German Police Are Repeatedly Fining American Soldiers Over Their 'Extreme' Muscle Cars
German police are clamping down on American soldiers driving modified muscle and pony cars around the town of Kaiserslautern.
Incredibly strict German rules on what is and isn’t legal when it comes to modifications are at odds with the freedom of expression brought in by the army men at Ramstein Air Base, whose cars have reportedly been targeted by the police and clubbed with fines for a huge variety of what we’d call petty offences.
Jalopnik reports that the chief of the town’s police department had said the Americans’ cars were more heavily modified and “extreme” than German cars, even going as far as to say that the big V8s in the resident muscle cars weren’t especially welcome. That guy sounds like he’d be a riot at parties.
Other infractions that have been reported include yellow fog lights, window tinting and loud exhausts, with one soldier apparently being repeatedly stopped over the cooling vents in his bonnet, which are a standard feature on the unnamed model.
The full post makes interesting reading, essentially boiling down to a cultural difference between the Germans’ naturally controlling nature based on strictly-enforced laws, and the ingrained creative freedom enjoyed by Americans, especially when it comes to modifying their cars.
Modified German cars have to have every change noted down in a registration booklet, and if it makes the booklet then it’s passed the infamous TUV test and it’s legal. American cars’ log books don’t have anything like that, which is apparently causing the police some difficulties in determining what is legal and what isn’t.
We’d like to ask the opinions of our German CTzens, or anyone from the other side of the French border who knows the system in Kaiserslautern. Are the police being too heavy-handed or are the Americans taking liberties? Is it a bit of both?
Comments
The Germans strict they should try the Netherlands 🙈
Is it that bad?
Well, technically you can make everything legal, like your Bodykit or Carbon Bonnet, but it doesn’t matter, because if the police officer is in a bad mood, he can say that this isn’t legal, and your car gets confiscated.
If you want to install a mod, it has to have a certificate, a “Gutachten” so that it can get legally installed.. For a bit of money of course.
In most cases, most mods don’t have those certificates and the only way to install it, is to make a “Einzelabnahme”,which usually costs more than the part itself.
Living as a Car Guy in Germany sucks.
“yay no speed limits!”
that might be the only good thing about being a car guy in germany 😂
I strongly believe Germany is the most easiest with Car Modifications in Europe x)
At least if you have a TUV certificate you can install the mods, in Hungary first you have officially translate the TUV certificate for a nice sum, plus pay extra for inspection, and then if you are lucky, it will be legal. Funnily enough, in Hungary everybody says that living in Germany would be great, as at least we could legally modify our cars.
On the bright side, as long as it’s not too obvious or obnoxious we can do anything to our cars because police officers are either too stupid, or nice, but if you meet one in a bad mood, you gonna get your car towed away, and paying huge fines, maybe even sent into jail…
That’s just the laws in Germany, yes they are overly strict. But that is the reason why Germany has such well-kept cars. And the last thing we need on our roads are things like this:
Unfortunately the “legitimacy” of an aftermarket part is only proven via expensive testing, which most overseas manufacturers do not want to do for such a small market.
Owners can register the parts themselves through the contacts of special tuning companies (SPS Motorsport/Geiger/RHD Speedmaster and others), which is expensive but mostly worth the effort. Or the hard way through the TUV testing regime (mentioned earlier) which entails multiple thousands of Euros and a few broken aftermarket parts.
The only thing I can say, If the GIs want to drive their cars on german roads they have to follow the rules they entail, nevermind how harsh they are. In their case, specialized export companies might help with the papers. Or get their cars inspected at DEKRA or GTÜ, who compared to the TÜV have both eyes closed during inspection :D
RHD Speedmaster is the sh*t man. They can get almost everything legal, and yes, it’s expensive(APR Splitter for example costs 280€ to get it legal), but it’s worth it.
If you have US plates, the cars should conform to the US laws, everywhere. Same goes for german laws, if you have german plates, and so on and so on. And I’m talking about mods and such, not speed limit and other rules.
Genuinely speaking, I have an abnormality - I always drive abiding the rules even when though I live in a country where people hardly follow road rules. Same when it comes to maintenance of personal space and property. I should move to Germany. (._. )
Standard Saturn S series repair after getting in a mild impact below 0°C
Lol you talk like we don’t have any laws at all…. furthermore all 50 states have 50 different sets of rules and laws. For example in Florida there is no environmental standard nor safety inspection, however in Massachusetts both are more strict than even Germany! In Massachusetts you basically cannot modify your vehicle unless it is SPECIFICALLY approved by the DOT (department of transportation)
So in conclusion this is yet another example of why generalizing the United States makes you look… well silly… because you are essentially talking about 50 different countries with 50 sets of laws.
You just can’t generalize Americans with any real degree of accuracy. Especially when it comes to law and policy.
What a pile of drivel this post is. Germany isn’t some “controlling nanny state oppressing americans freedom”.
It’s actually stupid american soldiers breaking the law with illegal modification to their vehicles. If a german would import a car into the US that doesn’t meet regulation or uses illegal parts, they’d be fined too.
If your car isn’t ROAD LEGAL, face the consequences…
Weak biased article by the way.
well for non biased informations you’d need to find a different site, CarThrottle’s news are mostly opinion based.
On the other hands we can easily see which Americans got triggered by the article.
as someone in the military it should be noted that they are not importing them as you may think. the rules in america would completely allow a different countries soldier to import their car that could be completely illegal here into the country such as an r34 or other cars of the nature. there is a whole legal process of rules that soldiers have to follow that combine both countries and US soldiers are supposed to follow US car inspection if they are deployed in germany and want to import their cars. it is meant this way so that we dont have import a car and have this happen.
The odds of your car being illegal in the states is super unlikely. If its got headlights, tailights, a windshield, seatbelts, and passes emissions (depends on the state), you’re golden.
As someone who lives about two hours away from the Texas/Mexico border I can tell you they let in a TON of “Illegal” cars to “drive” around in the States. Hell someone around me (Corpus Christi, Tx) has a FRACKING Holden Commodore Ute thats left hand drive running around I’ve seen it four times in the last month. Holden can’t even sell in the States but guess what theirs one running around South Texas.
I agree follow the laws, but sure, illegal mods - or ‘ya know…factory equipment. That seems to be illegal too.
If you don’t like our cars then maybe we should withdraw from NATO, see how you like that when you get invaded by Russia
you guys know I’m kidding right?
Guess we have to kick there ass again
Is there some oil in German soil or is communism on the rise? Because if that’s the case you could certainly declare war😂
Importing my kenyan marathon version
Their just salty that we’re back to back world champs, and let freedom ring through our design, expression and sound of our muscle cars. They’re soldiers let them bring a piece of home. 🇺🇸
Battle of the bulge…
..... in my pants.Topics
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