Moving to germany, and not sure what else I should look into.

Ive got snow tires and new break kit. Is there anything else I should do for getting the mini ready for germanys winter? Living only in florida and cali Im not to sure!

Thanks

 

Hi.

I lived in Germany for 3 1/2 years. Their Winters there are like most Midwest Winters... They do have more "black ice". But, they used to require vehicle inspections by TUV every year... So, just keep up with your maintenance and drive carefully.
We used to have to learn to mentally convert kilometers to miles and back, but now our cars do that for us.

Enjoy! Was the best 3 1/2 years of my early life.

Wayne

 

Winter tires are a plus and the only other thing you need is a well maintained car (same as you would in the states).

They do not allow tint on the drivers and passenger side windows so if you have any you'll need to have it removed in order to pass inspection.

Where are you headed?

 

You didn't say whether you were military or not and where you were moving. Military folks can maintain NA spec vehicles and don't have to deal with German regulations.

Otherwise, there shouldn't be any issues. You have your car smogged in DE to determine your tax rate and TUV does the inspection to confirm you meet all the regulations. It WILL be thorough, they take their rules very seriously over there. They will spot anything that isn't factory and look for a TUV compliant mark on it. Bigger than factory size wheels will also get you in trouble. Also see if your city is a Green Zone, which means another 3 Euro decal that basically says your car has good enough emissions to drive in the city.

Snow tires with steelies show up on everyone's car in October. You can stay insurance compliant with all season tires but they really don't work as well when you need them. Other than that you should be ok. Even the Germans stay home the first day of a heavy snow and after that they have the equipment to clear the roads pretty quick.

Have any repair or maintenance that you might need due completed in the US, dealer service is the norm there and the first bill will make you sit down. (the 30,000km service on my 318ti was 1000 Euros and consisted of an oil change, 4 spark plugs and decarbonizing)

Use the biggest power mods you can afford, the autobahns never get old.

 

No smogging done on either of our cars, just inspection, the environmental stickers are determined by the vehicle themselves though practically every new car gets a 4 (which will let you go anywhere), including GT500 mustangs.

 

When I was there, I thought non EU spec vehicles had to have a one time emissions test to determine their tax rate. It's been a few years though.

 

It seems as though that has changed...but the ridiculous inspection process has not.

 

Dark, I just noticed you are in Stuttgart. I used to live in Feuerbach about 3km from downtown. Worked in Rutesheim for Bosch.

 

Technically I live in Filderstadt, not that it really changes anything