Insuring and registering a car with CDN drivers license & passport

Hi All,

I know there have been a lot of threads on insuring cars, which is the best company etc. I just bought a car from a delearship here, paid a deposit and plan to register tomorrow since it is long weekend here.

My question is, will there be any issue with trying to register and insure a car here with a Canadian drivers license? Have not been here long to exchange the license yet, and have not driven because of not owning a car besides renting here and there.

Can I insure the car under this license? Or must it be German?

Also, has anyone purchased a car here second hand where the dealership takes care of the registration and insurance process?

You have six months to get a German license from the date of your arrival. Under rare circumstances, you could have a year. Unless your a diplomat (exempt), get the new license soon.

getting the drivers' license ---is it from when you arrive or 6 months from the date of your visa?

Do you need to change the license even if you did not drive during this time? Is it still possible to insure and register under a non EU foreign license?

I seriously doubt it. I'm sure these guys will have the answer though. However, Canada is one of the so-called "Listenstaaten", which means that you have it totally easy - all you need to do to get a German drivers license is fill in some paperwork & pay a fee. No prob. More info here.

I read in another thread that when you apply to get the new license, you do not get the German license right away, it takes something like 3 to 4 weeks to get a new license in the post. Also they take your "old" license right on the spot. Is this true?

I wanted to register and insure the car at the same time as exchanging the drivers license. Do they give you some sort of temporary form that allows you to continue to drive, since you are already permitted to drive and exchanging it at the same time?

I have already purchased the car and wanted to do this all tomorrow. I hope this is still possible?

They take your existing licence and send it to Flensburg, where the authorities check if you have any driving ban or points or whatever in the country where the licence was issued. After about two weeks you can go to the Zulassungsstelle and get your old licence back. When the German licence is finally ready (another 3 or 4 weeks later), you go back there again and pick it up. At this stage you have to permanenly surrender your old licence.

While the existing licence is in Flensburg, you get a letter stating the date and country of issue of the licence and the fact that it's being examined. I'm not 100% sure if this allows you to drive. I had the letter and it said something along the lines of "dies ist kein Fahrerlaubnis". AFAIR the lady at the Zulassungsstelle said I could drive in Munich with the letter. I always carried the letter and the passport in case the police stopped me. Anyway, I've now got my original licence back and am waiting for the Umschreibung.

@hockeywidow: I don't know the exact answer to your question but would assume that your arrival and visa date would be fairly close? Anyhoo...you have six months to drive on your Canadian license b/f you are supposed to swap it out. After that, if you do not have your German license, you are driving illegally. It is my understanding that you have up to three years in which to trade licenses which is kinda silly b/c you are driving illegally after the first 180 days. If you are a Canadian I would go ahead and begin the process since it appears to be a reasonably simple exchange.

I bought and registered a car last year in my first two months with only my US license and they had no problem with it.

You don't need a driving license to register a car. You just need your (home) registration paperwork, passport, car paperwork, TüV certficate (if the car is over 3 years old) and insurance cover ("Doppelkarte").

You can start the process of license changeover at the same time, but it's not relevant to car registration and is at a different office in the same building, so can be dealt with seperately. There's no advantage in combining a license change with car registration, and probably a lot more hassle...

YL6

Not recommend, but we drove for 2,5 years on our Ontario DL, it wasn't till they allowed us a straight exchange that we got German one. There are many English speaking agents that you can buy insurance from I would recommended dealing with one of them. I would highly suggest buying an English Drivers handbook, perhaps someone has one they want to get rid of.

To answer your question before you ask it, they will accept Canadian insurance and put you at the equivalent level in Germany. Just need a letter from your insurance company.