Start-up Business

Taxi and rental car transport

What requirements need to be met for starting a company?

To found a company in the taxi and rental car trade, you will need approval.
In line with the Occupational Access Regulation, you must prove the following for this:
  • your technical suitability
  • your financial capability and
  • your personal reliability.

Where do you get approval?

If you have met all the personal requirements for approval, you make a personal application for approval to the
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende [Authority for Transport and the Mobility Transition]
Alter Steinweg 4, 20459 Hamburg
Phone: 115

The application forms, points of contact and other information can be accessed via the Supervisory and Approval Authority.
Note: Omission of local knowledge test – information from the LVB
In addition, you must register your trade with your responsible local or district office once the approval has been issued. The total number of approvals is not subject to a quota in Hamburg.

How do you prove your technical suitability?

You generally prove your technical suitability by means of a written and verbal technical knowledge test before the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. This applies only for test applicants who have their main place of residence in Hamburg. Everyone else should please contact their relevant chamber of commerce.
Additional information on the test and preparation for the test as well as costs and registration can be found on our ”Technical knowledge test, taxi and rental car entrepreneurs” page.
You can be exempted from the technical knowledge test if, for example,
  • you have completed training as a “trader in railway and road transport”, or
  • you can prove at least three years of managerial activity in a company that operates in road passenger services.
If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

How do you prove your financial capability?

The legislator requires that you have at least the required capital resources. For the first vehicle that you use, you must prove at least €2,250, and €1,250 for each additional vehicle.
To prove your financial capability, you will need
  • a certificate of good standing (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) from your responsible tax office 
  • a certificate of good standing from the Berufsgenossenschaft für Transport und Verkehrswirtschaft [Employers’ liability insurance company for transport and transport economics] Ottenser Hauptstr. 54, 22765 Hamburg
  • a certificate of good standing from your medical insurance company or your employer
  • an equity certificate issued by an auditor, tax advisor or your main bank, or an asset statement certified by this bank.

How do you prove your personal reliability?

To prove your personal reliability, you will need a police clearance certificate which you can apply for at your local registration office. The Approval Authority may also ask you to provide certificates of good standing or extracts from the register from all offices for which infringements of statutory provisions are registered. It may also request them directly from these offices with your consent.