Registration fee method: sources, GebOSt lines and deadlines

The calculator rests on three official foundations: the road traffic fee schedule (GebOSt) for the amounts, the Federal Motor Transport Authority’s (KBA) directories for offices and plate codes, and the Driving Licence Regulation for exchange deadlines. No amount or address is typed into a page by hand: the texts quote what the update script and the parameter file supply.

Offices, plate codes, municipalities

The script scripts/update-data.py downloads, every month, the KBA’s directory of registration offices (AV1, as of October 2026) and of licensing offices (AV2). They yield 415 registration districts with 697 main offices and branches, and 769 district codes. Codes the directory marks “A:” as being phased out are shown separately: they are still on cars but no longer issued. Codes of federal and state bodies (armed forces, state governments) belong to no district and are left out.

Which office covers a place follows from the official municipality key: its first five digits are the district. The 11,099 municipalities with keys and postcodes come from Wikidata (public domain, CC0). Where a district has several registration offices, such as the city and region of Hannover, the search picks the one whose seat bears the place’s name, otherwise the district’s. Vehicle counts come from the KBA’s FZ1 statistics at 1 January 2026.

The fee, line by line

Each procedure is tied to a fee number: registration no. 221.1, transfer of keeper no. 221.8, re-registration after a move keeping the plate no. 221.9, deregistration no. 224.1 and so on, each with its online counterpart. On top come the surcharges the text attaches to particular numbers: €10.20 for a personalised number, €2.60 for a reservation, €5.10 for replacing an old-style logbook, €6.00 for an interchangeable plate and €0.30 for the seal carrier on online applications. That total is exact and identical across Germany: the schedule is a federal ordinance, made under section 6a of the Road Traffic Act, and applies in every state.

Shown as a range is whatever depends on the case: two registration seals at €0.70 or, with the state’s coloured coat of arms, €1.20; the roadworthiness sticker at €0.50; and the KBA’s share for the register entry (€1.20 under no. 125, €3.20 for a change of keeper under no. 124, up to €4.40 under no. 123.1 when the office issues a new logbook). Which of these an office charges for which procedure is not always spelled out in the ordinance; the allocation is our reading.

Cross-check: Berlin publishes €17.10 in person and €3.30 online for deregistration; the calculator arrives at €17.10 and €3.30. For an address change on the registration certificate Berlin states €12.60, the calculator €12.60. Some other Berlin figures differ from the current schedule, such as the base fee for a transfer of keeper; we show them on the Berlin page with their source but calculate under the ordinance. A new car registered in person comes to €30.00 in fees and €31.90 to €37.30 with all small items.

Not included: the number plates themselves (a private plate maker sets the price; you can enter it), insurance, vehicle tax and fees a state charges for special cases. An office’s overall total is shown only when the office publishes it, with address and date; otherwise the tool says none was found.

The exchange deadline

For paper licences (up to 1998) the year of birth counts; for card licences issued from 1999 to 18 January 2013 the year of issue; for anyone born before 1953, 19 January 2033 (Annex 8e FeV). Example: a card from 2003 must be exchanged by 19 January 2027. The fee is €25.50 under no. 202.5 plus €1.00 for the central licence register under no. 126.2; Berlin publishes the same €26.50. Drivers caught after the deadline risk an on-the-spot fine of €10 (no. 168 of the fines catalogue); the driving entitlement itself remains.

Tests

Before every release automated tests check each fee number against the parameter file, recompute the Berlin amounts, run every row of Annex 8e and confirm that the KBA directory loaded in full (over 390 districts, over 700 codes). A failing test blocks publication.

Limits

Responsibility within a district that has several offices may differ from our allocation, for example in large towns that run their own office.
The calculator does not know opening hours, appointment systems or waiting times.
Fees for special cases (red trade plates, individual approval, time charged) are shown as the ordinance’s range or not at all.

Updates

Directories and statistics: monthly, by a scheduled job that runs the script, the tests and a rebuild. Fee schedule and Driving Licence Regulation: on every amending ordinance, last checked on 21 October 2026. Errors to kontakt@anmeldekosten.de; see the editorial policy.

All sources

Office data of 21 October 2026 · fee schedule read on 21 October 2026.