Transcription a foreign driving licence in Munich
If you have moved to Germany and are the lucky holder of a driving licence, congratulations are in order. For the first six months, you are allowed to drive with a national licence and not have to worry about it. You will have problems after six months, because according to German law, your license becomes a pumpkin, and you need to get a German license. It makes sense in general, but in part, let's sort it out.
I share my experience of getting German driver license with a Russian driver license, but the procedure is the same for most countries.
The process of replacing a foreign driving licence with a German one is very similar to that of obtaining one in Germany from scratch, but with a few simplifications. The procedure is as follows:
- Making a translation of your driving licence
Well, it's not complicated, any certified translator will do it. I had my spouse's friend at work translate my driving licence for me. I did not even have to meet her in person - I sent photos of my licence, received a document with a translation, and transferred the agreed amount to her account (I can't remember how much at the moment, so I won't lie). Plus you have to make a classification for the translation, but the translator is usually aware of this.
- Taking a first aid course (Erste Hilfe Kurs)
A very useful course, I think it should also be made compulsory in Russia. The internet is full of courses for all tastes and colours. We grab any of them and learn the basics. I listened to the course in Russian at this wonderful place called BLЯ-Akademie. They can also do a vision test and photos on the driver's license. At the link above you can see the schedule of courses in Russian, and here you can see what prices they have to offer.
- Choosing a driving school
Yes yes, beloved reader, we are still talking about what you need to do to exchange your national driver licence for a German one! I know only two driving schools in Munich where you can prepare for the exam in Russian: 089-Fahrschule (here they also offer first aid courses) and Nikitin-Fahrschule (here on the website it says that lessons are only for cars with automatic gearboxes). Since there are only two Russian-speaking schools, it can happen that the nearest appointment for classes (theory or practice) can be 2-3 months in advance. This was not a good situation for me, so I decided to opt for a driving school with an English-speaking instructor, which greatly increased my choice. I can't give you any advice here, so I called the nearest driving school with an English-speaking instructor and signed up. At the driving school you can buy a preparation program for the theory exam (that's right, you have to take the exams - theory and practice), called Fahren Lernen (checked the website of the driving school where I studied, they now offer the new ClickClickDrive, maybe the old one is no longer relevant, you should ask the driving school when you sign the contract). In general, the app is useful, there is a translation into Russian, I was satisfied with the translation, I learned everything in Russian, because when passing the theory, you can also choose Russian (or English). The application is a set of exam questions broken down by topic, in the training mode for each question, you can read the theory. There is also a simulation mode, where you can check whether you are ready for the exam. If you don't want to pay, you can try to find free versions like this one. .
- Checking your national driving licence.
Once you have signed an agreement with a driving school, you must present your driving licence for inspection to the local driving licence office. In Munich, this is Führerscheinstelle (Fahrerlaubnisbehörde | Kreisverwaltungsreferat (KVR)) at Garmischer Str. 19-21. Among all services, choose Umschreibung eines ausländischen Führerscheins (which can be translated as "foreign driving licence check") and make an appointment (having previously gathered the whole package of documents: passport, photos, driving licence plus translation, contract with the driving school, eyesight test, proof of first aid course. This is all for class B and if Munich is your first place of registration in Germany. In other cases, you may need additional documents (see link). The inspection takes approximately 8 weeks and you can spend all this time preparing to take the theory test. During this time, your licence will be taken away.
A little life-hacker's tip: Since there are often problems with the appointment and the appointment does have to be caught early in the morning, I turned on the "fool" and took the appointment for a replacement driving licence rather than for an inspection. At the meeting I already tried to explain in very bad German what I had to do and was directed to another person who took my documents. There is no guarantee that this will work.
- Taking a theory exam
Once the driving school has received confirmation that there is no problem with your driving licence and you are eligible for the theory test, the driving school will contact you to register you for the exam. Here's your first advantage over first-time drivers - you don't need to attend a theory class. You may, of course, listen to the theory if you are interested, but if you do not want to, no one will force you to. In Munich, the theory test is taken at the Führerschein Theorieprüfungs Stelle at Rüdesheimer Str. 1-7, 80686 München. You can ask to take the exam in Russian (or English) before the start of the exam. There is no problem with taking the exam in Russian or English. The teacher will choose your preferred language and tell you which seat the driver candidate needs to sit. The questions are the same as those you learn in the programme from the driving school, with the same translation. I used to have a lot of criticism concerning translation, but I learned the programme in Russian and took the exam in Russian as well, so I passed the exam without any mistakes. As soon as you pass the theory test, the information is sent to the driving school, and the school will invite you to driving classes to prepare for the next exam.
- Driving classes
Your second advantage over first-time licence holders is that you do not have to take a full driving course, which includes driving on the motorway and overnight driving in addition to city driving. In addition to the time you save, it saves you a lot of money, as the practical sessions with the instructor take up a large part of the total cost of getting your driving licence. This is where your benefits end and you need to pass your practical test. No matter how good a driver you are, I would still advise taking a couple of lessons with an instructor to drive around the route where the exam will take place. And if you already have a lot of driving experience behind you, I highly recommend taking a ride with an instructor - you will discover a lot of new things. I drove 4 lessons and the instructor said he was calm for me. From the discoveries was that at the examinations it is necessary to make a 360 degree turn of your head while performing various maneuvers: when parking reverse - turn around and look what you have behind and whether there is nobody there, just check the mirrors does not work; when turning right or left - slow down or even stop, turn your head to the side of turn, then to the other side, make sure that there are neither pedestrians nor bicycles and only then turn, if not do that - the exam is failed. In general, an instructor session is very useful if you don't want to pay any fines here and they are very expensive..
- Passing the driving test
Once the instructor has decided that you are ready for the exam, the school will register you for the exam. You can of course say that you don't want to take the lessons, argue a bit and you might even get an exam date, but I don't think the 4 lessons I took were unnecessary. Well, it is worth noting that you pass in the same car that you have been studying, so it is good to get used to the car. The exam starts at the driving school, from where the instructor picks you up and brings you to the place where your exam will start. I was lucky - the examiner had me first, so we arrived at the venue for the theory exam. The second coincidence was that the exam was taken by the same person who had followed us during the theory exam. Итак, начало экзамена. So, the beginning of the exam. The first part of the exam is questions about the car (check the condition of tyres, what is a low and high beam, what is a hazard warning light, how to switch it on and other general questions). There are 3 questions, but there is an important note: the examiner will only speak to you in German. As the instructor explained to me, this was done so that there would be no misunderstanding if the examiner mistranslated a question into English. Apparently there were precedents and now this option has been removed, so you have to learn the basic terms and phrases in German, as you have to answer in German as well. As my German skills were very poor at that time, the instructor gave me a list with the names of the parts of the car in German that may be asked before we start driving. Once you have answered the questions (usually one question standing in front of the car and two in the passenger compartment) and have received approval from the examiner, you may drive off, remembering to adjust your mirrors, seat, steering wheel and fasten your seatbelt. The examiner will sit in the back seat and tell you where to turn and what to do. The instructor sits next to you during the test and may be able to tell you something if you don't understand or don't hear, but that's not certain. It is best to listen carefully to what the examiner says. There will definitely be a drive-through in zone 30, a type of parking and U-turns. The exam lasts approximately 45 minutes. I've heard of funny cases where people have taken the autobahn, got caught in traffic and passed their exam that way. I wasn't so lucky, so I had to drive around town early in the morning. I had one moment during the exam when we got into a little traffic jam at a traffic light and it happened that I passed the traffic light, but before I could get to the intersection, the red light came on and I had to stop because the flow of cars that were standing perpendicular to it was already on its way. Eventually the examiner told me when the light was green and I could go on. Later, after I successfully passed the exam, the instructor told me that everything was fine there and my mistake was not there. The test ends with you arriving at some point where you are told whether you have passed or not, you change into the passenger seat and wait for the instructor to take you back to the driving school. The examiner then moves on to the next car where a new driver is waiting impatiently for his or her licence. As I passed my exam in the morning, I signed up for my driving licence at the same time and received my newly printed licence in the afternoon. When I got my German licence, I asked for my Russian licence back. I have read a lot that the Russian ones may not be returned, as you already have a German one, but they gave me mine back.
Cost
Now for the best part. As of April 2023, it will cost you to exchange your national driving licence for a German one:
- Translation + classification ~65 EUR according to ADAC website (of course cheaper can be found).
- First aid course + photos + eye test ~ 70 EUR according to the BLЯ-Akademie
- Driving licence check at KVR ~ 44,70 EUR
- Driving school. This is where the options are already available. On a site of a driving school 089 it is written that registration in a driving school will cost 400 EUR for those who confirms the Russian licence for a class B. You should add the cost (see link for prices) of 100 EUR for training materials and 95 EUR for training hours (if you don't need it, you don't have to pay it).
- Theory test (according to the 089 driving school prices) - 180 EUR
- Driving test (according to the 089 driving school prices) - 450 EUR
Total: If you pass the exams the first time and have no lessons with an instructor, it will cost ~1309,70 EUR to change your National driving licence. Add a couple of lessons with an instructor and you get 1499,70 EUR.
As I noted above, the biggest variation in prices occurs at the driving school. So, for example, if you're willing to take a course in English, there are slightly cheaper options, literally the first page of a google search and here's an offer from DriveX for those who are proving their licence:
If you calculate similarly without taking into account classes with an instructor we get 1000,70 EUR, which is 300 euros cheaper. Even taking into account the 5 lessons, which they strongly recommend to take on the website, you get cheaper 1410.70 euros against 1499.70 euros in a Russian school with two lessons with an instructor.