Tiered by age group
The rag comes away – when you need to trade in your old driver’s license
The old driver’s license, called “rag” for short, will disappear by 2033.
© Andreas Arnold/ / Picture Alliance
The good old rag is gradually disappearing from the public eye. The old driving license is to be phased out by 2033 and replaced by modern cards. The driver’s license is to be gradually replaced.
Bye, dear driver’s license! It was nice with you! Germany is finally doing away with the old rag and replacing the official document with a card, similar to the health insurance card or the new ID card. So if you still have an old rag, you have to change: In future, the driver’s license will only be valid for 15 years, after which it will have to be renewed. In this way, the image and name should always be kept up to date.
It is now also clear how the old rag will be taken out of circulation: in individual stages, the birth cohorts will be asked to hand in their old driver’s license. So it doesn’t matter when you got your driver’s license, but when you were born. This regulation applies to all driver’s licenses issued up to 1998.
But: The credit card driving licenses are also exchanged. Here, however, the driver’s license is exchanged on the basis of the date of issue, the year of birth is not important. This also applies to younger drivers who had their driving license issued by January 18, 2013, according to the “ADAC“. A total of 28 million cards and 15 million paper driver’s licenses are affected by the swap.
The exchange of the old driver’s license is staggered according to the year of birth:
- 1953 to 1958: Exchange until January 2022
- 1959 to 1964: Exchange until January 2023
- 1965 to 1970: Exchange until January 2023
- From 1970: Exchange until January 2025
- birth cohort before 1953: Exchange until 2033
The exchange of the credit card driving license is staggered according to issue:
- 1999 to 2001: exchange until January 19, 2026
- 2002 to 2004: exchange until January 19, 2027
- 2005 to 2007: exchange until January 19, 2028
- 2008: Exchange until January 19, 2029
- 2009: Exchange until January 19, 2030
- 2010: Exchange until January 19, 2031
- 2011: Exchange until January 19, 2032
- 2012 to 18.1. 2013: Exchange until January 19, 2033
Background of the action: The driver’s license should be uniform within the EU and, above all, forgery-proof. The driver’s licenses are now recorded in a database to prevent misuse.