking a vehicle off the road also describes this service; what counts are the amounts given here, checked against the current fee schedule. The colloquial distinction between a “temporary” and a “permanent” Stilllegung has no equivalent in current law — § 16 FZV recognises only the one Außerbetriebsetzung, from which re-registration is possible at any time. What this means for your licence plate and for the often-quoted seven-year period is explained under Important information.
Before doing anything else, check the date of issue of your registration certificate Part I. Only papers issued on or after 1 January 2015 carry the concealed security code, without which the internet-based procedure technically does not work. If your certificate is older, do not bother trying and plan straight away to visit the vehicle registration office — the difference is €13.80 and an office appointment. Also check that the stamp stickers on both licence plates are undamaged, since that is also a requirement for online deregistration.
Under the stamp sticker of each licence plate, hidden beneath a cover layer, is a multi-character security code; another sits under a sticker on the registration certificate Part I. Only expose these codes once you really intend to carry out the deregistration: an opened sticker counts as invalidated, and the vehicle is then effectively no longer validly marked for road traffic. Work carefully with a fingernail or a coin — if the code tears or becomes illegible, the online procedure is permanently excluded for this vehicle and you must attend in person.
Most vehicle registration authorities work exclusively by online appointment booking; walk-in appointments without prior booking have become rare. How far in advance appointments are booked depends on the competent authority and ranges from a few days in a smaller district (Landkreis) to several weeks in a large city. Unscrew both licence plates at home beforehand — a cross-head screwdriver or a small socket is usually enough — and pack them together with the registration certificate Part I and your identity document. Do not drive to the authority with the plates unscrewed; instead use public transport or a second vehicle.
In person, you present the registration certificate Part I, both plates and your identity document. The caseworker removes the stamp stickers, enters the deregistration with the exact date in the registration certificate Part I and gives you back the de-stamped plates. The process itself usually takes only a few minutes at the counter. In the online procedure, you instead enter the vehicle data and the exposed security codes into your vehicle registration authority’s portal, identify yourself with the eID function of your identity document and pay the €2.10 electronically; the codes are invalidated digitally, and you do not have to hand in the plates.
If you want to register the vehicle again later, or transfer the licence plate to another vehicle, have it reserved in the same process. Under § 16 Abs. 1 Satz 5 FZV, the licence plate remains available to the previous holder for at most twelve months, counted from the day of the Außerbetriebsetzung; the reservation costs €2.60 under Nr. 230 of the fee schedule. This deadline is fixed under federal law and cannot be extended. If you waive the reservation or let the twelve months pass, the authority may allocate the licence plate to another holder — in that case you will need new plates for the re-registration and will have to change contracts, parking permits and toll accounts.
You receive a certificate of deregistration showing the exact date — on paper immediately if in person, and in the online procedure as a PDF to download plus a copy by post. This document is your proof to the insurer and to the Hauptzollamt (main customs office) if there are any problems with the premium exemption or the tax refund. Save the PDF and keep the printout together with the registration certificate Part II. As long as the vehicle is deregistered, you should keep these documents complete, because you will need them again for re-registration.
The vehicle registration authority notifies the motor insurer and the customs administration of the deregistration on its own initiative; you do not need to arrange anything for this. Do not cancel the insurance contract yourself under any circumstances: under H.1 of the General Terms and Conditions for Motor Vehicle Insurance (Allgemeine Bedingungen für die Kfz-Versicherung, AKB) it converts into premium-free dormant cover that protects your no-claims discount. The motor vehicle tax liability ends with the deregistration; because the tax is paid in advance, a credit balance usually arises, which is typically transferred around three weeks later. Check, therefore, whether the Hauptzollamt has your current bank details on file.
Once the plates have been de-stamped, or the security codes invalidated, the vehicle no longer carries a valid licence plate and must not be parked in public road space. This expressly includes public car parks and roadside residents’ parking spaces, not just carriageways. So move the vehicle on the day of deregistration itself onto private property, into a garage or onto a rented parking space. If it is left standing, towing at the holder’s expense is the usual consequence, with storage fees added for every day it remains impounded.
| Service (reference in the fee schedule) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Deregistration in person, within or outside the registration district (Nr. 224.1) | €15.90 |
| Internet-based deregistration via i-Kfz (Nr. 224.2) | €2.10 |
| Licence plate reservation, 12 months at the most (Nr. 230) | €2.60 |
| Re-registration in the same district, without change of holder, with a reserved licence plate (Nr. 221.6) | €23.00 |
| The same re-registration, internet-based (Nr. 221.7) | €10.60 |
| Registration or re-registration in all other cases (Nr. 221.1) | €30.00 |
| Registration or re-registration, internet-based, other cases (Nr. 221.1.1) | €12.80 |
Fixed amounts, not a range. Unlike many local-authority services, there is no fee bracket for deregistration that each city fills in differently. The fee schedule for measures in road traffic, the Annex to § 1 GebOSt, states exactly one amount per service, and this applies equally in all 16 federal states. If you read a range such as “€7 to €16” somewhere, that figure mixes old and current tariff versions; the amounts €6.90 and €16.80, for example, come from a superseded version and are no longer correct today.
Why online is so much cheaper. At €2.10, internet-based deregistration is the cheapest service a vehicle registration authority offers at all — it costs less than a seventh of the in-person fee. The reason is complete automation: no counter time is needed, the plates do not need to be de-stamped, and the security codes are invalidated by machine. Anyone who meets the technical requirements therefore saves not only €13.80, but also appointment waiting time and travel costs.
Payment. In the online procedure the fee is paid electronically directly in the portal, usually by direct debit or credit card. Which payment methods are accepted at the counter, however, depends on the competent authority: Girocard and cash are common, and credit cards are not accepted everywhere. Because the fee is due before the certificate is handed over, you should check this on your vehicle registration office’s website before your appointment.
Costs not covered by the schedule. New licence plates from the plate-embossing service are not an official fee but a price set by the respective provider, and therefore depend on the provider. The same applies to a full expert report (Vollgutachten) applying § 21 StVZO accordingly, which may become necessary once the seven-year retention period for the vehicle data has expired: its cost is set by the respective testing organisation and is not regulated in the fee schedule. A periodic roadworthiness test (Hauptuntersuchung, HU) that fell due while the vehicle was deregistered must also be carried out before re-registration and paid for separately.
On the other side of the ledger: the motor vehicle tax. Deregistration usually comes with an offsetting credit, because the motor vehicle tax is paid in advance for a full year. How this refund works, and what most commonly goes wrong with it, is explained under Important information.
The most expensive misconception on this page. Under § 16 Abs. 1 Satz 5 FZV, the licence plate stays reserved for only twelve months. Anyone who comes back in the second year gets a new licence plate, has to have plates stamped and must change insurance, parking permit, toll box, garage account and company documents — and the re-registration then costs €30.00 instead of €23.00, because there is no longer a reserved licence plate.
Anyone who believes the insurance ends with deregistration, and cancels it as a precaution, loses the premium-free dormant cover under H.1 AKB. At re-registration you then have to take out a new contract; the no-claims class built up with such effort can be lost in the process, which permanently increases the premium by three-figure amounts per year.
An opened stamp sticker counts as invalidated, and a torn code is unusable. The consequence: the online procedure is excluded, you pay the €15.90 in-person fee instead of €2.10, and you additionally need an appointment, for which you wait several weeks depending on the authority.
The vehicle registration authority has to de-stamp both plates. If one is missing, the deregistration is not carried out, the appointment is forfeited and you have to book a new one — the motor vehicle tax continues to run unchanged in the meantime.
Without valid licence plates, parking in public road space is not permitted. The authority has the vehicle towed, at the holder’s expense; storage fees for every day at the impound yard are added to the towing costs.
Without known account details, the motor vehicle tax credit cannot be transferred, and neither a cash payout nor a cheque is provided for. The money stays on hold until you supply your bank details — instead of the usual roughly three weeks, this can turn into months.
The reservation costs €2.60 under Nr. 230 of the fee schedule. Anyone who skips it risks the licence plate being allocated elsewhere, and pays €30.00 instead of €23.00 at re-registration, plus new plates — a saving of €2.60 that quickly costs ten times as much.
Without the certificate from a recognised dismantling company, the vehicle is not permanently removed from the register. You remain listed as the holder, and therefore the point of contact for enquiries and obligations relating to a vehicle that has long ceased to exist.
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