Germany scrapped the cap on resident parking permits. Five cities now publish five different orders of magnitude

A German resident parking permit buys the same thing everywhere: the right to leave your car in the zone around your home without feeding a machine and without a time limit. What it costs has almost nothing to do with that. We pulled the fees for five cities, in each case from the city's own official page rather than from third-party summaries. Between the cheapest and the most expensive figure there is, on an annual basis, close to a factor of thirty. All amounts are administrative fees; no VAT is shown on top.

What five cities actually publish

• Berlin — 20.40 euros to issue a resident parking permit, valid for a maximum of two years; renewal can be requested about a month before expiry. The state service portal cites sections 45 to 47 of the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) and the general administrative rules to the StVO as the legal basis
• Munich — 30 euros for twelve months, 60 euros for 24 months, payable by bank transfer to the city. The city cites section 45 paragraph 1b number 2a StVO plus city council resolutions on parking management
• Cologne — graduated by vehicle length since 1 March 2025: 100 euros a year up to 4,109 millimetres, 110 euros from 4,109 to 4,709 millimetres, 120 euros above 4,709 millimetres. A flat 100 euros applied before that. Exemption permits under section 46 StVO — for trades, midwives, nursing services, doctors and people with restricted mobility — are unaffected
• Freiburg im Breisgau — 200 euros for a year, 100 euros for six months, 10 euros for changes and replacement permits; the ordinance took effect on 1 December 2023 and rests on section 6a paragraph 5a of the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and section 1 of Baden-Württemberg's parking fee ordinance of 6 July 2021. It provides for no reductions
• Tübingen — 20 euros a month for combustion vehicles up to 1,800 kilograms and electric vehicles up to 2,000 kilograms, 25 euros a month above that; available for three, six, nine or twelve months. Holders of the district KreisBonusCard pay half for the card's term; changes or replacement permits cost 10 euros

Why the spread is possible at all

The resident parking privilege itself sits in the Road Traffic Regulations; Munich points to section 45 paragraph 1b number 2a StVO. The fee for it, though, was capped nationally for decades. According to the ADAC, the nationwide ceiling of 30.70 euros a year was abolished in October 2020 and fee-setting authority passed to the states and in part to municipalities. That is the whole explanation for the spread: Munich, at 30 euros for twelve months, is still effectively sitting on the old cap; Berlin, at 20.40 euros for up to two years, is below it; Tübingen, at 25 euros a month for heavier vehicles, reaches 300 euros a year — close to thirty times the Berlin rate on an annual basis.