Germany Driving Ban (Fahrverbot): How Long It Lasts and How It Differs From Losing Your Licence

A Fahrverbot is a temporary ban on driving in Germany, ordered for one to three months. It is not the same thing as losing your licence, and confusing the two leads people to prepare for the wrong consequence entirely.

Most people who search for fahrverbot have just received a Bußgeldbescheid, or fine notice, that mentions one, and they do not yet know whether they are facing a short, automatic pause or a full revocation that requires reapplying from scratch. This page separates the two tracks, walks through how long a Fahrverbot actually lasts, when it starts, what happens if you drive during one anyway, and how the much more serious Entziehung der Fahrerlaubnis works instead.

Information last verified on 19 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Fahrverbot or Entziehung: the question to answer first

German traffic law has two entirely different tools for taking a driver off the road, and they get confused constantly because both end with the driver unable to drive for a while.

A Fahrverbot under § 25 StVG is a fixed term punishment, one to three months, imposed alongside a fine for a gross or persistent breach of driver duties, or for certain alcohol and drug offences under § 24a StVG. During that period the licence document goes into official custody. When the term ends, it is returned and driving rights resume automatically. Nothing has to be reapplied for.

An Entziehung der Fahrerlaubnis is a revocation. It happens on one of two tracks: a criminal court can order it under § 69 StGB on conviction for an offence committed while driving that shows the person unfit to drive, or the licensing authority can order it administratively under § 3 StVG where it separately concludes the holder is unfit. Either way, § 69 Abs. 3 StGB states plainly that the licence expires the moment the judgment becomes final. There is no fixed term to wait out. A new licence has to be applied for, and before that application can even be made, a Sperrfrist, a court set minimum waiting period, has to pass.

The practical gap between the two is large. A Fahrverbot is an inconvenience with a known end date. An Entziehung means starting the licensing process again, usually including proof that the underlying problem, such as an alcohol issue, has been addressed.

What triggers a Fahrverbot

§ 25 Abs. 1 StVG sets two routes into a Fahrverbot. The general route applies where a Geldbuße, a fine, is imposed for an Ordnungswidrigkeit under § 24 Abs. 1 StVG involving a gross or persistent breach of a driver's duties. The statute does not fix a numeric threshold itself, that work is done by the Bußgeldkatalog-Verordnung, or BKatV, which lists the specific violations that as a rule justify a ban.

The second route is narrower and more automatic: for an Ordnungswidrigkeit under § 24a StVG, meaning driving over the 0.5 promille alcohol limit or over the THC threshold, § 25 Abs. 1 Satz 2 StVG states that a Fahrverbot is, as a rule, also to be ordered.

Speeding is the single most common way people end up here, and the BKatV sets the length directly from how far over the limit the driver was.

How long a Fahrverbot lasts: the speeding thresholds

For an ordinary passenger car, the current Bußgeldkatalog sets the following Regelfahrverbot lengths from the speed the driver was clocked at.

Worked example. A driver is clocked doing 85 km/h in a 50 km/h zone inside a town, 35 km/h over the limit. Under the innerorts column that falls in the 31 to 40 km/h band: a fine of EUR 260, two points on the Fahreignungsregister, and a one month Fahrverbot. All three land at once. None of them substitutes for another.

A Fahrverbot can also follow a persistent pattern rather than a single severe speed. § 4 Abs. 2 BKatV provides that where a driver already has a final fine for speeding at least 26 km/h over the limit, and commits a further violation of at least 26 km/h within a year of that decision becoming final, a one month ban is, as a rule, appropriate for the second offence even though neither single instance would have crossed the 31 km/h innerorts threshold on its own.

Alcohol works differently again. § 24a StVG sets the 0.5 promille and equivalent breath alcohol limits as strict numeric thresholds written into the statute itself. The corresponding BKatV entries then set the Fahrverbot length for a first offence at that level, typically one month, rising for repeat offences and higher readings, alongside the separate criminal exposure discussed below once a driver is well above 0.5 promille or shows visible impairment.

When the ban actually starts: the choice window

§ 25 Abs. 2 StVG says a Fahrverbot becomes effective once the licence goes into official custody, and no later than one month after the decision becomes final regardless.

But § 25 Abs. 3 StVG gives most first time offenders more control than that default suggests. If no earlier Fahrverbot against the same person became final in the two years before the new offence, the driver can name, in a written or electronic declaration, a point in time between one and four months after the decision becomes final for when the ban should begin. If no such declaration is made, the ban simply starts automatically at the four month mark instead.

Worked example. A delivery driver's speeding decision becomes final on 1 September. Because there was no earlier Fahrverbot in the prior two years, they can pick any date between 1 October and 1 January for the ban to start, for example scheduling it around a planned unpaid leave period, rather than losing the licence the moment the decision becomes final. Someone who already had a Fahrverbot finalised within the previous two years does not get this choice: theirs starts under the ordinary Abs. 2 rule, licence surrender or within one month.

During the ban itself, a German issued licence, and an EU or EEA licence held by someone ordinarily resident in Germany, is physically retained by the authorities under § 25 Abs. 2a StVG. A licence issued outside the EU or EEA is not confiscated the same way. Instead the ban is noted directly on the document. Either way, driving in Germany during the noted period is prohibited, and if the document is not handed over voluntarily where surrender is required, it can be seized.

Absehen vom Fahrverbot: can the ban be dropped

§ 4 Abs. 4 BKatV allows an authority or court to exceptionally refrain from ordering the ban, but the same provision says the fine that would ordinarily apply should be raised appropriately instead. This is not a routine option. Courts treat the Regelfahrverbot as the expected outcome once a listed threshold is met, and departing from it requires the driver to show something beyond the ordinary inconvenience every ban causes.

The grounds courts have actually accepted tend to cluster around a genuine threat to the driver's livelihood, for example a professional driver who would lose their job outright rather than merely find the commute harder, combined with evidence that the underlying driving conduct was otherwise a one off lapse. Simple hardship, such as a long commute or family logistics, is not enough on its own. Anyone hoping to rely on this route should expect to document the hardship concretely rather than assert it in general terms.

Driving during a Fahrverbot is its own crime

§ 21 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 StVG makes it a criminal offence, not a mere Ordnungswidrigkeit, to drive a motor vehicle while a Fahrverbot ordered under § 25 StVG is in effect. The penalty is imprisonment of up to one year or a fine, the same tier the statute sets for driving without a licence at all. A registered keeper who knowingly allows someone under a Fahrverbot to drive their vehicle faces the same exposure under § 21 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 StVG.

This is worth stating plainly because a Fahrverbot can feel like a minor administrative inconvenience next to losing a licence outright. Legally it is not treated that way. Driving through it converts a bounded, one to three month problem into an open criminal case.

Entziehung der Fahrerlaubnis: the criminal and administrative tracks

A full revocation runs on one of two separate legal bases, and understanding which one applies matters for what happens next.

The criminal track, § 69 StGB, applies where a court convicts someone of an offence committed while driving, or in connection with driving, that shows they are unfit to drive. § 69 Abs. 2 StGB lists offences where unfitness is presumed as a rule: dangerous driving under § 315c StGB, illegal street racing under § 315d StGB, drunk driving under § 316 StGB, leaving the scene of an accident under § 142 StGB where the driver knew or could have known someone was killed or seriously hurt or significant property damage occurred, and Vollrausch under § 323a StGB tied to one of those. On conviction, § 69 Abs. 3 StGB extinguishes the licence the moment the judgment becomes final, and any German issued licence document is confiscated as part of the judgment itself.

The administrative track, § 3 StVG, lets the licensing authority revoke a licence on its own initiative wherever it concludes the holder is unfit or not competent to drive, independent of any criminal conviction. To keep the two tracks from double counting the same conduct, § 3 Abs. 3 StVG bars the authority from relying on facts that are the subject of a pending criminal case where an Entziehung under § 69 StGB is a possible outcome of that case.

Either way, reapplying for a licence after an Entziehung means clearing the Sperrfrist the court or authority sets, then satisfying the ordinary licensing requirements again, which for many revocations includes a medical psychological assessment, commonly called an MPU, before a new licence is issued.

Points, the Fahreignungs-Bewertungssystem, and reissue after 8 points

Separately from any individual Fahrverbot, Germany runs a points system under § 4 StVG, the Fahreignungs-Bewertungssystem, sometimes still called the Flensburg register after the city where the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt is based. § 4 Abs. 5 StVG sets three fixed intervention stages as the point total climbs: at 4 or 5 points the driver receives a written Ermahnung, an admonishment; at 6 or 7 points a written Verwarnung, a formal warning; and at 8 or more points the driver is treated as unfit to drive and the licence is revoked outright, regardless of whether any single incident on its own would have justified that.

Once a licence is revoked at 8 points, § 4 Abs. 10 StVG sets the reissue floor: a new licence cannot be granted earlier than six months after the revocation takes effect, and the authority is directed, as a rule, to require an officially recognised Gutachten, an MPU type fitness assessment, as proof that the ability to drive safely has been restored before granting it.

New drivers: the Probezeit consequences

Every first time licence holder in Germany starts on a two year Probezeit under § 2a StVG. Violations during this period are sorted by Anlage 12 FeV into two tiers: A, schwerwiegende Zuwiderhandlungen, serious violations such as dangerous driving, drunk driving, or driving despite a Fahrverbot, and B, weniger schwerwiegende Zuwiderhandlungen, everything else caught by the general fining provisions that is not listed under A.

The consequences escalate in three fixed steps under § 2a Abs. 2 StVG. One A violation, or two B violations, triggers a mandatory Aufbauseminar, a remedial driving course, and under § 2a Abs. 2a StVG the Probezeit itself is extended by two years once that seminar is ordered. A further A violation, or two more B violations, after completing the seminar brings a written warning and a recommendation to attend voluntary Verkehrspsychologische Beratung. A further violation after that leads to revocation of the licence under § 2a Abs. 2 Nr. 3 StVG, with a new licence available no earlier than three months later under § 2a Abs. 5 StVG, and ordinarily conditioned on proof of the Aufbauseminar.

Alcohol and cannabis carry a stricter, separate rule for anyone in the Probezeit or under 21. § 24c StVG sets a strict zero tolerance line: consuming alcohol or THC at all, or driving under its effect at all, while in the Probezeit or before turning 21, is its own Ordnungswidrigkeit, independent of the general 0.5 promille threshold under § 24a StVG that applies to everyone else.

Worked example. A driver eight months into their Probezeit runs a red light, an A violation under Anlage 12 FeV. The licensing authority orders an Aufbauseminar. Completing it extends the original two year Probezeit by two more years, so it now runs to month 32 rather than month 24, on top of whatever fine or points the red light itself carried.

Foreign licence holders living in Germany

An EU or EEA licence holder who has moved their ordinary residence to Germany is treated the same way as a German licence holder for a Fahrverbot: the physical document is taken into official custody for the duration of the ban under § 25 Abs. 2a StVG. A licence issued outside the EU or EEA is not confiscated, but the ban is noted on the document itself, and driving in Germany during that period remains prohibited either way.

The same logic extends to revocation. § 3 Abs. 1 StVG treats an Entziehung of a foreign licence as withdrawing the right to use that licence inside Germany specifically, and § 3 Abs. 2 StVG applies the same document handling rules to a foreign licence unless it was issued in another EU or EEA state and its holder does not live in Germany. A foreign licence holder facing either a Fahrverbot or an Entziehung in Germany should not assume the two are interchangeable just because both are unfamiliar procedures: the same one to three month versus indefinite distinction applies regardless of where the licence itself was issued.

Three consequences, not three alternatives

It is worth restating plainly because it trips people up reading their own Bußgeldbescheid: a fine, points on the Fahreignungsregister, and a Fahrverbot are three separate legal consequences of a single incident, assessed under three different provisions, and none of them substitutes for another. A serious speeding violation, as in the worked example above, routinely produces all three simultaneously. Paying the fine does not remove the ban, and serving the ban does not remove the points. Each has to be dealt with, or served, on its own terms.

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