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A practical guide to the Rundfunkbeitrag: how to register with the Beitragsservice, pay every three months, share one fee in a flat, apply for an exemption, deregister when you move or leave Germany, and what happens after a Festsetzungsbescheid.
Oct 19, 2026The round sticker on your rear number plate tells you when your car is due for its TÜV, the Hauptuntersuchung. Here is how to read the number and the colour, when the HU counts as overdue, what the Bußgeldkatalog charges, the 20 percent surcharge at the test centre, and what to do if the car fails.
Oct 19, 2026Selling a car in Germany? Your insurance moves to the buyer, and you report the sale. Here is what happens to your car insurance when you buy, sell or move a car, with the eVB, your no-claims class, the Regionalklasse and the resting cover.
Oct 18, 2026Most German car insurance contracts can only be cancelled for the new year if your letter arrives by 30 November. Here is how to check your real date, switch without a gap in cover, keep your no-claims class, and what to do if you missed the deadline.
Oct 18, 2026Anmeldung is the first deadline almost every new arrival in Germany faces, and a fully booked appointment calendar is not treated as an excuse for missing it. Here is what the process actually involves.
Aug 20, 2026A landlord asks for your SCHUFA report and yours is nearly empty. That is not a bad credit history, it is a thin file, and the two are not the same problem. Here is the difference and what tends to help.
Aug 20, 2026A letter arrives about the Rundfunkbeitrag and nobody has explained what it is. Here is what Germany's household broadcasting fee actually covers, and why it is charged per household, not per person.
Aug 20, 2026Anmeldung, a bank account, health insurance, the Rundfunkbeitrag, SCHUFA, and the contracts you sign along the way. A plain English rundown of the deadlines that land in your first three months.
Aug 20, 2026Your cancel-by date for a Vodafone contract is not the contract end date, it's earlier. Here's how the notice period is actually counted, and how to cancel without missing it.
Aug 20, 2026German gyms often auto-renew your membership for another full year if you miss a notice window you never knew existed. Here's how the term, the notice period, and the renewal clause actually fit together.
Aug 20, 2026Moving out doesn't cancel your German internet contract. Here's how the notice period actually works, why moving apartments makes it worse, and how to cancel or transfer correctly.
Aug 20, 2026Laufzeit, Kündigungsfrist, automatische Verlängerung and Textform, which household contracts renew on their own, the Section 312k button, and what a written cancellation needs to say. A plain English walkthrough.
Aug 14, 2026