Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude
As far as getting approved by TUV, american soldiers don't exactly register our vehicles thru the german system, so we never have to go thru any TUV inspections.
We do have yearly inspections, but they are more for common safety deficiencies.
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Yup,
those tests do not have neccessarily to be performed by TÜV, but trough several approved institutions like DEKRA and the like. But you seem to be referring to the regular inspections for safety, not those ones your car has to undergo in case you modify it. Just read StVzO §19:
"(2) Die Betriebserlaubnis des Fahrzeugs bleibt, wenn sie nicht ausdrücklich entzogen wird, bis zu seiner endgültigen Außerbetriebsetzung wirksam. Sie erlischt, wenn Änderungen vorgenommen werden, durch die
1. die in der Betriebserlaubnis genehmigte Fahrzeugart geändert wird,
2. eine Gefährdung von Verkehrsteilnehmern zu erwarten ist oder
3. das Abgas- oder Geräuschverhalten verschlechtert wird."
You have a german license plate, so I believe, german law applies. According to that, any modification to relevant parts of the car either must be covered by a general approval (like an E-number or ECE-number) or have to be presented at TÜV for approval. Otherwise, the permit is invalidated. With all of the implications I mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmyBimmerDude
Lastly in response to the license plate statement, do you really think all of deutschland is going to come after me because I "chipped" my car when there are thousands of other chipped audi's, vw's, bmw's, etc?
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In Germany? I truly doubt that. I know of some people who do this, but they will likely be getting serious problems when they are caught or if something happens. Rest assured: if a casualty occurs with a high enough volume, insurers will by any means try to waive the cost for that.
The police will more likely inspect cars that are a tad older than yours where they can assume that something has been done, like rims, tires and such things. And - yes, even rims and tires have to be allowed for your car.
As do even light bulbs for running lights. No way to go for "super white" ones here. I think that's paranoid, but that's just how the story goes...
I had a friend whose car had been lowered, so it could be seen that the car had been tuned. The police saw him, inspected the car and noticed that his tire size was not right. The penalty for this is hard, since you have no insurance any more and pose a real threat to others. And any of these offenses is considered deliberate (chip tuning doesn't "just happen"), so penalties double.