Registering a car is complicated in Germany – above all, it takes a long time for a private person to get an appointment. With an agency like Kroschke, things are much faster.
Anyone who wants to have a car privately has been experiencing a bad disappointment for some time because they can only get an appointment after waiting for weeks. Until then, he is not allowed to use the newly acquired vehicle. Since the previous owner has mostly deregistered it, it no longer has any number plates, so it cannot be parked in public areas. This situation differs depending on the admission office. In Hamburg, the bottleneck even led Elon Musk to complain personally to the mayor.
The layman is also annoyed because the registration via a car dealership is done in just a few days. One wonders why are they being served and not me? The answer is simple: the car dealer does not go to the registration office himself, he has this work done by a special agency. The largest in Germany is the Kroschke family business. It has staff close to all admission offices and they have pre-booked slots for admission.
Help over the Internet
“Going to an authority is never a great pleasure,” says Philipp Kroschke. Together with his brother Felix, he is the third generation to run the company. “As nice as the people there may be, it takes time to go to the authorities. We not only help car dealerships, but every single private customer who does not want to go to the vehicle registration office himself.”
In addition to the problem of getting an appointment at all, admission also takes a considerable amount of time. It is not possible to go through the procedure during an extended lunch break. Those who work have to sacrifice a day’s vacation.
When it comes to waiting times, the rule of thumb is “the bigger the city, the bigger the admissions office, the higher the number of cases, the longer the waiting times”, says Philipp Kroschke. It also happens to private customers that the documents are incomplete, then they have to cancel and request a new attempt. Because in federal Germany every registration office has its own characteristics, there is no uniform procedure.
The process can also be made much easier by using the same agency as the car dealers.
“We are not a website with a mini-office behind it. We have a nationwide organization that actually sits in every registration office in Germany. And we have already addressed private customers very well.” In Germany there is no standardized system of forms for the topic of admission, each admission office does it a little differently. “You have to know that, for a private person there are always unpleasant surprises because different documents are required than last time. We have these special features on file.”
Documents and license plates are delivered by DHL. “Always secure because you still have to identify yourself with original documents such as ID at many registration offices.”
You also have to wait with an agency
The Kroschkes also do not work within a day. “The main time factor is the duration at the registration office. If you instruct us today, we can have the documents picked up the next day, so we will be at the registration office the following day. There it takes as long as the registration office We need 48 hours for the two shipments. But after seven to ten days our customers have their license plates. “
The company was founded by the grandparents in 1957 and is now run by the third generation. All in all, a lot will change when it comes to approval, the brothers are certain of that. If only because more vehicles are being sold on the Internet. Approval then becomes part of the sales process, says Felix Kroschke. The customer expects that the car will then be delivered to him ready to drive and registered. The Kroschkes see the future for the company in interfaces for such digital processes.
Moderate surcharge
The brothers are not afraid that the service will become superfluous and that everything will be done via the app. “These are great values and security-relevant documents, you can’t do that with a single swipe of your finger on the screen.”
What does the service cost for the customer? “We charge 139 euros from the private customer of our website, everything is included. On average, you pay 30 to 35 euros for the car license plate, around 40 euros for a registration fee and five euros for a particulate matter sticker. Then there are the shipping costs.” The surcharge for the pure service would then be around 30 euros. You save a day at the authority for this.
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