How much does it cost to deregister a car? Online vs. in person

The fixed online price: €49.90 including the fee

With Abmeldung24, online deregistration costs €49.90. This includes the official fee of the registration authority and 19% VAT. No further mandatory items are added, as neither documents nor licence plates are sent by post.

Optionally, you can book a registration number reservation in the form. The surcharge is shown transparently before you pay. If you do not need a reservation, you only pay the fixed price.

The cost of deregistering in person

At the registration authority's counter, initially only the official fee is charged. According to the GebOSt (Gebührenordnung für Maßnahmen im Straßenverkehr, the German fee schedule for road traffic measures), it is around €6 to €8 for deregistration. At first glance, that is considerably cheaper.

The full picture, however, also includes the costs that do not appear on the receipt. Many authorities only allocate appointments online and often only with some lead time. On top of that come travel, parking fees and the time you take off for it.

• official fee: around €6 to €8
• travel costs and parking: depending on distance, easily €5 to €15
• time required: travel, waiting and the journey back, often two hours or more
• appointment lead time: days to weeks, depending on the authority

Worked example: what each day of waiting costs

As long as a car is registered, vehicle tax and insurance continue to run, even if it is no longer being driven. This is the item many people overlook when comparing costs.

An example with round figures: with €240 vehicle tax and €720 insurance per year, each registered day costs around €2.60. If you have to wait two weeks for an appointment at the authority, that adds up to about €37. Together with the fee, travel and parking, deregistering in person quickly ends up in the same range as the online fixed price, without even counting the time involved.

Money-back guarantee if it does not work

A deregistration can fail for reasons that are not apparent beforehand. For this case, Abmeldung24 offers a money-back guarantee in accordance with our terms and conditions. They describe exactly under which conditions you get your money back.

To avoid failed attempts, it is worth looking at the codes before you start: if all three are present and easy to read, the most important requirements are met.

Which route pays off for whom

Deregistering in person makes sense if you are near a registration authority anyway, can get an appointment at short notice or your documents have no codes. Online is worthwhile if you want to save time, take the vehicle out of tax and insurance quickly or prefer to act in the evening or at the weekend.

A third route is registration services or car dealerships that handle the deregistration for a fee. Their prices are freely set and vary considerably. With such offers, check whether the official fee is already included and whether you have to hand over your documents and plates for it.

Why the online fee is lower than at the counter

The fee schedule distinguishes between deregistration at the counter and internet-based deregistration. Because in the online procedure no caseworker has to invalidate seals by hand and no appointment needs to be allocated, the official fee for it is lower.

With Abmeldung24, this fee is already included in the fixed price. The difference between the two routes therefore lies less in the authority's fee than in the service: you get guided input with a format check of the codes, transmission to the authority and the notice in digital form, without leaving your desk.