When you used to go (as a 18-year-old) to the driving course business....you ended up with a test, with either a automatic or stick-shift, and whatever you passed....was noted on your license, and that was the ONLY vehicle you were supposed to drive. Some would test on both the automatic and the stick....to be fully licensed.
If you explained this to an American....they'd just start laughing. My dad was a hardcore automatic freak, at least with the family car. But every farm vehicle was a stick-shift, and you adjusted to both.
For years and years in Germany....the vast majority of cars you drove or rented....were stick-shift (I'd say through the 1980s....it was probably around 80 to 90 percent).
In the 1990s, you started to see more automatics on the German road. Some Germans felt more comfortable with the automatic, and that was the test they took....meaning they could only buy or rent automatics in their life.
Here on the 1st of April....the law will change, and the notation on your license means nothing. If you tested only on the automatic....you can drive a stick-shift....as of the first....it's ok.
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