Press Release

Braunschweig 28 September 2022. Volkswagen Financial Services and the city administration of Braunschweig have successfully completed their project "Digital Vehicle Registration by Companies". Other participants in the project, which is unique in Germany, included the Lower Saxony state government and the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). The Braunschweig pilot operation enabled valuable experience to be gained, which will serve as a reference to inform the further development of Internet-based vehicle registration at the federal level. The Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport has already launched an initiative to elaborate new regulations that take into account the experience gained in Braunschweig. Dr. Christian Dahlheim, CEO of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, explained the benefits as follows: "It's a classic win-win situation: companies will be able to register their vehicle fleets digitally and easily in the future, and municipal authorities will have the opportunity to simplify the still often laborious processes in their registration departments." Dr. Thorsten Kornblum, Mayor of the City of Braunschweig, noted: "Through this pilot project, the City of Braunschweig and Volkswagen Financial Services have made a decisive contribution to further digitalization in the registration system. This lighthouse project in Braunschweig, which is unique in Germany, has significantly accelerated the legal implementation."

In the pilot operation, which has been running since autumn 2019, a total of several hundred company cars from Volkswagen Financial Services have been registered digitally and in accordance with legal requirements. The aim has been to enable legal entities such as companies to register motor vehicles online similar to the way individual citizens can. For this purpose, a separate process was developed that combines the online identification functions of the ID card, digital powers of attorney and the mapping of digital company identities from Verimi, a service provider for digital identification procedures. "The pandemic in particular has shown how urgently further digitalization is needed – and needed by public authorities as well. Companies, citizens and ultimately the authorities themselves benefit from effective digital administration. Germany has some catching up to do in terms of digitalization," Dr. Christian Dahlheim added.

With the support of the Lower Saxony state government, the Braunschweig project piloted registration options that went beyond the existing online registration facilities for private individuals. Crucial to the overall success of digital vehicle registration is the possibility for companies to carry out vehicle registration online as well. The experience gained in this area has been incorporated into a corresponding legislative initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport that intends to introduce the possibility of online registration by corporate customers nationwide.

Volkswagen Financial Services are optimistic that this option will become available in 2023 and also see this digitalization measure as a first step towards a digital vehicle file.

Information for editors:

Volkswagen Financial Services are a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies and comprise Volkswagen Financial Services AG along with its associated companies, Volkswagen Bank GmbH, Porsche Financial Services, and the financial services companies in the USA and Canada that belong directly or indirectly to Volkswagen AG – with the exception of the financial service business of the Scania brand and of Porsche Holding Salzburg. The key business fields embrace dealer and customer financing, leasing, bank and insurance activities, fleet management and mobility services. Volkswagen Financial Services have a total of 16,849 employees worldwide – including 7,570 alone in Germany. Volkswagen Financial Services report total assets of around EUR 235.6 billion, an operating result of EUR 5.67 billion, and a portfolio of around 22.0 million current contracts (as at: 31.12.2021).