Hello,

At the moment, I am holding a German (EU) driving license in my hands. I shall say it is pretty flashy.

I want to share my experience so I hope it helps others.

I located in soutch Bavaria near Munich and I hold a Turkish license already for 5 years. When I wanted to get a German license ( because you know it is now valid after 3 or 6 months ), the driving school told me that I need to take the written and practical exams but I don't need to attent the courses. This was partially true for me.

I registered for the driving license via the Driving school and immediately payed some money ( for registration ).

The driving teacher told me that I should buy a book to study for the exam, and I did so. But the book he suggested was just book of 50 examination sheets. There were no rules in the book. However it was pretty expensive ( ~50 Euro ). It is a book from Vogel Verlag. This company provides a lot of free stuff to the schools, so I believe this is why he caused my buying this one. There might be cheaper ones. The good thing is that the book was Turkish and I took the written exam. in Turkish.

I bought another book which contained the rules and this one was German. I learned a lot of German terminalogy but it was rather slow to study from this book due to lack of German knowledge for me.

It is needed to study hard to succeed the exam. It is easy but there is not much space for errors. 2 mistakes out of 25 can cause you to fail.

I had worked all the night, in the morning I could solve a sheet in 30 seconds ( questions are terribly similar, after 5-6 hours I had memorized all. )

I took the exam and succeeded.

The fun started after this stage.

It costed me 66 euros for each lesson with the driving school teacher. We decided to do one and then he would tell me if I need more.

I needed more. And that was true.

I made 4 lessons. Then I took the practical exams. The terrible trick is here. The driving school teacher makes 125 euros per exam and the TUV makes some money also ( below 100 euros ). Everytime you fail an exam, the teacher smiles and puts the money into his pocket. ( I have never earned money this easy, by simply sitting on the passenger seat). I failed the first exam due to lack of attention to lane lines and a couple of minor mistakes. The examiner told me he didn't like the way I hold the steering wheel. They expected both hands always on the steering wheel. ( Since I have been driving for a long time, I am paying less attention to such not-so-important details. )

This time, instead of making another lesson with the teacher, I went to Austria where I can drive because I am a tourist there.

I rented a car and practiced all the day before the examination day. It was all day long and I could change my bad habits. I did this because I didn't trust the teacher. If I would fail again, he would simply make more easy money, thats it.

Next day, I took the exam and got the license the other day.

That's it.

Hope it helps.

Hi Atreides,

congratulations for your drivers licence and thanks for this story!

I guess this can be very helpful for others, that's the way I like it ;-)

Viele Grüsse aus Berlin nach 'Bavaria'
Detlef

Tebrikler Atreides !
and thanks for sharing this info with us. As a Turkish GC, this information is invaluable for me.
I am holding a Turkish licence at the moment (which became invalid after the first 6 months) and planning to get a new german one..
Could you please tell us how much money did you spend in total (inclúding everything) to get the german license ? (I am trying to estimate the expenses so I can plan my budget)
Did the German Authorites take your Turkish licence away ?
A friend of mine told me that they do so.. which I find quite unacceptable.. as I am not a german citizen and my licence is given by Turkish Authorities.. how can they have the right to take it ?
If this is a kind of precaution for not-using the both licenses at the same time, I would say it is rather non-sense.. as I can declare it lost and get another Turkish one in anyway.. :-)
Regards
Cevaplarin icin simdiden tesekkürler

Hi Friend,

Two processes are there...

First one is getting direct German license. Very expensive one.

Second one is converting your motherland driving license into German license.. it is cheaper though. There is no obligation, only if you want . Nothing stupidity here. If you choose this option you have to handover your license to get your German license.

VSK

To be precise with the budget, I need to check my papers, but I think I can write from my head :

1. Registration to the driving school : Don't remember
2. Book : 50 Euro ( I will place this book on ebay.de soon to sell )
3. 4x Driving lessons with drv. teacher : 4x66 euro
4. Written examination : Don't remember
5. First Practical Examination : 125 euro for the teacher + ~100 euro for the TUV
6. Second Practical Examination : 125 euro for the teacher + ~100 euro for the TUV
7. My personal adventure in Austria, car rental costs : ~110 euro

The total seems to be at least : 874 euro. ( Need to add the costs of items which I don't remember. )

Some notes : There are many example tests online. Check www.fahrschule.de and www.tuv.de

Regarding to the driving license exchange issue, it is true that you can get a license declaring lost. But this doesn't help because the Turkish license will still be invalid since you are here for more then 6 months. But again for the same reason, that the Zulasssungsstelle keeps your Turkish license, is nonsense.

Hello,
I founded very intresting the comments about the German Driving Licence (GDL) and I would like to add my comments.

For more than 10 years I had a Driving License from my Home Country, let´s call it HCDL, and have drived in many, many countries holding a valid International Driving License, but German Authorities don´t care about this. And in most of cases they are right.

I came to Germany only for one year, and I was always roaming all over the globe, so I never tought about getting a GDL. Later my wife and my son came here and my contract was extended but I was not thinking on staying here, so I didn´t think about it. Morover, as I was always working abroad I never took time to learn Deutsch. After 2 1/2 years we decided to stay here, and we bought a car...!! Then I started to find out how to get the GDL, my wife was driving meanwhile.

But after 3 years in Germany you can not change your HCDL for a German one any more, as Atreides did (second option described by vsrikanth9) and you must make all the process again as a German beginner(teuer...!!!). So I had to do it very quickly, before my three years of residence.



As far as I know:

I) In some countries in the world you really need to learn how to drive to get a DL, i.e. USA, UK, Germany, France, others..?
II) In some other countries you learn something.
III) In most countries of the world even a blind man can get a DL. This is, unfortunately, the case of my country.




From my experience I can say that, if you come from one of those countries(group III), and you are a driver with some experience you can get a GDL pritty easily but:

1) If you do it in the easy way, at the end you will fell somebody put his hand in your pocket.
2) If you profit about the experience, you will really learn how to drive, you will be less dangerous in the German traffic, you will probably save some money and you will get in touch with the German way of life. Driving is a serious matter, but most of people only realises about it after an accident, or a good training, like the German one.

Anyway some people never learns.




In any case I strongly recommend getting the GDL A.S.A.P., as it really takes time. Even if you don´t have a car now, you will need the GDL one day. You need at least a basic level of German.

The easy way is as follows.
---------------------------

1) Go to the Landratsamt > Zulassungsbehorde and inform yourself.
2) The same day you can get most of the papers you need. You will need some days to complete the First Aid Course (Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen - inform yourself in any Fahrschule). See my notes at the bottom. You have to pay for a lot of things.
3) Once you complete the Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen, register on a Fahrschule, buy the "Testbogen" or "Prufungsbogen" in your language (if you speak an European language), or in German if you are good enough in Deutsch. You have to pay also here.
4) Get to the Landratsamt with all your papers, and the seal of the Fahrschule. Here you pay again.
5) Study the Questionnayres and go to the Theoretical exam, if you studied you will pass it. You can make the exam in any European language. Pay the man..
6) Once you passed the theoretical exam, take a few driving classes, and go to the practical. This can be made only in German, as far as I know. Pay again... If you are not the hell on wheels, and you have some good luck, you can pass the exam, without problem. If not the first, will be the second time. Done.

The profitable way is as follows.
---------------------------------

1) Do it in advance, take time to get your GDL.
2) Go to the Landratsamt > Zulassungsbehorde and inform yourself.
3) The same day you can get most of the papers you need.
4) You will need some days, or weeks to complete the First Aid Course (Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen - inform yourself in any Fahrschule). If your German is not good enough to understand the contents of the course, find additional information in your language. See my notes at the bottom. It worths it, someday you may need to apply what you learnt, or you dididn´t learn.
5) Once you complete the Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen, register on a Fahrschule. Be carefull looking for the Fahrschule, take some time until you find a Teacher you feel you can trust. This is really a very good bussiness, and there is a lot of bad guys that only want your money, and will be very happy if you fail the first try of the practical exam, so you have to pay again. It worths it to pay some €s more, if you find a good teacher. This way you will probably pass the exam in the first try.
6) Get to the Landratsamt with all your papers, and the seal of the Fahrschule. You have to wait a few days.
7) Usually when you pay the Anmeldung on a Fahrschule you have the right to assist to the theorethical classes, in German, of course. Take the chance..! Go to the classes, even if your German is not good. Try to understand as much as you can, it is a very good opportunity to get in touch. Buy the "Testbogen" or "Prufungsbogen" in your language (if you speak an European language), or in German if you are good enough in Deutsch, or in English. Ask your colleages in the office for a "Prufungsbogen" in Deutsch, match it with yours in your language and learn the vocabulary. If you want more and have time buy a book and learn more, I don´t think that much is necessary.
8) Study the Questionnayres and go to the Theoretical exam. With the classes and the "Prufungsbogen" you can´t fail.
9) Once you passed the theoretical exam, take a few driving classes, then rent a car and practice alone. Take more classes, as much as you need whenever you feel you learn new things from your instructor. Go to the practical. This can be made only in German, as far as I know. There is no way to fail if you profited from the experience.

You learned to drive, and that´s for life. Now you are able to go from point A to point B in a safe way. Safe for you, your familiy and the third parties. Done.




About the costs:

First Aid Course (Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen € 27,00
bei Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz - BRK)
Sehetest, Optik € 5,95
Gebühren (Landratsamt) € 48,00
HCDL Übersetzung (ADAC) € 36,00
Gebühren (Rathaus) € 17,00
Übersetzung (see notes, point two) € 40,50
Anmeldung Fahrschule + "Prufungsbogen" €110,00
Fahrstunden (6x€34,50 gibt es billiger) €207,00
Theoretische Priüfung + TÜV € 67,00
Praktische Prüfung + TÜV €200,00





Notes:
- You can drive in Germany during six months with your HCDL. Rent a car an practice alone, that saves money.
- In some countries the DL expires every 5 or 10 years or other period of time. My DL was extended in 1990, renewed in 1995 and renewed again in 2001. I was on holidays in my country in 2001, and renewd it to use the car of my fathers. The point is that I was told in the Zulassung that I was not able to convert my HCDL to a GDL because my HCDL was extended in 2001 and I am resident in Germany since 2000.....!!!! Panic...!!! So, I had to get an additional paper from the "Landratsamt" of my country that says that my HCDL was extended for the first time on 1990, renewed on 1995, and renewed again on 2001, according to the Law in my home country. This way I was able to convert my HCDL to a GDL. Of course you need this paper translated, in Deutsch by an official translator (Dolmetscher).
- When I say "convert", I mean the process described by Atreides.
- Note that, all the cars of the Fahrschulen have the treadles (pedals) duplicated, the Teacher drives with you, he accelerates, brakes and clutches with you. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. If you feel something strange in the way your car behaves, it is probably the teacher "helping" you.
- Also note, that the cars on the Fahrschules use to be very poweful ones.
- The normal class is Klass B, this means (without details): a car up to 3,5t (max. 9 seats including the driver) and a trailer not heavier as 750 Kg. Not for professional use.
- To select the Fahrschule you have to make some numbers, you have the costs of registration but also the ones for the Fahrstunden, driving hours. In general you need between 4 and 10 paid hours with the Teacher.
- In my case I took the Lebensrettenden Sofortmaßnahmen in German. Well, my German is not very good, and the teacher noticed it. But she didn´t say, "Hey, you don´t understand what I say. Go to learn German and then come again.". So, I felt that they were only looking for money, and they don´t really care if you learn something or not. Because in this course I didn´t learn too much. OK, perhaps is the other way arround, and they only try to make things easy for people who don´t speak german, but needs a GDL. Anyway, as I decided to profit from the experience I searched for information about the contents of the course, but in Spanish, and I can proudly said that what I didn´t understood in the course, I learnt it on my own. There are other equivalent courses to that from BRK, that are given in a weekend.
- Always remember, as a rule, in the Farschulen first they want your money, second the want to teach you. Sometimes, only sometimes is the other way around.
- How do you know who is the good guy? My experience: I asked on many Fahrschulen, in all cases they asked me to sign the Anmeldung while they were explaining me, or they wanted to put their stamp on the form of the Landratsamt. Maaann....!! I don´t like to be hooked like this. In the last place I founded out the guy just gave my all the information and told me "Think about it and call me." I felt he was the guy, I mean, he was no desperate for a customer, he tried to help me first. We both made a good deal.
- I didn´t try, but I think it is possible to buy the "Prufungsbogen" directly from the Editorial, cheaper than in the Fahrschule.
- Check out the web page of the StVO.
- Hey Atreides, if your instructor didn´t tell you to put both hands on the wheel, he is one of the bad guys, to say it in a polite way. I was lucky, my instructor corrected me all my wrong habits on the first 15 minutes, and I had a bunch of them. Then he really teached me a stuff. Finally he prevented me against all the common and forced mistakes on the exam. I feel I needed to add my comments to yours.
- The guy from ADAC who translated my HCDL don´t speak a single word in Spanish. He asked ME, to tell HIM, if my HCDL was equivalent to a Deutsche Klass B. A fake..!!
- All the process took me 2 1/2 months.
- Sorry for the mistakes. Trying to learn German I have forgotten my English. It´s late and I don´t want to check the spelling.
- Those who are intrested will reach this line, for more information contact me on fmlazcano@hotmail.com.
- Sorry again, if I extended and it was heavy to read. It was a good experience for me, and I wanted to share it somehow.

Hello folks, I thank you all for the infor about this topic. I've planned to obtain my GDL starting from Jan. I've made some contacts with schools .The school nearest to me where I would love to undertake the process , I noticed the guy has some tendencies not to be a good guy.His prices are a lot higher than others which happen to be far way and while I was discussing with him; I noticed he had already categorised foreigners based on country and the difficulties in getting the GDL and my country happens to be on the low side in his list drawn up in his mind.

Doing it with him would save me time and money in transport to the next city which happen to be in another zone.

so folks , what do you guys suggest ?

Hello all ,I'm trying to contact a fellow GC "Uchechuk" he made an entry on receipes section, his name sound like someone; I've meet. Pls is there anyone that knows how I can reach him via email or some other means ?

Well, I had to wake up 6 times at 5:30 AM, to be at the Fahrschule at 7:00. And the worst part is, that my wife and son also had to do it at 6:00.

- That´s because there is no Fahrschule in my Dorf.
- There´s no good Bus connection from here to the Fahrschule.
- I was not allowed to drive any more.
- The only way to go there was been taken by my wife, and she gets to work at 9:00.


So, we travelled 30 Km to the fahrschule, I took an hour driving class, from 7:00 to 8:00, and we got back home. Then my wife got to work. 6 times, she really hated me by those days..!!


There were other Fahrschules closer, but as I told before: It´s better to pay somebody you feel you can trust.

Fabio

Thanks a lot Fabio for sharing your experience.I appreciate it .

Isn't it wonderful we have a forum like this !

Hello Folks,

I am a fellow GC; I would need your help in handling the situation I'm currently going through.

Early this year I thought of Having a GDL(German Driving License).
It all starting well. I took my theoreitcal exam once in March.
Thereafter; I prepared myself for the practical exam.I have driving experience before and the practical driving lesson was quite
smooth and brief. But I notice something is not right with the people running the school.
They've failed my twice on flimsy execuses but passed somebody who could not park.It is quite clear to me that the school has a scret liaison with Tüv ; fixes the candidate that should go through and is very subjective(bais) in doing that.

I have the following questions and it would be nice if you guys with experience can help me out with it.

1.) How long does the thoeretical exam result(passed) last before it expires that's if one is yet to pass the practical exam ?

2.) What are the steps required in switching to another school;
if possible without problems from the old school i.e attack from behind passed on to the new school?

Hi onye,

I made my German driving license last year and I had a similar experience as you. Do not worry, you will do it at the end, I know your feeling now... (I was in the same situation).
So to answer your questions:
1. The theoretical exam expires after exactly 1 year. So it is valid for 1 year only. But take care of something, if you fail 3 practical exams, then you have to wait something like 3 months to be able to do repeat the practical exam for the 4th time. (So if you had the theoretical exam in March, you still have some time left even if you fail the 3rd time). But try to pass the 3rd time, many TÜV examiners make it a little easy when they see you are on ur 3rd try to avoind you the 3 months waiting time if they fail you.

2. It is easy to switch to a new school. Just go to a new school, tell them that you are not comfortable with your current school and that you would like to switch to them. As you are the customer and they need customer to work and get money, they will be interested to contact your current school and get your application to them. Be clear with them and tell them that you want them to get you to them and they should arrange with the other school to have you from them.

Best of luck
Zash

Dear All,

Last week I got my driving license. Now I am looking for a car. Could you please advise, what type of car will be good for me as a beginer, from where and how I can buy a good reliable car.

Thanks.
ASM