Somebody my boss knows turned up with this email while we were in Germany saying it means we are exempt from the Maut, but as I don’t read German and am not to sure about the finer points of German transport law (I know we aren’t exempt from not running Sunday as I had to get a permit to allow me to leave the Nurburgring) I’d like a bit of input from here.
Thanks
Right to keep it basic
bascially the vehicle is maut free both tractor unit and trailer providing
It has a large living area including toilet, shower, kitchen and living area and as long as the rest is a workshop area with fitted workbenches, machinery and spare parts area, including the necessary tables and chairs.
This maut exemption is not applicable if using only the tractor unit if it has a total weight of more than 12 tons
Thanks for the quick reply and translation.
Although we could argue that the trucks is a workshop after all it basically becomes our workshop when we are away, The only kitchen, living stuff we have is a fridge, We took the rest of the stuff out to turn the front into an office for the boss and the engineers to work in.
So I think the answer is NO then 
Considering that
a. The Germans are sticklers for adhering to the EXACT letter of the law it would appear not although writing to them and asking would not hurt pointing out that it is an office ■■■ workshop and see what they reply, including a few fotos of the interior would not be a bad idea.
Unitl then just pay the maut it is not as though it is a fortune
Personally I’m not that worried, as you say it’s not that much and we only do a couple of trips to or through Germany a year, as mostly we are heading to Southern Europe. Personally I think we’d have more agro getting stopped for not haivng a Maut and having to produce the information why we are exempt than having to stop and buy it in the first place.
Obviously for this Alex bloke running a team based in Germany might save him some money, and the only reason this issue was raised is that Alex is a friend of the Boss and gave both me and the boss the email thinking he was doing us a favour.
for what a few digital fotos and a couple of stamps will cost it is worth trying
muckles:
Personally I’m not that worried, as you say it’s not that much and we only do a couple of trips to or through Germany a year, as mostly we are heading to Southern Europe. Personally I think we’d have more agro getting stopped for not haivng a Maut and having to produce the information why we are exempt than having to stop and buy it in the first place.
The email states that the vehicle described is exempt from the MAUT and was sent by Toll Collect.
You can expect to get stopped- as you drive under the first gantry sensor the BAG will be alerted automatically that an untaxed truck is on the Autobahn- but if you show them a copy of that email when they stop you then they will instantly back off, and they will almost certainly have to do a computer follow-up on the result of their check which should prevent you from being stopped again.
Vascoingles:
for what a few digital fotos and a couple of stamps will cost it is worth trying
Well I was more thinking that we only do about 4 trips through Germany a year and the Agro of getting stopped when we trigger the sensors, but Harry might have covered that problem.
I suppose if I do get it checked out and pass it round the paddock so everybody runs the same way after a little while it will become general knowledge that race transporters are exempt and therefore we’ll get left alone like when we run through France on a Sunday.
As for getting stopped by the Bag, if your number has been put into
the data bank then you should have no problems,You will need to
carry the E-mail as proof that Toll-collect has cleared the problem
of Maut -Befreiung ,(exemption; authorised of road charges),
You only have to pay Maut if running SOLO(tractor-unit) ,and the
vehicle in question is authorised to Pull more than 12tn,s ,
ie: 32tn.38tn.40tn.
Thanks for all your help, I suppose I should trust the legendary Germen efficiency to know if my vehicle has been exempted and the info is on a database. I’ll get on with getting it all cleared when I get back then.
The reply from Toll collect isnot quite correct,
the tractor unit is only maut free when it has a documented GLW under 12000kg
and cannot be freed from maut if it is not downplatted because i can pull a mautfree sports trailer today and a triaxle tautliner with 25tons tomorrow
All our DAF 105 430 doing “platting” are down platted to 11,990kg and when we bobtail on the autobahns we switch the OBU off,with a triaxel trailer behind we switch it back on and book 5 axels
A copy of the German V5 must be sent to Toll Collect with the "Downplatting " and it takes about " 2months until Toll Collect get it into there system, and garanteed you get pulled 3 times a week for the first 2 months 
Geoff
@gbtransp Please read the letter again as the vehicle is Maut free when
connected to the trailer, However when running SOLO and authorised to
carry more than 12TN in total , you then have to pay maut for the unit ,
This is what they have written in the letter,
brit pete:
@gbtransp Please read the letter again as the vehicle is Maut free when
connected to the trailer, However when running SOLO and authorised to
carry more than 12TN in total , you then have to pay maut for the unit ,
This is what they have written in the letter,
Errr, … Are you sure about that red part pete??
Doesn’t “zulässige Gesamtgewicht” mean ‘maximum authorised gross vehicle weight’ (GVW) in English?
Wouldn’t it be that, if the writer of the letter meant to say “carry more than 12TN in total” (your words,) they’d have used the German word Nutzlast ■■
I’m saying nowt, so I’ll leave it to the referee to decide whether that counts as an own-goal. 
If the vehicle ,is Taxed at more than 12tns ie: 32tn,38tn etc then it is not MAUT
excempt, IF however you have the vehicle down-plated to carry Under 12tns
(this includes trailer , and tractor unit plus goods carried)and pay road tax for a vehicle
which can only carry 12tn -or under,Then when running sole the tractor unit would
be excempt the maut,
brit pete:
If the vehicle ,is Taxed at more than 12tns ie: 32tn,38tn etc then it is not MAUT
excempt, IF however you have the vehicle down-plated to carry Under 12tns
(this includes trailer , and tractor unit plus goods carried)and pay road tax for a vehicle
which can only carry 12tn -or under,Then when running sole the tractor unit would
be excempt the maut,
Hi Pete, I think you might have missed my point mate…
I’m not arguing what is or isn’t subject to Maut in the OP…
I’m simply pointing out that Maut is charged on GVW (zulässige Gesamtgewicht) exactly as written in the letter, (as translated by Vascoingles) whereas you’ve now twice spoken of what a vehicle can carry.
If the Maut was charged on what a vehicle can carry, I’m simply suggesting that the German word for that would be Nutzlast.
So Pete, are you saying that if my vehicle weighs 8t when empty and has a GVW of 17t, then I don’t pay Maut if I only carry 9t because 9t is less than the 12t threshold for Maut??
Sticking entirely to English, it seems that you might have confused the terms “GVW” and “payload,” and all I’m suggesting is that there’s a significant difference between those words. (In both English and German. )
Let’s wait for the referee.
Would Vascoingles and Inselaffe please comment?
DAVE I sent you a link in this link German trucks are taxed differently to the UK
OVER here in Germany A TRACTOR unit can be taxed SEE THE FOLLOWING
-1. Absenkung der Höchststeuer für Nutzfahrzeuge in allen vier Emissionsklassen um jeweils rund 109 Euro (§ 9 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 KraftStG)
Schadstoffklasse Steuer alt Steuer neu
ab S2 664,68 Euro (> 13,6 t) 556 Euro
(erreicht bei zulässigem Gesamtgewicht (zGG) über 12,2 t)
S1 1022,58 Euro (> 16 t) 914 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,4 t)
G1 1533,88 Euro (> 16 t) 1425 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,6 t)
andere 1789,52 Euro (> 16 t) 1681 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,8 t
the above concerns just the tractor unit
THE SYSTEM works with the tax on the trailer and a tax for the weight
we do not have the tractor unit,taxed at 32tn 38tn etc SO AGAIN if
the UK; tractor unit is taxed and plated TO CARRY-or- PULL more than 12tn then
it has to pay maut when running Solo,
brit pete:
DAVE I sent you a link in this link German trucks are taxed differently to the UK
OVER here in Germany A TRACTOR unit can be taxed SEE THE FOLLOWING
-1. Absenkung der Höchststeuer für Nutzfahrzeuge in allen vier Emissionsklassen um jeweils rund 109 Euro (§ 9 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 KraftStG)
Schadstoffklasse Steuer alt Steuer neu
ab S2 664,68 Euro (> 13,6 t) 556 Euro
(erreicht bei zulässigem Gesamtgewicht (zGG) über 12,2 t)
S1 1022,58 Euro (> 16 t) 914 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,4 t)
G1 1533,88 Euro (> 16 t) 1425 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,6 t)
andere 1789,52 Euro (> 16 t) 1681 Euro
(erreicht bei zGG über 15,8 tthe above concerns just the tractor unit
THE SYSTEM works with the tax on the trailer and a tax for the weight
we do not have the tractor unit,taxed at 32tn 38tn etc SO AGAIN if
the UK; tractor unit is taxed and plated TO CARRY-or- PULL more than 12tn then
it has to pay maut when running Solo,
There you go Pete, the bit you’ve just posted (IMHO) directly contradicts (also from yourself) THIS:
brit pete:
This is what they have written in the letter
All I’m saying is that isn’t what the letter says.
Vascoingles had the translation spot-on IMHO, whilst you seem to be suggesting some kind of linkage with payload by YOUR use of the word “carry.”
So Pete, are you saying that the German Words zulässige Gesamtgewicht and Nutzlast both have the same meaning in English? That’s a “yes” or a “no” please.
I do agree that the tracor unit would need to pay Maut if its permitted GVW (zulässige Gesamtgewicht, BUT NOT Nutzlast) exceeds 12t though.
Dave , if i wanted to have a German lesson a i would have got my wife to give me
lessons , all I have trying to get over is IF the vehicle is TAXED in the UK for 32tn, etc
etc ,and is not down plated to 12tns and TAXED for this weight YOU PAY; AS for
Nutzlast .Gesamtgewicht the German system of Road -taxation IS NOTHING LIKE OURS AT ALL,
and is explained in the link i sent.
alles klar 
brit pete:
Dave , if i wanted to have a German lesson a i would have got my wife to give me
lessons ,
Sorry Pete, but this won’t deflect my point…
I wouldn’t presume to give you German lessons and I apologise if you thought I was.
I simply pointed something out about what YOU wrote in a post, then I asked you a civilised question, which you have still failed to answer. That’s your choice though.
brit pete:
all I have trying to get over is IF the vehicle is TAXED in the UK for 32tn, etc
etc ,and is not down plated to 12tns and TAXED for this weight YOU PAY;
I’ve already agreed with that.
brit pete:
AS for
Nutzlast .Gesamtgewicht the German system of Road -taxation IS NOTHING LIKE OURS AT ALL,
and is explained in the link i sent.
I’ve already agreed with that too, but IMHO it doesn’t address the point I made.
So, leaving German completely aside, (just in case you think it’s a lesson )…
Do ‘payload’ and ‘gross vehicle weight’ both mean the same thing in English?