Automotive/How to

Germany has no winter tyre season — it has a weather rule, and a fine attached to it

No date makes winter tyres compulsory in Germany. Road conditions do. Since October 2024 the old M+S marking no longer counts, and the rule applies to foreign plates too. Here are the fines and the prices the ADAC actually recorded.

Meridians Technik-Redaktion

Published 22 August 2026 · Updated 22 August 2026 · 6 min read

Germany has no winter tyre season — it has a weather rule, and a fine attached to it — Photo: Foto von Britt Smeyers / Pexels (Pexels-Lizenz — kostenlos nutzbar, Nennung rechtlich nicht erforderlich (oben dennoch angegeben).)

The short answer

Germany applies a situational winter tyre requirement: what matters is not the calendar but whether there is black ice, packed snow, slush, or frost (§ 2 (3a) of the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung).
Since 1 October 2024 tyres carrying only the M+S marking are no longer permitted in winter road conditions. The Alpine symbol is required — on all-season tyres too, and on foreign-registered vehicles.
According to the ADAC the driver pays 60 euros and one point on the Flensburg register, 80 euros if others are obstructed and 100 euros if endangered; the registered keeper pays 75 euros and one point.
In its September 2025 test of 31 winter tyres in size 225/40 R18, the ADAC rated 15 as not recommended. The prices it recorded for the six tyres graded good are listed below.

The advice you hear most often about winter tyres in Germany is a mnemonic: von O bis O, from October to Easter. It is not in the law. The ADAC contradicts it in a press release, saying the rule of thumb holds only up to a point, because wintry road conditions can occur before and after that window. Anyone relying on the calendar is relying on the wrong variable.

What the law actually requires

The governing provision is § 2 (3a) of the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung, the German road traffic regulations. A motor vehicle may be driven in black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost only if all wheels are fitted with tyres meeting the requirements of § 36 (4) of the Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung. The duty attaches to the state of the road, not to a date, and it covers all four wheels rather than only the driven axle. Single-track motor vehicles — motorcycles — are expressly excluded.

M+S on its own stopped being enough in October 2024

What § 36 (4) now requires is the Alpine symbol: a stylised mountain peak with a snowflake. Tyres manufactured before 1 January 2018 bearing only the M+S marking were covered by a transition period that ended on 30 September 2024. Since 1 October 2024 they are no longer permitted in wintry road conditions. The manufacturing date is on the sidewall as the DOT code. The ADAC states that the requirement applies equally to all-season tyres and to vehicles on foreign plates — worth knowing if you are driving into Germany from abroad.

What a breach costs

Driving in wintry road conditions without suitable tyres — 60 euros and one point — per ADAC
The same, obstructing other road users — 80 euros and one point — per ADAC
The same, endangering others — 100 euros and one point — per ADAC
Registered keeper who orders or permits such a journey — 75 euros and one point — per ADAC

Tread depth: the legal floor and the useful number

The legal minimum tread depth is 1.6 millimetres. For winter tyres the ADAC recommends considerably more — at least four millimetres — and advises replacing winter tyres after six years at most, because the rubber compound hardens. Both are ADAC recommendations rather than legal duties: driving on 2 millimetres is not an offence on tread-depth grounds, it just lengthens the braking distance.

What good winter tyres cost

Meridians does not test tyres. Every figure below comes from the ADAC winter tyre test published on 23 September 2025 in size 225/40 R18. The ADAC states these are average prices for Germany as a whole, collected on a fixed reference date from 25 representative tyre dealers, per tyre. Listed are all six models that earned the grade gut — good — in that test. There were no others.

Goodyear UltraGrip Performance 3 — 171.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.0, best in test
Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 — 177.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.1
Bridgestone Blizzak 6 — 167.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.2
Dunlop Winter Sport 5 — 169.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.4
Hankook Winter i*cept evo3 W330 — 140.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.4
Continental WinterContact TS 870 P — 177.00 euros per tyre — ADAC overall score 2.5

The same test carries a figure that puts the price list in perspective: of the 31 tyres examined, the ADAC rated 15 as not recommended, and all eleven that scored mangelhaft — poor — came from the budget segment. The gap showed up above all in wet braking.

Sources

Every factual claim above is traceable to these documents. Check them — that is why they are here.

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