Alan_uk
A2OC Donor
German Umweltplakette - Nightmare of getting this Environmental Permit
If you are planning to drive to a number of German cities then beware that you need a Environmental Permit (Umweltplakette)
Azoomable map of the applicable cities is here <bad link deleted in 2018> - try this https://www.umwelt-plakette.de/en/i...es-in-germany/german-environmental-zones.html
Towns have coloured zones, red, yellow, green, though I believe only green applies currently. If you drive into a zone without the right sticker its a Euro 40 fine and penalty points.
Vehicles are classed by Euro emission standards or by date of registration if they have no Euro standard classification. So an A2 TDI is Euro 4 so it gets a green sticker. Stickers are valid throughout Germany. Permits for German vehicles is €5 and lasts the life of the vehicle.
Getting a sticker for a foreign car before you travel means using one of the few web sites and operators are free to charge what they like for administration! I've seen some hotel websites offer to get one for their guests.
This site is the cheapest at €6 - it's the Berlin council.
https://www.berlin.de/labo/kfz/dienstleistungen/feinstaubplakette.shop.en.php
However it's been a nightmare to get the web site working - I must of tried 30+ times.
Here's some tips:
- don't use Firefox (unfortunately) as the payment screen only partially displays. They use the www.saferpay.com web site (which incidentally the Scanlines ferry also uses and that didn't work either)
- Opera doesn't work
- Use IE
- Scan your vehicle registration document as jpg or pdf (I only tried jpg)
- I only scanned the 2nd page - but I've yet to get my sticker.
- keep the scanned image below 1.5mb (I read on another site). I tried more than this to start and then reduced to 750k
- keep the colour depth to 24 bit and reduce the resolution to reduce the size.
- sometime you get an error message but often just get thrown back to the first screen if the site doesn't like the uploaded file.
- enter the vehicle no. as AA99AAA (GB)
- after selecting the file to upload it doesn't actually upload until you click Next
- I use Barclaycard and found IE7 on my home computer didn't display the Barclaycard secure site. That's not been a problem before on Firefox but it may be IE or the fact that the Barclaycard secure site appeared to be within a frame.
- it worked on my company laptop with IE8
I've read people downloading an application form and enclosing Euro notes but it will presumably need a €10 note
There are alternatives:
This site charges €15 by credit card or a bit less by post but foreign cheques are expensive. I've read people enclosing Euro notes. Just found this so haven't tried it.
http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_fahrzeuge/feinstaub-plakette/feinstaubplakette_ausland/england
Avoid this one - it charges at least €30, and much more for express services or a printed permit as opposed to a handwritten one (I guess that might look fraudent).
http://www.umwelt-plakette.de/int_england.php
One web site said also scan the MOT certificate and put both into a zip folder.
Good luck!
I will update this post when I get my sticker, if I get a green one, and say how long it took to arrive.
UPDATE
Arrived after 10 days. it was a handwritten Yellow permit.
If you are planning to drive to a number of German cities then beware that you need a Environmental Permit (Umweltplakette)
A
Towns have coloured zones, red, yellow, green, though I believe only green applies currently. If you drive into a zone without the right sticker its a Euro 40 fine and penalty points.
Vehicles are classed by Euro emission standards or by date of registration if they have no Euro standard classification. So an A2 TDI is Euro 4 so it gets a green sticker. Stickers are valid throughout Germany. Permits for German vehicles is €5 and lasts the life of the vehicle.
Getting a sticker for a foreign car before you travel means using one of the few web sites and operators are free to charge what they like for administration! I've seen some hotel websites offer to get one for their guests.
This site is the cheapest at €6 - it's the Berlin council.
https://www.berlin.de/labo/kfz/dienstleistungen/feinstaubplakette.shop.en.php
However it's been a nightmare to get the web site working - I must of tried 30+ times.
Here's some tips:
- don't use Firefox (unfortunately) as the payment screen only partially displays. They use the www.saferpay.com web site (which incidentally the Scanlines ferry also uses and that didn't work either)
- Opera doesn't work
- Use IE
- Scan your vehicle registration document as jpg or pdf (I only tried jpg)
- I only scanned the 2nd page - but I've yet to get my sticker.
- keep the scanned image below 1.5mb (I read on another site). I tried more than this to start and then reduced to 750k
- keep the colour depth to 24 bit and reduce the resolution to reduce the size.
- sometime you get an error message but often just get thrown back to the first screen if the site doesn't like the uploaded file.
- enter the vehicle no. as AA99AAA (GB)
- after selecting the file to upload it doesn't actually upload until you click Next
- I use Barclaycard and found IE7 on my home computer didn't display the Barclaycard secure site. That's not been a problem before on Firefox but it may be IE or the fact that the Barclaycard secure site appeared to be within a frame.
- it worked on my company laptop with IE8
I've read people downloading an application form and enclosing Euro notes but it will presumably need a €10 note
There are alternatives:
This site charges €15 by credit card or a bit less by post but foreign cheques are expensive. I've read people enclosing Euro notes. Just found this so haven't tried it.
http://www.tuev-sued.de/auto_fahrzeuge/feinstaub-plakette/feinstaubplakette_ausland/england
Avoid this one - it charges at least €30, and much more for express services or a printed permit as opposed to a handwritten one (I guess that might look fraudent).
http://www.umwelt-plakette.de/int_england.php
One web site said also scan the MOT certificate and put both into a zip folder.
Good luck!
I will update this post when I get my sticker, if I get a green one, and say how long it took to arrive.
UPDATE
Arrived after 10 days. it was a handwritten Yellow permit.
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