# Any Ideas on What's Happening Here?



## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Two weeks ago I was in Padova, Italy and passed this Range Rover on the street. The red temporary German tags caught my eye. He had a similar one on the front of the car. Not only are those plates long ago expired, what are they doing on a British made car? Does Jaguar/Range Rover have a German plant with European Delivery in Munich? Maybe a German bought this car in Germany and was issued temp tags but how can he still be using them 10 months later? Inquiring minds want to know.

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## dandanio (Jun 20, 2008)

Interesting. My idea is that those are expired temp plates, from the city of Munich.


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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

Those plates are still valid. The expiration date is 01 December 2018. 

*Edit:* Use of these plates is not exclusive to European-Delivery-style "tourist" programs. AFAIK they are issued for any vehicle purchased in Germany that will be exported within a short, defined period. One possible scenario: Someone who resides in another European country bought the car from the Munich Land Rover dealer (it's just down the street from BMW Welt ) and plans to drive it home by the end of the month.


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## Eagle11 (Oct 6, 2013)

Gluhwein said:


> Two weeks ago I was in Padova, Italy and passed this Range Rover on the street. The red temporary German tags caught my eye. He had a similar one on the front of the car. Not only are those plates long ago expired, what are they doing on a British made car? Does Jaguar/Range Rover have a German plant with European Delivery in Munich? Maybe a German bought this car in Germany and was issued temp tags but how can he still be using them 10 months later? Inquiring minds want to know.
> 
> ******** async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8">*********>


I wish Jag/Range Rover would do ED


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Zeichen311 said:


> Those plates are still valid. The expiration date is 01 December 2018.
> 
> *Edit:* Use of these plates is not exclusive to European-Delivery-style "tourist" programs. AFAIK they are issued for any vehicle purchased in Germany that will be exported within a short, defined period. One possible scenario: Someone who resides in another European country bought the car from the Munich Land Rover dealer (it's just down the street from BMW Welt ) and plans to drive it home by the end of the month.


I think you're right, but aren't they 30 day plates? Kudos to those brave enough to drive their brand new expensive cars into Italy. I was driving a beat-up rental Fiat 500 and was scared to death the whole time. Those Italian drivers are nuts. Not to mention the pedestrians darting out into traffic when you're least expecting it. Worse than the whitetail deer where I live.


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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

Gluhwein said:


> I think you're right, but aren't they 30 day plates?


The term for which the registration is valid is variable but must be specified at issue. That's why the date embossed on each set of plates is the expiration date of the registration (and hence the plates), not the issue date.

The statutory maximum term of registration is something like six months, IIRC. I don't know what the minimum is. For BMW Euro Deliveries, the term expires at least two weeks after the scheduled drop-off date, to allow BMW AG sufficient time to get the car on a ship before expiration.

When reading the date top-to-bottom, remember you're looking at a common European format (DD-MM-YY) that differs from the common US convention (MM-DD-YY). So the plates you saw did not expire back on January 12; they are valid until December 1. They could have been issued the day before you spotted the Range Rover, or almost six months ago, or any time in between.

In short, there's nothing happening here at all out of the ordinary.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Thanks.

I knew somebody on here would know.


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## M FUNF (Apr 2, 2008)

The maximum term is longer than 6 months as Mercedes Benz will allow up to a year before the car must be removed from the EU. I know because I had an arrangement with my local dealer to buy an ED car keep it for a year and pick up a new ED car, just prior to shipping. With MB this is easy to do as the Stuttgart turn in point is actually within walking distance of the delivery area.


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## Tanning machine (Feb 21, 2002)

Zeichen311 said:


> Those plates are still valid. The expiration date is 01 December 2018.


:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Couldn't quite see the photo clearly on my screen, but thought that might be exactly it!


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## Mark K (Jun 5, 2010)

Zeichen, as usual, is 100% correct. These are ZOLL plates (zoll = customs) and are slapped on the car purchased in Germany that will leave Germany without any taxes paid while those plates allow car to be driven to final taxing destination legally and insured. 



It is a fairly normal practice that people from other countries go and buy relatively expensive cars used in Germany and, if they are driven out, they get Zoll plates, too. Why Germany is not 100% clear, I think it is the market with most choice in cars with bigger displacement engines and possibly best prices. As Zeichen said, it will depend on where the car is going to be registered that will dictate the duration of the period.



What is still confusing to me, though, are German plates with YELLOW band and the date - those I have no idea what they are. Anybody has a clue? They look like normal plates in everything but that yellow band in exact same place where Zoll plates have red band. Zoll plates are shorter than normal plates since numbers can repeat because of relatively short expiration dates).


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## Tanning machine (Feb 21, 2002)

Mark K said:


> What is still confusing to me, though, are German plates with YELLOW band and the date - those I have no idea what they are. Anybody has a clue? They look like normal plates in everything but that yellow band in exact same place where Zoll plates have red band. Zoll plates are shorter than normal plates since numbers can repeat because of relatively short expiration dates).


Temporary plates used for transfer within Germany.


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