German license plates: what the letters before the dash mean
The first 1-3 letters of a German plate are the city or district code. Here is how they work and why they matter for e-vignettes.
Plate anatomy
A standard German license plate looks like this: B - MW 1234.
- B — the district or city code (Kennzeichen). B stands for Berlin.
- MW — letters chosen by the owner.
- 1234 — digits, also owner-chosen.
Codes can be 1 to 3 letters long. Short codes (B, M, K, F) are large cities. Longer ones (ABG, BGL, LAN) are districts or smaller towns.
Why the code matters online
When you buy a foreign e-vignette (Austrian, Swiss, Hungarian) and link it to your plate, the operator's system validates the format. A plate with a non-existent German code will be rejected.
There are roughly 750 valid codes today. The federal Ministry of Transport maintains the official list.
Common codes
- Berlin: B
- Munich: M
- Hamburg: HH
- Cologne: K
- Frankfurt: F
- Stuttgart: S
- Düsseldorf: D
- Hannover: H
- Leipzig: L
Special suffixes
Two optional letters after the numbers:
- E — electric vehicle
- H — classic car over 30 years old
These are sometimes required for free parking zones or reduced tolls in some countries.
If your plate does not match
If you have a special plate (diplomatic, historic CD plates, custom export), standard validators may reject it. Look for a "non-standard plate" option on the purchase page, or contact support of the service you are using.