EDIT: I am a resident here, just to clarify

I was always under the impression that I could just use my EU driving license in Germany without any bureaucracy.

Well, I am thinking about buying a car, and I have not driven in Germany yet, and also not touched a car for a few years, so I thought to be prudent and get a couple hours with a driving instructor before I get behind the wheel. I went to a driving school and the driving school told me that my driving license is not valid and that I need to exchange it for a German driving license, and that moreover this requires retaking the driving test, which all costs included is going to be 600 Euros.

I did not believe them at all. So to prove their point, they phoned the local TüV office. I did not hear the conversation.

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Now I still don’t believe them, as everything I read online says otherwise. For example this seems like a trusted source:

[https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html](https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html)

[https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Documents/LA/fact-sheet-foreign-driving-licences.pdf?__blob=publicationFile](https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Documents/LA/fact-sheet-foreign-driving-licences.pdf?__blob=publicationFile)

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>If you hold a driving licence issued by a Member State of the European Union (EU) or a state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), it will normally remain valid after you have taken up residence in the Federal Republic of Germany until the end of its period of validity. You must have a domestic driving licence – an International Driving Permit is not sufficient.

It also says

>If your foreign driving licence is about to expire or is no longer valid, you will receive a German licence of the same category upon request.

Which seems to imply that no test is required if one wants to exchange their EU driving license for a German one.

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So now the question is, are there some kind of exceptions that apply to certain German states or certain EU countries or something like that? Else I do not understand why I am being told I have to exchange my EU driving license and redo the test.

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**EDIT: Thank you for all the answers and the peace of mind that you gave me. Happy holidays.**

16 comments

  1. The TÜV has absolutely nothing to do with this, they are a purely technical control instance. Sound like a massive ripoff.

    You are right IMHO.

  3. Yes, EU driving license is valid in the EU. I’m driving with my Croatian driving license for 2 years and haven’t had any problems.

  4. Its the same as with your ID. Both things are basically EU wide approved and the eu-country you made it in just means nothing.

    For exymple if you are a german citizen and are stranded in a foreign country, if you find the french embassy or any other EU member organization they are by law inclined to assist you as if you were their own citizen (they will later get the cost of helping you back from your country).

    For example a lot of the early covid recalling flights organized by germany also had other eu citizens on bord that needed assistance to get out (because it would make sense for everyone to have their own plane for maybe 4 peopel) so they were flown out together.

    In short, if there is a eu sign on your paper or cart that says its eu wide approved it is equal to any equivilant thing in all member states.

    Imagine what a shitshow the shengan area would be if everyone would need a new drivers license for every country. Truck drivers would have a dozent driver IDs alone, and dont get me started on cross border work on a daily basis 😀

  5. I live in Germany and just bought a car with a Danish license.
    The guy also told me to change my driver license, but I also googled and figured that I didn’t need to do it. But if the card expires or get lost, then one should make a new, German one.

  6. A. You do not have to do a test unless your licence expires and you leave it lapse.
    B. TÜV has nothing to do with it.

    They are trying to pull a fast one and should be reported

  7. An EU license is completely valid in Germany but can I just double-check that it is, in fact, issued by a country that is still in the EU and is not a pre-Brexit U.K. license that still has the EU flag on it? The latter case is the only way that an „EU“ license wouldn’t be valid.

  10. From my dads experience, he drove for about 8 years with his romanian(EU) drivers license in germany, when the police stopped him for a regular checkup and they saw he is a german resident they just told him “you should’ve had your license replaced with a german one after (i think) 3 months of living here”.

    He went to the place that gives out licenses and requested a german license, all without any exams/lessons. I think it cost him around 20ish euros.

    So basically: Yes youre allowed to drive and as long as the license isnt expired you can keep using that, unless you become a permanent resident in germany in which case you need to replace it with a german license within a few months but even if you don’t you wont get fined or anything.

    Those fuckers are liars and want to steal your money, maybe report them for missinformation. TÜV has nothing to do with drivers licenses, those guys only check if cars are mechanically safe to drive on the roads.

  11. There are even Non-EU licenses you can get converted to German. Walk away, they are trying to rip you off.

  13. Yes, I am a German national with a Belgian (paper-)license. Police have stopped me several times telling me to transfer my license, since I got a German ID. Yet they couldn’t quote any law that requires you to have a German issued driving license, so I prefer keeping my old license (also the paper license is a lot cooler tbh – a good old “Lappen”).

  16. You’re correct. They’re talking an exceptional amount of bollocks.

    I drove perfectly legally on my UK (pre-Brexit) license for several years (living between both countries). I then exchanged it for a German license, for no fee (before UK left).

    So you can use it as it is, or exchange it. Makes no difference.

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