Space Cowboy

  Yes - even here in the Land of Rules it is often more about who you know if you want to get something done.

  It would not be wise for the OP to involve himself in the situation the way you describe.  First of all, the woman's apparent issues are not his to solve - he is not a relative or caretaker.  Secondly, no competent mental health care provider would enlist a stranger to "assist."   All the OP can (and should) do is make it clear that what is being done to him by the neighbor is wrong, and if it does not stop he will pursue legal action.  The motivation or mental state of the perpetrator is totally irrelevant.

I went through a nearly identical situation when I brought a car from the US (a BMW manufactured in Germany).   The same bureaucratic run-around, the same stories about lack of Datenblatt (and mine is a German car), the same offers of expensive one-off testing, everything.   It took nearly seven months before I found the solution,  I found a BMW dealer in the region who was willing to take the car through the process for me, for a fee.  Turned out that a TÜV inspector somewhere near Mannheim is the dealer owner‘s cousin...   I handed it over to them, and a couple of weeks later it was handed back to me, complete with paperwork, all the right decals, and registration plates.   Perhaps you could try this route with a Suzuki dealer.

I did some searches, and could not find an answer to a specific question I have.   My car is properly registered with the local authority.  When the car was first registered a few years ago, my wife handled the registration, and chose to personalize the Kennzeichen on my car with her birthdate.   We are now getting divorced, and I really hate being reminded of her birthday every time I walk up to my car.  I would like to change my Kennzeichen for this reason (yes, I know it's petty!).   Does anyone know if this is something I can get done, or am I stuck with the existing numbers as long as I don't move out of the area?

Just in case anyone cares...   It appears that there was indeed a scam attempt.  Apparently someone at a local Mobilcom dealer was mining public records for names/addresses of people with foreign / non-German names, and using this information to create falsified contracts to pump up his sales numbers.   After I spent several days writing letters, meeting with the Polizei, making phone calls, and trips to the Post, my issue seems to be resolved.

It doesn’t appear to be a joke.  It’s looking like someone attempted to use my name and prior address to fraudulently obtain goods and services.

Yesterday I got a call from my ex-wife that a Signature-required package delivery, addressed to me,  was attempted at her address (my previous address).   I picked up the package today at the Post Office near her home, and inside was a new Handy, a SIM card, a bogus contract, and a letter stating, "Here is the new phone you ordered."   I did no such thing, and I have never been a customer of Mobilcom Debitel.  I did some quick checking on the web, and found other people complaining about the same thing, and discussing bills / Mahnungen received from Mobilcom for phones and service they didn't request.   In the US, I could just ignore future requests for payment for an unsolicited item, but it seems that it may not work that way here.   What should I do?  I have no use for a new contract, and even if I wanted a new phone, the delivered phone is a Huawei, which is prohibited for use by my employer.

I'm hoping to get some advice on how to proceed with a car repair problem.  I'm being told my German-made car may be unrepairable due to no support from the manufacturer.  Sorry in advance for the long post.   Background:  I moved to Germany from the US in 2016.  I owned a 2008 BMW, manufactured in Germany, and purchased new from a BMW dealer in the US.  At the time I moved, the car was under a safety recall for the killer Takata airbag issue.  The recall was announced, but no replacement airbags were available, so I was on an indefinite waiting list for the recall action to be performed.  Due to the unresolved safety issue, the car was unsellable in the US at the time of my move, and I had no options for storage or other reasonable forms of disposal.  As a result, I decided to bring it with me, as the car was otherwise in excellent condition and had seen relatively little use for its age, even though it was long out of warranty.  BTW, the airbag recall action was performed by a local dealer in Germany in 2017.   I imported the car as part of my household goods.  It is properly registered and TÜV-approved.   Current issue:  Modern BMWs typically have critical motor components that are designed to fail catastrophically after the standard warranty runs out.  In my case, the failure point is electronically controlled gear-driven throttle body actuators.  The gears in the actuators are made of plastic, and disintegrate with use, failing shortly after the car has around 100.000km on the odometer (20.000km after the standard distance-based warranty expires).  It is a widely-known problem for this particular model, and others that have similar motors.  The actuators in my car failed at around 113.000km.  The standard repair procedure is to replace the failed actuators with new ones, which, theoretically, should last another 100.000km.   The Problem:  Once the new actuators are installed, the car has to be reprogrammed by a BMW dealer to calibrate the new actuators to the motor.  Even though my car was made in Germany, it is a US Market car, so it has a North America software package installed.  The programming system provided by BMW AG to its dealers in Germany will only interface with cars that have European Market software installed.  This is normally not a problem for small repairs or regular maintenance, but for major repairs like this one, it is a big issue.   The dealer tells me that BMW AG can reprogram and calibrate the car to complete the repair, but BMW AG refuses to do so.  Apparently they have a strict policy of not supporting cars imported from other markets, in order to prevent people from going to the US or other markets where BMWs are sold cheaper than in Germany, buying cars, and importing them here.  This is, of course, not what I did, but BMW AG does not want to budge on their policy.   Right now the car is with an independent programmer/tuner, recommended by the local BMW dealer.  He is working with the car to see if he can complete the reprogramming/calibration.  If he cannot, the car will not be driveable, and will be worth only its salvage value, even though the car is otherwise still in excellent condition.  To add to the misery, I anticipate that I will be asked to pay for parts and labor for the failed repair effort, which will be very expensive.   Has anyone ever encountered anything like this?  What should I do?  If the car cannot be repaired, should I consider trying to take legal action against BMW AG for refusing to support the car?  Thanks in advance for your input.