Interested | Applicant | Student | Graduate/Postgraduate

Current Local Weather

Notepad

Your notepad is empty.

Here you can find some information on using the notepad.

Login

Name
Password

Noch kein Zugang? Melden Sie sich hier an.

Driving in Germany

Driving with a foreign driver's license

In general it is permitted to drive a car in Germany using a foreign driver's license for six months.

Drivers' licenses from countries in the EU and in the European Economic Area are also valid after that time without restraint in Germany and do not have to be converted. Drivers who haven't had their license for at least two years or who have a temporary license will have to register their license within six months at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Drivers' licenses from countries that don't belong to the EU or the EEA have to be changed after six months. Depending on your native country your license can either be converted without any additional testing or you will have to make up the practical (possibly even the theoretical) drivers test in Germany.

Converting your license can take a long time. Therefore it is advisable to attend to that as soon as possible.

Driving in Germany (Bild: Photocase.com)If you are not planning to stay in Germany any longer than 12 months and can show proof of this, you do not need to have your driver's license converted. In this case an exception can be made and it can be extended to twelve months.

Further information can be found at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Bochum.

Führerscheinstelle (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) Bochum
Bulksmühle 17 (entrance through Poststraße)
Phone: 0234/910-0
Fax: 0234/910-8260

Costs for owning a car

One should think twice about buying a car in Germany because cars are very expensive. Even a small used car (e.g. VW Polo) can cost about a 1000,- €off-site link a year for insurance, taxes and small repairs (oil change, tire change). Insurance in Germany is based on the age of the car, the age of the driver, the risk of theft and other factors. The cubic capacity and the emissions level are the determining factors for the motor vehicle tax. Gasoline and parking in Germany are also not exactly cheap.

Many students use car-sharing or carpooling as cheaper alternatives to owning your own car.

Car rental and Car Sharing

Students receive a reduction in price at most car rental agencies never the less renting a car is rather expensive and only sensible if you only need a car very seldom. Addresses of car rental agencies can be found in the yellow pagesoff-site link under "Autovermietung".

If you need a car more often but buying your own is too expensive you can take part in Car Sharing ("Shell Drive"). At Shell Driveoff-site link you pay a monthly membership fee and can rent cars by the hour or by the day when you require them. If you have a Semesterticket or a subscription for a rapid transit ticket the monthly membership fee is only 5,- €off-site link. You can get a car starting at 1.50 € an hour plus mileage allowance.

Carpooling

Because driving is fairly expensive, there is a carpooling center where several people can arrange a ride together. If you have a car you can search for passengers there. If you don't have your own car you can search there for someone who will take you with them.

There are many carpooling centers in the Internetoff-site link that arrange rides for free. Here drivers and passengers arrange all other details themselves. Carpooling centers from the organization "Citynetz" are safer but also more expensive. The nearest officeoff-site link is in Essen (Phone 0201-19444). Here the agency always knows exactly who is riding with whom, there are fixed rates and for an additional charge you can insure yourself. However for this service one must pay an agency fee.

Further information