As a vehicle owner, you register your vehicle at a new address and apply for a new license plate if you move your place of residence to another municipality.

There is no need for a change of registration (allocation of a new license plate) if the vehicle is moved within registration areas in which the same distinguishing license plates are used. This only applies to the cities and districts or the regions of Göttingen, Hanover, Oldenburg and Osnabrück. As things stand at present, there are no plans to extend the waiver of change of registration number to other registration areas.

The obligation to change the registration number when the vehicle owner moves to another registration area, which is regulated in the Vehicle Registration Ordinance, was abolished on 01.01.2015. Vehicle owners can now decide for themselves whether they want to keep their previous registration number or have a new one assigned to them when changing their place of residence within Germany. It should be noted that the obligation to notify the competent authority of the change of residence remains in place and that a change to the registration certificate part I (vehicle registration document) is still required.

You have a car.
Or you have a motorcycle.
And you now live in a different town or municipality.
Then you must re-register your vehicle.
That means
You must get a new license plate.
However, you can also keep the old license plate.
Then you only have to register your place of residence.