Importing a car from Germany: registration, COC and paperwork

The documents to gather

From the seller, you should leave with the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I (the former Fahrzeugschein, which stays in the vehicle) and the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil II (the former Fahrzeugbrief, the title document kept by the owner), together with a sales contract or invoice quoting the chassis number.

For the registration file itself, three items come up every time: the registration document of the country of origin, the certificate of conformity and the tax clearance. A roadworthiness test is added depending on the age of the vehicle and the rules of your country of registration.

The exact list depends on the authority that will process your file.

The certificate of conformity: why it is often missing

In Germany, registration is built around the Zulassungsbescheinigung, not the certificate of conformity. The COC was handed to the very first buyer with the new vehicle, then filed away at a dealership or a leasing company. By the second or third owner nobody knows where it is — and nobody needed it while the car stayed on German plates.

That is why a perfectly honest German seller will often tell you “there never was one”. He is not lying: he has never seen it. The document does exist in the manufacturer’s records, indexed by the chassis number, and that is what we go and retrieve.

One frequent special case: fleet and leasing vehicles. The certificate stayed with the lessor, who has no reason to pass it on when the batch is sold to a dealer.

Step by step

1. 1

   The purchase

   Collect the complete German documents and note the chassis number, 17 characters.

2. 2

   The certificate of conformity

   Start the request at signing: it is the longest step, because it depends on the manufacturer.

3. 3

   Tax clearance

   Handled in parallel with the tax authority of your country of registration.

4. 4

   Roadworthiness test

   Required depending on the age of the vehicle and the rules that apply where you register it.

5. 5

   The registration application

   It brings all the documents together. A single missing item blocks the file.

The only turnaround we state is the manufacturer’s, brand by brand: the administrative steps depend on the authority concerned.

The cost of the COC by brand

The brands most represented among imports from Germany:

Indicative prices including VAT, confirmed once the chassis number has been checked. Full list: price by brand. Turnarounds: turnaround guide. What the eCOC changes in 2026: our eCOC guide.