The same German emissions sticker costs 5 euros at a city counter and 19.90 by post

Germany's emissions sticker is one of the few things in motoring that cannot vary. Its shape, colour and lettering are fixed by the ordinance on marking low-pollution vehicles — the 35. BImSchV, which the Federal Environment Agency dates to 1 March 2007. The sticker you collect in Kassel is the same object DEKRA posts to you. The price is not. We retrieved eight issuers. Six publish a figure, two do not. Between the lowest and the highest published price there is a factor of four.

What is actually published

• City of Kassel — 5.00 euros — issued at the citizens office against the vehicle registration certificate part I; the city notes the fee follows the federal road-traffic fee schedule (GebOSt) and is only final once documents are presented
• City of Munich — 6 euros — issued at the vehicle registration office, immediately on application; the only document required is the registration certificate part I
• City of Karlsruhe — 8.33 euros — issued by the city; the page cites § 40(1) and § 47 of the Federal Immission Control Act and the 35. BImSchV as the legal basis, and states itself that costs differ between districts
• ADAC shop — 14.90 euros — ordered online with free delivery; no member/non-member distinction stated
• TÜV SÜD — 17.50 euros — ordered online, described on the order form as expressly including VAT and postage
• DEKRA — 19.90 euros — ordered online, by fax or by post, stated as including VAT and postage; the price applies whether the vehicle qualifies for a red, yellow or green sticker
• GTÜ — no price. The page explains the pollutant groups and refers buyers to a local GTÜ examiner, without naming an amount
• TÜV Rheinland — no price. The page offers a contact form and a phone number for questions about driving in low-emission zones, but names no fee

Why counters charge different amounts

The three municipalities we retrieved sit between 5.00 and 8.33 euros for an identical administrative act. That is not arbitrariness but the structure of the fee: Kassel points to the federal road-traffic fee schedule and says the exact amount is determined when documents are presented. Karlsruhe puts the usual range at 5 to 8 euros itself and names 8.33 euros for its own city district — the rare case of an authority publishing the spread of its own fee alongside its figure. Drivers registered elsewhere will find the amount that applies to them only on their own registration office's page.

What the 10 to 15 euro premium buys