Germany
TÜV Explained: Germany's Mandatory Car Inspection
By Laufenden Redaktion
Published September 15, 2026
Every car in Germany needs a TÜV sticker — miss your inspection date and you're driving illegally. Here's how often it's required and what the colored sticker actually means.
"TÜV" (Technischer Überwachungsverein) is technically the name of the inspection organizations that perform Germany's mandatory vehicle safety check, though most people use it as shorthand for the inspection itself — officially called the Hauptuntersuchung (HU, main inspection). Whichever name you use, every registered vehicle in Germany needs one on a fixed schedule, and skipping it means you're driving an illegally inspected car, with real consequences if you're stopped.
A new car gets its first HU after three years; after that, it's due every two years, for the life of the vehicle, regardless of how new or well-maintained it is. There's no exemption for low mileage or careful ownership — the schedule applies uniformly.
The visible proof is a small round sticker on your rear license plate, color-coded on a six-year rotating cycle (2025 was orange, 2026 is blue, then yellow, brown, pink, and green before the sequence repeats) with a number in the center showing the year your next inspection is due and a smaller number at the top showing the month. A traffic officer can tell at a glance, from the sticker's color and position alone, roughly how overdue — or not — your inspection is.
The inspection itself covers brakes, lights, steering, tires, emissions, and general roadworthiness — performed by TÜV, DEKRA, or another accredited testing organization, not necessarily your own mechanic, though many garages can arrange the appointment for you as part of a service visit.
If your car fails, you're not immediately barred from driving it — you typically get a short window (commonly around a month) to fix the identified issues and get re-inspected before the failure escalates into a real problem. Ignore it for long enough, though, and an expired or failed HU can mean fines, points, and in more serious cases your insurance disputing a claim after an accident, since driving with a lapsed inspection is itself a violation.
When you buy a used car, check the HU sticker's date before anything else — a car with only a few months left before its next inspection is due for a real cost soon, and that's worth factoring into your price negotiation, not something to discover after the sale.