Hi Freddy,
I'm driving it back on UK export plates and then registering it here. It is (theoretically) straightforward, but I'll report back later how it went. However, it seems that the process is slightly different in each of the Bundeslände. In Munich I have to take the car to the Zulassungsstelle for official identification. But it seems that in Köln it is possible to do everything in advance. The following is some advice I received from Heinz - I'm sure he won't mind me passing it on...
We can get the German plates for any new car even before we collect the car. All we need is the COC, the invoice and a insurance #. In any case no one needs to examine the car (they do in Bayern!!). The only thing we have to do is provide German translations of the documents (Not needed in Bayern- not even a translation into Bayerisch). This, given in Cologne, will be done in the registration office. I have registered a 3.0 Roadster last year which I bought in the UK from Melvyn Rutter, no problems at all. The only issue was, especially in Cologne, that they don´t want to believe it is really a new car. Keep all correspondents e.g. email that shows your are about to register a NEW car."
