Driving license fiasco: 38,000 Munich residents without a valid rag

Created: 02/16/2022, 08:45

By: Klaus Vick

CSU City Councilor Alexander Reissl has already exchanged his old gray paper driver's license.

© M. Sleep

The old gray rag or pink driver's license must be replaced with a modern bank card.

In Munich, 76,000 people are affected by the first exchange wave.

Not everyone thought of that.

Munich - Alexander Reissl has already picked it up - the new, forgery-proof EU driver's license.

And gave up his old gray rag for it.

Or: Reissl had it stamped invalid by the authorities and took it back with them.

"The old driver's license has grown so much on my wallet.

The pain of separation would have been too great,” says the CSU city councilor, who incidentally celebrated his 64th birthday yesterday, with a smile.

Driver's license exchange missed: 38,000 Munich residents without a valid rag

Politician Reissl is one of around 76,000 Munich residents who were affected by the first wave of exchanges.

By January 19, everyone born between 1953 and 1958 should have replaced their paper driving licenses.

Curious: According to the district administration department (KVR) in Munich, only 37,245 people had fulfilled this obligation by the end of January.

In plain language, this means that a good 38,000 Munich residents are currently driving around without a valid driver's license.

You don't have to worry about being penalized for now though.

Because it was difficult to get an exchange appointment in time due to Corona, no fine will be levied until July 19 if drivers are caught during a check.

According to the KVR, anyone who has not yet exchanged their gray or pink paper driving license will be reminded to fulfill their obligation – if they have not already done so.

The driving license itself is not affected by the new EU directive anyway.

Munich residents reported the chaos surrounding the exchange of driver's licenses.

A backlog after the Corona year made things difficult for the KVR.

This was modified so that the more than 110 different driving license models valid in the EU member states are standardized, not least to avoid counterfeiting.

The holders should always have a current passport photo in their document and thus be more easily recognizable.

Driving licence: These are the deadlines for an exchange

The EU exchange plan follows a clear timeline.

By January 19, 2033 at the latest, all driving licenses issued up to January 18, 2013 must be exchanged for a card driving license limited to 15 years.

The application for this must be submitted in writing to the driving license office (Garmischer Straße 19/21, 80373 Munich).

Next up are those born between 1959 and 1964 (exchange until January 19, 2023), then those born between 1965 and 1970 (January 19, 2024) and those born between 1971 and later (January 19, 2025).

Driving license: If you were born before 1953, you still have a long way to go

However, this margin only affects those people whose driver's license was issued before 1999.

And the younger drivers?

From 2026 to 2033, driving licenses issued in the period from 1999 to 2013 will gradually follow.

The fee for the exchange is 25.30 euros.

If you were born before 1953, you still have a long way to go.

For seniors, the deadline does not expire until January 19, 2033.

Key word: driver's license exchange

According to the ADAC, the numbers are huge: around 15 million paper driving licenses (issued up to December 31, 1998) and around 28 million credit card driving licenses (issued between January 1, 1999 and January 18, 2013) will have to be exchanged across Germany in the coming years.

This process must be completed by 1/19/2033.

Background: In the future, driving licenses should be forgery-proof and uniform throughout the EU.

In addition, all driver's licenses should be recorded in a database to prevent misuse.

The exchange is mandatory: Anyone who continues to drive with their old car or motorcycle license and allows the deadline to expire risks a fine of 10 euros.

However, you don't commit a crime - it's different with truck and bus driver's licenses.

According to ADAC, you could have problems abroad if you continue to drive with your old driver's license after the exchange period has expired.