Rental car permit; application

Transportation with rental cars is the transportation of persons with passenger cars that are only rented for transportation as a whole and with which the entrepreneur carries out journeys whose purpose, destination and course are determined by the renter and which are not transportation with cabs and not bundled on-demand transportation.

This does not include the rental of vehicles to self-drivers.

You may only hire out the vehicle as a whole. The hirer (passenger) determines the purpose, destination and schedule of the journeys.

You can obtain the permit for a maximum of five years. After that, you can apply for an extension.

Rental cars differ from cabs as follows:

• You may not keep hire cars available in public places/roads for the transportation of passengers. They must return to the company's place of business after each transportation.
• They have no obligation to operate or carry passengers.
• The fare can be freely agreed. However, they must calculate it using a distance meter.
• The color of the vehicles is not specified.
• The number of permits is not limited.
• You must affix a blue registration license plate to the rear window of your rental vehicle; the registration number is issued by the licensing authority.

Commercial patient journeys or journeys for the disabled that do not require professional care or the special equipment of an ambulance are also subject to authorization in accordance with the PBefG.

• The entrepreneur or the persons appointed to manage the company must be reliable.
• The entrepreneur or the persons appointed to manage the company must be professionally qualified.
• The company must be secure and financially viable.
• The registered office or branch of the company must be in Germany (as defined by commercial law).

You must apply for the rental car permit at the responsible office. You can download an application form from the Internet, depending on the services offered by your competent authority.

The competent authority will carry out a hearing procedure. As part of this, it requests opinions from other bodies, including

• Municipalities,
• trade supervisory authorities,
• the Chamber of Industry and Commerce
• the relevant trade unions and professional associations

After the deadline for comments has expired, it makes a final decision on the application and informs the applicant of the outcome in writing.

None

Note: If you wish to apply for an extension of the permit, you must submit a permit application with the required documents to the competent authority in good time before the expiry of the expiring permit.

The responsible office will usually decide on your application within three months.

The period can be extended by a maximum of a further three months. The prerequisite for this is that the competent authority has announced this in good time (within the first three months) in a written interim decision.

• The following documents are required for the rental car permit:
  
  • Proof of personal reliability (not older than three months at the time of application), e.g:
    • Extract from the Federal Central Criminal Register (certificate of good conduct)
    • Information from the central trade register
    • Extract from the central traffic register
  • Extract from the commercial or cooperative register (certified copies)
  • Copy of the articles of association and list of shareholders
  • for legal entities: Proof of authorization to represent the company
  • Proof of financial standing (not older than three months at the time of application):
    • Clearance certificates from the tax office
    • Clearance certificate from the responsible municipality
    • Clearance certificate from the social insurance:
      • from health insurance funds with which you insure or have insured employees and
      • for yourself, if you are or were voluntarily or privately insured.
    • Clearance certificate from the Employer's Liability Insurance Association for Transport and Traffic (not older than three months at the time of application)
    • Equity certificate and - if required - additional certificate (not older than twelve months at the time of application)
      • The amount of equity capital depends on the number of vehicles intended for use: For the first vehicle, you must provide proof of equity amounting to EUR 2,250, and EUR 1,250 for each additional vehicle.
  • Proof of professional suitability:
    • Examination certificate from the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) or
    • Certificate of professional qualification from the IHK for at least three years of managerial activity in a rental car company or
    • Certificate of the recognized equivalent final examination (e.g. merchant examination in rail and road transport with a focus on passenger transport)
  • If you appoint other persons to manage the company, you must submit the following documents for them:
    • Certificate of good conduct
    • Information from the central trade register
    • Extract from the driving aptitude register
    • Proof of professional suitability
    • Proof of the employment relationship (employment contract)

  The competent authority may request further documents.

Framework fee for the permit: EUR 50.00 - 500.00

For regular cases it is

• for the first vehicle: EUR 60
• for each additional vehicle: EUR 30

These amounts are not binding for the licensing authority.

In the event of excessive administrative costs, the licensing authority may deviate from these amounts up to the maximum amount of the framework fee.

You may incur further costs for register information and the preparation of other documents.