Truck Toll in Germany (LKW-Maut): Rates per km, the 3.5-Tonne Rule and HGV Costs

By IMPARGO | Updated October 2026

The truck toll in Germany costs between 11.4 and 51.6 cents per kilometre. A typical 40-tonne semi-trailer truck with a Euro 6 engine, five axles and CO₂ class 1 pays 34.8 cents per kilometre. These rates have applied unchanged since 1 July 2024 and are still valid in 2026.

The toll, known in German as the LKW-Maut, applies to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes technically permissible maximum laden mass on all motorways and federal roads, and trucks registered abroad pay exactly the same rates as German ones. Zero-emission trucks stay exempt until 30 June 2031.

This guide gives you the full rate table, shows how to classify your vehicles correctly, which exemptions apply, how carriers from Germany and abroad book and pay, and what the toll costs a fleet per year. For the amount on a specific route, use IMPARGO's free truck toll calculator for Europe.

Note: This article was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the IMPARGO editorial team. Toll rates and legal status verified against Toll Collect, the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM), the Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) and the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act (BFStrMG), as of October 2026.

Who has to pay the truck toll in Germany

Since 1 July 2024, the toll has applied to every vehicle with a technically permissible maximum laden mass of more than 3.5 tonnes that is intended for, or used in, the carriage of goods by road. Before that date the threshold was 7.5 tonnes. According to the estimate in the German government bill (in German), about 300,000 additional vehicles became subject to the toll.

The purpose of the individual trip does not matter. Own-account transport and private trips in a vehicle intended for goods transport are tolled too, as Toll Collect explains for vehicles subject to toll. Vehicles that are neither intended for nor used in goods transport are toll-free, for example a motorhome in purely private use.

The rules cover domestic and foreign vehicles alike, so a truck registered in Poland, the Netherlands or Romania pays the same rate as a German one.

tzGm: the weight that counts

Since 1 December 2023, the decisive figure is the technically permissible maximum laden mass in field F.1 of the registration certificate Part I. German sources call it tzGm (technisch zulässige Gesamtmasse); Toll Collect's English pages use TPMLM. The permissible gross weight in field F.2 no longer decides, and neither do the empty weight or the actual load.

Reducing the tzGm on paper, without a technical change to the vehicle, does not count. The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg confirmed this (OVG 9 S 11/24, reported by Toll Collect).

Who is liable for payment

Under section 2 of the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act (official English convenience translation), the person liable to pay the toll is whoever owns or keeps the motor vehicle, decides how it is used, drives it, or has it registered or assigned to their number plate. If more than one person qualifies, they are jointly and severally liable.

Which roads are tolled in Germany

The toll applies on all federal motorways (Autobahnen), including service areas, and on all federal roads (Bundesstraßen), including sections inside towns. The tolled network covers 51,000 kilometres. State, district and municipal roads are toll-free. The German truck toll is not a vignette: you pay per kilometre driven on the tolled network.

A few sections are exempt:

• the A6 from the German-French border to the Saarbrücken-Fechingen junction
• the A5 from the German-Swiss border and from the German-French border to the Müllheim/Neuenburg junction
• the Herrentunnel (B75, Lübeck) and the Warnowtunnel (B105, Rostock), which are privately financed and charge their own toll

The full overview is kept by Toll Collect on toll roads.

How the toll rate per kilometre is calculated

The toll for a trip is the tolled distance multiplied by the vehicle's rate per kilometre. That rate is the sum of four component rates, each tied to a different vehicle feature, which is why two trucks on the same route often pay different amounts. For the 40-tonne truck from the introduction, the calculation looks like this:

• Infrastructure: 15.5 cents, depending on weight class and number of axles
• Air pollution: 2.3 cents, depending on the Euro emission class
• Noise: 1.2 cents, between 1.2 and 1.6 cents depending on the weight class
• CO₂: 15.8 cents, depending on the CO₂ emission class

Together that makes 34.8 cents per kilometre. The CO₂ component has applied since 1 December 2023 and, for this vehicle, is almost as large as the infrastructure part.

The Third Act amending toll legislation (Drittes Gesetz zur Änderung mautrechtlicher Vorschriften) introduced it, based on a CO₂ price of €200 per tonne. The component rates for every class are set out in Annex 1 of the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act (in German).

German truck toll rate table: cents per kilometre

Every vehicle is first placed in CO₂ class 1, the most expensive class. The first table therefore shows the class 1 rates across all Euro emission classes and weight classes. Euro 0 and Euro 1 pay the same rate.

Euro 6 vehicles can move to a better CO₂ class if they meet the requirements. The second table shows how far the rate then falls. For a 40-tonne truck, it drops from 34.8 cents in class 1 to 26.9 cents per kilometre in class 4.

Classifying weight, axles and CO₂ class correctly

Three details decide which row of the table a vehicle lands in: weight class, number of axles and CO₂ class. Toll Collect works on the principle of self-declaration, so the customer is responsible for declaring this data correctly. Mistakes cost money month after month, either through an inflated toll or through back-charges after a check.

Weight class and number of axles

The weight class follows from the tzGm (F.1); for combinations, from the sum of the tzGm values of all vehicles. A tandem axle counts as two axles and a tridem axle as three. Lift axles always count, even when they are raised during the trip.

So that these details do not have to be typed in for every calculation, dispatchers using IMPARGO's Planner Module store the axle count, total weight, Euro class and CO₂ class once in the vehicle and trailer profiles. Every tour then calculates the toll with these values, and if a tour's settings differ from the profile, the Planner shows a warning.

CO₂ class

A better CO₂ class than class 1 is only available for vehicles first registered from 1 July 2019. You apply for it in the Toll Collect customer portal with evidence such as the registration certificate, the customer information file (CIF), the certificate of conformity (CoC) or an individual approval form.

Toll Collect's CO₂ emission class finder shows how a vehicle is currently classified; details are on Toll Collect's page on CO₂ emission classes.

A classification is not permanent. Classes 2 and 3 are re-determined six years after first registration, while classes 1, 4 and 5 are unlimited.

Since 1 July 2026, tighter EU reference values apply to trucks over 16 tonnes, so a truck in class 3 in 2025 can fall into class 2 or 1 (Toll Collect notice). When buying new vehicles, check the CO₂ class against the current values, not against the data sheet of a previous model.

What the truck toll costs a fleet per year

The toll grows in a straight line with the tolled kilometres, and counted in fleet sizes the amounts become tangible. Three typical operations, all with Euro 6 and CO₂ class 1:

For the small operator this is a cost line that did not exist before July 2024. If it is not priced into every quote per tour, it comes out of the operator's own margin. The long-haul fleet, on the other hand, pays no toll at all once it switches to zero-emission trucks, for as long as the exemption runs until mid-2031.

The toll is only part of the price per kilometre. Fuel, vehicle and driver costs come on top, and only the total shows whether a tour makes money. You can work out your full cost per kilometre with the truck cost calculator.

How the German truck toll has developed

Germany has charged a truck toll since 2005, at first on federal motorways only. In two stages, in 2012 and 2015, around 2,300 kilometres of four-lane federal roads were added.

On 1 October 2015 the weight threshold fell from 12 to 7.5 tonnes, and since 1 July 2018 all federal roads have been tolled. The CO₂ component followed on 1 December 2023 and the 3.5-tonne threshold on 1 July 2024 (Federal Ministry of Transport on the HGV tolling scheme).

For a Euro 6 semi-trailer truck running 100,000 tolled kilometres a year, the toll has almost doubled since 2022. Nearly all of the jump came from the CO₂ component.

For comparison: after the new rates of 1 January 2023, the rates ranged from 9.8 to 35.4 cents per kilometre. Older Euro classes rose most at the time, Euro 0 and Euro 1 over 18 tonnes with four or more axles by 36.2 per cent.

For carriers, three practical points follow:

• The CO₂ class belongs on the comparison sheet when buying a truck, next to fuel consumption and price. Depending on their certified CO₂ value, two Euro 6 tractor units can differ by up to €7,900 in toll per year at 100,000 km.
• Electric trucks pay back faster through the toll. Compared with a diesel in CO₂ class 1, a zero-emission 40-tonne truck saves around €34,800 in toll per year at 100,000 km, for as long as the exemption applies.
• Freight contracts need a clear toll clause. Contracts that only refer to the current Toll Collect tariff leave open who bears the CO₂ class and future changes. In renegotiations it helps to know the toll cost per lane exactly; IMPARGO's Route Mass Calculation prices every lane of a framework contract from one Excel upload, toll included.

Exemptions from the German truck toll

Craftsperson exemption (Handwerkerausnahme)

Vehicles with a tzGm of more than 3.5 and less than 7.5 tonnes are exempt if a trip meets all the conditions. The exemption applies per trip, not per vehicle:

• The vehicle is driven by a person employed by the craft business.
• It carries materials, equipment or machines the business needs for its services, or goods that were made, processed or repaired in the business's own workshop.
• The trade is on BALM's list of crafts and craft-like trades.
• The trip is not transport for third parties, not even for another craft business.

There is no distance limit, and rented or leased vehicles can use the exemption too. Registering the vehicle with Toll Collect has been possible since 13 March 2024 and is voluntary according to Toll Collect. It is still worth doing, because registered vehicles are less likely to be pulled over for a check. Only a business entered as keeper in the registration certificate Part I can register online.

The exemption is not limited to German businesses. Craft businesses from abroad can use it without a branch in Germany, and transit trips through Germany qualify if they meet the same conditions.

Zero-emission trucks

Zero-emission vehicles over 4.25 tonnes tzGm are toll-free until 30 June 2031. This is set by the Fourth Act amending toll legislation, in force since 1 December 2025. Vehicles up to 4.25 tonnes are permanently exempt.

The exemption covers battery-electric trucks, trucks with a hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen combustion trucks that count as zero-emission under EU law. A reduced toll for zero-emission trucks from 2026, planned earlier, was dropped. More from Toll Collect on alternative drives.

Other exemptions

Under section 1(2) BFStrMG, the exempt vehicles include:

• buses and coaches
• vehicles of the armed forces, the police, civil and disaster protection, the fire brigade and other emergency services, and of the federal government
• vehicles used exclusively for road maintenance and operation, including street cleaning and winter service
• vehicles of showpeople and circuses
• vehicles of non-profit organisations carrying humanitarian aid
• agricultural and forestry transport as defined in the German Road Haulage Act (GüKG)

Municipal vehicles, by contrast, are subject to the toll in principle, according to BALM (in German). They are only exempt when used for one of the purposes above, for example in winter service or by the fire brigade.

Keepers of toll-exempt vehicles can register them with Toll Collect voluntarily. There is no obligation, and the exemption applies without registration, but registered vehicles avoid unnecessary stops and checks. The evidence each vehicle type needs is listed on Toll Collect's toll exemption page.

Booking, paying and refunds: options for German and foreign carriers

Toll Collect offers three ways to log on to the toll system, two of them without an on-board unit:

• On-board unit (OBU): a device from Toll Collect or from an EETS provider that records the toll automatically. For a Toll Collect OBU, you first register your company and vehicles with Toll Collect, then have the unit fitted by one of around 1,300 authorised service partners in Germany and other European countries. The simplest option for frequent drivers.
• TollNow app: the app records the route by GPS during the trip and logs on the toll semi-automatically, without booking in advance. It is available to registered customers. The Fourth Act amending toll legislation created its legal basis (Toll Collect notice).
• Advance booking (Vorausbuchung): via app or online up to 24 hours before departure, also without registration. The system works in German, English, French, Polish, Romanian and Dutch. Useful for vehicles that only rarely drive on tolled roads (Toll Collect on advance booking).

For fleets that drive in several countries, an EETS provider (European Electronic Toll Service) is worth considering: one device and one invoice for many toll systems. The approved providers are listed in BALM's EETS register (in German).

The Toll Collect OBU can also be used to pay the truck toll in Austria. How the systems in neighbouring countries work is explained in our overview of how toll systems in Europe work.

If you paid too much toll or paid it wrongly, you can reclaim it from BALM, generally up to three years after the end of the year in which the trip took place. Manual bookings have shorter deadlines and a fee of €20 per number plate or log-on receipt. The procedure is described by BALM on toll refunds (in German).

Controls and penalties

Toll Collect runs 300 enforcement gantries on motorways and around 600 enforcement pillars on federal roads. They check in moving traffic whether a tolled vehicle is correctly logged on; if it is, the vehicle data is deleted immediately. All other checks are carried out by BALM: stationary and mobile checks around the clock, plus on-site checks at transport companies.

Anyone who does not pay the toll, or does not pay it in full, faces consequences:

• up to €20,000 fine for unpaid toll
• up to €10,000 for other offences, such as incorrect information
• retrospective toll for a flat 500 kilometres per journey if the distance actually driven cannot be established
• for drivers of foreign vehicles, the toll owed plus a security deposit, paid on the spot

The forms of control are described by Toll Collect on enforcement. Common sources of error are wrong vehicle data: weight class, number of axles or an incorrectly set OBU.

Legal basis and use of toll revenue

The truck toll is based on the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act (BFStrMG); the link leads to the official English convenience translation, while the German text is binding. How high the toll may be is set by the EU infrastructure charging directive (Directive 1999/62/EC): it must be based on the actual infrastructure costs, that is, the costs of building, upgrading, maintaining and operating the roads.

The current rates rest on the infrastructure cost calculation for 2023 to 2027. Besides infrastructure, it also quantifies the external costs of air pollution, noise and CO₂, hence the four components.

Truck toll revenue was around €13.4 billion in 2025. After deducting the costs of collection, enforcement and toll harmonisation measures, half goes to the federal trunk roads and the other half to mobility measures, mostly the federal railways (BMV on the HGV tolling scheme).

Planning the truck toll before the trip

The toll is easiest to control before the truck leaves. In IMPARGO's Planner Module, dispatchers see the toll for a route by country and by toll operator, including bridge, tunnel and special tolls. Ferry costs are not included and can be added as additional charges.

Avoiding tolls: alternative routes in the Planner

In the route options of the Planner, dispatchers choose the routing mode: Fastest (standard), Shortest, Cost optimized or Avoid toll roads. With “Avoid toll roads”, the Planner plans a route that bypasses tolled sections where possible. “Cost optimized” picks the route by total transport costs from vehicle, driver and toll costs. Distance, driving time, cost per kilometre and toll then appear side by side.

That way you see before dispatch whether the toll saving outweighs the longer driving time. In Germany the scope for avoiding the toll is limited, because all federal roads are tolled; on lanes through several countries the difference is often larger. Both modes are part of the cost-optimised routing in the Professional plan, which you can try free for 14 days.

Toll amounts can be shown with or without VAT. For Germany, the toll summary also shows what the same route costs before and after the extension to 3.5 tonnes. With “Send to Driver”, the order and the exact planned route go to the DriverApp with truck navigation: the driver follows the toll-aware route in the integrated navigation and sees no prices or costs.

How the toll summary, the VAT setting and the before-and-after comparison work step by step is shown in the guide to toll calculation in the Planner in the Knowledge Center.

For a single route, you can also calculate the toll for a specific route or plan a truck route with tolls and costs.

Frequently asked questions about the truck toll in Germany

How much does the truck toll in Germany cost per kilometre?

Between 11.4 and 51.6 cents, depending on weight class, number of axles, Euro emission class and CO₂ class. The lowest rate applies to a Euro 6 vehicle of 3.5 to 7.49 tonnes in CO₂ class 4, the highest to a Euro 0 or Euro 1 vehicle over 18 tonnes with five or more axles.

What does the toll cost for a 40-tonne truck?

A 40-tonne truck with Euro 6, five axles and CO₂ class 1 pays 34.8 cents per kilometre. For 500 kilometres on motorways and federal roads that is €174. In CO₂ class 4 it would be €134.50.

Do foreign trucks have to pay the toll in Germany?

Yes, under the same rules and at the same rates as German vehicles. They log on with the OBU of Toll Collect or an EETS provider, with the TollNow app as a registered customer, or by advance booking. If a check finds unpaid toll, a security deposit is due on the spot.

Does the toll apply to private use?

Yes, if the vehicle is intended for goods transport and has a tzGm of more than 3.5 tonnes. The purpose of the individual trip does not matter, so a private trip in a truck is tolled too.

My van weighs 2.8 tonnes empty. Is it subject to the toll?

The empty weight does not count. What matters is the tzGm in field F.1 of the registration certificate: if it is more than 3.5 tonnes and the van is intended for or used in goods transport, the toll applies. A trailer only adds to the weight class once the van itself is over 3.5 tonnes.

Are motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes subject to the toll?

No, a motorhome in purely private use is toll-free in Germany, because it is neither intended for nor used in goods transport. To register it voluntarily as a non-tolled vehicle, Toll Collect requires an entry as a motorhome in the registration certificate Part I and photos of the interior. Other countries often have their own rules for motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes.

Do cars pay a motorway toll in Germany?

The truck toll does not apply to vehicles with a tzGm of 3.5 tonnes or less, nor to vehicles that are neither intended for nor used in goods transport, so an ordinary passenger car does not pay it. Separately, some German cities have low-emission zones that only vehicles with the right emissions sticker may enter (German Environment Agency).

Will the toll rates change in 2027?

As of October 2026, no change to the toll rates has been promulgated in the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act. Costs can still change: since July 2026, stricter reference values for the CO₂ class apply to trucks over 16 tonnes, and the exemption for zero-emission trucks ends on 30 June 2031. How the toll works elsewhere is shown in our overview of truck tolls in the other European countries.