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After the purchase a car is rarely on your own yard yet. If it is still registered, the seller can bring it or you drive it away on their plates – but only as long as they don’t deregister it. Many private sellers deregister their car before handing it over, or have already done so. Then you need your own solution.
- Red dealer plates (“06”) cover test, trial and transfer drives of different cars of your business – each trip is logged.
- Short-term plates are issued for one specific car for at most five days; they need insurance confirmation (eVB) and a valid HU or a trip to the HU.
- Export plates are the way when the car leaves Germany on its own wheels – with an expiry date in a red field.
- Short-term plates are not recognised everywhere abroad; for cross-border trips export plates are usual.
- For long distances, cars that can’t be driven or several cars, a transporter is often cheaper and safer.
1. Red dealer plates (“06”)
Car dealers, workshops and manufacturers can apply to the registration authority for red plates. They start with “06” and may be used on changing vehicles for test, trial and transfer drives – to the HU, a test drive with a customer, or from the seller to your own yard.
- Each red plate comes with a logbook; every trip is entered with vehicle, date and driver.
- Insurance runs through your business and covers the cars the plate is on.
- Private use or trips other than test, trial or transfer are not allowed; the authority can withdraw the plate in case of misuse.
2. Short-term plates (Kurzzeitkennzeichen)
Short-term plates (yellow expiry field) are issued for one specific car and at most five days. They are meant for test, trial and transfer drives and are applied for at the registration authority. You generally need:
- an electronic insurance confirmation (eVB) for short-term plates,
- ID or power of attorney and the car’s details (vehicle identification number),
- a valid HU – or the trip goes to the HU.
Costs are made up of the fee, the plates and insurance. For a single purchase short-term plates are handy; if you transfer several times a month, red plates usually work out cheaper.
3. Export plates (Ausfuhrkennzeichen)
If a car is to leave Germany on its own wheels – to a dealer in Poland, the Czech Republic or the Netherlands, say – export plates are the usual route. They carry a red field with the expiry date and are valid as long as the matching insurance, from a few weeks up to a year.
- Applied for at the registration authority with the registration certificate part II, ID and an insurance confirmation for export plates.
- The car needs a valid HU.
- The plates are for export; the car is registered anew in the destination country.
For dealers abroad who buy in Germany, export plates are often the most direct way. When a car is sold to a dealer elsewhere in the EU, keep the VAT evidence in mind – such as the confirmation of arrival for exempt intra-EU supplies.
4. Transporter or haulier
On a truck a car needs neither plates nor HU. That pays off especially for:
- long distances, where driver, return trip and plates cost more than the transport,
- cars without a valid HU or with defects that don’t allow driving,
- several cars from the same region,
- high-value cars, where every extra kilometre counts.
For every listing CarFalke shows the distance from your business address. On the watchlist you see saved cars on a map and can lay a corridor along a route – so pick-ups can be combined.
