How to buy a car on mobile.de and get the best price
mobile.de is the largest used car marketplace in the German speaking world. That makes it one of the best places in Europe to buy a used car, and one of the easiest places to overpay. Around half of all buyers never negotiate at all.
Finding the right listing is the hard part. Everything after it is negotiation.
The short version
- 47 percent of buyers receive no discount at all. The biggest saving comes from asking.
- 5 to 10 percent is normal at a dealer, up to 15 when a car has been sitting.
- A written repair quote is more convincing than any argument. Defects are your strongest tool.
- A German dealer must provide one year of statutory warranty. A private seller does not.
- Collecting the car costs 205 EUR to 370 EUR per 1,000 km, plus around 150 EUR for export plates.
Skip ahead: check a car nowwhat collection costs
Already found the car? The listing tells you what the seller declared. A history check tells you what actually happened before you get there.
Check it before you travel
The listing tells you what the seller declared. A history check tells you what actually happened before you get there.
Example: WBA3A5G59DNP26082Free preview included
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Know the number before you speak
Most negotiations are decided before they even begin.
If you do not know what the car is worth, you are negotiating from a weak position. mobile.de can estimate a vehicle value in a couple of minutes and show enough comparable listings to reveal the price range it should sit within.
Run the valuation on the exact specification and write the figure down. Treat it as a range rather than a final answer. The tool cannot see the condition of the specific car in front of you, and condition is exactly what you will be negotiating over.
Where the discount actually comes from
A survey of around one thousand German car buyers found that 47 percent received no discount at all. Among those who did negotiate successfully, the average was 5.7 percent, roughly 915 EUR on a car priced at 18,310 EUR.
Expect 5 to 10 percent at a dealer, and up to 15 percent when conditions are favourable.
| Lever | What it is worth |
|---|---|
| A written repair quote | The exact amount. Dealers rarely argue with a garage estimate |
| Timing belt due | 400 EUR to 900 EUR |
| Tyres worn | 400 EUR to 800 EUR for a replacement set |
| Long time on the market | Pushes you toward the upper end of the range |
| End of month or quarter | Flexibility that does not exist mid-month |
| Season | Spring is cheapest, winter dearest |
A repair quote is the strongest of these by a distance. Arrive with a mechanic estimate and deduct it, and you are not haggling, you are correcting a price.
If the price will not move, move something else
German dealers are more willing to include extras than to reduce the advertised price, because the headline figure is what many dealerships are measured on.
Ask for a free service, winter tyres, an extended warranty or a service package. Each can be worth several hundred euro to you while costing the dealer less than an equivalent cash discount, which is exactly why they agree to it more readily.
Asking for an extra after a discount has been refused works far more often than asking for the discount twice.
Dealer or private, and why it is not only about price
| Dealer | Private seller | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Higher | Lower |
| Statutory warranty | One year minimum, by law | None |
| Recourse if something fails | Real | Very limited |
| Room to negotiate | 5 to 15 percent | Usually less |
A German dealer sale includes Gewaehrleistung, a statutory liability period of at least one year that cannot simply be removed from the contract. A private seller provides no such protection.
That legal protection is part of what the higher price pays for, which is why the cheapest listing is not automatically the best value. Note the distinction: Gewaehrleistung is required by law, while Garantie is an optional product sold on top, and that one is negotiable.
Reading a German listing
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unfallfrei | No accident history claimed. A claim, not a guarantee |
| Unfallfahrzeug | Accident vehicle, priced accordingly |
| Nach Unfall instandgesetzt | Repaired after an accident. Ask who repaired it and to what standard |
| HU neu | Fresh roadworthiness inspection. Worth real money |
| HU abgelaufen | Expired. Budget for the test and any repairs it uncovers |
| Scheckheftgepflegt | Full service history. Ask for the book, not the word |
| Bastlerfahrzeug | Project car. Assume repairs are needed |
HU is the German roadworthiness inspection. A car with a recent HU has just been examined by an independent engineer with no incentive to overlook problems, which makes it the closest thing to a free third-party inspection on the platform.
If you are buying across a border
Three filters determine whether a German bargain is still a bargain once it reaches your home country.
| Filter | Set it to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Schadstoffklasse, emissions class | Euro 5 or better | Some countries heavily tax or restrict older standards |
| Hubraum, engine capacity | As low as practical | Several countries tax on engine size, often with steep thresholds |
| Certificate of Conformity | Confirm before paying | Without it, individual homologation may be required |
A car that is cheap in Germany because it meets only Euro 4 can become expensive, or difficult to register at all, in a country that taxes emissions hard.
Ask for a live video call. Most of it ends right here.
The scams, and how they find you
Most fraud targets buyers who cannot easily inspect the vehicle in person, which means foreign buyers are the preferred target.
Fortunately, most scams fall apart the moment you request a live video call showing the VIN plate, the dashboard and a cold start.
| Signal | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Far below a tight cluster of comparable listings | Something is undisclosed, or the car does not exist |
| Refuses a live video call | No car, or not the car being advertised |
| Wants to move immediately to WhatsApp | No paper trail wanted |
| Deposit before viewing | Fraud |
| Payment through a personal account, crypto or gift cards | Fraud |
| Offers their own shipping or escrow service | Fraud. Genuine escrow is arranged by the buyer |
| Documents only shown as photographs | The documents may belong to another vehicle |
The moment you buy the car, it is uninsured, registered to somebody else, and not legally ready for you to drive away.
Export plates carry a red band on the right, showing the date they expire.
Export plates, and the mistake that voids your insurance
Most countries offer some form of temporary registration for moving an unregistered vehicle. The distinction that matters is simple.
| Type | Purpose | Crosses a border |
|---|---|---|
| Short-term or trade plates | Movement within the issuing country | No |
| Export plates | Permanent export from the country | Yes |
This is one of the most common mistakes buyers make. Short-term plates are cheaper, easy to obtain, and the registration office will happily sell them to you. Both the plates and the insurance behind them become invalid the moment you leave the issuing country. If you are taking the vehicle abroad, say that you are exporting it.
German export plates, Ausfuhrkennzeichen, are white with a red expiry section, and the insurance behind them remains valid across Europe for the full validity period, which you choose when you buy them.
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Plates | around 95 EUR |
| Registration office fee | around 30 EUR |
| Vehicle tax for the validity period | around 15 EUR |
| Total | around 150 EUR |
You will need both parts of the vehicle registration documents, identification, proof of address, valid HU, and an eVB number, the electronic insurance confirmation. Obtaining one takes a few minutes online, and no office will issue export plates without it. It is the requirement people forget.
If the vehicle is not roadworthy, export plates are irrelevant and you need transport instead.
What it actually costs to collect
The collection trip is a real expense and most buyers underestimate it. Some costs are fixed regardless of distance, others rise with every kilometre.
Fixed: flight or train to Germany, 80 EUR to 200 EUR, plus export plates and insurance at around 150 EUR.
Per 1,000 km driven home: fuel 105 EUR to 140 EUR at 6 to 8 l/100 km, tolls 0 EUR to 50 EUR, food 40 EUR to 60 EUR, and one hotel night 60 EUR to 120 EUR. That comes to roughly 205 EUR to 370 EUR per 1,000 km.
| One-way distance | Driving it home | Transporter |
|---|---|---|
| 500 km | 300 EUR to 495 EUR | 300 EUR to 650 EUR |
| 1,000 km | 410 EUR to 710 EUR | 450 EUR to 900 EUR |
| 1,500 km | 550 EUR to 965 EUR | 600 EUR to 1,200 EUR |
| 2,000 km | 625 EUR to 1,100 EUR | 700 EUR to 1,400 EUR |
Transport costs run from about 0.72 to 1.30 euro per kilometre on shorter routes, with the rate per kilometre falling as the distance grows. Under roughly 600 km the hotel stop disappears.
The difference between the two columns is smaller than most people expect, so the choice is about risk rather than money.
Drive it yourself if the listing is the first time you have seen the car. You get to start it, test it and put the first kilometres on it while the seller is still nearby.
Transport it if you have already inspected the vehicle, trust the dealer, or the car cannot be driven.
Then what your own country charges
Registration taxes are set nationally and are not harmonised across Europe. The variation is enormous, so calculate yours before you buy rather than after.
| Band | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| No registration tax, only inspection and paperwork | 150 EUR to 300 EUR |
| Flat fees plus a small environmental or administrative charge | 300 EUR to 800 EUR |
| Fees plus a tax based on power, age or emissions | 400 EUR to 2,000 EUR |
| No Certificate of Conformity, requiring individual approval | Add 2,000 EUR to 5,000 EUR and several weeks |
| Strict CO2 penalty systems | Can exceed the value of the vehicle |
That last band is not an exaggeration. In some countries the penalty on a high emission car reaches tens of thousands of euro, so the same car is a bargain in one member state and financially impossible in another.
Nine markets have an edition of this guide of their own, written around what that country actually charges.
| Edition | What decides the bill there |
|---|---|
| Germany | No import at all, so only re-registration, plates and insurance class |
| Poland | Akcyza is 3.1 percent under 2,000 cm3 and 18.6 percent above it |
| Hungary | Honositas around 153,000 Ft, and 63 percent of that scales with the car |
| Bulgaria | About 394 to 793 EUR for eco-tax, inspection and registration |
| France | Carte grise plus a CO2 malus that can exceed the price of the car |
| Italy | IPT is charged per kW, and under 6 months or 6,000 km you owe 22 percent VAT |
| Spain | Four CO2 bands, and below 120 g/km the registration tax is nothing |
| Romania | No registration tax at all, so a few hundred lei in fees |
| Latvia | Cheapest to register, but the operating tax is annual and never stops |
What goes wrong on the way home
The export plate expires before you arrive. You choose the validity period when you buy it. Choose longer than you think you will need.
The insurance does not cover your route. Policies name specific countries. Check every one you will pass through, especially if the route leaves EU territory.
You are too tired to drive safely. A long flight followed by hours in an unfamiliar vehicle is the most dangerous part of the entire purchase. Budget for a hotel.
Before you hand over money
- Establish the market value of the exact specification.
- Obtain the VIN in writing and run a history check.
- Request a video call showing the VIN plate, dashboard and a cold start.
- Confirm the HU status and date, and get repair estimates for visible issues.
- Verify in person that the VIN matches every document.
- Confirm both parts of the vehicle registration papers are present.
- Confirm a Certificate of Conformity exists, or price the homologation.
- Calculate registration costs at home for that exact vehicle.
- Arrange eVB insurance and export plates before travelling.
- Decide your maximum price, and keep every German document afterwards.
The advertised price is the number everybody argues about. Every other number in this article is where the rest of the money goes.
Before you sign anything
Know what you are buying
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Frequently asked questions
How much can you actually negotiate off a car on mobile.de?
5 to 10 percent is normal at a dealer and up to 15 percent when a car has been sitting. In a survey of around a thousand German buyers the average successful discount was 5.7 percent, but 47 percent received nothing at all, mostly because they never asked.
Do I need export plates to drive a German car home?
Yes, if you are leaving Germany. Export plates cost around 150 EUR all in and their insurance stays valid across Europe. Short-term plates are cheaper and are the common mistake: both the plates and the insurance behind them stop being valid the moment you cross the border.
Is it cheaper to drive the car home or to have it transported?
They are closer than most people expect. Driving costs roughly 205 to 370 EUR per 1,000 km once fuel, tolls, food and a hotel night are counted, and a transporter is only a little more. The real difference is risk: drive it yourself if the listing is the first time you have seen the car.
Does unfallfrei mean the car was never damaged?
No. It is the seller claiming no accident history, not a guarantee of it. Damage repaired outside an insurance claim often leaves no declaration behind, which is why the VIN is worth checking independently before you travel.
About this guide
- Scope: this is the pan-European edition. What each country charges to register the car is covered in the national editions: Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Romania and Latvia.
- Discount figures: from a survey of approximately one thousand German car buyers. The 5.7 percent average is across buyers who negotiated successfully, not across all buyers.
- Repair, plate and travel costs: typical estimates rather than fixed prices. They vary by vehicle, route, insurer and registration authority, and are worth confirming for the specific car before you budget from them.
- Listing terms: the German words are left as they appear on the platform, because a translated term cannot be searched for. Unfallfrei in particular is a seller declaration, not a verified fact.
- Why the VIN matters here: a border crossing is where a car paper trail usually goes missing, covered in how to check an imported car, and the mileage side in odometer fraud.
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