Is a Swiss-registered and plated vehicle required to have a local insurance policy (ie one originated within Switzerland)? I just changed from one expat provider (Italsure) to another (GEICO Overseas) and they set up the new policy as if I were still driving on foreign plates. The green card suggests the policy was originated in Great Britain (Chartis UK).

When I applied for local plates about 6 months ago, it was a mandatory requirement for the car to have an in-country policy registered in the Vaud SAN computer system. No local insurance --> no inspection --> no Swiss plates.

Now that I have local plates, is it suddenly OK for me to have a foreign policy? I think the answer is NO but the company is telling me YES and I don't want to drive the car until they write the in-country portion of the policy.

Any advice would be appreciated...

No you shouldn't actually even have the plates unless the car is registered on the insurance system...

Has your current insurance lapsed?

If you send me a PM with your details and circumstances I can look into this and help you out.

Yes, the original policy expired a week ago. That policy was a Swiss policy and it was registered in the system.

For the new policy, I have a green card with a GB issue number and no other documents.

I refuse to drive the car in this condition until I know that the authorities have an active policy registered in their system. Do you have a way to check in the system?

Yes.

PM sent...

Don't forget to come back & answer the question so that others will know the requirements.

Don't worry It will be answered. There are a lot of PM's, Mails and calls going on over this. It's a bit of a complex issue under the surface.

The "Yes" actually was a reply to the OP asking if I had a way to check the system and if his car was currently insured.

But for the moment, in basics, Swiss cars do need to be insured by a Swiss company or a company working with Swiss partners or that operate within Switzerland... next we work out the exceptions that prove the rule! LOL Stay tuned

Hi,

Swiss insurance does not expire unless you give notice or hand the plates back. Not paying the premium does not cancel the insurers liability either.

Normally Swiss insurance policies run for 5-10 years, you should look at your documentation, you can't just change insurers because you feel like it!

Good point. This was an expat policy, however. Written in the UK, denominated in USD, had US policy language, and a CH-based green card. One year.

I doubt it's acceptable to the CH, you need to ask for your money back!

It was... Vaud SAN gave me plates and registration on that policy, but only after it appeared on their computer.

Now I'm trying to get this new policy to appear on the computer.

What I am saying is the new insurance will never appear on their computer as it's not from a Swiss company.

In the policy's present state, that is correct.

There is an in-country portion of the policy that GEICO needs to originate, probably with Chartis in Zurich. At that time, I will receive complementary policy documents and a new CH-based green card. I would also expect the policy to appear in the Vaud SAN computer system. This is what happened the last time I used an expat company (Italsure) and I expect the same thing to happen again.

Good luck, as a shareholder in Berkshire Hatherway, the owner of GEICO I hope it's successul!

Chartis arose from the ashes of AIG, too.