The present invention relates to a method for operating a motor vehicle (1), wherein the motor vehicle (1) has a lighting device (4) comprising at least two headlight devices (5, 6, 15, 16), wherein the headlight devices (5, 6, 15, 16) are arranged horizontally staggered on the front side (7) of the motor vehicle (1) and each has one or more dimmable light-emitting devices (8), wherein each headlight device (5, 6, 15, 16) can illuminate a spatial area (18, 19, 29, 30) in front of the motor vehicle (1) covering a
horizontal angle range (20, 21, 32, 33) according to the brightness generated by the corresponding one or more light-emitting devices (8), wherein the illumination is effective before or during the reversing of the motor vehicle (1). The brightness of one or more light-emitting elements (8) of at least one of the headlight devices (5, 6, 15, 16) is adjusted according to the steering action of the motor vehicle (1), wherein, when using the headlight device (5, 6, 15, 16) comprising multiple light-emitting elements (8), the light-emitting elements (8) are adjusted such that at least one sub-region (22-27) of the spatial region (18, 19, 29, 30) opposite to the direction of steering action is illuminated with increased brightness, and / or wherein, when using the headlight device (5, 6, 15, 16) comprising at least one light-emitting element (8), the brightness of at least one light-emitting element (8) of the headlight device (5, 6, 15, 16) arranged in the direction of steering action is dimmed.