When is my TÜV due? How to read the German TÜV sticker

Reading the sticker on your rear plate

The round sticker, the Prüfplakette, is defined in Anlage IX of the Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung (StVZO), the German regulation on vehicles' fitness for the road. Its rim is divided into twelve segments numbered 1 to 12, running anticlockwise, and the number standing at the very top is the month of the next HU. The two digits in the centre are the last two digits of the year. A sticker with 9 at the top and 26 in the middle means the car is due in September 2026.

From a few metres away the numbers are hard to make out, so the sticker also carries a black bar on its rim. ADAC explains that the bar marks the same month a second way: if it sits where 8 to 10 o'clock would be on a clock face, the month is 9. The colour helps too. Anlage IX ties the background colour to the year the HU is due and cycles through six colours: blue for 2026, then yellow, brown, pink, green and orange, before blue comes round again in 2032.

The same date is written in the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I, the registration certificate that used to be called the Fahrzeugschein. §29 StVZO requires whoever issues the sticker to record the month and year of the next HU there, which makes it the place to look if the sticker is scratched or you are checking a car you have not bought yet.

The 36-month and 24-month rule

Anlage VIII of the StVZO sets the intervals. For an ordinary passenger car the first HU is due 36 months after the car first comes onto the road, and every later HU 24 months after the previous one. Taxis and ambulances run on 12-month cycles, and ADAC notes that motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes do as well, so the 36 and 24 months are the private car rule.

The clock starts in the month the car first received its number plate, and after each test it restarts in the month of that test (Anlage VIII, point 2.3). It runs out at the end of the month shown on the sticker, whatever the day of registration. A car first registered on 20 March 2024 is due by 31 March 2027; if it is tested in March 2027, the next HU is due by the end of March 2029.

Cars that are registered again after being taken off the road, or that were registered outside Germany before, have their own starting rules in the same point 2.3. If you brought a car with you, go by the date entered in your Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I rather than counting from the car's original registration abroad.

Testing early or late moves the cycle

There is no grace period built into the sticker. ADAC states that the HU has to be done within the month shown at the latest, and that the new sticker always runs for 24 months from the date the test actually took place. Testing early, for example to sell a car with a fresh two years, simply moves the whole cycle forward.

Testing late does not preserve the old rhythm either. ADAC notes that the backdating that used to happen no longer exists: if a car due in August 2026 is tested in October 2026, the next HU is due in October 2028, not August. Being late therefore costs nothing in sticker time, but it does carry the fines described below.

What happens once the month has passed

According to ADAC, letting the month on the sticker pass is already an administrative offence (Ordnungswidrigkeit), although for a private car a fine is only issued once the deadline is more than two months behind. The federal fines catalogue, the Bußgeldkatalog-Verordnung, sets the amounts in entry 186.2: 15 euros for more than two and up to four months, 25 euros for more than four and up to eight months, and 60 euros beyond eight months. ADAC adds that the last band also brings one point in Flensburg.

The testing station adds its own cost. ADAC explains that once the deadline is more than two months past, testers have to carry out an extended inspection, the Ergänzungsuntersuchung, which is charged at 20 percent extra.

There are knock-on effects as well. §29 StVZO allows the local authority to prohibit or restrict the use of a car without a valid sticker until a new one is fitted. On insurance, ADAC says third-party liability cover still pays the other side after an accident, but if a defect the HU would have flagged caused the crash, the insurer may claim back up to 5,000 euros, and comprehensive cover can in the worst case refuse to pay.

If the car does not pass

A failed HU starts a second, shorter clock. Under Anlage VIII, if the tester finds significant defects (erhebliche Mängel), the car gets no new sticker and has to be repaired and brought back for a re-check within one month of the test day. With only minor defects (geringe Mängel) a sticker can still be issued, but the faults have to be fixed within a month as well.

While the repairs are being done, §29 StVZO extends the validity of the old sticker by one month. ADAC warns that missing the re-check window means paying for a complete new HU, plus a 15 euro warning fine if the delay is noticed at a roadside check.

Where people get the date wrong

Reading the colour instead of the numbers. The colour shows the year at a glance, but only the number at the top tells you the month. Two cars with blue stickers can be due eleven months apart.

Counting from the day rather than the month. The deadline is the end of the month on the sticker. A car registered on the 3rd is due on the last day of that month, not on the 3rd.

Expecting an early test to keep the old cycle. A car due in September that is tested in June is next due in June, two years on. Book early if it suits you, but expect the date to move.

Relying on memory after a move or a purchase. When you buy a used car, look up the next HU in the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I as well as on the sticker. If you would rather not carry the date in your head, Autofrist, a car paperwork app, works it out from the first registration and last HU dates and reminds you 60, 30 and 7 days before the month runs out.

This guide summarises the StVZO rules and ADAC guidance for private cars. It is not legal advice; for your car, the date in your registration certificate and the information from your testing station apply.

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