Glossary
Halter
The registered keeper of a vehicle in Germany — the person or company responsible for it, which need not be the legal owner.
The Halter is whoever is entered in the Zulassungsbescheinigung as the party responsible for the vehicle: paying KFZ-Steuer, holding insurance, keeping the car roadworthy and answering for offences committed with it. German law (§6 FZV) deliberately separates this role from the Eigentümer, the legal owner under the purchase contract. That separation is why a non-resident can own a car in Germany while a German company is the registered keeper, and why the ownership of the vehicle is unaffected by whose name is on the registration document. In practice the Halter receives all official correspondence, so a keeper without a German address needs an Empfangsbevollmächtigter (authorised recipient) under §75 FZV.