Numbering the cars

A tamper-proof font, Hanseatic cities and reckless cyclists: they all get a mention in this video about German car registration numbers -- and it's a lot more interesting than you might be thinking.
Music:
"Style Funk" and "Hot Swing"
by Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com/
Creative Commons Attribution licence
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[@iamdustin04]

I’m German and this was weirdly interesting

[@linsensalat-tp2il]

Als deutscher sollte man aber 85% davon wissen

[@lukasrotondo6517]

Aber interessant war es trotzdem 😂😂

[@werkzeugkasten2142]

same

[@schiefer1103]

Auch so, direkt gesubbed

[@ErklaerMirDieWelt]

Oh the games we used to play with these on the autobahn when we were kids ^.^

[@mariostar13]

3:20 - The maths games we play when we travel... Mom: Quick! 6 times 1 times 2! Me: 12!

[@spongebubatz]

We also played "Find the lowest number"! Whoever spotted the lowest number on a license plate first won :)

[@nlpnt]

Is it still the case that WOB on a non-VW (group product) is a Golden Snitch-level rare spot?

[@ErklaerMirDieWelt]

@@nlpnt Haha, probably! I grew up in a different part of Germany though, so WOB was not a regular occurence anyway.

[@Clyde_Donovan]

@@nlpnt Pretty much. Even while driving through Wolfsburg you won't find many cars, that are not VW or at least a brand of the VW-group.

[@pocketlanguages]

People from Bad Segeberg be like SE•XY

[@SimonS44]

GlitchyPolyglot We have many HA SE cars here

[@Rhangaun]

Whereas neighboring Pinneberg favors PI-NK ;)

[@HyperSnap01]

"ANA-L" is the Best :)

[@HalfEye79]

I think, it is not really good, when a car form a technician in Minden has MI-ES. But one of the best are beertransports from Bielefeld with BI-ER.

[@BossmodePictures]

Bitburg: BIT-CH 69 was given to an elderly lady "randomly" :D

[@hartcoregamer24]

Don't forget the special license plates. For example the police, which are for example in Baden-Württemberg BWL4. Those are different from state to state. If you see a green police car with BD 16 written on the license plate, then it's a German customs (ZOLL) car.

[@NonSurvivorOne]

hartcoregamer24 then it's no police car as it has “Zoll“ clearly written on it.

[@l3p3]

And the Bundeswehr which has Y.

[@EifelBlaulichtTV]

Right. Rhineland-Palatinate for example has RPL4-xxxx, while Saxony have DD Q xxxx and in Bavaria things get really complicated, for each police car just has the plate of the district where it's registrated in, like Regensburg has "R PR xxxx"

[@minecrafter0505]

The federal police vehicles all have BP for "Bundespolizei".

[@animalm4st3r]

@@l3p3 but licenseplates for the Bundeswehr are also different since they dont have the Blue Europe Marking on it but instead a Germanflag and the Sticker for the issuing authority is just the Germaneagle with the word "Bundeswher" above it. they also dont have inpsection stickers. Fun fact: civilian police dont have the authority to make traffic stops on military vehicles.

[@KlingoGames]

Das fehlen noch das Y und das THW an stelle der Zulassungsstelle, Y für Bundeswehr und THW fürs THW:

[@wizardm]

THW ist wichtig denn da weiss man bei einem Unfall der Unfallgegner ist nicht versichert.

[@luisflucht6702]

Dann müsste man aber auch die Kennzeichen der Bundesländer dazu nehmen. Die Polizei nutzt ja zum Beispiel meistens solche (z.B. NRW… oder BWL…)

[@doerte1996]

Wow, I'm German and I learned new things in this video. Like I always do ;) Thanks for taking so much time so make this videos.

[@roadmaster935]

doerte1996 same with me

[@SimonS44]

I find it interesting that West Germany also included East Germany and the former Eastern territories (i.e. Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia) in the lists, when they introduced the system in 1956, so that they immediately have a vehicle plate abbreviation, should they ever reunite with Germany (DZ was I think for the city of Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland). Later generations tampered with this, which meant that when the Reunification happened, Leipzig's L was already in use for the Hessian Lahn-Dill-Kreis, which got its L from the very shortly existing city of Lahn. After 1990, they had to reregister all Lahn-Dill-Kreis cars with the new abbreviation LDK.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Actually no, reregistration wasn't necessary, because in the beginning, the cars from Leipzig had all 4-digit numbers, while the now LDK cars had only 3 digits on their old L plates. They just died out by not getting any new L plates in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, as cars were replaced. Many people just did so anyways, because they didn't want to be reminded of the failed experiment of the city of Lahn from the 70s by the L :)

[@SimonS44]

Seegal Galguntijak Oh okay, thanks for the clarification :)

[@AtzenMiro]

I think it was because at that time West-Germany didn't recognize East-Germany as an official state and didn't recognize the new borders drawn by the Soviets in violation with international law. When I remember it correct (school was long ago) it was Willy Brandt who changed the format of West-Germans foreign eastern politics.

[@comsubpac]

Yes, and only in 1990/91 the eastern border was formally recognized.

AtzenMiro: Reunification was a part of the preamble of the constution.

[@the_engineer2345]

Little Fun fact.The cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven has got the same first 2 letters. HB as mentionend.But cars in Bremen will follow with 2 letters and up to 3 numbers while cars in Bremerhaven has got 1 letter after the "HB" and 4 numbers.A typical plat from Bremen: HB-AB-123A typical plate from Bremerhaven: HB-A-1234

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

Interresting, I didn't know that.

[@Ulkomaalainen]

A similar system was used in Hamburg with the districts of Bergedorf and Harburg getting special plates. Basically: 2 letters and 3 or 4 digits was Hamburg in general 2 letters 2 digits and 1 letter up to some letter 4 digits was Harburg The rest of 1/4 and 1/1-3 was Bergedorf. These days you can have any plate though (starting with HH of course), but apparently some counties still have similar systems at work.

[@Mr8lacklp]

This is often the case with cities that form a district on their own, where it is common prctice to have theoutskirts and suburbs with two wtters and three numbers and the city itsself with 4 numers and sometimes only one letter

[@Yotanido]

It's the exact opposite in the case of Bremen/Bremerhaven :P Bremen: 2 letters, 3 numbers Bremerhaven: 1 letter, 4 numbers

[@berndeckenfels]

@@Yotanido Same in Karlsruhe, the City District has two letters, the outskirts (Landkreis) has a single letter but there are also blocks of double letters reserved for one or the other

[@dakerbal]

1:06 Not “in the future”, this is the main reason why this font was created (not anti-tampering) so computers can auto-recognize plates more easily for speed radars and red light cameras…

[@minski76]

Y for the Bundeswehr.

[@petrameyer1121]

X for NATO.

[@BangOlafson]

Ypsilon Reisen: Wir buchen, Sie fluchen. :)

[@RustyDust101]

Yepp, and it signifies the 'end of German-Y' ;-)

[@Ulkomaalainen]

AKA "Das Letzte von GermanY"

[@TomKazutara]

But Y?

[@IZokoraI]

You forgot two. If you fail your driver license ten times or more you will get a yellow license plate. Exept if you are from Frankfurt. In this case there will be a 0 added, saying 0F.

[@laurenzpeacock3234]

Fidelis Kurzschenkel srsly?

[@IZokoraI]

Nope. It's making fun about people from the netherlands (yellow license plate) and Offenbach (OF) who allegetly are unable to drive properly.

[@stbufraba]

As we all know OF stands for "Ohne Führerschein" (without drivers licence) and this is very true.

[@DeKrischa]

I live in Frankfurt an I laughed so hard about this :-D

[@ryskant]

Weisheiten aus der Euregio Zone : Schwarze Schrift auf gelbem Grund.. halte Abstand bleib Gesund ! Wisdoms form the Euregio Zone : Black Font on Yellow Plates - keep your distance... stay alive ( literally translated )

[@flodnak]

So if the Chancellor gets 0 2, who gets 0 1? The president?

[@deThadeuz]

Yes, because he's the head of state and therefore the number 1.

[@Frahamen]

JustTo Watch Actually she's third in order: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_order_of_precedence

[@ThomasKossatz]

JustTo watch: According to the german Home Secretary, the Bundesratspräsident is ranked fourth, but your feeling was not totally wrong: The german constitution in Article 57 states: "Die Befugnisse des Bundespräsidenten werden im Falle seiner Verhinderung oder bei vorzeitiger Erledigung des Amtes durch den Präsidenten des Bundesrates wahrgenommen." So, in case the president is ill and the Bundesratspräsident acts as his deputy, he also inherits the protocolary 1st rank :)

[@comsubpac]

As far as I know the order is not set in stone. In certain situations the Chancellor comes first.

[@HalfEye79]

In soccer a 0:2 or 0:1 means, that you lost the game. What does that say about chancellor and president?

[@Nikioko]

The font is called Normschrift DIN 1451: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451 It is still in use for road signs. For number plates, however, it was replaced by the FE-Schrift: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift

[@Wildcard71]

The inspection marks come in 6 different colors, so the colors repeat every 6 years.

[@PiscatorLager]

Yeah, when your inspection is seven years overdue, you are safe 😂

[@Wildcard71]

@@PiscatorLager only from long-sighted controllers Additional, there are the last two digits of the year.

[@Andreas-du7eg]

Yes, but only two digits!! So, If your techinal Inspection is overdue since e.g. 1958, you will be save from 2058 on. (Just hide your car for another 35 years...)

[@Yulivee01]

Kleiner Nachtrag. Wenn man umzieht, muss man sein Auto ummelden. Früher hieß das auch, dass man ein neues Kennzeichen braucht. Seit einigen Jahren kann man deutschlandweit sein Kennzeichen nach dem Umzug behalten. Davor war das schon innerhalb einiger Bundesländern möglich. Auch gibt es die sog. Heimatkennzeichen. Da darf man eine Abkürzung für seine/n Stadt/Landkreis wählen, die es früher mal gegeben hat und z.B. durch Zusammenführung von Kreisen verschwunden sind.

[@HalfEye79]

Als ich das letzte mal umgezogen bin, hieß es, dass ich das Nummernschild behalten durft, weil ich im selben Bundesland geblieben bin. Und das war vor ungefähr 4 Jahren. Aber wenn man bei jedem Umzug sein Nummernschild behalten darf, weiß der kleine Bürger auf der Straße nicht mehr, wo der "Heimathafen" des Autos ist.

[@Yulivee01]

Soweit ich weiß, gilt die Regelung seit 2015 bundesweit. Und ich hab hab kein Problem damit, wenn man auf dem Nummernschild nicht erkennen kann, wo das Auto zugelassen wurde ;)

[@juliamavroidi8601]

Doch, ich finde das schon wichtig. Wenn ein Fahrer ein fremdes Nummerschild hat, kann man damt rechnen, dass er sich nicht auskennt und dementsprechend mit unvorhersehbarem Verhalten (zu spät Blinken, plötzlich bremsen, etc.) rechnen und dementsprechend selbst vorsichtiger sein. Wenn es hingegen in meinem Kreis viele Autos mit "fremdem" Nummerschild gibt, verwässert dieser Effekt.

[@Yulivee01]

Also, so aufmerksam sollte man immer sein! Außerdem werden die Kreise immer größer (durch Zusammenlegung von Verwaltungen). Da kann man die Autos keinem Ort mehr zuordnen. Man kann nicht davon ausgehen, dass sich die Leute immer total in ihrem kompletten Kennzeichen-Kreis auskennen. Mein Fahrlehrer meinte damals zu mir "immer mit den Fehlern der anderen rechnen". Das hat sich mir irgendwie eingebrannt.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

Yulivee01 Natürlich sollte man grundsätzlich vorsichtig sein, aber man kann nicht immer mit allem rechnen. Wenn das Kennzeichen fremd ist, kann man sich zusätzlich zu den üblichen Vosichtsmaßnahmen wie Mindestabstand, zusätzlich auf typische Fehler Ortsfremder, wie zu spätes Blinken, plötzliches Bremsen oder Heranfahren an den Straßenrand um nach dem Weg zu fragen besonders einstellen. Das ist (oder war zumindest bis vor kurzem) sogar eine Prüfungsfrage im Theorietest.

[@flowablesysadmin8068]

Fun fact: The Axa-Insurance registers all it's vehicles in Augsburg, so they can get an A - XA xxx registration.

[@noblebean6932]

Many German companies do it that way

[@jackmara882]

If you saw till 2011 a car were the first letter of the registration plate was a "Y" coming to you.... the Military Police was there to bring you to your military service. They came two times for my neighbour 😂

[@imrehundertwasser7094]

The two and three letter combinations for cities / district are also often interpreted as humorous abbreviations. HSK ="Hilfe, sie kommen!" KÜN = Kraftfahrer übt noch AÖ =Ausgewanderter Österreicher etc.

[@Ulkomaalainen]

From the north: HH=Halbes Hirn PI=Provinzidiot OD=Oller Dussel NWM=Niemand will mich! WL=Wilder Landwirt RZ=Rübenzüchter South: WÜ=Will üben

[@Udjat2]

OHZ = Ohne Hirn Zugelassen

[@scwfan08]

Imre Hundertwasser Hühner Schweine Kühe

[@Ulkomaalainen]

Hochsauerlandkreis seems to pique people's imagination...

[@johnkramer8091]

Ulkomaalainen HighSpeedKreis

[@kingsamson9146]

A few years back I wanted to register my motorcycle. I was asked, if I had a character combination I would like to use. I said "yes. I would like to have XXX - KZ 1." The lady issuing the registrations looked at me with huuuuuge eyes and said "Excuse me, THAT is not possible!" I was confused, because I didnt think anything of it. After a few seconds I understood where the problem lied. See, I ride a 1978 Kawasaki Z1000 A2. It is the American model tho, and in the states it was called "KZ1000 A2". So, after apoligising I asked for ZA 2 and was accepted. Won't forget to think of that matter in the future, haha.

[@guidojansen6720]

And then there's Y-Reisen: 'Wir buchen, Sie fluchen'

[@TheStiepen]

for those not aware, license plates starting with a Y belong to the german military.

[@achatzia]

@@TheStiepen WHich I was told was chosen, because it is the end of GermanY.

[@TheStiepen]

@@achatzia I kinda doubt that tbh, since this only works in English and not in German (where it would be "Deutschland")

[@Gabriel-zk6hn]

@@TheStiepen you've got a point but he might be right as due to the Occupation of the Allies (USA, UK and France) this would make sense

[@Streichholz1600]

Its Y because it was the only Letter wich was not taken by any german city.

[@juanestebanez8210]

Y…..is reserved for German army ( BUNDESWEHR) ✋🇪🇸

[@sineapfel1971]

Actually you forgot the switch plates. There is a number on the plate and you can have multiple cars with the same plate with the exception that the plates are continously numbered

[@studiosnch]

Philippine car plates are somewhat inspired from European and Australian vehicle plate systems. The original three letter-three number code (AAA XXX) was from the Australians, and so is the font, a heavily-modified FE-Schrift similar to the current Australian one (this was first implemented in 1981). Currently we use the 2014 revision in which the combination is: AAA XXXX (for four-wheeled vehicles) AA XXXXX (for motorcycles) PUV XXXX (for public utility vehicles) SAA XXXX (for government-owned and registered vehicles, including those of government-owned corporations and military vehicles) At the bottom of the number is the region where the vehicle is registered (in the Philippines, cars are registered to the regional center of the Land Transportation Office of the owner's residence). - All private and government vehicles write their font against a white background. - Government vehicles have their office/department written at the bottom instead of the region. Text is written in red font on a white background. - Diplomatic vehicles have blue text on the white background. They use the XXXXX (five numbers) code, with the embassy/country written at the bottom. - All public utility vehicles (PUVs) like jeepneys, tricycles, and buses use a yellow plate with black text. On the bottom text is the route of the vehicle. - Other Excempt Vehicles (OEVs) plates have blue background on white text. Electric vehicles have dark orange background on white text. - Protocol vehicles follow the same design as government vehicles and are ordered according to the Philippine order of precedence (the President's vehicle is "1", the Vice President's is "2", the Senate President is "3"; the Speaker of the House of Representatives is "4", and so forth). The A's are letters, arranged alphabetically (so from AAA to ZZZ) but each region having their own place in the order (for example the combinations AAA-ANL for the National Capital Region). Motorcycle letters are selected by their region's precedence, so Region 1 (Ilocos) will have AC, Region 7 (Central Visayas) has GE, and Region 11 (Davao) has LC. Finally, every vehicle should now be sporting the new design. Vehicles registered using the previous system still has to get a new plate, but the number is not changed.

[@Tommes_Haeberle]

People from Rastatt be like: RA-GE RA-CE RA-PE RA-Y RA-LF RA-CK RA-P RA-M or German words: RA-BE RA-ST RA-US RA-MA RA-TE RA-D RA-ND RA-NG RA-PS RA-UF RA-US RA-AB

[@Thoringer]

If you wonder why some have no second set of letters; those are self-insured public entities (or publicly owned entities) such as police, city or county, federal institutions, and so on. They may even just have numbers as you showed - mainly diplomatic use. Oh, and then, there is the thing that since 2019, you can move your vehicle out of the county/city and keep the license plate even though it is not the "correct" originating area. So, you could move from Hamburg to Frankfurt and have an HH license plate with a Hessian seal.

[@NFSHeld]

There's a tiny bit more interesting stuff to the stickers. They have the numbers of 1-12 around them with the 12 next to a big black marking. The number at the top is the month the car needs to undergo its next official checkup. So if the car is due in December, the 12 and the black marking go to the top. Here comes the interesting bit: The numbers are ordered counter-clockwise, with 11 to the right and 1 to the left. This has the effect that when you put the sticker on such that the number 1 is at the top, the black marking will be rotated to appear at the 1 o'clock position of the sticker. Together with the color indicating the year, this allows police to "read" the sticker from reasonably far away by just looking at the color and the black marking.

[@michaelschuckart2217]

"...may in future be possible to check cars whereever they go..." In future? You have average speed checks in Britain. How do you think they manage it? The youngest policeman watching the live video footing and taking down the registration plates?

[@michamcv.1846]

what about a celebration and sunday plate for oldtimers?

[@roadmaster935]

micha McV. 2:57

[@wonniewarrior]

In my state of Victoria / Australia - we are required to attach metal add-ons with a certain shape and colour to denote it power type and special instructions to emergency services - especially fire brigade. The idea of it being metal riveted to the number plate is if burned the decal off, the metal shape of it is still visible. These are usually attached in the centre between the 2 sets of numbers such as 1AA () 1AA. Red Diamond - LPG or alternative fueled vehicle - this shows there is a flammable gas cylinder on board powering the engine. This is so they can find the isolation valve on the tank and close it (or vent it if necessary). P.S. - if your vehicle has 2 LPG tanks, you need 2 add-ons, 3 tanks 3 add-ons and so on. 1 sticker per tank. Green Square - Electric batteries - this shows it is a all electric or a hybrid vehicle with a battery pack on board requiring the emergency services NOT to use jaws of life as may be in danger of cutting a high voltage power cable. Failure to have these on your number plate can attract a $10,000 fine.

[@sinform9714]

Kleine Ergänzung: Das E am Ende eines Kennzeichen bekommen nicht nur reine Elektroautos sondern auch Plug-in Hybride bekommen auch ein E im Kennzeichen. Ein E im Kennzeichen sagt also nicht sicher aus, dass es sich bei dem Auto um ein reines E-Auto handelt.

[@Markus-zb5zd]

ja es muss allerdings in der Lage sein 50km rein elektrisch fahren zu können

[@semurobo]

Außerdem ist niemand verpflichtet ein Kennzeichen zu nutzen. Wer zum Beispiel ein grünes Kennzeichen anmelden kann ist damit deutlich besser dran als mit einem E Kennzeichen. Hab schon häufiger Teslas ohne e Kennzeichen gesehen.

[@cailleanmccain]

Funfact: In Hamburg kann man mit einem E-Kennzeichen auf öffentlichen Parkplätzen kostenlos parken, sofern man ein Hamburger Kennzeichen hat. Wenn man aus dem Umland reinpendelt, kann man sich wohl eine Sondererlaubnis von der Stadt holen, dass man das auch mit zB WL oder OD machen darf. (Ich nehme an, dass dies wieder abgeschafft wird, sobald es genug E-Autos gibt, aber erstmal ist das ganz schön praktisch.)

[@semurobo]

@@cailleanmccain In ziemlich viele Städten ist parken für e Autos kostenlos, die müssen dann anstatt nem Parkschein einfach die Parkscheibe reinlegen.

[@DerBlobfisch122]

The Letters of our town are MS for MÜNSTER

[@u.e.u.e.]

You didn't mention that license plates can have up to 8 characters. In this case and only this case they use the font "FE-Schrift schmal" ("difficult to falsify script narrow"). 0-1-1 President of the Parliament 0-1-120 deputy " " " 0-123-12 Embassies B-123-12 Consulate Corps And you can have a license plate for several cars, of which you may use just one at a time. In this case you pay insurance and tax just for one, the most expensive car.

[@Markus-zb5zd]

really missed to see the military plates and others (whre the-Y-tours for the service in the germany armed forces comes from)

[@pedarogue3163]

hit and run cyclists? must have been in freiburg . hit and run cycling is considered good manners down there.

[@xaverlustig3581]

When districts get rearranged, often the former car registration code gets abandoned. There was a huge wave of such rearragements in the mid-1970s in West Germany and in the mid-1990s in East Germany. Cars with old number plates could keep theirs though, so you could see cars driving around with registration codes of administrative units that had been defunct for years. Recently it has been made possible to register new cars with registration codes of such defunct districts (I guess computerisation allows that), and people are doing it more and more. I guess for nostalgia.

[@j.buchholz1187]

The reason for using 'old' registartion codes is the number of vehicles being registered. Ludwigshafen / Rhine had to split up their code from LU for city and county to LU only city and RP (new) for the county beacuse they were running out of numbers. Their first intention was to extend the plates to 9 digits, but DOT didn't allow that. After LU / RP Hanau did the same thing from HU to HU (city) and MKK (county). Many aother regions follwed.

[@Mishima505]

@@j.buchholz1187 here in Baden-Württemberg a lot of the old codes have been reactivated since 2013, so you can see codes like CR (Crailsheim), KEL (Kehl) and ÖHR (Öhringen). The problem is that the boundaries of the new districts don’t exactly follow the original districts so some drivers might be left on the wrong side of the line.

[@MaxthonFan]

You forgot the Wechselkennzeichen. But then again I've only ever seen two cars with this kind of license plate. ;-)

[@steelpilot9008]

I only saw it in driving school, but I never saw one in real. XD

[@j.buchholz1187]

Thast because Ramsauer (the Sec. of DOT Germany at the time) fouled it up. The Austrians have the 'same' system, where you only pay tax and Insurance for the biggest / strongest car in the lot. In Germany you must pay tax and Insurance for EVERY car, so there is no financial win on having the 'Wechselkennzeichen'-system (Interchangable Licence plate). In Austria they give you a large plate with the number without the last digit for each vehicle and a small plate with the last digit which you can easily transfer from one vehicle to another (including caravans and motorcycles), in Germany you get a different digit for each car, motorcycles excluded. Much too complicated, so nobody uses it. Killed by overboarding bad administration.

[@peterfunny5662]

Some parts of the Autobahn are already equipped with automatic license plate recognition devices. For example, they use it to track people who drive to the Netherlands and return the same day to prevent smuggling of cannabis related products.

[@Mishima505]

Must be very inconvenient for anyone who lives in Germany yet works in the Netherlands and commutes to work by car every day.

[@Mysterios1989]

Don't know if you have seen it, but on the de-subreddit, there was a few days ago a story that a girl got, without realizing what it meant, the licence plact XX - HH 88. Yeah, there were sometimes scratches on the car, or a few eggs smashed on it, and so on.

[@Mischekuppe]

1:45 Normally you should know which city you are crossing through the autobahn when you seeing this sign :D

[@toureifel]

Very interesting. By the way the new font is used all around the world. You can find it on cars with Abu Dhabi licence plates I.e.

You forgot to mention the very very clever system for amateur of old cars which have many cars, for instance 5, and want to drive them all occasionally but only one at a time. You can get 5 half-licence plates and 1 other half. The first half is fixed on each car. The second half is removeable. By assembling both halves on one car you are allowed to drive on the open roads, but only one of your cars at a time. Big spare in tax and insurance !

[@GasolineNicenstein]

You are talking about the „W“ ( Wechselkennzeichen) licence plate. It is only allowed to register *two* different cars/vehicels. In Germany there are NO tax savings, but some minor on your insurance are possible.

[@uliwehner]

@@GasolineNicenstein and you save yourself the trouble of having to register the car, get insurance, unregister the car, cancel the insurance, register the other car, insure the other car, and so forth. That is the big advantage, same also for the seasonal plates.

[@G4KDXlive]

Fascinating - thanks Rewboss. Actually I had wondered a lot about German number plates and this video has answered many of my questions! PS Presumably the president's plate is 01 ?

[@Ulkomaalainen]

It is

[@michaelschuckart2217]

Nearly. It is "0 - 1"

[@stefanblack5538]

The UK's had Automatic Numberplate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed on overhead gantries on all motorway and some busy A-road intersections for years and in police cars. Originally mainly installed in central London to augment that city's Ring of Steel to combat IRA terrorism in the late 1980s by discreetly tracking known IRA-linked vehicles: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_plate_recognition UK number plates operate a similar system: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom,_Crown_dependencies_and_overseas_territories

[@ogurenedebaki2044]

The yellow signs are often seen in the czech republic,because many people here buy cars in germany.

[@jeanjacques9980]

I sometimes rent a motorcycle in Austria, the bikes are BMW registered in Munich; M plate, motorcyclists are generally very gregarious and chat to one another happily, there are no borders between motorcyclists. Many times German riders have spoken to me in German assuming that I’m from Munich. They are often startled when I reply in English, I quickly inform them that the bike is rented / hired bike which is not very common, it’s rather amusing to see their reaction and to my great shame they usually reply in perfect English.

[@Arsenic71]

OCR being a scary thought.... that coming from a Brit is funny :-)

[@andreasepp7340]

The Military has got the letter "Y" btw. That's because "Y" is not useful for any other city or purpose in Germany. 😉 That's why the germans call the Military for fun "Ypsilon-Tours" . :-D

[@nicosteffen364]

BP is for Bundespolizei Y is for Bundeswehr (Y Reisen, wir buchen, sie fluchen! That sentence was in use as there was the mandatory military duty still in place, i served 10+2 months)

[@wenzl2946]

Ich sehe manchmal was, was ich davor noch nicht kannte 😂😂

[@Falquiboy]

Stock cars that are used by the German military also have different plates. If I remember correctly they use a Y first.

[@SchMo_30]

they also include a german flag, replacing the EU sign

[@semurobo]

All cars from The Bundeswehr have a License Plate with a Y. Not Just Stock cars, even tanks have one.

[@irnakkgd6364]

I still remember the car from Bitburg with the number plate with letters forming the insulting B word

[@Turgineer]

Learning the technical parts of vehicle license plates is interesting.

[@OrechTV]

"Hit and run cyclists" are so german thing ... really, can confirm

[@obsessivelyoli]

Germans pay tax for cars?! Here in the Philippines pretty much every family has a car No wonder driving a kilometer in Manila is like 5-10 minutes, at least...

[@KaiHenningsen]

Taxing cars seems to be rather wide-spread, as far as I can tell. Pretty much universal in Europe, I believe. And it's often coupled to vehicle emissions (which means that the diesel scandals might, depending on the interpretation of the relevant laws, include tax evasion).

[@NonSurvivorOne]

Gavin Herrera its not a road tax (not yet...). you pay your tax annually per car.

[@alexanderwahl7902]

I am a german you can ask OP you can have intale we AW for my first Name and my last Name and my year of Birth.

[@thomasschmitz3765]

Again, a great video. I wonder if it is not to much tampering with the video's topic if to mention that there are exceptions from the first letters' usual indication of the issuing local district, i.e. T (in Red) - reserved for US forces vehicles X (in Black) - reserved for Bundeswehr NATO headquarters vehicles Y (in Black) - reserved for Bundeswehr vehicles

[@j.buchholz1187]

You forgit 'IF' for internal forces in the US Army, meaning Military Police, often on civlian cars...

[@DarthLenaPlant]

So, we really SHOULD BRING BACK licence plates for cyclists. And even if you own several bikes, you can only ride ONE at a time anyway, so it should be a "Wechselkennzeichen"

[@HiltownJoe]

No, we should not bring back license plates for cyclists.

[@lollol-en9xx]

@Nico Traut keine Tachopflicht aufm fahrrad ich wurde schonmal von nem mobilen stand geblitzt die polizisten fanden es aber eher lustig

[@yeahnoway111]

German plates are so ugly though. Those stickers are outdated too.

[@nlk294]

In my opinion, Germany’s license plates are the only tidy ones in Europe.

[@trroland1248]

Cool. But did not mention the Bundeswehr vehicles or other service vehicles.

[@finnjons3792]

When your hanseatic city doesn't get mentioned; say sike right now :(

[@bowfinger26]

I have to ask Y. I mean the letter Y. If the plate starts with Y, that's the military.

[@Hessi]

WTF? Du bist Deutscher? Normalerweise erkennt man deutsche KZbinr, die Englisch sprechen, innerhalb von 2,5 Sekunden. Nicht schlecht. BTW: Ich lebte 17 Jahre in Seligenstadt, also schöne Grüße!

[@TiberentenTV]

1:57 Das geht schon, wenn man weiß, wie's geht. Und man kann die Plakette sogar problemlos wieder (irgendwo) aufkleben, nachdem man sie abgelöst hat.

[@karstenmeyer1729]

There are som more special numbers: (Mist, ich mach das doch lieber besser auf deutsch) "HG 7325" ist ein Kennzeichen für ein Dienstfahrzeug einer Stadt im Hochtaunuskreis. Gilt für alle Kreise und Kreisfreien Städte. "HEL 7345" ist ein Kennzeichen Für ein Dienstfahrzeug des Bundeslands Hessen. Hier alle Bundesland-Kennzeichen ( B, BBL, BWL, BYL, HB, HEL, HH, LSA, LSN, MVL, NL, NRW, RPL, SAL, SH und THL) Wenn man Aufnahmen aus den Ausschreitungen während des G20-Gipfel in Hamburg ansieht, kann man jede Menge solcher Kfz-Kennzeichen an den anwedenden Polizei-Fahrzeungen sehen (nicht HH aber HEL, RPL und Konsorten). Nicht nur der Bundespräsident ( 0 - 1 ) und die Bundeskanzlerin ( 0 - 2 ) haben eine spezielle Nummer. Auch ausländische Diplomaten haben spezielle Kfz-Nummern. Der in dem Film zu sehende Audi mit der Kfz-nummer "0 91 - 1" Ist ein Fahrzeug der Mexikanischen Botschaft. Die "1" läßt darauf schließen, das das Fahrzeig dem Botschafter von Mexiko, da aber hier auf dem G20 Gipfel, vielleicht auch für den Präsidenten von Mexiko, vorbehalren ist. Allgemein gilt für diplomatische Fahrzeuge: "0 xx - yyy". xx steht für den code für das jeweilige Land (bei Mexico ist das 91). "yyy" wird von 1 bis 199 vergeben (Ausnahmen sind die Niederlande (1-299) und die USA (1-500). Eine Kuriosität ist, wenn das Fahrzeug gestohlen wird. Beispielsweise "0 53 - 5" wird gestohen. Dann bekommt das nächste Fahrzeug mit der 5 das Kfz "0 53 - 5A" (Wird dann fortgesetzt mit B, C, D, ... .

[@asdundab5581]

Behördenkenzeichen für Dienstfahrzeuge von Gemeinden und Kreisen werden nichtmehr vergeben, diese bekommen normale zivie Kemnzeichen (z.B. HG-HG123 satt HG-7325)

[@karstenmeyer1729]

Dennoch sehe ich solche Fahrzeuge gelegentlich. Also solche mit Kennzeichen des Kreises und dann eine Nummer!

[@asdundab5581]

+Karsten Meyer Das ist Altbestand, die Vergabe wurde 2006 oder 2007 eingestellt; bereits bestehende Nummern betrifft das natürlich nicht.

[@michaelschuckart5091]

Kasten Meyer: "HG 7325 ist ein Dienstfahrzeug einer Stadt im Hochtaunuskreis" "HEL 7345 ist ein Kennzeichen für ein Dienstfahrzeug des Bundeslandes Hessen..." Behördenkennzeichen (also z.B. HEL 12345) gibt es nur noch (neu) für Bundes- und Landesbehörden. Die alten Kennzeichen für Stadt- und Kreisbehörden werden nicht entfernt, aber es gibt keine Neuen.

[@radio_marco]

Is it just me or did he spoke 5 years ago faster than he speaks now?

[@F1RacingGame]

and another thing not mentioned but also not very important; police cars got 5 numbers instead of 4 on their plates

[@rewboss]

That depends on the state.

[@guidojansen6720]

If they do, they don't have the center letters. As do some communal service vehicles.

[@michaelschuckart2217]

@@guidojansen6720 This must be left-over vehicles, since about 15 years ago ONLY federal and state agencies can have "Behördennummern".

[@derradfahrer5029]

Number plates are being automatically read in Germany already on road parts that have section-controlling speed cameras

[@EvilOverlord96]

Currently there is only one single section control in Germany.

[@nuster7816]

And also other Numberplates. The Plates of the German Army (Bundeswehr) got a German Flag on it followed by the letter Y (Y because no one else got it) Plates of the "Bundespolizei" (Federal Police) begin with BP followed by numbers. Plates of the Technisches Hilfswerk, short THW (some sort of Technical Aid) beginn with THW followed by numbers.

[@j.buchholz1187]

The Army has 'Y' because there is no city / county in Germany that starts with a Y in its name. :-)

[@Arsenic71]

And NATO vehicles in Germany begin with X (or at least used to when I was in the army/NATO forces).

[@PiousMoltar]

Te British number plate font is way better

[@Quasihamster]

Y did you leave out the Bundeswehr plate? ;)

[@nilsvonsteinfelde2116]

And the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) use a Y followed by numbers and the seal of the federal republic like this: Y-123 456

[@flitsertheo]

Their old prefixes made more sense : WH = Wehrmacht (army) - WL = Luftwaffe (airforce) and WM = Kriegsmarine (navy). Maybe they just don't want to be remembered about the good old days.

[@-haclong2366]

Thank you so much for making this number.

[@jack_da_niels]

That was pretty good, in addition in my area (because can be different for every region) the city and the district have the same two letter in the beginning...and here comes the weird regulation :-) If you live in the city, you are allowed to choose 1-2 letter in the second group and 1-3 numbers in the last group EXCEPT you live outside the city (so the rest of the district) then you are only allowed to choose 2 letters in the second group and 3-4 numbers in the last group EXCEPT you have a special vehicle (small US licence plate size and or a bike with limited space). Also 1 letter and 1-2 numbers are sometimes only given to bikes and not cars. So pretty confusing. In addition there is also a condensed font, if there are two many letters and numbers or if you just require a smaller plate and also in general different plate sizes (length and 1-line, 2 lines :-) So as you said, pretty interesting but also confusing at some point :-) Not sure if the cost for a "Wunschkennzeichen" (you select your own combination which meets the rules) are the same all over Germany but here in my area it's about 20€ once - for those of you how are interested. Oh, and in the past it was not possible to buy a car in Hamburg (HH) and keep it's licence plate and register it in a different district with a different city/district identifier (e.g. Munich "M"). Not so long ago they changed it and you can buy your car somewhere else and just keep the licence plate (so you live in Munich "M" and drive a car, registered in Munich with a licence plate from Hamburg "HH"). Aaand then there are special ones: "BWL" (not a city, just the police in the state Baden-Württemberg), "Y" german army Aaand since a few years you can have one licence plate for multiple cars (don't know if it's only two or more). These licence plate have an additional number "1" or "2" attached and you are only allowed to drive one at a time. But with this approach you can insure both cars under one contract with only a little extra and it's cheaper than having two separate insurances. Maybe Part 2 of the video :-P

[@gold3084]

Are they going to run out of numbers any time soon ?

[@kimjongun5910]

Du hast das Diplomaten Kennzeichen vergessen 🙈

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

Oh, but there is still so much more to say about the license plates - especially about the first part of the city or district, and the constant reforms it undergoes...for example, back when I was a child, there were still cars driving around with "L", which was the "Stadt Lahn", a city combined of the 2 cities Gießen and Wetzlar (the latter may be interesting for another destination video, by the way - the former not so much though), and when that experiment failed, L became the "Lahn-Dill-Kreis", which meant basically Wetzlar and its surrounding villages. However, in the reform after the reunification, there was Leipzig added to the mix, and nowadays, L stands for Leipzig, while Wetzlar has gotten LDK, and the cars from Leipzig all got only 4-digit numbers in order to separate them (while the old Wetzlar L-plates never had 4 digits, because they weren't needed for the number of cars there were in that district). Also, newer reforms may have changed even more about that, for example now there are many small towns around Berlin in Brandenburg, which somehow have gotten some old form of their plate back (I remember suddenly seeing KW for Königs-Wusterhausen, which wasn't there before, and others as well). Another reform I've heard about is that you can now take your plate with you when you move to another district, so if you lived in Marburg before, and move to Merseburg (or anywhere else), you seem to be allowed to register your car there without having to give up your MR plate, so you don't have to have a plate from the region, and so on. (I am not up-to-date on the newest rules and regulations, so the last bit is a lot of hear-say, but it still states that there is much more to talk about registration numbers and license plates.) Also, you forgot to mention the "Versicherungskennzeichen" for small mopeds and vehicles like that, which have up to 50ccm of displacement and don't need a normal registration (only insurance), so they are smaller and have 2 rows of each 3 letters and 3 numbers...

[@nemonilnada5044]

In my hometown there is with the registration ??? - AH 88 wonder how he got away with this. Nice one is in Rothenburg Wümme ROW-DY ?? or once I saw AN-AL ???

[@haeuptlingaberja4927]

Okay, and why are people tampering with plates? What am I missing here?

[@spongebubatz]

To go speeding without having to care about speed cameras for example

[@frozenvictim]

lol der Kommt aus Aschaffenburg

[@BiaZarr]

Also notably that some districts have several different abbreviations. The Steinfurt district for example uses ST, BF and TE. This is because of historical reasons. The District Burgsteinfurt (BF) and Tecklenburg were fused into the Steinfurt district in the 70s, so the registration for vehicles was changed into ST, ando no new registration for BF and TE was allowed. But the people still identify a lot with their Altkreise (old districts) and put on a bit of public pressure, so a few years ago people were allowed to register BF and TE plates again.

[@Ulkomaalainen]

There's also some phased out combinations which are given out again if you so desire (though not all of them). You can again drive with ECK for Eckernförde but not for NIB for "Südtondern in Niebüll" (I always giggle about this "County in Seat" description)

[@sebastiannolte1201]

Here are more details concering this (in German): de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennzeichenliberalisierung

[@patrickseidel218]

In my district RI (Rinteln) is allowed besides SHG (Schaumburg), but I find it kind of strange because it feels like they want to separate them from the rest.

[@HappyfoxBiz]

Fantastic, I have so many obscenities that I can use that isn't Nazi related that would immediately be refused and told to get out of the building and come back when I have a mentality above an 8 year old... that may take a while

[@TheDarkBlackyFX]

Du hast die Kennzeichen der Bundeswehr vergessen. Panzer müssen ja auch registriert werden...

[@videomailYT]

Die Bundeswehr hat Y und die Nato hat X als Buchstabe...

[@HerrDrHuhn]

Well I never saw a green or red one

[@TODESHAMMEL]

Hm, my wife doesn't have to pay vehicle tax but never had a green plate.

[@mrmugame]

man, you forgot the plates of the police, fireman and army

[@michaelschuckart2217]

MRMugame: "man, you forgot the plates of the police, fireman and army" MS: Police have signs of the federal state (federal police have their own one of course), army, air force and navy hav "Y", Fire Service has regular signs (except State-owned vehicles for Katatrophenschutz "Disaster protection").

[@Rafa1589]

1:44 Aachen represent!!

[@schmiddi_3123]

Hier kann man als Deutscher echt noch was lernen.

[@swanpride]

You should have mentioned that the "tax free cars" can be seized by the government in case of emergency...that's why you see so many trucks with the green sign. For example if there is a flood the owner can be forced to give up his truck for transport until the crisis is over.

[@rewboss]

Where did you get this information from? Sounds like an urban legend to me.

[@swanpride]

From a guy who used to work for the THW. He said that it nearly never happens because they have enough vehicles (which are also free of taxes btw, if they are used for humanitarian aid) which are made for this kind of emergency, but theoretically it is possible. It's one of those countless hidden measures which are never used. Like the fact that parts of the Autobahn can be changed to emergency airports (due to constructions from the cold war).

[@rewboss]

I'd need a more reliable source than "a guy who used to work for the THW". There may be cases where the emergency services can requisition vehicles, but I doubt the tax-exempt status has anything to do with it. I don't know what the THW would want with, for example, a combine harvester. And there are actually very few trucks with green plates: trailers towed by tractors, yes, but not trucks.

[@arthur_p_dent]

In case of an emergency, ANY car (or other resource) can be seized by the government, if this is necessary to avoid greater loss (either material or human lives). If your car is there and it is needed to save lives, then you are required to make it available, tax exempt or not. And tax exemption isn't an option for most people anyway. Agricultural trailers are tax exempt, so are some cars of charitable organizations (eg ambulance cars). Maybe some handicapped people are entitled to car tax exemption, not sure about that. But that's pretty much it.

[@Dasdi1970]

Mid-aged women from Minden often choose MI-LF

[@patrickseidel218]

Or young men who would like to..😂

Okay, but if the Chancellor is 02... who's 01 car plate?

[@spongebubatz]

01 is for the president!

[@michaelschuckart2217]

And "03" for the president of parliament.

[@michaeloppliger2518]

Phew, that stuff is way easier down here in switzerland ;-)

[@studiosnch]

I actually like the cleanliness of the Swiss plates. Also, you can easily know where the car is registered faster than the German or Philippine system. (two letters and that's it)

[@varana]

To be fair, though, Swiss cantons (with a few exceptions like Bern) are a lot smaller than German Länder (or Philippine regions, I assume). I mean, Glarus is basically a a few villages. ;) The rest isn't really that much easier. No letters and only numbers, but that's it. There's also all sorts of special cases for temporary use or other purposes.

[@ioannishoeft3793]

Wow. I didn't know so many facts about my own registration plate.

[@letsplaypetrus4802]

All Bundeswehr (german army) cars have a Y as her First letter

[@schwarzeseis4031]

Let me guess: 0-1 is for The German President's Official Car? EIther that, or not used at all.

[@spongebubatz]

Yes, 0-1 is the president‘s car!

[@schwarzeseis4031]

@@spongebubatz Thanks :))))

[@lennat24]

Die Zahlen 0 bis 9 sind der deutschen Regierungsspitze zugeteilt, beispielsweise 0-1 auf dem Kennzeichen des Bundespräsidenten, 0-2 der Bundeskanzlerin, 0-3 des Außenministers und 1-1 des Bundestagspräsidenten.

[@shalomkaweiii312]

zero 0 one is gods number in germany

[@lennat24]

Die Zahlen 0 bis 9 sind der deutschen Regierungsspitze zugeteilt, beispielsweise 0-1 auf dem Kennzeichen des Bundespräsidenten, 0-2 der Bundeskanzlerin, 0-3 des Außenministers und 1-1 des Bundestagspräsidenten.

[@JurassicRaptor1993]

Who gets zero-one?

[@jonas1000100]

The President

[@aoilpe]

How about import-plates ?

[@nclsDesign]

As a german, I'm glad I learned something😂

[@DietwaldClaus]

Afaik, if the second set of letters consists of only one letter, the car is from the kreisstadt itself, while two letters indicate the car is from the landkreis.

[@rewboss]

Something similar to that was often the case, especially if the city was actually "kreisfrei". But that's not so often the case now, especially since people can reserve their own numbers.