Cologne City Low Emission Zone

I will be travelling to Cologne by car and staying in a city hotel. What is this Cologne City Low Emission Zone all about? I have visited the website stadt-koeln.de/en/��sm1 which advises I purchase a sticker for my car. Is this necessary for an overnight stay? Are they available on arrival?

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Hello.

I%26#39;m researching a similar question. From what I have gathered you can not get this sticker on arrival. Will you be renting a car? I suspect rental cars from Germany will have the sticker. Good luck! You%26#39;ll see my question posted next. I%26#39;ll be looking for a park + ride to stay out of the emissions zone.

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Many German cities have emission zones. My understanding is that they are for local cars, which can easily be told by the letters on the license plates. Therefore, a local rental car should also have an emission zone sticker. I don%26#39;t believe if your car is from elsewhere that there will be any possible effect on your driving there.

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Cologne City Low Emission Zone map

stadt-koeln.de/imperia/��2.pdf

1. Rental cars should have such a sticker (which is good for all such zones in Germany). To be on the safe side you may ask your rental car about this.

2. Is this necessary for an overnight stay?

Strictly seen it%26#39;s necessary if you drive into such a zone even 1 meter or for 1 minute.

3. Are they available on arrival?

Yes. But to park outside the zone will be less hassle.

stadt-koeln.de/bol/��sm4

4. I%26#39;ll be looking for a park + ride to stay out of the emissions zone.

That%26#39;s the best idea. By car I would personally anyway not looking for a hotel in the city centre (= low emission zone).

@marcopolko

The low emission zone restrictions are for all cars. No matter if with local number plates or with number plates from abroad. The stickers are just an emission classification without any relation to a specific low emission zone. You know that the whole madness will also start in Stuttgart at 1st March 2008?

https:/��

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The car I%26#39;m leasing is from France, I will contact them because other places in Germany I wish to visit will be LEZ by the time I get there in late May or June. The car I%26#39;m leasing would not even be built yet let alone registered, this makes it very difficult to obtain a sticker as registration details are required to buy a sticker. Note to law makers: Make them available at borders just like Austrian motorway toll stickers.

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I found just following recommendation for tourists on the German pages of the city Cologne:

%26quot;Ask your hotel: many hotels in Cologne will obtain the sticker for you, which you can than collect on arrival.%26quot;

Guess you will still need to fax the car papers in advance to them.

%26gt; Note to law makers: Make them available at borders just like Austrian motorway toll stickers.

The vignette in Austria is something one could sell like a map or a newspaper at rest stops or elsewhere.

The low emission sticker is an official certificate (in sticker form) issued for a specific car. Strictly seen you don%26#39;t buy it (like a passport it won%26#39;t become your property), you only have to pay a (small) fee for the service.

The problem is that there are no official authorities with offices anymore at/near the German borders at all.

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Thank you all for your responses, I will be making further enquiries with the car leasing company and travel agent.

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