Apply for a short-term license plate

With a short-term license plate, you can test drive a vehicle
or transfer it to another location. Other
driving purposes are not permitted and may be penalized.
The validity period is a maximum of 5 days from the day of
allocation. The expiration date is visible on the short-term license plate on the
right-hand side. After this date, the
short-term license plate automatically loses its validity.

The vehicle must meet certain requirements in order to use a
short-term license plate:

• EC type-approval must have been granted or
  individual approval or
  type-approval must have been granted,
• For used vehicles, valid proof
  of a passed main inspection must be available
  (main inspection report) and
• there must be motor vehicle liability insurance
  .

If your vehicle does not have an EC type approval or
operating permit, you may only use a
temporary license plate for journeys that are related to obtaining
the required certificates. In this case, you may only drive to the
nearest inspection center in the district that has assigned the
license plate or in the neighboring district with the
temporary license plate.

If your vehicle does not have a valid general inspection or
safety inspection, it will receive a temporary license plate for the
trip only:

• to the nearest inspection station in the registration district and back or
• to the nearest garage in the registration district in which the license plate was issued or
• to a neighboring district and back for immediate repair of any significant or minor defects found.

This does not apply to vehicles that have been classified as unsafe to drive
.