Class B17

Minimum age and exam dates

You must be at least 16 ½ years old. You can take your theory exam 3 months before your 17th birthday and your practical exam 1 month before.

Application at the road traffic office

The application always comes first! Make sure all the details are correct. Based on your application, the road traffic office (Straßenverkehrsamt) prints your driving licence and commissions TÜV to conduct your exams. This can take a few weeks – but that is the road traffic office's responsibility. While your application is being processed, you can of course already start your training and attend our theory lessons.

• First-aid certificate (9 teaching units)
• Eye test
• 1 biometric passport photo
• Valid ID document
• Application form
• Copies of the ID cards and driving licences of the accompanying persons
• Declaration of consent from the accompanying persons
• Declaration of consent from your parents or legal guardians

Theory

If you don't have a driving licence yet, 14 theory lessons of 90 minutes each are mandatory: 12 basic topics and 2 class-specific topics. If you already have a driving licence, only 6 basic lessons await you. When you register, you receive your learning materials (online learning platform, app, book); ideally, start the theory lessons right away in parallel. Once you've completed the lessons and your application has been approved by the road traffic office, you can take your theory exam – at the earliest 3 months before your 17th birthday.

Practice and special drives

How many practice drives (40 minutes) you need depends on your personal abilities and your learning progress. By law, 12 special drives of 45 minutes each are mandatory: 5 rural road, 4 motorway and 3 night drives. As a rule: you must have passed your theory exam before you can take your first driving lessons. Before your first driving lesson, you can use 8 practice sessions in our driving simulator – this makes it easier to get started with real driving lessons and is easier on your wallet. The practical exam is allowed at the earliest 1 month before your 17th birthday; your driving instructor takes care of booking a date in good time.

What requirements must the accompanying person meet?

It's common to choose one or more family members as accompanying persons – but it's not mandatory. The accompanying person must be entered in your test certificate (Prüfbescheinigung); entering them requires the consent of your parents or legal guardians. There's no limit on the number of accompanying persons. The accompanying person can sit in any seat they like and serves only as a point of contact – they must not intervene in the driving. Accompanying persons must not be under the influence of drugs and must not have more than 0.5 per mille of alcohol in their blood. In addition, the following applies to every accompanying person:

• They must be at least 30 years old.
• They must have held a class B driving licence (or the former class 3) continuously for at least five years.
• At the time of the application they may have at most one point in the driving aptitude register (Fahreignungsregister).

When do I get my actual photocard licence?

Once you've passed your practical exam, you're handed a test certificate. It remains valid for a further 3 months after your 18th birthday. During this period you need an appointment at the road traffic office, where you collect your driving licence free of charge – you already paid for it when you applied.