On Friday I'm driving to Germany and will be going to both Frankfurt and Cologne before heading for The Netherlands. Since 2006 you have had to show an Umwelt Plakette in your windscreen to show that you have paid to enter the central zones of various cities. They base it on Euro emission level and not CO2 emissions. So as a rule of thumb:

If your car is:

Euro 0 or Euro 1: you don't get any "Plakette"

Euro 2: you get a RED one

Euro 3: you get a YELLOW one

Euro 4 or better: you get a GREEN one

So yes you've guessed it my Yeti's got a green one! I stuck it bottom right as the rules state as I know how pedantic the Germans can be about things like that so even though it is now on the driver's side, best to not get a fine for having it on the wrong side!

Best thing about this is that this is valid for the life of the car!

To find out more about this and where to buy one (it arrived days after I ordered it) look at these websites:

http://www.environme...ntal-badge.html

http://www.plakette2...umweltzonen.php

Much cheaper to call in at the nearest testing station when you enter Germany, only takes 2 minutes, and you should already be carrying all your documents.

Much cheaper to call in at the nearest testing station when you enter Germany, only takes 2 minutes, and you should already be carrying all your documents.

I'd rather just get where I'm going than try to find a test station! And on top of that I don't speak German either. So via the Internet and snail mail was the easiest way to do it.

Best thing about this is that this is valid for the life of the car!

........as long as the car retains the original licence plate number. Change the plate = new sticker.

........as long as the car retains the original licence plate number. Change the plate = new sticker.

I'm not changing my number plate!! But you are right. The next owner of my car won't get my plate so this sticker is just for my use but for as long as I have the car!

On Friday I'm driving to Germany and will be going to both Frankfurt and Cologne before heading for The Netherlands. Since 2006 you have had to show an Umwelt Plakette in your windscreen to show that you have paid to enter the central zones of various cities. They base it on Euro emission level and not CO2 emissions. So as a rule of thumb:

If your car is:

Euro 0 or Euro 1: you don't get any "Plakette"

Euro 2: you get a RED one

Euro 3: you get a YELLOW one

Euro 4 or better: you get a GREEN one

So yes you've guessed it my Yeti's got a green one! I stuck it bottom right as the rules state as I know how pedantic the Germans can be about things like that so even though it is now on the driver's side, best to not get a fine for having it on the wrong side!

Best thing about this is that this is valid for the life of the car!

To find out more about this and where to buy one (it arrived days after I ordered it) look at these websites:

http://www.environme...ntal-badge.html

http://www.plakette2...umweltzonen.php

your info posted here is not correct.

there is no such connection between the sticker's colors and euro 1,2,3,4,5 emission norms as you suggested.

for example it is perfectly possible to get the "gruene plakette" for a gas engine powered car w/ euro 1

because it has more to do with particles polution (like soot in diesels) therefore mostly only diesels w/ dpf can get the green one.

your info posted here is not correct.

there is no such connection between the sticker's colors and euro 1,2,3,4,5 emission norms as you suggested.

for example it is perfectly possible to get the "gruene plakette" for a gas engine powered car w/ euro 1

because it has more to do with particles polution (like soot in diesels) therefore mostly only diesels w/ dpf can get the green one.

I did not make that up. I cut and pasted it from here: http://www.toytownge...hp/t110313.html Not a scientific study of exactly how they decide to award what colour plakette to what type of car, but someone else's view that (sort of) summarised it to me in a nutshell.

And by the way you can look up what "rule of thumb" means here.

I'd rather just get where I'm going than try to find a test station! And on top of that I don't speak German either. So via the Internet and snail mail was the easiest way to do it.

Glad you trust the Post Office Mail service :thumbup

Me I just called in at a TUV station on the border (a quick web search will give you an address of a station within a couple of miles of either your destination or your border crossing)and iirc it took 3 minutes, no stress waiting for the post and looking online the E5 I paid at a testing station is a lot cheaper than the E60 I have found 1 set of charlottans charging. Though it does appear to have gone up for foreign reg'd cars even at the TUV to E12.50. Still a big saving though.

Out of interest what did you pay?

Out of interest what did you pay?

Horses for courses! I have no fear of either the UK or German mail system.

Prices are here: https://umwelt-plakette.de/carpool_foreign_en.php?price=true&SID=ae8f5a1e52f358236e2f77421a45f653

I paid €39 for a printed one as I felt a handwritten one will fade over time and looks messy.

Enjoy Frankfurt and Koln, both great places!

What part of NL are you going to be visiting?

Enjoy Frankfurt and Koln, both great places!

What part of NL are you going to be visiting?

Thanks James. We have friends in The Hague. So will be based there and will be venturing from there - where exactly I don't know yet. But it is the land of my forefathers so the town which in name is also my surname is on the list for sure. Staying in Antwerp the night before the ferry and doing Bruges just before the short hop to Dunkerque.

Do you know what... I didn't even know about this!

We went to Koln at christmas and drove to our pretty central hotel through the city.

Never seen any mention of this anywhere and even our family in Germany never mentioned anything to us.

Oh well... didn't have any bother!

Phil

Do you know what... I didn't even know about this!

We went to Koln at christmas and drove to our pretty central hotel through the city.

Never seen any mention of this anywhere and even our family in Germany never mentioned anything to us.

Oh well... didn't have any bother!

Phil

You should have seen signs like these! Apparently they are not very good at Policing it but if they do fine you it is a minimum €40 fine.

And when you drive out:

Interesting post, you learn something new every day.

Cheers Johann it's been about 10 years since I last drove in Germany so this was news to me

I have just ordered mine from Tuv Nord for the forthcoming Düsseldorf Xmas market trip, I filled out the on-line PDF form, scanned my V5 and copied the lot into a word document - I think there was an issue with the on-line form? as once you had filled it out it wouldn't let you do anything with it apart from print it - so I 'printed it' to "OneNote 2010" (Microsoft software) which actually saves the document.

I e-mailed the form and copy of the V5, quite expecting there to be issues with it .... however the sticker arrived today c/w invoice (I only sent the e-mail late Tuesday evening!), the registration number is also printed on like Johann's rather than written on, total cost 12.50€

.... however the sticker arrived today c/w invoice (I only sent the e-mail late Tuesday evening!), the registration number is also printed on like Johann's rather than written on, total cost 12.50€

Result! And a lot cheaper than mine too.

It was interesting walking around in Germany to see the colours of the stickers on ALL the cars. Some very, very old cars had green ones, yet some far newer ones had yellow ones! All to do with the engine of course but still it looked to us as if about 95% of the cars and vans had green stickers! Doh.

Me I just called in at a TUV station on the border (a quick web search will give you an address of a station within a couple of miles of either your destination or your border crossing)and iirc it took 3 minutes, no stress waiting for the post and looking online the E5 I paid at a testing station is a lot cheaper than the E60 I have found 1 set of charlottans charging.

I certainly wouldn't of paid €60 as the fine is only €40

I did had my doubts to whether I could get on one a Saturday (when we are due to arrive) so the extra €7.50 was IMO worth paying for no hassle

IF it hadn't arrived then I intended to take a print out of the e-mail proving that I had at least attempted to get one before arrival, and to try when we got there - we may also not actually need it as some of the hotels being looked at are just outside the zone anyway (as in just over the road from the zone)