Finding and uncovering the security code on your licence plate

Where exactly is the code on the licence plate?

Every registered licence plate carries a round official seal sticker (Stempelplakette) from the registration authority, also simply called the seal. It shows the coat of arms of the federal state and the name of the registration district. Since 2015, this sticker has concealed a 3-character security code under a cover layer.

Important for the deregistration: the front and rear plates each have their own seal and therefore two different codes. Both are required. Motorcycles and trailers with only one licence plate accordingly have only one seal code.

Does my seal have a code at all?

Seals issued on or after 1 January 2015 generally have a concealed code field. You can recognise it by a matt, slightly raised layer in the area of the coat of arms. Older seals are printed smoothly all the way through and contain no code.

Good to know: what counts is the issue date of the seal, not the year the car was built. A vehicle from 2008 that was re-registered in 2019 usually has seals with a code. Conversely, a car that has been registered unchanged since 2013 may still carry old seals.

How to uncover the seal code safely

The cover layer is deliberately delicate so that nobody can read the code unnoticed. If you scratch too hard, you can easily damage the characters underneath as well. So take your time and work in good light:

• Clean the plate so that dust and road salt do not cause scratches while you scrape.
• If a licence plate holder covers the seal, take the plate out of the frame first.
• Remove the layer with a fingernail or the edge of a plastic card using small movements; do not use coins or knives.
• Write down the code immediately and clearly mark the plate as front or rear.
• Uncover one code first and then the other, so that nothing gets mixed up.

The most common mistakes when typing in the code

Next to the concealed field, the seal often has a printed form or serial number made up of letters and digits. This number is not the security code. Only the three-character value that appears under the scraped-off layer in the coat of arms is entered.

Another classic is characters that look alike. If legibility is poor, use a torch or your smartphone's zoom function to check whether it is a zero or an O, a one or an I, an eight or a B. A single wrong character is enough for the register to reject the deregistration.

What to do if the code is illegible?

If a code has become illegible through excessive scraping, stone chips or weathering, the vehicle can no longer be deregistered online. New seals are not issued for a deregistration. The way forward is then deregistration in person, which is possible at any registration authority in Germany.

Do not guess repeatedly if characters are unclear. Instead, check the variants calmly and, if in doubt, find out whether deregistration in person is the quicker route.

Handling uncovered codes correctly

An uncovered seal code is a security feature, comparable to a PIN. Together with the code from the registration certificate, it allows your vehicle to be deregistered. So do not pass the codes on in classified ads, chats or photos that you share online.

A practical approach is to write the three codes on a note kept with the registration certificate straight after uncovering them, and to carry out the deregistration on the same day. That way only a few minutes pass between uncovering and entering the codes, and there is no period during which a visible code is unnecessarily exposed on the car.