Registering a foreign car in Germany

I am moving to Germany soon and I am contemplating the possibility to take my car with me. I know prices of used cars are said to be cheaper in Germany, but I really love my car and would like to keep it if the price I have to pay to register it in Germany is not very high.

Does anyone know the process to get a German license plate and the approximate cost of the paperwork, vehicle inspection, etc? I have struggled finding this information in English on the web.

Many thanks!

Daniel

Your first stop will be the Zollamt (customs & taxes). You will need your title and any shipping documents that you have, plus the current registration for the car. Once you've paid the import taxes and customs duties, you will go to the vehicle inspection station (TUV). That could run to about 200 Euro or so. Once you have that paperwork (car passes inspection, you'll get a packet of papers), you can go to the Zulassungstelle (sp) which is the registration office. You'll have to pay a fee there of 100 Euro or so (been a few years since I've registered a new vehicle in the German system) and then you'll have to buy license plates (around another 70 Euro). The registration office might want verification that your car hasn't been registered in Germany before and that can take a couple of weeks to get the paperwork back. The office is in Flensburg (I think) but you can mail / fax that paperwork. There is a charge of roughly 100 Euro for that as well.

The TÜV is just ONE commercial company. The correct term is HU=Hauptuntersuchung which can be carried out by a number of companies including TÜV & DEKRA.

Just like "Hoover" with Vacuum cleaners, TÜV would like you to believe that they are the only ones...

All these years here and I never knew that TÜV wasn't the only one. Everyone around here always says "my TÜV is about to expire" or "Have to get my car to the TÜV". Learn something new every day

Effective marketing action wasn't it?

There are no import taxes and customs duties to be paid inside the EU ...

Unless its already a left-hooker I reckon it is dangerous to drive cars with steering wheels on the wrong side. OK when going on holiday etc but I think it's a crap longterm option because you are too far away from the other side of the road for overtaking etc.

Also I don't think anyone mentioned that normally the headlights need fixing to dip across the other way. On some cars this is a simple adjustment, but on others you need to replace the complete headlights.

if the car is more than 6 months old there are no customs duties or taxes to pay so long as you can prove it has been used outside the country. You will need the EU Conformity declaration (standard issue with all brand new cars registered in the EU in the last 5 years) which should make the inspection more of a formality. Some of these estimates are a little high too - first registration costs around €50 and plates around €30
As the OP seems to be coming from Madrid (Spain, I think) it might be he's already left hookered. Personally, I've always found it easier driving my German car in the UK where you can look around the nearside of vehicles in front to see the road ahead, but that's just my perspective...