# German Car Title/Documents



## xtrawurst (Sep 28, 2011)

Hi,
when you pick up your bimmer at the BMW Welt, do you get a German car title for the car (Fahrzeugschein and/or Fahrzeugbrief) and, if yes, can you keep it as a souvenir after you drop off the car and go back to the US?
I heard you get a "green registration booklet" but what's that good for?


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## jsciv (Oct 5, 2010)

That green booklet is what you hand the police when they stop you to check your papers. Happened twice to me, once in Italy (where their body language indicated that they hadn't seen Zoll plates before and were curious), and once back into Germany from Austria. In both cases I handed over the green booklet and IDL: in Germany they also wanted to see our passports. But both times it was just a check.

The title for the car still belongs to BMW at that point I think, but I dunno. What you have with you is just the paperwork indicating that it's okay to drive the car in the EU. You have to hand the booklet in with the car at drop off (as they have to drive it), but mine was in the glove box when I got the car back from the dealer at redelivery.


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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

Yes, you receive the _Fahrzeugschein_ for the car and that is indeed the title to the car (in Germany). It remains with the car through the export process, along with the green card (booklet), and should be waiting for you in the glovebox at redelivery. (I still have mine...great souvenir!)

The check-in staff at the Welt take pains to emphasize that if this document is stolen _with your car_, you *are not* covered by insurance. In particular they stress that you should take the papers up to your room when parking overnight. So think twice, and very hard, about leaving the car parked or unattended with the papers in the glove compartment--better to keep at least the title and green booklet on your person. (I usually took the entire ED folio with me, in my camera bag, every time I left the car--with one exception when I forgot during a lunch stop in Switzerland. That was not a relaxing meal.)

The green booklet is to the registration/title as an IDP (International Driving Permit) is to your driver's license. It is not the registration _per se_; it provides an official, certified translation of the information on your _Fahrzeugschein_ in several languages, to bridge the language gap when local authorities need to check your documents.


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

Zeichen311 said:


> Yes, you receive the _Fahrzeugschein_ for the car and that is indeed the title to the car (in Germany). It remains with the car through the export process, along with the green card (booklet), and should be waiting for you in the glovebox at redelivery. (I still have mine...great souvenir!)


I was pleasantly surprised to find these in our glove box at redelivery. I hadn't seen this mentioned anywhere here before and had no expectations that we would ever see it again after surrendering it at LOGINOUT.


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## xtrawurst (Sep 28, 2011)

Wow, some really helpful advice here in the forum. Thanks for the answers!


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## johnf (Sep 16, 2003)

Zeichen311 said:


> Yes, you receive the _Fahrzeugschein_ for the car and that is indeed the title to the car (in Germany)....


That's not how it is understood in Germany, which you'll discover if you try to register the car here. An export car isn't issued a Fahrzeugbrief (which the Fahrzugschein is part of), because it's hasn't been registered yet, but will be, presumably, after it's been exported. 

Until recently to register a reimport, you had to write the keepers of the central registry and ask for proof, an Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung, that the car didn't have a Fahrzeugbrief (or ...schein). I always thought it a little funny to be asked to prove a negative. Nowadays, a local registration office can get the information online.


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