I have searched around and it appears that the hotel I am staying in in my upcoming trip to Munich is within a Zero emission zone.
Now looking into the sticker that I might need, I have 3 choices...
1 Pre buy the sticker. For this I need to send a copy of my V5 to a website that sells them (like www.tollticket.com)
2 Visit a TUV or similar centre when I am over there. However, we are going from Rotterdam to Munich on a staurday when time will be of the essence, so dont fancy that one
3 Since the car is Euro 5 complient, and says so on the tax disc, I am able to drive in anyway on the green sticker, so dont do anything. The cost is around 10euro with a potential 40euro fine...
The car is an Alfa Giulietta 2.0 diesel 170. The hotel has an underground garage, so will be driving into it, parking for 2 days then out again.
Any tips and / or advice
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what happens if you drive in and don't bother buying or displaying anything?
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"what happens if you drive in and don't bother buying or displaying anything?"
I suspect you will receive a lecture in civil responsibility from the hotel staff and be advised of the dire consequences of not having a sticker. Very law abiding the Germans.
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>> "what happens if you drive in and don't bother buying or displaying anything?"
>>
>> I suspect you will receive a lecture in civil responsibility from the hotel staff and
>> be advised of the dire consequences of not having a sticker. Very law abiding the
>> Germans.
Yes yes I know, but about these dire consequences? are they as direless as me ignoring French and Dutch speed cameras?
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Too early for me! IF 3 applies, and you seem to think it does, there is no problem?
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I wasnt saying I think 3 applies, it was just my reasoning for it ;), after all, the green sticker tells the authorities that the car is ok to go in. The tax disc also tells them this.
Impeccable logic I think!
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"Impeccable logic I think!"
Not if you are German. It is not the rules. You will get hassle.
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The tax disc tells them nothing because they don't have windscreen mounted tax discs in Germany therefore do not have a system setup to read them.
There are cameras monitoring these zones and police who actually patrol on foot and in cars/on bikes. You might be unlucky and get stopped, with the car being foreign registered you'll probably have to pay on the spot.
You can get one in A.T.U. the equivalent of Halfords:
www.atu.de/pages/werkstatt/russfilter/plaketten.html
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 19 Jul 13 at 14:14
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If you can get a green umweltplakette (as you apparently can) then it is well worthwhile buying one, given the low cost and the fact that it is valid for the life of the vehicle (yellow ones are becoming progressively invalid).
Though there are various sites on the web that will provide you with one at a significant premium, perhaps the simplest and cheapest online option is to buy one from the Berlin authorities via:
www.berlin.de/labo/kfz/dienstleistungen/feinstaubplakette.shop.en.php
€6, credit card accepted, roughly three days for it to arrive - but you need to scan and submit your V5C (Generally, the page with your registration number and initial registration date is enough).
HTH
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Generous of the Germans to earmark special zones for our colleague to emit in.
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My gripe is the standardisation of everything in the EU only applies when it suits. In the UK, like in Germany and the rest of Europe, cars are classified by emissions and are categorised into various Euro bands, eg Euro1, Euro2, etc...
The German rule is fine, anything over Euro4 (diesel wise) is ok. The car from the UK is a Euro5. Not good enough for the Germans.
Thanks for that link by the way, I will look into it.
Last edited by: PR on Fri 19 Jul 13 at 18:18
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>> The German rule is fine, anything over Euro4 (diesel wise) is ok. The car from
>> the UK is a Euro5. Not good enough for the Germans.
>>
When they designed the system they probably wanted something simple which is why they went traffic light on the windscreen. My own model of car can have a green sticker on an 05 reg model and yellow on a 55 plate. Both cars the same year model and badges. Only external visible clue is the exhaust pipe. That's one model of one car line.
If you do get a windscreen sticker careful where you place it. It could result in an MOT fail if too much is in the swept area. Only thing some testers allow is the RFL disc.
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 19 Jul 13 at 19:48
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Only thing some testers allow is the RFL disc.
Well they are wrong
"Official' stickers which are not readily removable- such as vehicle licenses, parking and access permits- are only a reason for rejection if they seriously restrict the the driver's view. 'Official' stickers should be taken to be any sticker which is used in connection with 'road enforcement', 'security' or 'crime prevention' matters.
These include: Disabled persons badges/permits, Parking permits, Licences and vehicle Anti-Theft Scheme stickers issued by a police Authority. "
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If you carry on down the MOT checklist you will also see:
"b. a Windscreen sticker or other
obstruction encroaching more than 10mm"
as a reason for failure.
www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm
As usual a poorly worded document results in confusion.
Does a Czech, Swiss or Austrian vignette = an "Official" sticker tag in the UK ? None of them are legal requirement to drive on the road in the UK and the tester in the UK can only test in accordance with UK requirements.
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If you read the comment in column 3 you will see that such a sticker would have to intrude into into zone A of the screen as per the diagram to be a problem. Not very likely.
An "official sticker" does not have to be a legal requirement in the UK . Your work parking permit for examples is an "official sticker"
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The bottom right (looking out from inside the car) in front of the driver is where the umweltplakette is supposed to go. If driving a smaller car with an opaque screen surround you may need to move the sticker in a little to be seen from outside.
All I was trying to do was to bring to people's awareness they may inadvertently overlap the area the tester may be particularly hot on.
An official sticker in the UK should be quite clear to the tester as it will have something on it saying what it is in English. When it's written in Czech, Italian, French or German I'm not sure how inclined a tester will be to translate it to find out if it is a required sticker for driving on a motorway or from a machine for parking in a local town centre.
Que discussion about how all testers are more fluent in Polish, Russian, Albanian and speak no English.
Last edited by: gmac on Sat 20 Jul 13 at 09:32
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When I went to Germany last year, we were never told to buy a green disc by our law-abiding German host relatives.
I saw the green discs and the LEZ green zone signs, but only read up on it on our return to UK.
We never had any problems in Berlin green zone even parking on the streets in full view.
I think people would just assume it doesn't have one becuase it's a UK registered car.
If we went again, we wouldn't bother either.
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I bought ours from here as well, very good service and the sticker say "Berlin" on it.
Edit - Fitted ours to LHS, after all the noe that comes with it shows it on the opposite side to the steering wheel.
Last edited by: IJWS14 on Mon 22 Jul 13 at 07:45
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Just for your info, I have ordered using the link above, 6 euro delivered.
Will let you know how quickly they sort it.
Sent P2 of the V5 I had scanned in
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If they live up to their usual Teutonic efficiency, from my own and other's experience, it should probably be with you Friday or Saturday.
The first time I bought one was from a TüV station in the old East Germany (post re-unification of course). A friendly but long drawn-out transaction as they desperately searched their systems to decide what category to give me. (The issue to German vehicles is based on the Emissionsschlüssel which is on their registration papers, but not on a UK V5C). The Berlin authorities generally base their categorisation for foreign vehicles on initial registration date, and must issue thousands, so are used to it.
Given that you are unlikely to get a plakette face-to-face for less than €5 anywhere, buying one in advance by post from Berlin for €6 and avoiding any diversion and/or delay seems well worth it.
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Yes some of the sites I looked at were charging upto 25e for the same thing!
The tolltickets.com site which I ordered my Swiss and Austrian stickers from were around 8 or 9e. (I didn't realise when I ordered them that I needed this thing!)
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Well the Swiss/Austrian taxes were ordered Thurs came on Tues.
The Umwelt zone thing was ordered on Monday night, turned up Thurs morning.
That is efficient!!
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German Zero emission zones - CGNorwich
