A cardboard plate is not enough!
Registration seal and TÜV sticker are not necessary
Change license plates for several vehicles?
Many vacation regions invite not only to relax but also to ride a bike. If you want to take your bicycle with you on a long tour, you can transport it by means of a bicycle rack on your vehicle. Particularly practical are bike racks for mounting on the trailer hitch. However, these often cover the license plate, so you need another license plate on the bike rack.
Bicycle rack makes repeat license plates necessary
If your bicycles are stowed on the roof of the vehicle, the wind resistance increases, which can be particularly negative on long highway stages. In addition, the roof load also changes the driving behavior of the car. If you want to.B. Have a convertible, there is no possibility to store the bicycles on the roof anyway. A very practical solution is the bike rack that can be mounted on the trailer hitch. Since the rear lights of the vehicle are usually covered by the bicycles, such a bike carrier has its own rear lights. Also, often the license plate of your vehicle is no longer visible, so you need to attach another license plate to the carrier.
This is regulated in the "Regulation on the admission of vehicles to road traffic" (FZV). It says that the rear license plate of your vehicle must be repeated on the carrier if it is covered by it. This is true not only for bike racks, but also for ski boxes or other load carriers that are mounted on the trailer hitch and cover the license plate on the vehicle.
Your license plate must be illuminated
Your license plate on the bike rack, like any other rear license plate, must be sufficiently illuminated in the dark. For this purpose, the bicycle carriers have their own license plate lighting, as well as their own rear lights and turn signals. These are supplied with electricity by a plug, which is also common on trailers. Likewise this is plugged into the trailer socket of the appropriate vehicle. Before driving off, you should carry out a brief function test to make sure that the lights, turn signals and license plate lights, for example, are actually working. The license plate must be mounted at the intended location on the bike rack. A matching license plate frame is often already available from the factory on the bike rack. Here usually fits a single-line standard license plate with a width of 520 millimeters and a height of 110 millimeters. However, it does not hurt to measure.
A cardboard sign is not enough!
The license plate on the rear carrier must have exactly the same positive characteristics as the license plate on your car. It must therefore be reflective, have the European symbol with the "D" and meet other requirements. A self-painted cardboard sign is not enough! And a stop by the next police patrol is thus anyway sure for you. To avoid such hassle, you should simply have a single license plate made. And quite unlike the homemade cardboard plate, this one is also weatherproof and durable.
Registration seal and TÜV sticker are not necessary
Fortunately, you can save yourself a trip to the registration office if you only need a license plate for your bike rack. This is because, unlike the license plates on your vehicle, this does not have to bear a seal from the registration office. This license plate does not have to have a TÜV sticker either. The license plate on the vehicle – with seal. Badge – but must remain on it in any case. Even if it is concealed by the load carrier and cannot be seen anyway.
Change license plate for multiple vehicles?
If you want to use the bike rack or the luggage box for the trailer coupling alternately on several different vehicles, the license plate must also be changed in each case. That is, you must always mount the license plate on the carrier, which is covered by it on the vehicle. In this case, it is sometimes a good idea to use a special license plate holder that allows the number plates to be changed quickly. Even if you borrow a bike rack from a friend or neighbor, you must attach to it a license plate that matches your vehicle.