Germany fixes the driving test at 129.83 euros. The other ninety percent of the bill has no published price at all

Anyone taking a class B driving licence in Germany ends up paying a figure nobody quoted them in advance. The ADAC puts the total at roughly 2,500 to well over 4,500 euros — a spread of 2,000 euros. Two items in that bill, however, are fixed to the cent and identical nationwide: the fee for the theory test and the fee for the practical. We checked which amounts the testing organisations and the licensing authorities actually publish — and where the bill stops being verifiable.

The examination fees: the same number at every organisation

• TÜV SÜD — 24.99 euros — theory test, all licence classes, including 19 percent VAT
• TÜV SÜD — 129.83 euros — class B practical test, including 19 percent VAT
• TÜV SÜD — 106.27 euros — lifting the automatic-transmission restriction on classes B and BE, a practical test ten minutes shorter than the standard one, including VAT
• TÜV Hessen — 24.99 euros, 129.83 euros, 106.27 euros — exactly the same three amounts, also including 19 percent VAT
• DEKRA — 21.00 euros net, 24.99 euros gross — theory test, all classes
• DEKRA — 89.30 euros net, 106.27 euros gross — practical test with 45 minutes of test time (lifting the automatic restriction)

Three organisations quoting the same amount is not the result of competition. TÜV SÜD states it on its own fee page: the level of driving-licence examination fees is set exclusively by the legislator. The basis is the federal ordinance on fees for road-traffic measures; the testing organisations add VAT to the set net amount. The DEKRA list is the only one that shows this step, because it prints net and gross side by side: 21.00 euros becomes 24.99, and 89.30 euros becomes 106.27. For the candidate that means haggling over the examination fee is haggling with an ordinance.

The authority fee: almost identical, but not quite

• City of Kassel — 45.90 euros — first issue of classes A, A1, A2, B and BE, in person or through the online procedure
• City of Kassel — 28.60 euros extra — recording the B197 manual-transmission competence
• City of Kassel — up to 30.00 euros extra — consent to an out-of-area test location, depending on how busy the test centre is
• Landratsamt Altötting — 45.90 euros — first issue of class B with probationary period, itemised by ordinance item: 35.70 euros (202.1 first issue), 5.10 euros (201 processing the application), 3.30 euros (145 driver-fitness register enquiry), 1.80 euros (126.1 registration documents)
• City of Brandenburg an der Havel — 44.70 euros — issuing a licence subject to the probationary period; 43.90 euros for classes AM, L and T