Vignette Germany
€12.95
Are you planning a city trip to Germany, or do you have to travel to the centre of a German city for work? Then there is a good chance that you will encounter an environmental zone—the so-called Umweltzone Germany. This is an area that you can only enter with your vehicle if it displays a coloured environmental sticker: the Umweltplakette or Feinstaubplakette. If you enter one of these zones without the required environmental sticker, you risk an immediate fine of at least €80. In addition to the environmental zone, cities can also impose a diesel ban in certain streets or districts.
The aim of the environmental sticker is to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles. This is often caused by older vehicles that emit a lot of fine dust and other harmful substances. You can assume that diesel vehicles manufactured before 2001 and petrol vehicles manufactured before 1993 will no longer be allowed in environmental zones anyway. The rest (cars, motorhomes, vans, trucks, buses) may only enter with a valid environmental sticker.
An environmental sticker is officially called an Umweltplakette in Germany, but many people also call it a vignette Germany, green sticker Germany or environmental sticker Germany. Essentially, stickers come in three different colours, each representing a different category. Your type of vehicle, its age and the degree to which it pollutes determine the colour of the sticker. Adhered to your windscreen, this sticker will allow or prevent you from entering certain areas. In this article, we will tell you all about this German environmental sticker.
There are three categories of environmental stickers, each with a distinctive colour: green, yellow or red. The colour of your sticker is determined by your vehicle’s engine type, its CO2 emissions (Euro standard), the vehicle category and its age. The colour of the sticker indicates how much a certain vehicle pollutes: green is environmentally friendly and red is not. Only the green vignette is still allowed in the vast majority of cities. Cars bearing a yellow and red sticker are already banned from entering the city centres. In fact, the yellow sticker is only valid in Neu-Ulm, and the red sticker is not even available anymore.
Please verify well before your departure which sticker is correct for your car and which one you need for your destination in Germany.
Vehicles that pollute the least are given a green sticker. With this one, you can enter every German city for which the environmental sticker is required. This applies to the following vehicles:
Please note that the years of manufacture mentioned are approximate. For example, maybe you own a car with a diesel engine dating from before 2006, which the manufacturer has already equipped with an engine that complies with the emission standard Euro-4. Or maybe you own a petrol car manufactured after 1993 that still does not meet the sticker requirements. In such cases, it is possible to deviate from the general rule of thumb.
The yellow environmental sticker Germany applies especially to:
The yellow sticker is currently only permitted in the Bavarian town of Neu-Ulm. Are you not travelling there? Then a yellow environmental sticker is of no use to you.
An environmental zone is an area where the local government wishes to restrict traffic through specific measures. In Germany, all cities are allowed to establish an environmental zone. Such an environmental zone often consists of the city centre, but it can also apply to some busy streets. And you are only to enter if you have a valid environmental sticker! The environmental zones are generally indicated by road signs. There is often additional information underneath these signs, such as the times for which the regulation applies or the colours of the permitted environmental stickers.
More than 50 German cities have already established an environmental zone. If you want to enter these areas by car, you must obtain a green sticker Germany. Cities that have established an environmental zone include Aachen, Augsburg, Berlin, Bonn, Bremen, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Hannover, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Krefeld, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, Mannheim, Mönchengladbach, Munich, Münster, Neu-Ulm, Neuss, Osnabrück, Regensburg, Siegen, Stuttgart, Ulm, Wiesbaden, Wuppertal and various cities in the Ruhr area.
Please visit gis.uba.de/website/umweltzonen for a comprehensive and up-to-date list of locations where the stickers are mandatory.
You can buy your environmental sticker in a number of places, including en route. An even faster and cheaper way is to order it online from a reliable intermediary, such as evignette.co.uk. We will discuss the possibilities in more detail below.
You can arrange all sorts of things with the ABTA when you travel abroad. But you cannot buy an environmental sticker for Germany there. Therefore, it is best to buy one from a reliable intermediary, such as evignette.co.uk.
If you don’t mind interrupting your journey along the way, you can buy your environmental sticker in Germany. For instance, it can be purchased from municipalities, garages and TÜV testing stations. You will, however, need your car’s registration certificate for this, as certain specifications (such as the year of manufacture, weight and fuel type) will determine which sticker is appropriate for your vehicle. Depending on the sales outlet, the price can be as high as €50. So it might be wiser to order the sticker before you leave. This makes for a more relaxing journey!
Many travellers order their environmental sticker for Germany at evignette.co.uk— and for good reason! After all, we arrange everything quickly and online, while you pay less than in Germany itself. Even the entire ordering process is very simple. You only have to provide a few details, check out, and everything will be taken care of accordingly.
Plain and simple. As soon as we receive your application, we will start processing it for you. If we receive your request before 5 p.m., we will even process it the very same day. We will then send the sticker by post; in most cases, you will receive it the next day or the day after. The only thing left for you to do is to apply the sticker to the lower-right side of your windscreen. You’ll pay only €12.50 for your German environmental sticker—also called the Umweltplakette. This includes VAT, application, processing and shipping within the UK. You can pay quickly and securely online with iDEAL, PayPal or credit card. Why do it the hard way when we make it so easy?
Do all vehicles in a German environmental zone really have to display an environmental sticker? No, there are a few exceptions. There is an exemption for the following types of vehicles and/or road users:
The exemption sometimes applies to cities where a diesel ban is in force. This depends on local regulations and differs from one municipality to another. Always check the website of the municipality if you want to be sure!
Cities often have an additional measure to reduce air pollution: a local ban on diesel vehicles. This diesel ban currently only applies to the cities of Berlin, Darmstadt, Hamburg and Stuttgart. And this usually applies to a limited area or even just a few streets. Several cities are considering implementing a diesel ban, so be sure to check the situation before you travel. You can find an up-to-date overview at gis.uba.de/website/umweltzonen.
Are the restrictions of a diesel ban identical in all cities? No, they are not! Each city can decide for itself which Euro emission standard applies and which vehicles are not allowed to enter the restricted zone. Your environmental sticker is therefore not valid in these zones. Sometimes, even polluting petrol cars are banned. There are some exemptions—for example, if you have a disabled parking permit. However, these do not apply everywhere. So once again: please check the website of the municipality in question before you leave. Road signs with captions indicate to which vehicles the ban applies.
People in Germany like it when you stick to the rules. This is something you will notice in their behaviour on the road anyway (conforming to the speed limit), and it is no different when it comes to the environment. The environmental stickers are there for a reason. So, if you enter an environmental zone somewhere, you really must have the appropriate environmental sticker! Do you not have a sticker? Or is it in the wrong place (it should be placed in the lower-right corner behind the windscreen)? Then you can expect a hefty fine of around €80.
If you do not pay on time, the fine will be increased. Compare that to the modest price of a valid environmental sticker, and it should be easy to make the right decision!